What we're covering today
• Weather postponing events: The adverse conditions in Livigno mean several snow competitions are being postponed, including the women’s snowboarding slopestyle final and men’s and women’s freeski aerials. It remains to be seen whether the men’s freeski big air final will go ahead today at 1:30 p.m. ET.
• Women’s figure skating begins: Can the American trio of Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito take one step towards getting Team USA its first women’s gold in 24 years? We’ll find out beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.
• Team USA women’s hockey dominates: The American women’s hockey team crushed Sweden 5-0 to triumphantly march into the gold medal game. Team USA will play rival Canada after they beat Switzerland 2-1 in the other semifinal.
CNN Sports has all of the greatest feats of achievement – and funny anecdotes – from the Games, sign up for our “Milano Memo” newsletter.
Dozens of places may be too warm to host the Winter Olympics in 25 years
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.
Learn more about how climate change is threatening the future of the Winter Games.
Did you know all Olympic curling stones come from one small island off Scotland’s coast?
Team USA won silver in mixed doubles curling on Tuesday after reaching the event’s final for the first time during the Winter Olympics. In the semifinal against Italy on Monday, American curler Cory Thiesse made the winning shot that knocked the Italian team’s curling stone out of its place.
The strictly regulated curling stones weigh between 38 and 44 pounds (17 and 20 kilograms) and can last decades. One company, Kays of Scotland, handcrafts most professional and all Olympic stones using granite from a single small uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland.
Granite from Ailsa Craig is exceptionally fine-grained; its minerals are arranged in such a way that tightly knits them together. This density makes the granite particularly resilient to collisions and allows it to be polished to a finish smooth enough to glide on ice. The unique mineral composition also gives the stones an intrinsic ability to curl along their trajectory.
“It’s not just about the ability to withstand chips and cracks. It also has to do with how it moves on the ice and how the stones bounce when they hit each other,” said Dr. Bob Gooday, a geological analyst at National Museums Scotland. “Professional curlers have used other kinds of stones, which slide perfectly well, but when they hit each other, they don’t bounce quite the same.”
Read more about why all curling stones come from Ailsa Craig.
Siblings snatching cross-Atlantic headlines
There have been an abundance of fantastic storylines at these Games, and a pair of American siblings kept up that theme on Monday.
Team USA’s women’s hockey player Taylor Heise scored her nation’s second goal of the night in a 5-0 rout of Sweden to qualify for the gold medal game.
Later in the day across the Atlantic Ocean, her brother Nate Heise was getting headlines of his own when he hit a crucial three-pointer to give the No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones a 69-67 lead with 1:17 left in the game in an eventual 70-67 win over the No. 2-ranked Houston Cougars in college hoops.
Houston had come into the Big 12 matchup having won six straight.
What a magical day for the Heises.
Here's why events in Livigno are being postponed today... and could be on Thursday
If you were wondering why the snowboarding slopestyle final and the women’s and men’s freeski aerials qualifiers have been postponed today, well, look no further than the weather.
There were snow showers in the Livigno area early Tuesday morning, followed by a break. More snow showers are possible this afternoon/evening specifically from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET).
The winds are around 10 mph (16 kph), and while that isn’t much, it may be enough to blow some of that snow around and reduce visibility for the athletes.
These conditions could mean that the men’s freeski big air final taking place at 7:30 p.m. local (1:30 p.m. ET) might be affected.
American freestyle skier Birk Irving told CNN Sports’ Ben Church that there has been a lot of snow.
“It’s been snowing crazy amounts up here. This is the most snow I’ve seen all winter, which is actually kind of nice,” he said. “But, yeah, we had our first training last night, and (the course) was definitely a little slow and blustering but it was good.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that the women’s aerials qualification would be postponed to Wednesday, with the final being moved back to later in the day. Similarly, the IOC said that the men’s aerials qualification would be postponed to Thursday, with the final also being respectively moved.
The women’s snowboarding slopestyle final, meanwhile, is set to take place Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
There is another big system coming into the area Thursday that is expected to bring additional snow showers and breezy conditions which could cause further disruptions to some events.
Need some caffeine in Cortina? Here's how to order a coffee in Italy
All corners of the world have descended on northern Italy as the Games are underway, and there’s one key ritual that all should become familiar with when they’re here: How to order a coffee.
Honestly, you might need one to stay focused on this one-sided women’s hockey semifinal between Team USA and Sweden.
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 “bongiorno,” which is “hello” in Italian.
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.
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.
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.
Summer Olympians are also among those enjoying the Winter Games
It’s not just fans taking in the Winter Olympics in Italy. Team USA Olympic fencers Maia Chamberlain and Mitchell Saron are in Cortina d’Ampezzo soaking in the atmosphere at these Games.
“Definitely a good feeling being a spectator this time,” Saron told CNN Sports.
Chamberlain has been to the women’s giant slalom, curling and will be attending the two-man bobsled event later today (featuring some spearfishing Jamaicans). The respect for fellow Olympians competing at the highest level in their sports isn’t lost in the cooler temperatures of a Winter Games.
“The mental game is all there. I was talking to different athletes and mentality is the key to all the sport,” Chamberlain told CNN Sports. “A lot of similarities, especially with the technique in fencing and curling,” Saron added.
The duo are in “full send” training to compete at the LA28 Olympics but are enjoying their time here in Italy.
“Don’t tell my coach, I’ve really liked the bombardinos here, it’s wonderful,” Chamberlain said. “I had some venison. Super hardy and a lot of good protein in that,” Saton said.
Norway's Oftebro claims second gold of Games in Nordic combined 10km individual/large hill
We’ve got our first gold medal of the day, folks!
Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro has claimed a second gold of these Games after winning the Nordic combined individual Gundersen large hill/10km with a time of 24:45.0.
The 25-year-old clinched gold last week in the Nordic combined individual Gundersen normal hill/10km event, and a stunning final lap performance today gave him the top spot on the podium.
Finishing in second to get the silver was Austria’s Johannes Lamparter followed by Finland’s Ilkka Herola with the bronze.
Speed skating sensation Jordan Stolz has shown how to handle pressure
Much has been made of the weight of expectation at this year’s Winter Games, especially when it comes to American athletes.
But where the likes of Ilia Mailinin and Mikaela Shiffrin have seemingly struggled to live with the pressure, Team USA’s speed skating sensation Jordan Stolz has thrived.
In just his second Olympics, the 21-year-old has already won two gold medals in the two events he’s competed in. First came 1000m glory and an Olympic record to boot, followed by a 500m victory and another Olympic record.
It’s a worrying precedent for his rivals, given he has the chance to win another two individual gold medals in the Milan Cortina, both in the 1500m event and the mass start.
Given his record in recent years, it’s unsurprising that Stolz was expected to shine on the global stage. And while many would, and have, caved under the pressure, Stolz has only grown ever larger.
Before heading to Milan, the American spoke to CNN Sports and addressed his label of being the man to beat.
“I kind of like it,” he said. “It’s better than being the one who’s hunting. I’d rather be hunted because that means you’re doing something right and winning.”
Read more about Jordan Stolz’s incredible Games here.
Scuffle between Italy and Switzerland in the men's hockey playoffs
It had been a quiet Day 11 so far at the Winter Olympics, but we’ve just had some life sparked into proceedings in the hockey playoff game between Switzerland and Italy.
As we reach the dying embers of the second period, a big scuffle breaks out around the goalmouth between a host of players on both teams after a shot heading towards goal deflected wide.
Italy’s Daniel Mantenuto was handed a roughing penalty for his role in the scrap after he grabbed a Switzerland player around the neck, and surprisingly even tried to fight off one more.
Perhaps, the Italians are letting out some frustrations there, as they are being readily handled by the Swiss, 2-0.
It’s the second fight in the last three days of an Olympic competition that usually sees a “ceasefire” of sorts as teams normally avoid coming to blows in the Games, after Canada’s Tom Wilson was ejected for fighting with France’s Pierre Crinon. There was no bad blood though after the fisticuffs as members of both teams were literally quoted saying, “That’s hockey.”
Cross-country portion of Nordic combined large hill/10km is underway
The cross-country portion of the Nordic combined individual Gundersen large hill/10km is underway over at the Tesero Cross-Country Stadium in northern Italy.
After the ski jumping round earlier today, it’s Japan’s Ryota Yamamoto who sets off first in the cross-country race after jumping the furthest distance in the ski jump portion at 136.5m.
Austria’s Johannes Lamparter begins just 0.08 second behind him after finishing second in the ski jump – and he’s now in the lead after roughly 3.7km.
This Olympic mascot has caused a merch frenzy, but what exactly is a stoat?
Tina and Milo — the sibling mascots representing the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, respectively — have been bouncing around Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, chopping it up with Snoop Dogg and cheering on athletes from the stands. Grinning, plushie versions are now coveted pieces of Olympics merch, and the organizers have assigned the slender, sharp-eyed creatures distinct personalities and interests: Tina, with her cream-colored fur, has developed an affinity for curling; the brown-coated Milo, whose official biography says he was born missing one paw, is prone to playing practical jokes.
In Italian, Tina and Milo are called “ermellini.” For English-speaking Olympic fans, though, the word being used is “stoats.”
“Stoat” — a word first recorded in the 1400s and which stems from the Middle English “stote” — is one of the English names for a small predatory mammal, Mustela erminea, with a short, black-tipped tail, found not only in the Italian Alps but across a broad stretch of Europe, Asia and North America. Stoats are six to 12 inches long, with brown coats that, in some subspecies, turn white in the winter except for the black tail tip.
Small though they are, stoats belong to the famously fierce mustelid family, a carnivorous classification that also includes otters, ferrets and wolverines.
Apple, biscuit and twig: Explaining hockey 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.
With the USA-Germany game getting started, 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, is underway.
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.
How this Brazilian athlete overcame Covid and a near-fatal crash to make the Olympics
From the age of just nine, Bruna Moura vowed that she would make something of her life. She can vividly remember being pulled to the front of the classroom in Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil so that her teacher could belittle her for not answering a question 100% correctly.
“She said that I was too dumb and I would never go anywhere, never be anything, never be anyone,” she recalled in an interview with CNN Sports.
The question? Which South American countries border Brazil, and which do not?
She says that she answered most of it correctly, forgetting only Bolivia and Suriname. By the time she got back to her seat, Moura was determined to prove her teacher wrong.
She said, “It was in that moment I decided whatever I want to be in life, I will get to the top of it.”
By the time she was 15, her aspirations were beginning to crystallize: Moura would be a professional athlete and compete in the Olympic Games.
“The top of a sports career is reaching the Olympics,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the first or the last place, if you are an Olympian, your name is written in the books.”
On February 10, at the age of 31, Moura became an Olympian, but her road to the Games was tougher than she could have ever imagined – a 16-year odyssey involving both summer and winter sports, a Covid-19 scare and a fatal car crash that could have easily killed her.
Read more about how Moura’s 74th and 99th place Olympic finishes were a huge success here.
Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida tells CNN her gold-laden Olympics are "like a dream"
Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida wrote history last week when she claimed golds in the women’s 3000m speed skating and then another in the 5000m, and she’s been enjoying the aftermath of that success since.
“It’s like a dream,” she told CNN Sports. “I got a lot of messages from the Italians, both moms and dads, saying thank you because you are an example.”
The 35-year-old is not only an example to young Italians across the country, but also her two-year-old son, Tommaso, who went viral for his toddler antics in an interview after Lollobrigida’s first gold in Milan Cortina.
“In 10 or five years, we’re gonna laugh together because another goal was to show Tommaso how strong his mom is,” she said.
“I had (won) a world title, European title, a lot of medals at the World Cup, but never in front of my son. So it’s something I wanted to do for him for sure.”
Even with the unprecedented victories, Lollobrigida is not done at these Games. The Italian still has two events left to compete in, the women’s 1500m and the mass start, and she’s aiming to keep her winning form up in both.
“I have to,” she exclaimed when asked if she can maintain her energy and adrenaline for the last two races.
“When it gets close to the race again, I just want to give everything I have again.”
Lindsey Vonn back in the US after crash in Olympic downhill
American skiing star Lindsey Vonn confirmed late on Monday that she had returned to the US for the first time since breaking her left leg in the Olympic downhill competition.
“Haven’t stood on my feet in over a week… been in a hospital bed immobile since my race. And although I’m not yet able to stand, being back on home soil feels amazing,” Vonn posted on X with an American flag emoji.
“Huge thank you to everyone in Italy for taking good care of me.”
On February 8, the 41-year-old crashed in her Olympic downhill run and suffered a serious fracture in her left leg, ending her Olympic dream. She then had several successful operations at the Ca’Foncello hospital in Treviso.
The former downhill Olympic champion was competing with a torn ACL in her left knee that she suffered nine days before she was due to compete at the Games.
While she did not end her Olympic run on a high note, as my colleague Dana O’Neil shows, Vonn’s Games were anything but a failure.
Nordic combined is facing decline. Its savior could be finally allowing women to compete
A little more than a week before the 2026 Winter Olympics were set to begin, Annika and Niklas Malacinski dialed into a Zoom call from their World Cup event in Austria. The sibling tandem from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, are among the best in the US in Nordic combined, which combines perhaps the most disparate sports possible: cross-country skiing and ski jumping.
While its peculiar sport partnering is a worthwhile trivia stumper, Nordic combined is one of the 16 original Winter Olympics events, dating back to the Games’ origins in 1924 in Chamonix, France.
It’s also the only winter sport to never allow women to compete at the Games.
Which means Niklas, ranked 29th in the world, will be part of Team USA in Milan Cortina; Annika, ranked 10th, will not.
Read more about the existential Games crisis that the sport is having.
Where are the medal events? Why is there no snow action?
If you’re wondering why no medal events or snow competitions have been showing up on your broadcast or on this live coverage, it’s because of everyone’s favorite unpredictable event: the weather.
Olympics officials put out the notice that the first planned medal event of the day – the women’s snowboarding slopestyle final – was postponed due to “unfavourable weather conditions” in Livigno.
Similarly, qualifications for the women’s freestyle skiing aerials were postponed as they are also taking place in Livigno. Needless to say, that has left us at CNN in a bit of a rut as we really enjoy the snow sports.
Regardless, we have a lot of ice action going on two playoff hockey games going on: Germany vs France and Switzerland vs Italy.
In the words of the immortal Mr. Freeze in “Batman and Robin”: very n-iiiiicee.
Why motherhood was key to Elana Meyers Taylor grabbing that elusive gold medal
The gold medal that long eluded her finally hanging around her neck, Elana Meyers Taylor immediately laughed off any notion that she was in the middle of a life-changing moment.
“In six days, I’ve got school pick up and drop offs in the middle of Texas,” she said, while wearing her Team USA parka and snow pants. “Like none of this stuff, I can’t wear any of it when I go home.”
So much of these Olympic Games have felt like a lesson in perspective. Gained and lost. Appreciated over time and sometimes delivered with abruptness. Hard earned in some cases. Life earned in all.
The singular focus required to be an Olympic athlete has hardly been abandoned but its edges have been softened by medalists who have been through some stuff: failure, injury, disappointment and – in the case of two women standing in a makeshift media interview zone at the top of the Cortina Curling Center – motherhood.
Seconds after she watched German Laura Nolte cross the finish line a mere .04 behind her to secure that elusive gold, Meyers Taylor crumbled to the ground, the American flag draped around her.
Soon her two boys, Noah and Nico, found her – unsure about the commotion and clearly uninterested in the magnitude of the moment. Now with her sixth Olympic medal across five Games, their mom is officially tied with Bonnie Blair as the most decorated female American Winter Olympian in history. Noah and Nico just wanted to snuggle.
Read more about Meyers Taylor’s journey to the gold medal here.
Norwegian slalom skier has meltdown, marches away from the slope after losing out on gold
Norwegian skier Atle Lie McGrath had the gold medal in his sights in the men’s slalom race Monday but straddled a gate combination in his second run, giving him a DNF (Did Not Finish) and sending the 25-year-old into an emotional meltdown.
After tossing his poles over the netting at the edge of the course in frustration, McGrath could be seen climbing under the fencing and walking off, by himself, towards the woods.
“I just needed to get away from everything,” McGrath said later on. “I thought I would get some peace and quiet, which I didn’t because photographers and police found me out in the woods. I just needed some time for myself.”
The error allowed Swiss skier Loïc Meillard, who has been dominant in Milan Cortina, to win gold.
Once McGrath reached the edge of the woods, he laid down face up in the snow, breathing heavily. After being checked on by medical personnel, he eventually made his way back to finish area without saying a word.
The Norwegian had been wearing an armband during the competition as a tribute to his grandfather, who died the day of the opening ceremony.
“Sports-wise, it’s the worst. It’s not the worst moment of my life, but it’s the worst moment of my career, and it’s been one of the toughest moments of my life with everything that’s been going on,” McGrath said after today’s race.
“I’m normally a guy that’s very good when it comes to perspective on things. If I don’t ski well in a race, I can at least tell myself that I’m healthy and my family’s healthy, and the people I love are here … but that’s not been the case.”
Recap: Team USA crushes Sweden 5-0, advances to gold medal game
It was all stars and stripes Monday night as Team USA’s women’s hockey team dominated Sweden, winning 5-0.
The Americans advance to the gold medal game where they will face arch-rival Canada, which beat Switzerland, 2-1.
Team USA, which has shut out five of its last six Olympic opponents, had five goals from five separate players. Three of those goals were scored within minutes of one another in the second period.
The last Olympic gold medal for Team USA’s women’s squad was at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. The Americans defeated Canada 3-2 in a shootout.
Hilary Knight will have another chance to make Olympic history in the gold medal game. With one more goal at these Games, Knight would break an all-time USA women’s hockey record.
The record, which is currently held by Natalie Darwitz, Katie King and Knight, is just one of the impressive feats she’s chasing. In her fifth Olympics, her 32 points (14 goals and 18 assists) is tied with Jenny Potter’s historic points record.
