Key events
The slopestyle is also under way, Ralph Konnor of USA leading with 36.20 after three incomplrte runs.
The speed skaters are on the ice for the mixed team event; Fontana, who wasn’t involved in the quarter-finals, is out for Italy and in the first race with Netherlands and France.
Jesper Tjader of Sweden is another wonderful loon – and a big medal threat.
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
In latest these people need help, so very much help news, how about Andri Ragettli, soon to go in the slopestyle? I can’t walk down the stairs without clipping my hip on the bannister.
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
After Kirsty Muir yesterday, we all know how the slopestyle works, right? Competitors boust down a course, using rails then three big jumps, to be judged according to the quality, variety and originality of their tricks. Each of them take three goes, with the best one counting.
Back to the speed skating, Canada and China qualify from the third quarter, with Belgium and France going through as fastest losers; the semis are at 11.34, the finals at 12.03.
Alex Hall, the defending champion in the slopestyle, is 27 and still has curtains. Biggup!
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
Oh! In the second heat, USA fall, metaphors abounding, with Korea leading from France from Japan. But Japan crash, two French skaters collide, and at the bell USA are second behind Korea … qualifying in second place.
The quarter-finals of the men’s short track, speed skating, mixed team relay might not need commas, but it’s impenetrable otherwise, so here we are. Netherlands win the first race from Italy, just, with Poland and Hungary way behind.
Ah, BBC visit with Wilf O’Reilly, in their commentary box – a blast from the past for those who remember Calgary 88. Speed skating was a demo event then, and he won two golds, but back to today, sort of, I forgot to note that Arianna Fontana was only 15 when she competed in Turin, ridiculous behaviour – and also one of the beauties of sport, which allows you to watch a person grow up and become who they are.
That was a really nice interview, really capturing the best aspects of this new event. For people who have to rely on themselves almost uniquely, getting to enjoy the camaraderie of being in a team must be great.
Ah, here’s Breezy, who tells us she’s happy with her run. The pressure of holding someone else’s Olympic dream is a lot, but it’s freeing to pass the torch ; “you just get to be a passenger on the amazing ride that is an Olympic race … double-pressure but also half the pressure”.
There was one moment on her run when she thought “Mikaela deserves this”. They spoke yesterday, deciding to go out and do their best, no expectations, and says you get to be a superfan, while also going out and having fun for someone else, adding that it’s special to share a medal with someone else.
From here, we’re building to the men’s slopestyle final, coming up at 11.30. Why not get acquainted with defending champion, Alex Hall.
We’ve finished in the women’s team combined, and Vlhova can simply get acclimatised; Srobova, her partner, came 26 out of 26 finishers, 10.07s off the lead, held by Breezy Johnson with Mikaela Shiffrin to come; Raedler and Huber are second 0.06s down, with Pirovano and Peterlini a further 0.27 down. Emma Aicher, silver medalist in the individual downhill, has 0.74 to make up with her slalom.
Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center head who was the US ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term, criticized Hess on social media, suggesting he “move to Canada if you aren’t proud to wear USA”.
“The guy said he has mixed emotions about representing America,” Grenell said. “[H]e is a loser for saying that while representing the greatest country in the history of the world.”
“The greatest country in the history of the world”; are you six?
Arianna Fontana, one of very few Italians to already compete in a home Games, in Turin 06, and a national hero having won 500m gold in the last two Olympics, is back involved, age 35. The heats were earlier this morning and she qualified for the next round, finishing second in her heat.
Ukrainian accuses IOC of ‘betrayal’ for banning helmet
Sean Ingle
A Ukrainian skeleton racer has accused the International Olympic Committee of “betrayal” after it banned his racing helmet, which showed images of athletes and his friends that were killed following Russia’s invasion, from the Winter Olympics.
On Tuesday morning, Ukraine launched an appeal against the decision, arguing that Vladyslav Heraskevych should be allowed to use his “helmet of memory”, showing the weightlifter Alina Peregudova, boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov at the Winter Olympics.
However, in messages posted to social media late on Tuesday and on Wednesday, Heraskevych made clear his frustration with the IOC’s stance. “A decision that simply breaks my heart,” he wrote. “The feeling that the IOC is betraying those athletes who were part of the Olympic movement, not allowing them to be honoured on the sports arena where these athletes will never be able to step again.”
For those wondering, Breezy was born Breanna – Americans love that name – but after she took the nickname, her parents changed her name legally. I’m laughing to myself imagining my parents doing that with any of the various things my mates have called me over the years.
So much so that BBC have cut away from the slopes and returned to the studio. I can’t wait to see what Shiffrin makes of the course; I daresay Breezy is confident of a second gold.
The top two are still well ahead and we’re through 20 competitors now; none of those left are expected to trouble to podium.
In for Lindsey Vonn, Bella Wright crashes out, so no slalom porton for Nina O’Brien, who’ll return for the Super G.
We’ve got a pair of Swiss teams out next, both of whom have serious slalomers – Camille Rast, the second of them, is the only person to beat Shiffrin this season. But Jasmine Flury isn’t loving her run, leaving Wendy Holdener with a lot to do after finishing 1.54 off the lead in 11th place.
Email! “My normal criteria is spending an night in the country and seeing some sights,” says Björn Björnsson “So an airport hotel doesn’t count. I’m tempted to say seeing some sights so that my few hours on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls counts.”
What about driving through a country? I’ve driven through Belize going from Guatemala to Mexico, so seen some of it, but don’t quite feel like I have.
Easy, Breezy, beautiful. Her time isn’t as good as her winning one, but she zooms over the line to lead by 0.06s – ominous for the rest with Shiffrin to come in the slalom.
A slower section three and Johnson is down by 0.28, but can she sort herself in the final portion?
And she’s 0.01 outside Raedler down section one, but 0.02 inside at the end of two.
Now here comes Breezy…
Next out is Kira Weidle-Winkelmann, whose partner Emma Aicher took silver in the individual event; she almost goes at the end, but ends up fifth, giving her partner a shot at a medal but probably not the gold.
We’re on to our 12th runner, Lie of Norway, who came seventh in the individual event, on the course. But she’s way off this, finishing 0.71 off the Raedler to go fifth. For comparison, the leader recorded 1:36.65; Johnson’s winning time was 1:36.10.
All this remains true.
Allow Instagram content?
This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.
Aaarrggghhh, Goggia goes for too much, cutting an angle, and she thinks about trying to save it but takes the safe option, going down! She’s fine but what an expletive for Lara Della Mea, her partner, who won’t get a run at the slalom.
And she finishes in third; that time from Raedler looks better with every run but out now is Goggia, individual bronze medalist, and she’s hurtling through the first sector.
Out now, Jaqueline Wiles of USA, and she’s inside the lead down the first two sections, then outside it.
Question: what constitutes visiting a country? I ask because I was just thinking Austria is one of few central European countries I’ve not visited, then remembered that interailing from Paris to Prague, we changed trains in Vienna, so does that count?
We’ve our first Italian pelting down the course, and Laura Pirovano is threatening the lead … but finishes 0.21s off it. Raedler still leads for Austria.
This might be the earliest in the morning – having slept – that I’ve ever heard early internet legend, Sandstorm by Darude, pumping over the PA. And you know what? In any circumstance, it’s a tune.
People have a lot to say about stuff they don’t understand, that doesn’t concern them. See Biles, S.
Ooooh, Ariane Raedler of Austria, eighth in the individual event, nails 1:35.65, a time that would’ve been good enough for bronze; she takes the lead, giving Katharina Huber, her partner, a chance in the second portion.
Miradoli of France lays down a quicker time than she did coming 16th in the individual downhill, 1:37.37; I guess she’s used to the course now. Our big names, though, don’t come out for a while: Goggia, who took bronze in the individual event is ninth, Aicher who claimed silver, is doing the slalom portion, and Johnson is 14th with Srobova, Vlhova’s partner, going 28th and last.
Righto, we’re at the top of the mountain, and ready to go in women’s team combined. There’s no sun, but it’s bright and snowing.
Here’s our briefing for today…
What I didn’t realise about Vlhova is that she’s literally not raced since jiggering her ACL. Perhaps for her, this event is a warm-up for the individual slalom, but people like her tend not to view anything as a warm-up for anything.
Goodness us, what a team USA have in the combined. Breezy Johnson, the downhill champ, partnering Mikaela Shiffrin, perhaps the greatest slalomer ever. This is going to be a helluva ruckus.
This is so cool. And also hot.
On BBC, they’re talking about Petra Vlhová, Ggold-medal winner in the Beijing slalom. She’s been out injured for two years, but is back now, competing in the team combined. That’s a lot of pressure for her partner, Katarina Srobova, who’ll need to leave her in the contest with a strong downhill contribution.
Today’s highlights
9.30am – Alpine skiing, women’s team combined, downhill
11.30am – Freestyle skiing, men’s slopestyle, final
12.03pm – Short track mixed team relay, finals
12.24pm – Cross-country skiing, women’s sprint classic style
12.30pm – Biathlon men’s 20lm individual
12.38pm – Cross-country skiing, men’s sprint classic style, final
1pm – Alpine skiing, women’s team combined, slalom
1.05pm – Curling mixed doubles, bronze medal game, GB v Italy
5.05pm – Curling mixed doubles, gold medal game, Sweden v USA
5.34pm – Luge, women’s single, run four
7pm – Ski jumping, mixed team, normal hill, final round
7.10pm – Group A women’s ice hockey, Canada v USA
Preamble
Buongiorno a tutti e benvenuti alle Olimpiadi invernali 2026 – quarto giorno!
And it’s another dead busy day in Milan Cortina. We begin our coverage with the downhill aspect of the women’s team combined, a new event that those who enjoyed it yesterday know is a terrific addition; the slalom section comes later in the day.
In the meantime, we’ve got the men’s slopestyle final in the freeski, USA’s Alex Hall hoping to retain his title; his mum is from nearby Bologna, so he’ll have family watching, presumably a far scarier proposition than twizzling upside down a million miles in the air.
We’ve also got medals being handed out in short track mixed team relay and in a load of cross-country events, biathlon too, after which Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds compete for bronze in the mixed doubles curling, the only event in which Great Britain have yet to win a medal; they face Italy, who won gold four years ago, with USA v Sweden to follow in the final.
Then, this evening, we’ve the final run of the women’s luge, the mixed team normal hill ski jumping, a probable dress rehearsal for the women’s ice hockey final when Canada take on USA – and a whole lot more.
Esattamente! Andiamo!
