Today's top stories
• Medal winners: Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida broke a women’s speed skating record in front of the home crowd, Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen won Milan Cortina’s first gold medal, and Japan’s Kira Kimura wowed the judges in the snowboard big air competition.
• Americans on snow and ice: American teen ice skating phenom Ilia Malinin made his Olympic debut. Lindsey Vonn skied even faster than Friday, finishing today’s training run in third place despite a ruptured ACL.
• Outside the Games: Environmental and social justice groups protested against the Olympics in Milan, and a smaller group of activists clashed with police at the end of a peaceful march. Meanwhile, officials are investigating an apparent rail sabotage similar to disruptions at the 2024 Paris Games.
• Latest news: CNN Sports has the latest chatter from the Winter Olympics and incredible stories of athletic achievement. Click here to sign up for the newsletter.
Day 1 of the Winter Games is coming to a close. Here's the latest from Italy
It’s been an exciting first full day of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
If you haven’t been with us for the last couple hours, here’s what to know:
Men’s snowboard big air: Japan’s Kira Kimura walked away with a gold medal after wowing judges and getting the highest score on his final run. Ryoma Kimata, also representing Japan, finished with silver.
Women’s normal hill ski jumping: Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm won gold with 267.3 points, beating Olympic favorite Nika Prevc, from Slovenia, by a little more than a second.
Protesters clash with police: An activist group organized a large protest march against the Olympic organizers in Milan. It was a mostly peaceful afternoon, but after night fell, CNN saw some intense clashes between demonstrators and police.
Ilia Malinin’s debut: The 21-year-old American figure skater — known as the “Quad God” — was greeted by a deafening roar. He scored second behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, but Team USA still qualified for the final round in first place.
Missed all of the action? Read updates on today’s early events here.
CNN’s Mia Fishman, Ben Church and Antonia Mortensen contributed to this report.
Here are the latest photos from the first day of the Games
The first day of the Winter Games is drawing to a close.
US figure skating star Ilia Malinin had his Olympic debut, scoring second behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama in qualifying action.. Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm embraced her teammate after succeeding in securing the gold medal for their country in the women’s normal hill ski jumping event.
An activist group organized a large protest march against the Olympic organizers in Milan. It was a mostly peaceful afternoon, but after night fell, some intense clashes took place between demonstrators and police.
It all promises an exciting couple weeks of Winter Games ahead.
Ilia Malinin thrills in Olympic debut but doesn't top leaderboard
What a performance from a legend in the making.
The rink is littered with fluffy toys, a sign of appreciation in the sport of figure skating, as Malinin leaves the ice with a huge smile.
All eyes now turn to the scoreboard and the American is awarded 98.00 points, leaving him second behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama on 108.67.
Team USA still qualifies for the final in first place and there will be more important routines for Malinin during these Games.
Ilia Malinin makes his Winter Olympic debut
The wait is finally over as Ilia Malinin begins his routine.
The 21-year-old is greeted by the biggest cheer of the night as he glides out onto the ice. His US teammates are also going wild at the side of the rink.
A hush falls over the arena as Malinin takes his mark, dressed in brown and gold.
Kimura nabs gold in men’s snowboard big air
Kira Kimura wowed judges on his final run, notching a 90.50 – the highest score of the night – and walked away with a gold medal.
Kimura’s fellow Japanese teammate Ryoma Kimata finished with a silver medal, followed by China’s Su Yiming in the bronze spot.
Oliver Martin sent it on his third attempt. The well-executed frontside 1800 put the 17-year-old American in position to win a medal, but 10 more of the world’s best big air athletes still had a chance to go.
Uneasy finishes from Canada’s Francis Jobin, New Zealand’s Lyon Farrell and Dane Menzies kept Martin in podium territory.
Despite lower scores from a slew of star athletes, it wasn’t enough for Martin to earn his first Olympic medal and defending gold medalist Su Yiming pushed the Vail, Colorado, native into fourth place.
However, all 12 big air finalists are not done in Milan-Cortina and will compete in the men’s slopestyle.
Norway's Anna Odine Strøm wins gold in women's normal hill ski jumping
The Norwegian ski jumper won gold with 267.3 points, beating Olympic favorite Nika Prevc, from Slovenia, by a little more a second.
Odine Strøm led the first round of the event out of the 30 ski jumpers who qualified for the final round.
Prevc won silver with 266.2 points, and Japan’s Maruyama Nozomi won bronze with 261.8 points.
Team USA's Alysa Liu is here to cheer Ilia Malinin on
Figure skating star Alysa Liu is part of the crew cheering Ilia Malinin on tonight from the side of the rink.
She’s looking relaxed and was taking a picture of the rest of Team USA here to support their star.
Deafening cheers as Ilia Malinin starts his warm up
It feels like everyone inside this arena is here for one man, and one man only.
Ilia Malinin steps out onto the ice for his warmup and is given a huge applause from the crowd, a reaction that included a lot of screams.
He’s the last in this final group of athletes to perform so his fans will have to wait a while longer.
Canada’s Stephen Gogolev is currently leading proceedings here after the first five athletes have performed. Team USA is already in a strong position to qualify after the first three rounds of qualifying so Malinin’s performance will just be the cherry on top.
Ogiwara falls out of podium contention in big air
Despite an impressive qualifying performance, Hiroto Ogiwara, the first big air athlete to land a 2340 at the 2025 Aspen X Games, will miss the podium after a series of crash landings.
The Japanese snowboarder began with a 21.00 point run, but did not improve on his second attempt.
In an effort to save his hopes of a medal, Ogiwara put it all on the line, but ultimately tumbled at the base.
These Greenlandic biathletes have a message for Trump
Greenlandic siblings Ukaleq and Sondre Slettemark are competing with the Danish Olympic Team in biathlon. They cannot race on behalf of Greenland because the autonomous territory is not part of the International Olympic Committee.
“For this Olympics I think we feel very proud to race for Denmark and show the world that Greenland and Denmark are standing strong together despite everything that’s happening,” Ukaleq said.
Sondre said Trump’s threats to take Greenland from Denmark have affected everybody in the territory. Seeing NATO soldiers and Denmark’s military in an otherwise peaceful country has been “shocking,” Ukaleq said.
See more on how Trump’s threats of acquiring Greenland have impacted these athletes:
One run away from big air medalists
A smooth switch backside 1980, which is five-and-a-half spins, boosted Japan’s Ryoma Kimata to the top of the leaderboard.
After this run, his total score sits at 171.50. The 23-year-old has one more run to increase his overall grade in a run for the podium. He will go last in the lineup.
Messy landings from veteran Lyon Farrell, Kira Kimura and Taiga Hasegawa hurt their total scores, but all three have a chance to recover with the final run. Hiroto Ogiwara, who was a podium favorite, ended his second attempt with a crash.
No medal chance for Ilia Malinin today, but that time will come
Quick reminder, Ilia Malinin can’t win a medal tonight because he’s just representing Team USA in the final round of qualifying in the team event.
His time to win medals will come, but for now, hundreds of fans inside the arena are just excited to watch him perform.
Still a while to go before we see him, though.
How the protest march and clashes with police in Milan unfolded
Today’s protest march against Olympics organizers in Milan drew groups from the city, Lombardy and the rest of northern Italy.
An activist organization called the Unsustainable Olympics Committee mobilized a wide coalition: grassroots sports groups, civic and environmental movements, students, housing activists, combative unions, pro‑Palestine networks and transfeminist collectives.
It was a largely peaceful afternoon, with protesters holding signs, marching arm-in-arm, singing and dancing. But after night fell, CNN saw some intense clashes between demonstrators and police.
How it unfolded: After marching from Piazza Medaglie d’Oro, the protesters passed near the Olympic Village, where a large police cordon could be seen securing the area. Some demonstrators threw firecrackers and smoke bombs toward the athletes’ housing — although the buildings were far enough away that none of the objects could actually reach them.
The march then diverted left onto Via Benaco, moving away from the Village.
Clashes began when the protest reached Piazzale Corvetto. The first confrontations erupted there: a smaller group of protesters threw fireworks at police, who responded with a charge. Demonstrators later targeted police vans with additional fireworks. Officers deployed water cannons and tear gas in response.
Not all the protesters joined in on the clashes with authorities, with many demonstrators remaining in the main area of the square.
Norway leads women's normal hill event in ski jumping
Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm leads after the first round of the women’s individual normal hill event in ski jumping. The second and final round will begin shortly.
Slovenia’s Nika Prevc was a favorite to win the gold of the 50 ski jumpers competing for the final round. Maybe surprisingly, though, Prevc is not in the lead of the 30 who qualified for the final round.
Ilia Malinin expected to star in men's short program team event
Ilia Malinin is expected to be one of Team USA’s standout stars during these Games and he’s about to make his Winter Olympic debut today in the men’s short program team event.
The “Quad God” is due to perform last in tonight’s schedule but we’ll have all the information you need as action gets underway in the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
I was just kicked out of my seat, but fear not, I’m sat back down again now.
The first group of dancers are warming up but Malinin will come out in the second.
Run one finishes in the big air final, Kira Kimura leads
Moving into run two out of three in the men’s big air snowboarding final, Japan’s Kira Kimura holds a steady lead with 89.00 points.
The top two qualifiers currently sit toward the bottom of the leaderboard. Ian Matteoli’s messy landing earned the Italian a 26.25 followed by a fall from top-ranked Hiroto Ogiwara.
Su Yiming climbs final leaderboard, chasing back-to-back golds
Defending gold medalist Su Yiming finished his first run with a 1980 worth 88.25 points.
Su, representing, won a gold in big air and silver in slopestyle in the Beijing 2022 Winter Games at 17 years old.
American high school senior debuts in big air finals
USA’s Oliver Martin made his first Olympic appearance on his opening run of the men’s snowboarding big air final scoring a 29.75. His squat-like landing docked points from his score.
He trails Dan Menzies and Ryoma Kimata’s 80-point-plus scores. A dual-event athlete, Martin has World Championship, World Cup and Junior World Championship appearances in slopestyle and big air.
Martin won silver in the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games big air competition. The 17-year-old is the youngest athlete in the finals.
Catch up on today's events as the Games hand out their first medals
After yesterday’s much-anticipated opening ceremony, day one of the Winter Olympics is underway.
Here’s what you need to know:
Games’ first gold: Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen won the first gold medal of the Winter Olympics in the men’s downhill event. Back home, the skier even has a sausage named after him since his 2023 debut.
Italy’s first gold: Italy’s Francesa Lollobrigida is the first Italian woman to earn a speed skating gold with an Olympic record time of 3:54.28. For the first time in 16 years, the Netherlands fell short of a podium appearance in the women’s 3000m.
Women’s skiathlon gold: Sweden’s Frida Karlsson won the second gold medal of the Winter games in the 10km + 10km skiathlon.
US hockey beatdown: USA women’s hockey dominated Finland in Friday’s group game, winning 5-0. Team member Laila Edwards has already made history in Milan as the first Black woman to feature in the US hockey team at a Winter Games.
Lindsey Vonn is ready, coach says: Vonn finished today’s training run in third place overall out of 21 racers – an incredible feat given she is racing with what she called a “completely ruptured” ACL in her left knee.
CNN’s Mia Fishman, Patrick Sung and Ben Church contributed to this report.
A beginner’s guide to big air snowboarding
The name “big air” captures the nature of this event perfectly – these Olympic snowboarders aren’t afraid of sick tricks and big boosts.
Today’s final run at Livigno Snow Park will consist of three runs from each of the 12 athletes, adding their top two best scores from different tricks to merit a total. A different trick is determined by the direction of the rider’s spin. If a rider performs the same rotation twice, the highest score of the two tricks will be counted.
A panel of six judges gives a score ranging from 0-100 based on difficulty, execution, amplitude, landing and progression. Tricks are categorized into many categories including but not limited to grabs, spins and flips.
