Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 14/February 17

 

A day light on medal competitions, which was great for me since I did not have the opportunity to watch as much as I ordinarily would.  Lots of curling and men's playoff hockey, as 8 teams vied for the right to play the top 4 seeds in the quarterfinals.  So, let's get to the action that did occur.

Men's curling really hurt itself with 2 losses on the day, falling to China and Italy to identical scores of 8-5.  The women fared much better soundly defeating Denmark 10-3.  The men's medal round chances faded, but the women are firmly in medal contention.

In the most dominating performance of the day, German sleds swept the podium in the 2-man bobsled, with the sled piloted by American Opening Ceremony Flag-Bearer Frank del Duca finishing only .44 seconds out of the bronze in 4th.  Johannes Lochner won gold to go with his two silvers from Beijing.  Georg Fleschheiser also won gold as Lochner's brakeman.  They wer closely followed by legend Francesco Friedrich, who added a silver to go with his 2 golds in the 2-man (Pyeongchang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022) and his 2 golds in the 4-man in those same Olympics.

In the Men's Biathlon Relay, the French team of Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Eric Perrot won gold over Norway (silver) and Sweden (bronze).  For Claude, the gold can be paired with the silver he won in Beijing in the same event.  This is Jacquelin's second medal of these games (bronze in men's pursuit), to bring his total to 4 (two silvers in Beijing).  Fillon Maillet won his third gold of Milano-Cortina, and his 5th gold and 8th medal overall.  In his first games, Eric Perrot anchored this gold, which was his second in these games (and third overall).

Although Norway finished second in the Biathlon relay, they did win two golds on the day.  The first in the Nordic Combined, which combines the large hill Ski Jumping with a 10km Cross-Country Race.  Jens Luraas Oftebro won gold, with Austria's Johannes Lemparter earning silver, and Ilkka Herola from Finland receiving bronze.

Norway's other gold came via the Men's Big Air final in Freestyle Skiing.  Torand Frist won yet another gold for Norway, as American Mac Forehand came in second for silver, followed closely by Matej Svancer from Austria (bronze).

The United States picked up another silver in the Men's Speed Skating Team Pursuit, finishing just behind Italy in the A Finals.  On the women's side, Canada was victorious over the Netherlands.

And one of the marquee events of every Winter Olympics - the women's figure skating, the short program was held and Japan is sitting in first, second and fourth places behind performances by Ami Nakai, Kaori Sakamato and Mone Chiba respectively.  Only American Alyssa Liu is currently preventing a Japanese sweep as she sits in third heading into the Free Skate.

Athlete of the Day - Johannes Lochner, Germany, Bobsled

His gold after 2 silvers in Beijing behind Francesco Friedrich feels like the ultimate passing of the torch.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Mac Forehand, Freestyle Skiing

Silver medal, the best of the day for the United States!

Upset of the Day - Francesco Friedrich, Germany, Bobsled

Not that a silver medal is disappointing, and not that Lohner isn't a worthy champion, but again, this feels like the ultimate passing of the torch in one of Germany's national sports.

Team of the Day - France, Biathlon, Men's Relay

Fabien Claude, Emilia Jacquiline, Quintin Fillon Maillet, and Eric Perrot have been bringing it all Olympics.  Men's Relay gold just seems fitting.

U.S. Team of the Day - Speedskating, Men's Team Pursuit

Earned an impressive silver medal behind host Italy.  Ethan Cepuran, Casey Days and Emery Lehman deserve their roses today.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Pursuit - In speedskating, it is a long-track race where three skaters skate together as one unit, aiming to record the fastest time over a set distance while staying tightly grouped to maximize drafting and efficiency.  The team is timed when the third skater crosses the finish line, and all three must stay together to achieve a top time.

Olympic Events Watched:   Bobsled, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Kendall Coyne, Jessie Diggins, Korey Dobkin, Ashley Farquharson, Breezy Johnson, Jaelin Kauf, Hilary Knight, Elizabeth Lemley, Austin Matthews, Elana Meyers Taylor, Ben Ogden, Jordan Stolz, Cory Thiesse, 

Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Preview

 

So for everybody that knows me, they know that I absolutely LOVE the Olympics!!!  Always have, ever since I was a kid.  I used to read books and watch video series just on the Olympics.  The book Rome 1960 by David Maraniss is one the best sports books ever written.  (And he has written some GREAT ones!).  So, be prepared for daily recaps from all the competitions as we start the quadrennial soiree this week.

But, for starters, I am going to kick-off the Milano-Cortina games.  This is Mialno's first time hosting the games; Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the Games in 1956.  This kick-off is going to highlight the best bets to win medals in the games.  Since some events - like hockey - have so much talent, any given country isn't likely to actually medal compared to some of the individual events, so this list is heavily focused on individuals (or small teams).  Let's kick it off ...

10.  Chloe Kim - Snowboarding - USA 

Kim is the two-time defending gold medalist in the half-pipe, having secured the gold in Pyeongchang in 2018 and repeated in Beijing in 2022.  Her main competitors are her teammate Maddie Mastro, New Zealand's Zoe Sadowski-Synott, and Murase Kokomo from Japan.

9.  Marielle Thompson/BandonMackay - Freestyle Skiing - CAN

Two of Canada's most likely individual medalist as Thompson returns to the Olympics having won gold in 2014 in Sochi, and silver in Beijing in 2022 in Ski-Cross.  MacKay enters his second Olympics looking for his first medal, but his is the reigning world champ in the half-pipe. 

8.  Hwang Dae-heon- Short Track Speedskating - KOR

Arguably the best of a very talented South Korean short track speedskating team, he gets the nod here even though youngster Rim Jong-un won the national team trials.  This team might be unbeatable in the relays, except the variables in this sport (one slip, bump or another falling skater) are higher than any other!

7.  Ilia Malinin - Figure Skating - USA

The "Quad God" is the overwhelming favorite for men's gold (as he should be) having just recently won the World Championships by landing seven - YES 7!!! - quads.

6.  Eileen Gu - Freestyle Skiiing - CHN

The extremely talented American-born 22-year old has already made her mark in the sport, having won 2 golds (Big Air/Halfpipe) and 1 silver (Slopestyle) in Beijing in 2022 and several World Championships, Winter X Games, and World Cup podiums!

5.  Stefan Kraft - AUT/Ryoyu Kobayashi - JAP - Ski Jumping

Kraft is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time, having won 45 times and placed on the podium 127 in individual starts, and 17 wins with 46 podiums in 65 team starts.  The only thing missing is major Olympic success with just 1 team gold in 7 total events across the last two Olympics.  Kobayashi has 37 wins and 77 podiums in 245 starts, with 1 team win, and 10 podium in 53 team starts.  He is the reigning gold medalist in the normal hill and reigning silver medalist in the large hill.

4.  Scotty James - AUS/Ayumu Hirano - JAP - Snowboarding

You should expect nothing but medals from these two, as James has previously won silver (2022) and bronze (2018) in the Olympic halfpipe, but 8 golds, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes in the Winter X Games, and 4 golds and 1 silver in the World Championships.  Hirano is the reigning gold medalist in the halfpipe, having won 2 previous silvers in the same event in 2014 and 2018.  He has also won 2 golds and 2 silvers in teh Winter X Games.

3.  Mikaela Shiffrin - Alpine Skiing - USA

Lindsay Vonn receives all of the hype, but even before her recent ACL tear Shiffrin was the surer bet.  The greatest female alpine skier is the hands-down favorite to win the slalom, and among the favorites in the giant slalom and combined.

2.  Johanes Hosflot-Klaebo - Cross-Country Skiing/Jarl Magnus Riiber - Nordic Combined/Johanes Thingnes Bo - Biathlon - NOR

These three giants are among the reason that the overwhelming favorite to win the most medals and most golds is Norway.

1.    Francesco Friedrich/Johannes Lochner - Bobsled - GER

These two bobnsledding legends are likely to finish 1-2 in both the 2-man and 4-man bobsledding events.  The only question is who will best whom?  Friedrich won gold driver both the 2-man and 4-man sleds in Pyeongchang (2018) and Beijing (2022) and Lochner won silver in both events in Beijing.  This year Lochner has 6 firsts and 1 second in 7 2-man events, and 3 firsts and 4 seconds in 7 4-man events.  Friedrich has 1 first, 4 seconds and 2 thirds in the 7 2-man events and 2 first, 2 seconds and 2 thirds in the 4-man.  One site even ranks Friedrich as the 30th greatest German athlete of all time, and no doubt, both of these men will rise on that list with expected performances in Milano-Cortina.  Here is the link to that list of the Best German Athletes

Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 16

Day 16 - February 19, 2022

This is basically the last day of the Olympics, with the Closing Ceremonies tomorrow, and with the time difference, by the time you read this the Olympics will actually be over.  But, a lot of events on this last full day of action!

The host country China won the bronze medal in the men's 4x100 meter relay in Track and Field from Tokyo 2020 (competed in 2021).  What does that have to do with the Winter Olympics?  Well, it occurred today.  Great Britain was stripped of their silver medal due to the conclusion of appeals after one of its runners tested positive for a banned substance.  Japan, which finished third, rises to the bronze medal and China, which finished fourth, is now officially the silver medalist. 

In bobsled, the 2-woman race completed its final two runs, and the German teams dominated.  The team of Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi won gold, and their teammates Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt won silver.  Germany's third team finished fourth, just edged out by Americans Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman, who won bronze - Meyers Taylor's second medal of these Olympics.

In the men's 4-man bobsled, the Germans also finished 1-2, with the sleigh piloted by Francesco Friedrich winning gold and the one piloted by Johannes Lochner winning silver.  This was the same finish for these pilots as in the 2-man bobsled.  The Canadian sled led by Justin Kripps won the bronze.

In all of the sliding sports - bobsled (4-man, 2-woman, 2-man, monobob), luge (men, women, 2-man, mixed-team relay), and skeleton (men, women), Germany won 16 of the total 30 medals awarded.  Not to take anything away from the German athletes, who are certainly among the best in the world, but the sleds themselves are just that much better than those of any other country.  How do we know?  Because, in the monobob, the sleds are identically made by the same manufacturer, and in that event, the American women went 1-2 and the Canadian pilot won bronze. Laura Nolte of Germany did finish fourth, by Mariama Jamanka finished 13th.  This was the best test of the quality of the driver. In the rest of the sliding competitions, the teams have to keep their sleds within certain parameters, but just like a Nascar race, can be made and adjusted within those parameters.  So the German sleds are definitely the highest quality, as the country dominated!

In men's cross-country, the 50km mass start is one of the focal events.  Alexander Bolshunov of the Russian Olympic Committee won gold, his third gold - and fifth overall medal - of these Olympic games.  Bolshunov finished just ahead of compatriot Ivan Yakimushkin who won silver and Norway's Simen Hegstad Krueger, who won bronze.

Staying on skis, the Alpine Mixed-Team parallel was held. In the mixed-team parallel, teams of four skiers, two men and two women, pair off and go head-to-head with an opponent.  In the four races, the team that wins the most races advances.  If the match ends up 2-2, the tiebreaker is the combined fastest time of the fastest man and fastest woman.  Austria won gold, Germany won silver, and Norway earned silver.  Norway defeated the US 2-2 via tiebreaker in the bronze medal match, in what was Mikaela Shiffrin's last chance to win a medal in Beijing.  Interestingly, in each match, one man and one woman from each team races the red course, and one races the blue course.  Throughout the medal rounds, in the 16 races the skier on the red course NEVER won.  Something seems weird, there.

The gold medal match was held in men's curling, with Sweden defeating Great Britain 5-4.  Sweden, behind their skip Niklas Edin, finally wins gold after finishing 4th in Vancouver 2010, winning bronze in Sochi in 2014, silver in Pyeongchang in 2018, and finally, gold in Beijing.

Figure skating wrapped up its competition with the long program of the pairs event.  Sui Weijing and Han Cong from the host country China won the gold medal, outskating a pair of pairs from the Russian Olympic Committee in Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov (silver) and Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov (bronze).

The final speed skating events were held, the men's and women's mass start.  In the mass start, the athletes are paired into qualifying heats - then semis - then the finals.  The race is 16 full laps, but with intermediate sprint points awarded at the end of laps 4, 8, and 12, and final points awarded at the finish.  The skaters that advanced are determined by the total points earned - although the final points are so high that the first four are guaranteed to advance.  In the finals, the first three to finish win the medals, but 4th through 16th place are determined by points, with time as the tiebreaker.

In the men's mass start, Bart Swings of Belgium wins gold, with Chung Jae Won of South Korea winning silver and Lee Seung Hoon, also of South Korea, earning bronze.  Swings controlled the tempo of the semifinal and final to win Belgium's first Winter Olympics gold medal since 1948 - in pairs figure skating. 

In the women's mass start, Irene Schouten of the Netherlands, won gold over Ivanie Blondin of Canada (silver) and Italy's Francesca Lollabrigida (bronze).  Schouten, in winning the gold medal earned her third of these games, to go along with a bronze in the team pursuit.

Athletes of the Day: Alexander Bolshunov, Russian Olympic Committee, Cross-Country Skiing; Irene Schouten, The Netherlands, Speed Skating

Bolshunov won the 50km mass start in cross-country skiing, for his third gold and fifth medal of these games.  Schouten won the mass start for her third gold and fourth medal of Beijing.

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day: Kai Verbij, The Netherlands, Speedskating

Verbij is the reigning world champion in the 1,000 meters.  In his heat with Canada's Laurent Dubreuil, Dubreuil was flying.  In speedskating, the skaters switch lanes on the backstretch so that both skaters actual skate the same distance.  In switching the lanes, the outside lane coming in has the right-of-way, and in this race that was Verbij.  However, Dubreuil was flying, and much faster than Verbij.  Verbij noticed that, and held up to allow Dubreuil to switch lanes first.  This cost Verbij a lot of his speed, and a lot of time (he finished last).  But, it also kept him from colliding with Dubreuil during the race (and likely disqualifying himself).  Dubreuil went on the finish second and win the silver medal.  Verbij stated that he didn't have the speed to keep up, and pulling up allowed Dubreuil to keep his speed/momentum.  Good sportsmanship on Verbij's part, even though it meant he would finish in last.

Olympic Term of the Day: Chicane - In bobsled, a sequence of tight serpentine curves.

Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Bobsled, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Speed Skating

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, ELANA MEYERS-TAYLOR 

Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 12

Day 12 - February 15, 2022

For some, Valentine's Day can be disappointing.  For these Olympics, that day occurred on February 15 - the day after Valentine's Day.

On the ice, the U.S. men - who had secured the #1 overall seed for the quarterfinals - lost to Slovakia in a shootout.  The US took a 1-0 lead into the last 1:30 of the game, when Slovakia pulled goalie Patrik Rybar.  With the extra man, Slovakia tied up the game with 45 seconds remaining.  Both teams failed to score in overtime, sending the game to a shootout.  Slovakia scored on their 5th opportunity, and US captain Andy Miele's shot was saved by Rybar, advancing Slovakia to the semi-finals 1-0 in the shootout.

Even more disappointing is not only did Kamila Valieva participate in the women's short program, she finished in first place heading into the long program.  No matter what happens in women's figure skating - usually the most important single event in the Winter Olympics - the story is Valieva.

The Freestyle skiing men's aerials preliminaries took place, with all 3 Americans advancing to the 12 person semi-finals.  They will each make 2 runs until the finals are whittled down to the top 6, who will each make one run for the medals!

Germany did make history in the 2-man bobsled, sweeping all three medals.  Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis defended their 2018 gold medal from Pyeongchang by again winning gold.  Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer finished second for silver, and Christopher Hafer and Matthias Sommer won bronze.

In the men's Nordic Combined Large Hill/10km, Norway won gold and silver, with Joergen Braabak won gold ahead of compatriot Jens Luraas Oftebro and Japan's Watabe Akito, who won silver.

Staying on skis, the 4 x 7.5 km relay finished up the men's biathlon competition, which had a lot of noteworthy performance.  Norway - whose team consisted of Sturla Homl Laegreid, Tarjei Boe, Johannes Thingnes Boe, and anchor Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen - won gold in the most important biathlon race in these games, defeating France (silver) and Russian Olympic Committee (bronze).  The Boe brothers each won their 4th medal at these games.  Definitely not to be outdone, France's Quintin Fillon-Maillet won his 5th medal in Beijing with France's second place performance.

Athletes of the Day:  Quintin Fillon-Maillet, France, Biathlon and Patrik Rybar, Slovakia, Biathlon

Rybar gave up one goal against the United States in the hockey quarterfinals, and none in overtime and in the shootout, as Slovakia advances to the semi-finals.  Fillon-Maillet won hist 5th medal of these games!!!

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor, United States, Bobsled

The two American teammates lobbied the IOC and the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation to add monobob to the Olympics.  Monobob is competed internationally on the bobsled circuit, but was not previously competed in the games.  Humphries - who competed for Canada at the time - and Meyers Taylor were rivals, but both wanted to see additional chances for women to compete at the Olympics.  Although the decision to add monobob was made years ago, the two rivals, and now teammates, benefited from their own lobbying winning gold and silver, and giving women an additional Olympic event in which to compete.

Olympic Term of the Day: Nordic Combined - Nordic combined is an event that has been held since the first Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France.  It combines Cross-Country Skiing with ski jumping.  In the Olympics, the Nordic Combined is competed under the Gundersen method, where the ski jumping results determine the start times of the athletes in the ski jumping (e.g. the highest-scoring ski-jumper starts first in the cross-country portion, with the remaining athletes starting at times determined by their ski jumping scores.

Olympic Events Watched: Biathlon, Bobsled, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Nordic Combined

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, Hilary Knight, Elana Meyers Taylor

Olympics - PyeongChang 2018 - Day 18

Day 18 - February 24

The last full day of competition, and boy was it exciting.  The Netherlands won 2 medals in the mass start speed skating, with Koen Verweij winning the bronze in the men's race and Irene Schouten winning the bronze in the women's race.  It would be tough to determine what was the most dominant team in PyeongChang between the Dutch speed skaters and the Norwegian cross-country skiers (more on them later).

In the four-man bobsled event, Germany dominated winning gold behind driver Francesco Friedrich and silver behind driver Nico Walther.  A third German sled finished .73 seconds out of the bronze, which was won by South Korea, the second South Korean sledding medal in these games, with Yun Sung-bin winning gold in the men's skeleton.

In what was supposed to be a route, an excellent men's hockey game broke out, with Germany - having previously defeating Canada - scoring 3 goals down the stretch to force overtime against the OAR, who in the end proved they were too much on the power play (which is 4-on-3 in overtime in the Olympics) to win gold.  This game was an excellent sequel to the USA-Canada women's hockey final.  The only issue for the IOC is that the OAR's team sung the Russian national anthem on the medal stand, despite being banned from further representing Russia this year at the closing ceremonies with their flag due to 2 separate doping positive tests - one in curling!!!

In the men's 50Km mass start in cross-country skiing, Finland's Iivo Niskanen took off with Yevgeniy Velichkov of Kazakhstan at the 17km mark.  With roughly 15km to go, OAR athlete Alexander Bolshunov joined Niskanen and Velichkov, and with about 10Km left, Velichkov had fallen to third, but seemingly a lock for a bronze.  Then the chase group, which included Andrey Larkov of the OAR, Canada's Alex Harvey and Martin Sundby and Hans Christer Holund from Norway caught Velichkov as he ran out of gas, eventually fading to 39th.  This chase group is  important because to date, Norway has medaled in every single cross-country event in PyeongChang.  At that same 40km mark, Niskanen voluntarily gave up the lead (and about 20 seconds) to change his skis, which Bolshunov did not do.  During the penultimate lap - each lap is 5km - it was clear that Niskanen made the right move as his skis were way faster than Bolshunov's.  (Akin to changing tires in auto racing).  With about 2Km left on the last lap, Niskanen skated past Bolshunov and never looked back.  Bolshunov held on the second and the bronze went to his compatriot Andrey Larkov, who held off Harvey and the Norwegians for bronze.  The silver was Bolshunov's fourth of these games, having previously earned 2 other silvers and a bronze.

Despite the fact the Niskanen started his push for the gold with over 20 miles left in the race, his performance is nowhere near the Performance of the Day.  That belongs to the United States Men's Curling team, who defeated Sweden for the gold medal just one round after beating Canada in the semi-finals.  The U.S. men's team - John Shuster (skip), Tyler George (3rd), Matt Hamilton (2nd), John Landsteiner (lead) and Joe Polo (alternate) - started the round robin portion of the tournament 2-4 and needing to win their last 3 matches - including over Canada - just to make the medal round.  Not only did they defeat Canada, the beat Canada again in the semi-finals, winning their last 5 matches to capture gold.  Shuster did a hit and stay with the score tied 5-5 in the 8th end that put up 5 additional points, effectively defeating Sweden with 2 ends left.  Shuster, who won bronze as the U.S. lead in Turin in 2006, was effectively dis-invited by the national team after his 2014 performance in Sochi (next-to-last) which followed up a last place finish in Vancouver.  Shuster put together this team who began working together and winning national tournaments to earn a spot of the Olympic team - and now Gold!! This has been dubbed "The Miracurl on Ice".  More importantly, this is the Performance of the Day!!!

Disappointment of the Day:  The United States had such high hopes in bobsledding, thinking that a medal was possible in both the two-man and four-man bobsled.  After winning a medal in the women's bobsled, and after some shaky, but intriguing runs in the men's 2-man bobsled, the US felt poised to finish way higher than the 9th place they ultimately earned in the 4-man bobsled.  For this, the US Bobsled team and pilot Nick Cunningham particularly earn the Disappointment of the Day.

Event's Watched:  Men's Curling; Men's Bobsled; Men's Cross-Country Skiing; The Honda Classic