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• Hockey fight at the Games: Canada’s Tom Wilson came to the defense of a teammate who was elbowed in the face Sunday, squaring up and fighting a France player despite Olympic tradition to avoid brawls. Canada’s goaltender was frank in his assessment: “That’s hockey.”
• Norwegian makes history: Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo became the most decorated Winter Olympian ever yesterday after Norway won the men’s 4x7.5km cross-country skiing relay. It is the ninth gold of Klaebo’s career.
• The roar of the ‘Snow Tiger’: Federica Brignone completed an incredible comeback from a horrific injury suffered in April 2025, winning her second gold of the Games in the giant slalom.
CNN Sports has all of the greatest feats of achievement – and funny anecdotes – from the Games, sign up for our “Milano Memo” newsletter.
The full-throttle, breathtaking sport that’s missing from the Winter Olympics
While the Olympic schedule is full of spectacular sports this year, there is one missing from the agenda – speed skiing.
In fact, speed skiing has only ever been a demonstration event at the Games, wowing audiences at the 1992 Olympics. There are hopes, though, it could feature for real at the next Winter Olympics in 2030.
CNN Sports spoke to the world record holder Simon Billy, who was clocked traveling at 255.500 km/h (158.760 mph) in 2023.
Simon Billy is the fastest man in the world on two skis. In 2023, he set the world record, hurtling down a slope at 158.7 mph. He speaks to CNN about his ambitions and hopes to bring the sport to the 2030 Winter Olympics.
“When I am in my helmet, on my skis, at that moment, everything is just so slow around me. I hear nothing. I don’t see anything either,” he says.
“You have to watch your feet and trust yourself. You have to know the track, and you have to be able to ski down and take the good line.”
This wild blend of horses and skis was the Winter Games’ first 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: “An average person couldn’t do it. This is crazy.
“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.”
Regina Martínez becomes Mexico’s first female Olympic cross-country skier
Regina Martínez made history on Thursday during the women’s 10km interval start, becoming Mexico’s first female Olympic cross-country skier.
While she finished more than 11 minutes back from Swedish gold medalist Frida Karlsson, Martínez – a Mexico City native – cried tears of joy as she crossed the finish line, greeted with hugs and cheers from the event’s medalists.
The 33-year-old emergency room nurse picked up cross-country skiing during her time as a medical student at the University of Minnesota.
Her residency brought her to Miami, Florida, where she trained on roller skates and walked dogs for $10 an hour to fund her Olympic dream.
The sport was, and still is, a much-needed escape from the heavy weight of her hospital work.
“Incredibly grateful for all the love and support,” Martínez wrote on Instagram, dressed in medical scrubs and cross country ski boots in front of the Olympic rings.
Olympic FOMO: How it feels waiting for your event to begin
Estonian freestyle skier Kelly Sildaru is one of many athletes still waiting to compete at this year’s Winter Olympics.
The 23-year-old – who turns 24 tomorrow, coincidentally – is set to participate in the women’s freeski halfpipe, but qualifying for that event doesn’t begin until Thursday, with the final not until Saturday.
Finally in Italy ahead of her practice days, Sildaru spoke to CNN Sports about what watching the action unfold on television feels like.
“I kind of had FOMO or something,” she said. “I saw so many videos of everybody getting here two weeks ago and everything just seemed so exciting.
“And I was like ‘Oh, I want to go to Italy as well.’ I wish I could have been here earlier, but I’m happy I finally made it.”
Sildaru had been training in Switzerland before traveling to her event in Livigno and said she was watching the Olympics on TV between training.
Now, after hours spent traveling, she’s finally ready to compete in what will be her second Games.
“It’s an event that not everybody gets to go to,” she said, explaining what it feels like being an Olympian. “Just being here and representing my country, it just feels really special.”
Do Olympic athletes get paid?
While Olympic medals are highly sought-after accolades, receiving one doesn’t come with any financial bonuses directly from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the organizers of the Games.
This is because the Games originated as an amateur competition intended to champion athletic success and the spirit of sports. Instead, the IOC spreads its money far and wide to further help the development of sport and its athletes.
However, there are more direct methods for athletes to earn money via their success at the Games.
The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee for one, has their Operation Gold grant program, which awards stipends to US athletes who finish in the top-three places in each event at the Olympic Games.
The money awarded varies by medal. Here’s a breakdown from US Paralympics Swimming officials:
- Gold medal: $37,500
- Silver medal: $22,500
- Bronze medal: $15,000
If an athlete has multiple top-three finishes at the Olympic Games, they are eligible for multiple Operation Gold awards, accord to US Paralympics Swimming.
And of course, medalists are set for big paydays from sponsors with some of the top earners pulling in millions of dollars for their Olympic success.
Switzerland’s Loïc Meillard wins slalom gold
Loïc Meillard has done it in the men’s slalom! The Swiss skier, who has been dominant in Milan Cortina, finished with gold – his third medal of the Games. With a combined time of 1:53.61, Meillard nailed both runs.
Atle Lie McGrath, who had a large cushion after the first run, had a Did Not Finish after straddling a gate combination and headed off the course towards the forest after the disappointing end to his run.
Austria’s Fabio Gstrein walked away with silver, finishing 0.35 seconds back from Meillard. Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen finished with the bronze.
Coach Snoop is having a blast at the Olympics
After delighting onlookers with a series of stylish cameos at the Paris Games in 2024, Snoop Dogg is back at the Olympics with a new, slightly more official, job: coach. The gig comes with a fresh wardrobe of looks cooler than the snow-capped Italian alps.
So far, he’s been spotted draped in a full-length, white fluffy coat and fire engine-red hat and gloves, watching the women’s downhill race, and casually chatting with onlookers at the curling mixed doubles, adorned in a zip-jacket emblazoned with Team USA players’ faces.
Wandering the icy streets of Cortina in a furry hat, houndstooth coat and enough swagger to make the snowflake medal hanging from his neck jangle in agreement, Coach Snoop (as one of his beanies reads) appears in his element.
It’s the first time Team USA has had an honorary coach, a volunteer role that involves Snoop lending “his signature humor and heart to help motivate Team USA athletes,” according to the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
The rapper-turned-hype man is a longtime sports fan, popping up in sometimes unexpected ways. Last July he became co-owner and investor in the Welsh football club, Swansea City. He was a torch-bearer at the 2024 Paris Games – and did so again at this year’s Winter Olympics. Much like in 2024, Snoop is reprising his role as a special correspondent for NBC, bringing his distinctive bold and flamboyant style and a genuine enthusiasm for whichever sport he happens to be commentating on – or throwing himself into, flailing limbs and all.
“It’s going down in Cortina,” he told NBC while walking the festive streets ahead of the opening ceremony, in sunglasses. “We got the beautiful people, good food, high fashion. I mean, I’m having a blast.”
Read more about Coach Snoop in Italy here.
France’s Clément Noël splits gate in second run, does not finish
Clément Noël, defending gold medalist in the men’s slalom, put it all on the line today. However, it wasn’t enough. The heavy favorite did not finish his second run.
Noël cut a turn too close and split the gate combination, resulting in a Did Not Finish.
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.
Joy fills the men's slalom, even if you're not in contention
Celebrations were plentiful amongst the first 15 finalists competing in today’s men’s slalom — not because they secured a podium spot, but simply in response to the joy of competing.
With a bib number higher than 50, or even 40, you’re lucky to make the second run — especially at the Olympic level. But for these athletes, winning, or even making the podium, isn’t the point. Finishing the race, getting a shot, skiing on an international stage and doing what you love is the fuel.
Haiti’s Richardson Viano is way off contention in an event being led by Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath after the first run. Despite falling behind even more after his second run – which ran just over a minute long, compared to McGrath’s first run time of 56.14 – Viano couldn’t help smiling.
The men’s slalom heavy hitters are on deck, with run times sinking into the 50-second window.
How spearfishing helped Jamaican bobsled team to Milan Cortina
Jamaican bobsled teams have always grabbed the headlines at the Winter Olympics, especially after the 1993 film “Cool Runnings,” and they are continuing that theme in a unique way at these Games.
Shane Pitter, who is competing for Jamaica in two-man bobsled at these Olympics, praises his background in spearfishing as a reason for his physical strength in the sport.
“It helps to strengthen the small muscles that you don’t get while lifting heavy weights. I do a lot of spear fishing, so that helps me,” he said after his second heat on Monday.
“As thin as I am, I’m very strong when it comes down to pushing a bobsled.”
Jamaica’s duo – comprised of Pitter and his teammate Junior Harris – will be hoping to capitalize off of that strength in the next set of heats, after finishing 23rd on the day with a time of 1:53.40.
One of Jamaica’s biggest fans at these Games has been American rapper and honorary Team USA coach Snoop Dogg and meeting the music superstar at the opening ceremony will live long in the memory for both Pitter and Harris.
“(Harris) cooked for Snoop Dogg and Snoop Dogg loved his cooking,” Pitter said. “He ate the jerk chicken straight down to the bone and was asking everybody to try.”
“They’re life-cherishing moments to me. A legend like Snoop, and he is also one of our biggest supporters. He gives us words of encouragement,” Harris said after the second heat.
“We appreciate that, and we respect him for that.”
After quitting at 16, Alysa Liu returns to skating with a new voice and a world title
As they hiked the Himalayas in 2023, Alysa Liu and her best friend – Shay Newton – found themselves in a deep, existential argument.
Given the option and only this option, they debated, would you rather come back as a chicken or a cow?
It was an absurd conversation, Liu admits now, but after seven hours of trekking uphill and “squatting and pissing behind rocks,’’ the pair had crossed over the threshold. The absurd became essential. By this point in their trip to Nepal, the pair was deep in reflective mode, learning and sharing all sorts of things about and with each other. The cow or chicken choice seemed rather crucial at the time.
Liu felt strongly that being a cow was not only the right answer; it was the only answer. Bovines, she argued, just moseyed around and ate grass at their leisure, the world serving as their personal feedbag.
“The chickens that I’ve seen are hidden behind cages,’’ Liu explained recently. “Yeah, no thank you. I feel like my chances of being reborn as a cow on the hill maybe are a lot higher. There’s a lot of chickens out there, you know what I’m saying?”
Liu, in fact, used to be one of them. For the better part of her childhood, Liu lived inside the gilded cage of figure skating.
If you’re a subscriber, click here to read more about Alysa Liu’s journey back to figure skating here.
Men’s slalom underway, Norway leads
Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath leads the way after Run 1 as the second run of the men’s slalom begins. In second lies Loïc Meillard of Switzerland followed by Austria’s Fabio Gstrein.
In a lineup of 30 real contenders, 21 different nations are being represented.
Cursing and cheating accusations: The feisty curling saga at the Winter Olympics
A controversy swept the Olympic curling competition, involving accusations of cheating, denials involving F-bombs and an international governing body having to explain why it effectively relies on the honor system at times.
So why did a game involving Canada and Sweden’s men’s teams devolve into this situation?
Canada took the win in an 8-6 thriller, but the drama wasn’t just on the ice.
In Friday’s round-robin game, Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson suggested that Canada’s Marc Kennedy broke the rules by touching the curling stone after it was released.
Kennedy shot back, Eriksson rebutted, multiple F-bombs were dropped and Kennedy eventually earned an inappropriate behavior warning from World Curling.
Yet nothing officially happened on the day, with the judge essentially saying “beats me” when asked if he saw the touch.
Replays and some still pictures do appear to show Kennedy’s index finger extending, not unlike the finger of God connecting to Adam above the Sistine Chapel, to glance the stone, but it’s not necessarily conclusive.
Memes have since been made, accusations hurled and defensive positions taken. Social media was full of people accusing Canada of sullying the great sport and sportsmanship of curling.
Find out more about the controversy here.
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 more here:
Austrian ski jumper disqualified from large hill individual after wearing oversized boots
Austrian ski jumper Daniel Tschofenig was disqualified from the men’s individual large hill individual event on Saturday after wearing a pair of boots that were four millimeters larger than regulations allow.
The 23-year-old, who was one of the favorites to claim gold in the event, had already qualified for the final before the judges ruled his 1st round jump wouldn’t count and that he should be disqualified for wearing the oversized boots that were deemed to have given him an advantage on the distance of his attempt.
“I used new shoes in training which, by the way, I wasn’t very happy with, but I kept them,” Tschofenig said according to BBC Sport.
“Unfortunately, I was naive and didn’t measure it. Extremely stupid of me, there was just so much stress going on. But rules are rules.”
His breach of the rules and consequent disqualification gave Slovakia’s Hektor Kapustik a place to the final, but it was Slovenia’s Domen Prevc who went on to claim gold followed by Japan’s Ren Nikaido with the silver and Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak earning bronze.
Xandra Velzeboer wins second gold of the Games in women's short track
The Dutch fans went crazy inside the arena after Xandra Velzeboer crossed the line first in the women’s 1000m short track final.
It’s the 24-year-old’s second gold medal of the Olympics having already won the 500m short track event.
She celebrated with her coach and teammates on the side of the track, taking a moment to take it all in.
“It’s crazy, I really have no words for it. I felt super strong already in the heat and today in every race I was very much in control,” she said post-race.
Canada’s Courtney Sarault is very happy with her silver medal, while South Korea’s Kim Gil-li took bronze.
It was a tough race for Italy’s skating hero Arianna Fontana. The 35-year-old looked be in a good position in the final but was bumped to the back and couldn’t recover in time.
Want to train like a Winter Olympics athlete? Here’s what to eat, when and how often
As some of the world’s top athletes gather in northern Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics, many may enjoy the country’s pasta and pizza while sticking closely to their optimal nutrition routines and plans.
For many Olympians, knowing when and what to eat can be just as crucial as the hours spent training on the ice, snow or track.
Inside the Milan Olympic Village’s main dining hall, where athletes and team officials gather throughout the day, there are various menus tailored to athletes’ nutritional needs and cultural preferences. The scale of the operation includes preparing about 3,000 eggs and approximately 450 kilograms (almost 1,000 pounds) of pasta each day, according to the Olympics website.
The main dining hall serves about 3,400 meals per day, across six food stations — and those meals go hand in hand with training.
Nutrition supports the “actual physical training” and fuels peak performance, said Kristen Gravani, a performance and food allergy dietitian at Stanford University who has worked with numerous Olympic athletes.
Of course, due to how active they are, most Olympic athletes probably consume and burn more energy than the average person. For instance, during his Olympic training, US competitive swimmer Michael Phelps claimed to consume 10,000 calories in a day, and Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake said 16 ripe bananas every day were his secret for running.
But calorie intake and extreme eating habits aside, there are some key practices in Olympic athletes’ training and nutrition that the average person can emulate.
Read more about how you can train like an Olympian here.
Canada’s Wilson ejected for Olympic brawl: “That’s hockey”
While hockey brawls are a seemingly traditional part of the game, fights are usually avoided at Olympic Games as part of tradition. Additionally, under the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) rules and regulations, fighting is classified as misconduct, which results in ejection.
Canada’s Tom Wilson, however, threw the rule book and Games tradition out the window on Sunday, dropping his gloves and challenging Pierre Crinon to a brawl in the final period of Canada’s 10-2 win over France. Crinon had hit Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon in the face with his forearm, which prompted the brawl.
“I appreciate it,” MacKinnon said. “Tom is a good teammate and I appreciated him sticking up for me.”
“(Crinon) elbowed me in the face and I did not have the puck. … That guy did not want to fight Tom. He just wanted to wrestle. I would not want to fight Tom either.”
Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington was even clearer.
France’s Antoine Keller agreed with the sentiment, even reflecting on the quality of the clash: “Not the best fight for both of the players. They just kind of fell down and everything, but that’s hockey.”
Wilson, who had one goal and one assist on the night, was sidelined for the last seven minutes of the game.
“That is a big part of what we are all about,” Canadian head coach Jon Cooper said. “This team is together, these guys would go through a wall for each other, and it’s fun to watch. We are used to a lot more happening. It was pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things.”
NHL returns to Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina after controversial buildup
The superstars of the NHL have returned to Winter Olympic action, bringing with them thousands of fans from across the world, but it’s been far from a smooth buildup to the Games.
It’s been 12 years since the NHL last featured at the Olympics – the league opted out of the 2022 Games because of the pandemic and decided against allowing players to compete at the 2018 edition, saying the competition would disrupt the hockey season.
Now, though, they are not only competing, but they’re coming in droves – each of the 32 NHL teams will have at least one representative at the Games.
Read more about the return of NHL players to the Olympics here.
