Here's the latest
• US compete for glory: Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse will play Sweden for the gold medal after knocking out the defending champions in the mixed doubles semifinals yesterday.
• Criticism of IOC: The International Olympic Committee has banned Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from wearing a helmet featuring images of athletes killed during the war in Ukraine. He wore the helmet during a training session Monday.
• Mikaela Shiffrin misses medal: The superstar placed fourth with teammate Breezy Johnson in alpine skiing women’s team combined.
• American figure skaters back on the ice: “Quad God” Ilia Maninin and Maxim Naumov, who triumphed over tragedy, will take to the ice for the men’s singles short program today.
CNN Sports has all of the greatest feats of achievement – and funny anecdotes – from the Games, so sign up for our “Milano Memo” newsletter.
What is curling?
Ahead of the mixed doubles team final, where the US has a chance to win gold, it’s probably time to find out exactly just what curling is. Lucky for you, we’ve got you covered.
Believed to have originated in the 16th century, teams slide granite stones that weigh up to roughly 20 kilos (44 pounds) across a 150-foot long, 15-foot-7-inch-wide sheet of ice towards a target known as a house.
Each curler has their own brush and a specific type of shoe specialized for the sport.
In each pair of shoes, one sole grips the ice, while the other is more slippery – called a slider – allowing players to slide with the stone when they’re playing it.
The brush is used by players to sweep in front of the stone to warm its path, allowing it to travel further if desired.
A team scores one point for each of its stones in or touching the house that are closer to the center than any of the opposition team’s stones. A curling game is competed over ten ends and the team with the most points wins.
Read more about ‘The Roaring Game’ here.
Apple, biscuit and twig: Explaining hockey’s unique jargon you’ll hear at Milan Cortina
From brushing ice in curling, to flying down an ice track headfirst in skeleton, the Winter Olympics are home to some unique and exciting sports that feature uncommon vernacular.
New sports have been added to the program and with that come new terms or nicknames for tactics, maneuvers or objects that beginner fans might not be familiar with.
Even in hockey – a sport that is extremely popular around the world – there are terms used by commentators or pundits that you might not be accustomed to hearing if not a regular to the sport.
So below, we look at some of the sport-specific lingo and explain what the terms mean so you’ll be ready to impress your friends and follow the action in Milan Cortina.
An apple: an assist.
Bar down: when the puck strikes the crossbar from a shot and ends up in the goal.
Between the pipes: where the goalie presides.
Deke: a skill where a player feints to draw an opposing player out of position or to skate by an opponent while maintaining possession and control of the puck.
Flamingo: when a player lifts one leg, standing like a flamingo, to get out of the way of a shot.
Lid: a player’s helmet.
Tape-to-tape: a very accurate pass going from the tape of the passer’s stick to the tape of the receiver’s stick.
See a full list of hockey jargon terms you need to know here.
The blend of horses and skis that was the Winter Olympics’ first ever demonstration sport
A wild blend between horses and skis is an integral part of a sport which we won’t be seeing at the 2026 Winter Games.
Exhibited at St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1928, skijoring holds the honor of being the first ever demonstration sport at a Winter Olympics, yet the discipline’s origins extend well beyond its Games debut.
Practiced differently across continents, the history of skijoring is a complex one and comes in many different forms. But in recent years, it’s been the American version of the sport which has grown in popularity.
Western-style skijoring sees skiers hurtle around a course of jumps, rings, and gates while being pulled along by a galloping horse.
Megan Smith, a professional western-style skijorer, told CNN Sports all about the wild nature of the discipline.
“It’s super risky. Anything to do with animals is risky. You know, the horses really get into it, and they go really, really, really, really fast.”
Read more about the wild world of western-skijoring here.
The world of sled dog racing keeps on barking, despite not being in the Winter Olympics
One sport which won’t feature at Milan Cortina is the fun and furry practice of sled dog racing.
After debuting as a demonstration sport at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the sport never returned, but 94 years later it’s still alive and barking as dogs pull their harnessed drivers, or mushers, around courses across the globe.
Blair Braverman is a long-distance sled dog racer based in Alaska and hopes that, one day, the extended version of the sport will make an Olympic return.
“I would love to see distance mushing in the Olympics. A race takes weeks. And so it’s hard to imagine a single Olympic event that takes weeks at a time,” Braverman told CNN Sports.
“They could send off the teams during the opening ceremonies and then at the end, see who emerges.”
Read more about sled dog racing here.
Catch up on the medal finishes of the day so far
Day 4 of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina has already seen athletes winning in some events today, taking home the delicate Olympic medals, which are also the most expensive in Olympic history, thanks to soaring precious metals prices.
We’re looking forward to the highly anticipated curling mixed doubles final between the USA and Sweden. But before we do that, take a look at the medal finishes so far.
Here’s a quick rundown:
- Austria won the gold in alpine skiing women’s team combined. Germany took the silver and Team USA duo Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan won bronze. Superstar duo Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson placed fourth.
- Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo claimed gold in the men’s cross-country sprint classic, his second gold of the Games, in a time of 3:39.74.
- Linn Svahn led a Swedish sweep of medals in the women’s cross-country sprint classic, claiming gold on Day 4.
- Norway’s Johan-Olav Botn screamed with joy as he took home the gold medal in the biathlon men’s 20km individual event.
- Italy has won gold in the short track mixed relay speed skating in front of a raucous crowd in Milano Ice Skating Arena, in a time of 2:39.019.
- Norway’s Birk Ruud claimed the second gold of his career after a sensational opening run that nobody could top. Defending Olympic freeski slopestyle champion, American Alex Hall, fell on his final run, but he can still be proud of a strong score and a silver medal.
Some other notable news from the day:
The Netherlands mixed relay team in short track speed skating set a sensational new Olympic record in the B final with a time 2:35.537.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from wearing his helmet featuring images of athletes killed during the war in Ukraine.
Meet Milan Cortina’s gold-medal dessert
At the 2024 Paris Games, we had the famed chocolate muffins taking the Olympic Village by storm. But move over delightful, sweet cake, there’s a new dessert stunning tastebuds at Milan Cortina’s athletes’ cafeterias.
Even better, it’s a treat that originated in the home nation. The Italian dessert, tiramisu, has gone viral on social media in the athletes’ accommodations after the first four days of the Games.
Swiss snowboarder Jonas Hasler was the first to go viral with his video on the dessert that picked up over 153,000 views on Instagram. Since then, an array of athletes have taken to their social media accounts to showcase the Italian specialty in all its glory.
South African cross-country skier Matt Smith described the taste of the dessert as “perfect.”
Certainly high praise for the creamy dessert so far, does it top Paris’ chocolate muffins?
How do you order a coffee in Italy?
Given our teams in the field must be cold – and you too if you’re in northern Italy for these Games – they must be looking for a hot beverage to warm up. And what better than one of Italy’s famed coffees. But how do you order one the right way?
You begin with the easy part, finding a shop that sells coffee. Once you enter, there’s no formal queue. Instead, you will have to try your hardest to catch the barista’s eye.
After that incredibly awkward task is complete, open with a greeting like “buongiorno,” which is “hello” in Italian.
Now, the important part. “Un caffè” is an espresso, “macchiato” is an espresso with a spoonful of hot and foamy milk. DO NOT ask for a latte, otherwise you will end up with a glass full of milk. Instead, for what you are used to as a latte, ask for a “latte macchiato” and your order shall be served.
With the countdown to the Winter Olympics Games underway, Italy is gearing up to host athletes and tourists alike. One Italian ritual is essential for visitors to understand: the unwritten rules of Italian coffee. CNN's Antonia Mortensen shows you how to order the perfect cappuccino.
Fortunately, to save you the stress, cappuccino is pronounced the same in English as it is in Italian.
If you didn’t pay at the start, you can exchange the money on your way out. With that, the ritual is complete, you are now fully set to engage in one of Italy’s proudest traditions.
Home nation clinches bronze in mixed doubles curling
Before the US gets underway in the gold medal mixed doubles curling game later on today, we can tell you the bronze medalists are home nation Italy.
The duo of Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini defeated Brits Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds 5-3 to make it back-to-back Olympic medals for the Italians in the event.
Mouat and Dodds, who were one of the favorites to win, will be mightily disappointed by the result.
Mathilde Gremaud tells CNN she was “smiling and giggling” after freeski slopestyle gold
Before dropping down for her third and final run in the women’s freeski slopestyle, Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud already knew she had won gold.
She had watched her closest rival, Eileen Gu, fall on her final attempt, which meant no one could surpass her score.
So, draped in a Swiss flag, Gremaud performed a victory run for the fans and was able to fully enjoy the moment in front of her friends and family.
“That run was really fun, I was really smiling and giggling the whole way. That was definitely a lot of fun. I was just so happy,” she told CNN Sports on Tuesday, a day after her gold medal moment.
Things almost turned out very differently, though. Gremaud had two scares in the buildup to the competition after falling twice in practice, once just before her first proper run.
Instead of knocking her confidence, though, she said it did the opposite.
“It released a lot of pressure for me,” she added. “When that happened, I thought, ‘OK, that was the last hurdle for me on the way, now let’s try to feel as free as I can.’
“It was terrifying at first, but then the pressure released and helped me feel better.”
Monday’s competition was yet another chapter in the ongoing rivalry between Gu and Gremaud, with the pair pushing the sport to another level.
“We were able to get the best out of each other. We couldn’t have done it without the other,” Gremaud said. “Our sport is still a niche sport, but we’re trying to make it bigger. Eileen is definitely a big help for that.”
Norway's Botn holds on for gold in biathlon 20k individual
The medals are coming thick and fast today, and we can confirm yet another, this time in the biathlon men’s 20km individual event.
Norway’s Johan-Olav Botn took home the gold medal with a time of 51:31.5, with Frenchman Eric Perrot 14.8 seconds behind in the silver medal position.
Coming in with the bronze was another Norwegian, Sturla Holm Lægreid.
Overcome with the situation and his gold medal win, Botn letting out a scream of joy as he crossed the finish line.
“I think listening to the national anthem with the gold around your neck is something that you will always remember.”
Austria takes team combined gold as Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson finish 4th
Mikaela Shiffrin is last up on the slalom portion of the women’s team combined and she needs a great run to beat Austria.
And… it’s not enough! Shiffrin finishes 15th out of 18 slalom racers in a time of 45.38 to put the superstar duo outside of the podium positions in fourth place.
Austria wins the gold, Germany takes the silver and Team USA duo Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Moltzan win bronze.
Johnson and Shiffrin embraced at the finish line to comfort each other, with the Olympic downhill champion telling her teammate, “It’s OK.” It’s an agonizing result for the pairing and it would have been Shiffrin’s first Olympic medal since 2018 in Pyeongchang.
Katharina Huber and Ariane Rädler of Austria come home with a winning time of 2:21.66. Germany’s Emma Aicher and Kira Weidle-Winkelmann come in second with a time of 2:21.71.
The American duo of Wiles and Moltzan will be delighted to win bronze, despite the bitter ending for their US teammates.
Breezy Johnson gets replacement for broken medal
Breezy Johnson, after accidentally breaking the gold medal she received in the women’s downhill on Sunday, now has a replacement.
“They gave me a new one,” Johnson said Tuesday, after the American recorded the fastest time in the downhill portion of the women’s team combined.
“I have to get it engraved though, so that needs to happen.”
Johnson previously showed how her original gold medal broke when she was jumping in excitement Sunday.
“They took the old one back,” she said. “They don’t let you have multiple ones.”
The women’s team combined event continues at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Find out more how some medals have broken here.
Swedish medal sweep as Linn Svahn clinches gold in women's sprint classic
Linn Svahn led a Swedish sweep of medals in the women’s cross-country sprint classic, claiming gold on Day 4.
She finished in a time of 4:03.05, ahead of Jonna Sundling by 1.59 seconds, leaving her with the silver medal.
It’s the 26-year-old Svahn’s first major championship medal and you could tell by the smile across her face post-race.
“There are so many mixed feelings. One thing I feel is a relief, to finally get to take that medal and take that gold. And it’s so nice to be able to share a moment like this with my friends,” she said after the win.
Maja Dahlqvist won bronze in a time of 4:07.88, rounding out a dominant showing from the Scandinavian nation.
Klæbo claims another gold in the men's sprint classic, US' Ogden gets silver
A busy morning in Italy this morning, and we have yet another medal winner to announce.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo of Norway claimed gold in the men’s cross-country sprint classic, his second gold of the Games, in a time of 3:39.74.
The 29-year-old completed a three-peat of sprint classic Olympic titles with the win and has now brought his total to an astonishing seven Winter Games golds.
“It was good to already have done the first one, so that I could relax a little bit more and enjoy it. That was exactly what I did out there today.”
Following him in silver medal position was Team USA’s Ben Ogden, who won the first medal for an American man in cross-country skiing since 1976.
In with the bronze medal was Klæbo’s fellow Norwegian Opstad Oskar Vike.
Birk Ruud claims gold as Alex Hall holds onto silver in freeski slopestyle
The pressure was on in run 3, and it somewhat showed for defending Olympic freeski slopestyle champion Alex Hall as he fell on his final run, but he can still be proud of a strong score and a silver medal.
Norway’s Birk Ruud claimed the second gold of his career after a sensational run 1 that nobody could top.
“It was kind of the last piece to the collection, with big air and slopestyle. It’s a beautiful feeling and a special moment. I’ll try to take it in,” he told reporters.
On run 3, the Norwegian attempted to top his score – despite the gold already being confirmed – and fell, but he walked off unharmed.
Asked afterwards about what the win means after his father Oivind died of cancer in April 2021, Ruud was reflective.
“When you think of all that, it’s a lot and I get emotional, which is beautiful. It’s a good feeling to have both happy and sad tears at the same time. It’s all beautiful.”
In the bronze medal position, New Zealand’s Luca Harrington performed a really strong run when it mattered most, coming in with a score of 85.15.
Italy claims sensational gold in short track mixed relay speed skating
Italy has won gold in the short track mixed relay speed skating in front of a raucous crowd in Milano Ice Skating Arena, in a time of 2:39.019.
Elisa Confortola, Arianna Fontana, Thomas Nadalini and Pietro Sighel skated a sensational race, feeding the frenzied crowd in Milan and holding off Canada and Belgium, who won silver and bronze respectively.
With the win, Fontana, 35, earns her 12th Olympics medal – including three golds –and becomes the first woman to medal at six consecutive Winter Games.
What a performance for the home nation.
Alex Hall misses shot at gold on slopestyle run 3
It all came down to run 3 for reigning Olympic freeski slopestyle champion Alex Hall, and it was again the first rail – which has been causing all sorts of problems for competitors – that cost him a shot at defending the gold.
His landing off the jump wasn’t balanced which ruined his run, so he’ll be hoping that he can cling onto at least a silver here.
Seven more skiers to go…
IOC bans Ukrainian skeleton slider's helmet showing athletes killed in war
Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned him from wearing his helmet featuring images of athletes killed during the war in Ukraine.
The helmet was worn by the 27-year-old during a Winter Olympics skeleton training session in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Monday.
The athletes featured on the helmet are: weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ischenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, actor and athlete Ivan Kononenko, diver and coach Mykyta Kozubenko, shooter Oleksiy Habarov and dancer Daria Kurdel.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams acknowledged the organization received a request from the Ukraine Olympic committee to use the helmet, but still did not believe it should be allowed.
“We received the formal request to wear the helmet in competition this morning. The IOC fully understands the desire of athletes to remember friends and colleague that have lost their lives in conflict,” Adams said.
“There was an informal meeting last night with Mr. Heraskevych’s coach and his delegation and we reiterated our understanding of the athlete wishing to pay tribute to his fellow Ukrainian athletes.
“He has done that in training and on social media, he has expressed his feelings, but what we have said is this helmet contravenes the … guidelines.”
Adams concluded, saying: “After the meeting, we will make an exception to the guidelines to allow him to wear a black armband during competition to make that commemoration. … We feel this is a good compromise.”
Read more about the IOC’s decision here.
Who is Jutta Leerdam, the Dutch skating superstar?
Watching Jutta Leerdam blaze to glory in the women’s 1000m speed skating final – in Olympic record time – was one of the best performances at this year’s Winter Games so far.
It was a defining moment in the 27-year-old’s incredible career, which has seen her transcend the sport of speed skating.
Above anything else, Leerdam is an elite speed skater who is part of a Dutch team that has dominated the sport of late, but she’s also a social media star who is engaged to Jake Paul.
The YouTuber-turned boxer was in the stands to watch his fiancé’s Olympic dream come true.
“I do not think I ever felt as much pressure as today,” Leerdam told reporters.
“But, on the other hand, I thrive off pressure. I always perform better under pressure.
“The fact I am Olympic champion now still has to sink in,” she said. “I am very happy with this. It means a lot.”
Read more about Leerdam’s life and career here.
Alex Hall in medal position before freestyle skiing run 3
After that sensational run, we saw Alex Hall backstage watching something on his phone, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it was his own run as he shot himself into medal contention there.
Birk Ruud still sits in first after his run 1 score. In third, we have Swiss competitor Andri Ragettli on a score of 78.65.
One element that has caused problems, across both the men’s and women’s events, is the first rail at the top of the slope. It has really been a problem for a lot of competitors as they have struggled with landing moves coming off the jump.
Could it play a factor in run three?
