Here's the latest
• Shocking skating loss: USA’s Ilia Malinin said he “blew it” after he placed a shocking eighth in the men’s figure skating final yesterday. He fell twice during the routine. Mikhail Shaidorov won gold in a massive and meaningful victory for Kazakhstan.
• Americans take silver and bronze: Jaelin Kauf and Elizabeth Lemley win silver and bronze, respectively, in the new women’s dual moguls event. Lemley and Kauf won gold and silver in the individual moguls earlier in the week.
• Ice dance controversy: There are questions around a French duo winning the ice dancing event after a French judge’s marks swayed the result, knocking Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates to silver.
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In just 25 years, dozens of places will be too warm to host the Winter Olympics
Jessie Diggins is an endurance athlete. The Olympic cross-country skier describes the intensity of suffering her sport can inflict as a “pain cave.” It doesn’t frighten her; she’s used to digging deep, she can control the pain. What does terrify her, however, is how rapidly her sport is changing because of something completely out of her control: climate change.
She sees the effects everywhere. “I’ve raced World Cups where it was pouring rain and there was barely a strip of snow to ski on, entire seasons were reshaped overnight,” Diggins said. It’s become impossible to hold a winter sporting event without fake snow, she wrote in a blog.
The Milan Cortina Winter Games in the Italian Alps, which will mark Diggins’ final Games, are no different. Snowmaking machines were busy pumping out snow for weeks.
As humans continue to burn planet-heating fossil fuels, winter is changing: Snowfall is declining, snowpack is shrinking and temperatures are rising in many places. Where once mountains were blanketed in thick white powder, many lie bare well into winter.
For those who rely on snow for their livelihoods, every ski season is a nail-biter. For the Winter Olympics, it’s a high-cost, high-stress disaster. Climate change is “reshaping winter sport as we know it,” said a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee.
As athletes compete in Italy, the future of the Winter Olympics hangs in the balance. People are not just questioning how to keep the Games alive, but whether they should be kept alive at all.
Read and see more about how climate change is imperilling the future of the Winter Games here.
History in the making? Can Brazil land a medal on the slopes?
We could be set to witness history being made in the next few hours here at the Stelvio course.
Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen put in a blistering run to top the leaderboard with none of his competitors laying a glove on him.
Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt and Loïc Meillard, who lie in second and third place, have much work to do to make up ground. They sit 0.95 and 1.57 seconds, respectively, off Pinheiro Braathen.
The 25-year-old Brazilian, who has finished second in his last three World Cup giant slalom appearances this season, may not get a better shot at landing South America’s first ever medal at a Winter Olympics.
He will go last in the second run which begins at 1:30 p.m. local / 7:30 a.m. ET.
Brrr... the feels-like temperature in Bormio has averaged just over 20 degrees Fahrenheit
The Winter Olympics are usually held in mountainous areas for easy access to ski events. While some host cities, such as Sochi and Vancouver, are close to local mean sea level, the venues for alpine skiing are typically higher.
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, especially as the men’s hockey competition, featuring NHL players for the first time in 12 years, kicks off.
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.
Love is in the air at the Winter Olympics on Valentine's Day
It’s an occupational hazard for winter sport athletes that every four years Valentine’s Day happens to fall during the Games.
But while priorities may be elsewhere, there is always time for love for the many couples at the Winter Olympics.
Norwegian curlers and husband and wife duo Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien competed together in the mixed doubles with Skaslien admitting they now need to spend some time together off the ice.
“We definitely need some romance now because it’s a long time since we have,” Skaslien told the Olympics. “We’ve been staying in separate rooms now and when we competed. It’s just a lot of training and focusing on the games, so not much time for doing other stuff as husband and wife.
“Maybe we should try to find some nice things to do.”
American ice dancing duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates are also partners off the ice and have been married since 2024.
“Maddie would like chocolate and flowers, which I need to procure,” Bates said. “We usually are competing, but now we’re done competing, so we’ll have some time.”
But for Yannick Schwaller, he says he doesn’t need an excuse to be romantic to wife and mixed curling partner Briar Schwaller-Hürlimann.
“We don’t do Valentine’s Day,” the Swiss curler said. “I’m romantic 365 days a year.”
Australia's Jakara Anthony wins women's dual moguls gold as Jaelin Kauf comes up short
It’s heartbreak for Team USA’s Jaelin Kauf who finishes second in the big final against Australian Jakara Anthony.
Kauf picked up the silver in the single moguls and will have to settle for another runner-up position.
This is Kauf’s second silver medal of these Games and third total in her career, after her silver in Beijing four years ago.
The result is another disappointment for Team USA and its fans. After a tough couple of days for gold medal hopefuls, another big opportunity comes up short.
But on the bright side, it is another two medals added to an already impressive tally.
Team USA's Elizabeth Lemley secures the bronze medal by 1 point
Elizabeth Lemley managed to pick up her second medal of the Winter Olympics with a bronze in the women’s dual moguls.
What a sensational result for an injured Lemley when it wasn’t assured she would even start the run. The big air scores have taken her to a one-point win over France’s Perrine Laffont.
Incredible.
Drama aplenty as Team USA's Jaelin Kauf advances to dual moguls big final
Team USA has a guaranteed medal in the women’s dual moguls.
It wasn’t pretty, but somehow, Jaelin Kauf moved into the big final with a win against Perrine Laffont.
Kauf crashed heavily midway through the run but managed to dust herself off and finish the race.
However, the French skier went outside of the control gate, which is an automatic Did Not Finish, meaning Kauf was guaranteed a spot in the big final and at least a silver medal.
It was then up to individual moguls gold medalist Elizabeth Lemley to try and make it an all-American final.
But Lemley followed in the footsteps of her US teammate and crashed towards the end of her run.
This time there were no favors from the opponent and Australian Jakara Anthony was able to ease her way into the final.
It’s Kauf vs Anthony for the gold.
USA 1-2 still on in women's dual moguls as Jaelin Kauf and Elizabeth Lemley advance
It was a mixed bag for Team USA in the women’s dual moguls quarterfinals.
Gold medal hopeful Jaelin Kauf defeated Kazakh skier Anastassiya Gorodko first up. Gorodko fell early on the run which guaranteed Kauf a spot in the semifinals.
It was then Team USA’s Tess Johnson up next who faced the tough challenge of Perrine Laffont. The French skier squeaked past Johnson with an 18-17 victory, setting up a blockbuster semifinal against Kauf.
The closely fought quarterfinals didn’t end there with Team USA’s Olivia Giaccio taking on Australian Jakara Anthony. Anthony advanced with a 20-15 win, ending the dreams of another American at the quarterfinal stage.
But as US hopes would’ve been fading slightly, Elizabeth Lemley stepped up and delivered when it mattered, advancing to the semifinals where she’ll face Anthony.
Will there be an all-American final between Kauf and Lemley who finished 1-2 in the individual women’s moguls?
Most ski jumpers remain in the air for distances of almost an entire NFL football field
While alpine skiers race downhill, the jumpers turn their skis into wings, remaining airborne for distances of more than 100 meters, or nearly 330 feet – almost as long as an NFL football field. The men’s large hill record is more than 160 yards (substantially further than any football field), set when Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer jumped 146.5 meters in Vancouver.
The focus of snowboarding halfpipe and big-air competitions is often the tricks and landings. But the amplitude of the jumps is equally impressive.
US quartet and medal hopefuls advance to women's dual moguls quarterfinals
The women’s dual moguls competition is firmly underway this morning and the Team USA hopefuls are flying.
There has been some American disappointment in the last couple of days in Italy, but these skiers are doing their utmost to secure some medals early on Day 8.
Jaelin Kauf set the pace and was the first to advance, shortly followed by Tess Johnson and Olivia Giaccio, before individual gold medalist Elizabeth Lemley completed the sweep.
The chance for a Team USA 1, 2, 3, 4 is still on with all four of the skiers managing to avoid each other in the quarterfinals.
They couldn’t, could they?
CNN arrives at a bustling Bormio
If you can’t get a spectator seat in the stands, there’s always the street corner!
As we enter Bormio, hundreds of people are wriggling around the side streets behind the venue complex trying to find the best spot to catch a snippet of the action as the skiers come down the hill.
There’s a definite chill up here with spectators donning woolly hats, scarves and multiple layers. It’s that kind of day.
The whiff of coffee and hot chocolate permeates the air… Not to mention a little bit of glühwein as well!
Adults and kids will be collectively disappointed as stoat mascot merch is running out
Apparently, toy versions of the ambassador stoats Tina and Milo are so highly sought after that official stores are running out of stock. That’s going to be disappointing to some enthusiasts, including a CNN correspondent bereft at the “disaster” and a 19-month-old son of another CNN colleague.
Milan Cortina Olympic organizers, who apparently did not account for the demand for mascot merch, say they are talking to their suppliers.
Check out what’s creating all the hype:
What are stoats and how did they become the mascots for the 2026 Winter Olympics? CNN’s Antonia Mortensen introduces Tina, Milo and the six snowdrops named "The Flo."
US athlete Jaelin Kauf explains dual moguls event debuting at this year’s Winter Olympics
While the sport of freestyle skiing is not new to the Winter Olympics, the dual moguls event will be making its official debut.
The discipline sees two athletes race down a bumpy slope complete with jumps, with the person with the highest score going through to the next round of the bracket.
Scores are based on a combination of turns, speed and air, with all aspects evaluated by seven judges.
Jaelin Kauf is one of the fastest women in dual moguls and will be eyeing a medal for Team USA once the event gets underway.
“I’m super excited for dual moguls. I love the event myself, obviously, but I also think it’s such a great spectator sport. It’s going to be super exciting,” she told CNN Sports.
“Anything can happen. That’s the nature of duals. So I think it is going to really, really amazing to see on that Olympic stage.”
Kauf competed in the previous two Winter Games, winning silver in the individual women’s moguls back in 2022 and repeating the feat this year at Milan Cortina.
It’s a career somewhat inspired by her parents and brother who all have a background in mogul skiing.
“When I was younger, I didn’t think I would be a mogul skier,” she added. “My brother loved it, but I wasn’t super sold on it. I just liked to do what he did and follow him around, but obviously I ended up also loving the sport that they loved as well.
“It’s pretty special to share that for sure.”
French figure skating duo plagued by allegations of abuse and complicity
When French figure skaters won gold over Olympic favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates, some were skeptical of the scoring. But this isn’t Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron’s first scandal — the two have been shrouded in controversy since they arrived in Milan.
Fournier Beaudry’s previous skating partner and boyfriend of 12 years, Nikolaj Sørensen, was banned by the Canadian skating governing body in 2024 for alleged “sexual maltreatment,” after he was accused of sexually assaulting an American figure skater and coach years prior.
Sørensen denied the accusations and his suspension was overturned the next year on jurisdictional grounds, but the case is still pending.
Fournier Beaudry needed a new partner. So the figure skater, who had previously competed for Denmark and Canda, attained French citizenship to compete with Cizeron for France.
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron have maintained their support of Sørensen. In the Netflix documentary “Glitter & Gold,” Fournier Beaudry said Sørensen’s ban was difficult for her “because it was not only about skating, it was about my integrity, it was about his integrity. I know my boyfriend 100%. I know him. And we (stood) strong together.”
Sørensen’s accuser told USA Today last week that the pair’s defense of the skater carries weight, “and using their voices to publicly undermine a survivor’s truth further enforces the culture of silence in figure skating.”
Cizeron, who came out of retirement to compete with Fournier Beaudry, brings his own controversy. Gabriella Papadakis, who won gold with Cizeron in Beijing’s 2022 Olympics, wrote in her memoir that Cizeron was controlling and abusive toward her in their partnership.
Cizeron dismissed the claims as part of a “smear campaign,” and NBC fired Papadakis as a skating analyst after her book was published because of concerns regarding her neutrality, the Associated Press reports.
The French duo did not seem preoccupied on Wednesday night, wearing their gold medals with a French flag draped over their shoulders.
CNN’s Ben Morse contributed to this report.
Ukrainian slider Vladyslav Heraskevych's appeal of his Olympics disqualification dismissed
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed Ukrainian skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych’s appeal to be reinstated into the Olympic Games after he was disqualified from competition for breaking International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules over athlete expression.
Why was he disqualified: The IOC guidelines banned Heraskevych’s helmet featuring images of athletes killed during the war in Ukraine. He wore it anyway.
Read more about why he was DQ’d here.
Happy Valentine's Day: These wives compete against each other in today's Olympic final
It’s good to marry someone who really gets you. For instance, if you’re passionate about sledding 90 mph headfirst down an narrow icy slide that can produce up to five times the normal G-force on tight turns, most people might think you’re crazy.
But do you know who does not think you’re crazy? Another skeleton athlete. And that sounds nice, even if sometimes they’re rooting against you.
We’ve seen married couples compete together in these Olympics, but today’s women’s skeleton event features spouse vs. spouse.
They met, if you can believe, at a skeleton event in 2019; got engaged in 2024 on a trip when they both brought rings planning to propose; and were married last August in a small civil ceremony, a concession to the demands of dual Olympic training schedules.
Meyemans wrote on Instagram at the time, “with the Games being in Italy and the current Italian government making decisions/laws that hurt the LGBTQ+ community (read up on it if you don’t believe it), it feels extra special to potentially compete as married couple and shine a light on marriage equality while doing so.”
Team BB (Belgium and Brazil), as they call themselves, shares resources when they’re training and told The New York Times that any rivalry is muted because in skeleton you’re not on the ice at the same time as your competitors. But they are very in competition.
After the first two heats on Friday, Meylemans and Silveria were eighth and 12th, respectively. The final two heats are today… on Valentine’s Day. Of course.
One last shot at gold for Marco Odermatt
Saturday’s men’s giant slalom (GS) will see all eyes focused on Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt.
The 28-year-old is the defending champion from Beijing 2022 and has been the dominant force in men’s Alpine ski racing for the past five seasons.
He’s won 29 GS races at World Cup events, including three of the seven this season.
But his Milan Cortina Games haven’t gone to plan so far.
A fourth place in the downhill – the competition he was prioritizing – a silver in the team combined and a bronze in the super-G have left him with today’s race as his last shot at gold.
“I’m satisfied, but not overjoyed,” Odermatt, who is on course to win the World Cup overall title for a fifth successive season, said after Wednesday’s super-G.
Odermatt finished his first run in a time of 1:14.87, seeming slightly disappointed as he currently sits in second in the very early going.
Is South America’s first ever Winter Olympics medal on the cards?
We could well see history made on the challenging Stelvio Slope this Saturday in the form of Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.
The Norway-born skier, who quit the Norwegian team in 2023 before returning a year later in the colors of Brazil, is strongly fancied to deliver South America’s first ever Winter Olympics medal.
The 25-year-old became the first Brazilian to win a World Cup race this season in Levi.
“I represent more than 200 million Brazilians, and I am the athlete with the greatest chance and opportunity to bring home a medal,” he said ahead of the race.
“It’s the kind of pressure you harness to reach your highest potential, and that is the state in which you can shine.”
And Pinheiro Braathen has set the standards very early on.
The Brazilian set an incredible time of 1:13.92 with only Marco Odermatt within 1.5 seconds of the run.
He’s certainly in pole position as things stand.
Destination Bormio
The CNN Sports crew is headed to the snow-capped mountains of Bormio – roughly a three-hour drive north from Milan.
Today’s weather compared to last Saturday’s men’s downhill race couldn’t be more different.
If last week was bathed in glorious sunshine and warmth, today we’ve been greeted by a combination of rain and gloomy clouds.
Tricky conditions for the skiers as they prepare to take on one of toughest courses on the alpine circuit.
To Bormio we go!
