What we covered today
• Vonn undergoes surgery: US skiing star Lindsey Vonn is in stable condition following surgery on a fracture in her left leg after she crashed nearly 13 seconds into the Olympic downhill final. Follow here for all the latest.
• Americans go golden: Breezy Johnson won Team USA’s first gold of these Games in the downhill to kick off the day before the Americans won the team figure skating event to cap off a dramatic Day 2 of the Olympics.
• Outside the Games: A large protest against Olympic organizers in Milan yesterday ended in some clashes with police. 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 “Milano Memo” newsletter.
US wins 1st gold while one of its greatest athletes falls. Here's what you need to know about today's events
Dramatic is the word that comes to mind as CNN tries to sum up Day 2 of the Olympics.
Catch up here:
Lindsey Vonn crashed at the start of her highly-anticipated women’s downhill run. Vonn was airlifted about 80 miles away and “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” a Treviso hospital told the Associated Press in a statement.
In the same event, Breezy Johnson blazed down the piste and straight into first place on the leaderboard, winning the United States’ first gold of the Games.
Here are other medal wins today:
Team USA figure skating gold: Ilia Malinin (aka the “Quad God”) boosts the US to gold in the team event, winning the men’s singles free skate and pipping Japan by 1 point after the two countries were tied heading into the final event.
Germany’s first gold: German luger Max Langenhan notched a head-turning total time of 3:31.191 seconds, a track record.
Norway’s OIympic record and gold wins: Norway’s Sander Eitrem won the men’s 5000m speed skating final and broke an Olympic record, clocking in at over 2.5 seconds faster than anyone else on the day. Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won gold in the 10km + 10km men’s skiathlon.
France wins biathlon gold: They picked up the gold medal in the biathlon mixed relay 4 x 6km, beating home favorite Italy by just 25.8 seconds.
Austria’s snowboard win: Benjamin Karl took off his shirt, rolled in the snow and screamed with joy in celebration of his gold medal. Silver medalist Kim Sang-kyum claimed South Korea’s second ever snowboarding medal at a Winter Games.
Czech Republic dominates this event: Back-to-back-to-back gold medals in women’s snowboard parallel giant slalom for Czech Republic. Zuzana Maděrová took home the gold following Ester Ledecká’s consecutive wins in 2018 and 2022.
CNN’s Mia Fishman, Dana O’Neil, Ben Church, Thomas Schlachter and Patrick Sung contributed to this report.
Japan's Kaori Sakamoto is happy with team silver
Kaori Sakamoto, who bumped Japan to a leading score in the women’s free skate, said her win was “a big deal” that made her “really emotional.”
Japan ended up winning the silver medal after Shun Sato finished just 5.17 points short of Ilia Malinin in the men’s free skate, but that really doesn’t matter, Sakamoto said.
Team USA receives a huge ovation as they pick up their gold medals
While Ilia Malinin will grab the headlines, this really was a team performance and all seven of the US athletes on the podium deserve recognition.
The American flag is being waved all around the arena as the skaters are awarded their medals and they all have beaming smiles plastered across their faces throughout the national anthem.
All three nations – Japan, the US and Italy – then come together for a photo on the podium in a show of unity.
It’s been a great night of action here from the Ice Skating Arena and, don’t forget, this is just the first figure skating medal event. We have plenty more to come.
I’m off now to rewatch that Malinin backflip 3,000 times.
Ilia Malinin delivers for Team USA when it matters
That couldn’t have been any closer.
Team USA are worthy winners and have Ilia Malinin to thank for his spellbinding routine when the pressure was on.
The whole squad jumped on each other as Japan’s score was read out to the stadium – you sensed the US team thought Shun Sato might have done enough, but alas.
Sato looked gutted to have not done enough for his team to win gold, but both Team USA and Japan were quick to console him.
Japan settles with the silver medal as Italy takes a brilliant bronze.
A magnificent night for figure skating all round, especially if you’re American.
Team USA wins gold in the team figure skating event, beating Japan by 1 point
Shun Sato doesn’t do quite enough and Team USA takes the gold medal!
Sato scored 194.86, just 5.17 points off of Ilia Malinin’s score, giving the US the 10 points in the men’s singles free skate.
Japan and the US shared the lead in the team event after Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won the women’s free skate, but Malinin’s high score was just enough for the Americans to earn a one-point win over their opponents and defend their team gold from 2022.
Pure cinema as Ilia Malinin sets the mark for Japan to beat
That was four minutes of pure cinema.
US journalists had their heads in their hands after Ilia Malinin slipped on landing at the start of his routine, but those same people were banging the desk with pure excitement and adrenaline as he pulled off that incredible backflip.
The US team looks quite content with that score but perhaps it leaves the door open for Japan.
Shun Sato is now on the ice.
The "Quad God" puts the US in the lead
US favorite Ilia Malinin received a score of 200.03 after his performance, which puts him in the lead, 20.41 points ahead of Italy’s Matteo Rizzo.
The pressure was high on Malinin to score high enough to take a safe lead over Japan.
Shun Sato will be taking to the rink next, and his performance will determine which nation will bring home the team event gold medal.
Tears inside the Ice Skating Arena as Italy secures bronze medal
An amazing moment for Italy at this year’s Olympics.
Matteo Rizzo just brought the house down with a special routine in front of this home crowd. So happy with his performance, he produced a knee slide across the ice in celebration as the crowd chanted his name.
His score means Italy cannot be overtaken in third and it secures the team event bronze.
Italy’s coaches were in tears. Brilliant scenes.
Team USA has plenty of support
I’m sitting very close to Team USA’s bench which is overflowing with skaters and coaches at the side of the rink.
Alysa Liu just ran out and was giving people hugs, but there wasn’t enough space for her to even sit down.
There is equal support from the fans, with hundreds of Team USA supporters making their voices heard.
It’s almost time for Ilia Malinin to take to the ice.
Figure skating team event comes down to final two dances
The crowd is singing and dancing at the moment, but things will become very tense, very quickly in a bit.
It’s basically a straight shootout between Team USA’s Ilia Malinin and Japan’s Shun Sato for which nation will win the team event gold medal.
Malinin will be the fourth man to dance, with Sato closing the competition out right after.
The US is the reigning champion in this event, after beating Japan at the 2022 Games. Will it be roles reversed this time around?
The men are warming up on the ice now, and the atmosphere inside the stadium is the best it’s been.
What is curling, the CNN-favorite sport that is believed to have originated in the 1500s?
It may have wrapped for the day, but one of the staples of the Winter Games – which always seems to capture the hearts and minds of many (including everyone, it seems, at CNN) – is the sport of curling.
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.
And this sport can project a fired-up atmosphere too. Check out Team USA curler Korey Dropkin’s reaction after this takeout against Sweden on Sunday.
Read more about “The Roaring Game” here.
The "Quad God" looks to impress in Milan
When an athlete is so dominant they have the word ‘god’ in their nickname, it would be accurate to say we’re watching a legend be born in real time.
For US figure skater Ilia Malinin, otherwise known as the “Quad God,” that is exactly the case. Despite having never competed at the Winter Olympics, the 21-year-old made a name for himself after becoming the first skater to ever land a quadruple axel jump in competition.
“It means something very special,” he told CNN Sports’ Coy Wire about the nickname.
“It’s not only just now a nickname, but it’s also part of me and there’s so many more parts of me to come in the future.”
On top of the remarkable jump, the Virginia-born star has won four straight national titles, is undefeated in competition since 2023 and one of the favorites for gold in Milan Cortina.
“I try to one-up myself all the time and I usually don’t really think about the outside noise or if anyone else is trying to come up close to me,” Malinin said.
“I’m always just focused on myself and really saying, you know, there’s always, you’ve achieved this, but I always see that there’s more improvements to be made.”
Japan and Team USA share lead in figure skating team event
You can tell Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto was happy with her performance and clearly so were the judges.
She receives a score of 148.62 which means she won the women’s free skating section of this team event. US skater Amber Glenn finishes third.
Perhaps more importantly, it means Japan is now level with Team USA on 59 points.
It’s now all down to the men and Team USA have the “Quad God” himself performing for them.
Amber Glenn looks disappointed as Team USA hunts for team event gold
Team USA’s Amber Glenn looked overwhelmed with emotion after that performance in the women’s free skating of this team event.
The 26-year-old is mobbed with hugs and smiles by her teammates as she leaves the rink, but Glenn doesn’t look happy with the score of 138.62. It puts Glenn into second place, with Japan hot on Team USA’s heels.
Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl on the same day: Does it present a "super" problem?
Sports fans and broadcasters alike have had Sunday, February 8 penciled on their calendars for quite some time, as it marks only the second time that a Super Bowl has coincided with the Winter Olympics.
But does it also give sports lovers a super-sized problem? Namely, US supporters who are currently in Italy to see the American Olympians in action at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games?
For starters, a very long day and night is in prospect for football fans among the US contingent who are watching Olympic sports with their own eyes at the various venues, before catching the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots kick off at – gulp – 12:30 a.m. Monday local time.
The Winter Olympics-Super Bowl clash also extends to American athletes, who most definitely have to keep a close eye on the clock, and their daily routine. The Associated Press’s Tim Reynolds has been looking at the crossover in further detail and has noted that 15 members of the US Olympic team hail from Massachusetts, another eight from Washington, and as he very reasonably puts it, “Who knows how many else with reason to watch?”
Sports administrators aren’t blind to the issue either, with new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry explaining ahead of the Games, “You’ve got big events all working and overlapping … so, the next part of the question is, when are we all going to sit down as one big sporting family and have these conversations around how we prioritize … how do we make space for each of us so that we’re also not competing against each other?”
But that’s for another day.
For those of you following along online, it’s a bit easier: Keep up with CNN Sports’ live coverage from Super Bowl LX here!
Photographers in the firing line of teddy bear tradition at figure skating
One thing I love about the figure skating is the fact fans are allowed to throw soft toys onto the rink as a way of expressing their appreciation for a dancer’s routine.
What I love even more is that the photographers who sit near the edge of the ice have to duck for cover at the end of each performance in case they get hit in the back of the head with a teddy.
It’s the small things.
Madeline Schizas gets homework extension after Olympic excuse
Canadian figure skater Madeline Schizas has just performed first in the women’s free skating section of this team event.
The 22-year-old has been a breakthrough star at this year’s Games after she shared her homework woes on social media.
The Canadian had asked her professor for an extension on a college assignment, with a decent excuse – being at the Olympics.
She later confirmed she did, in fact, get the extension. She scores 125.00 points for her routine tonight and seems happy with that despite a slip at the start of her performance.
“I love you more than maple syrup,” shouts a man from the stand waving a Canadian flag.
Schizas also became a meme for her reaction to getting her score at the weekend, but we won’t get into that just yet…
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.
Pita Taufatofua introduced to the crowd inside the ice skating arena
There was a bit of a lull in proceedings as fans wait for the women’s free skating section of this team event so organizers brought out Olympic cult hero Pita Taufatofua.
Don’t remember him? Imagine him topless.
The Tongan broke the internet in 2016 after he opted to go shirtless and oiled up while carrying Tonga’s flag at the Rio 2016 opening ceremony, and he did so again at the Winter Games in 2018 in South Korea.
He also took part in this year’s opening ceremony on Friday, helping to carry the official Olympic flag. This time, though, he was clothed and de-oiled.
