Ilia Malinin: USA Wins Olympia 2026 Team Gold

The Winter Olympics will take place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo from February 6th to 22nd. Around 2,900 athletes from 90 nations are fighting for medals in 116 competitions. Stay up to date on everything worth knowing about the Olympics with the WELT live ticker:

10:50 p.m.: Superstar Malinin wins despite stumbles

Led by superstar Ilia Malinin, the US figure skating team won the gold medal. The top favorite prevailed against Japan in a heart-stopping final for the Olympic victory. The USA got 69 points in Milan, Japan 68 points. In front of Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic, host Italy came third with 60 points.

The 21-year-old, who is also nicknamed “Quadruple God” because of his many quadruple jumps, was the penultimate skater in the competition and showed the best men’s routine – but again he didn’t make any mistakes. Before the men’s free skate, the USA and Japan were tied.

10:27 p.m.: Morgan narrowly misses the final

Freestyle snowboarder Annika Morgan narrowly missed out on reaching the Big Air final. Under the floodlights, the 23-year-old took 13th place in the Livigno Snow Park. She was only 0.75 points short of making it into the medal fight. In the last of the three attempts, Morgan fell and therefore missed an improvement. Only the twelve best starters will take part in the final on Monday evening (7.30 p.m.).

10:12 p.m.: Vonn’s sister speaks out

After Lindsey Vonn’s serious fall, the US star’s sister has now spoken out about the drama on the descent: “That was definitely the last thing we wanted to see,” Vonn’s sister Karin Kildow told NBC. “When something like that happens, you immediately hope she’s OK, and it was scary. When you see the stretchers being set up, it’s not a good sign.”

After the race, IOC President Kirsty Coventry also addressed the 2010 Olympic downhill champion: “We are all thinking of you. You are an incredible inspiration and will forever be an Olympic champion.”

7:18 p.m.: Luger Langenhan wins first German gold

The spell is broken, the German team can add the first gold of these games to the medal table: Luge world champion Max Langenhan won after four runs in the single-seater. Silver went to Jonas Müller (Austria), bronze to the Italian Dominik Filehner.

You can read everything about Langenhan’s triumph here:

6:25 p.m.: Pechstein’s record broken

Snowboarder Claudia Riegler from Austria has replaced German Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein as the oldest starter ever to compete at the Winter Olympics. The 52-year-old competed in the parallel giant slalom and was eliminated in the round of 16 against Ester Ledecka.

“I can still keep up with the young girls and compete with them,” said Riegler, who made her World Cup debut in November 1994. According to her own statement, she was thrown out of the Austrian squad at the age of 30. “They told me I was too old,” said Riegler. However, she later returned.

6:01 p.m.: Speed ​​skating gold to Norway

Norwegian speed skater and world record holder Sander Eitrem won the gold medal in the 5000 meters. The 23-year-old crossed the finish line in 6:03.95 minutes and broke Sweden’s Nils van der Poel’s Olympic record of almost five seconds.

In Eitrem’s outstanding Olympic debut, Czech Metodej Jilek came in second in 6:06.48 minutes. The 19-year-old is the first man from his country to win an Olympic medal in speed skating. The Italian Riccardo Lorello surprisingly came in third (6:09.22 minutes).

You can find the complete medal table here.

4:24 p.m.: Hofmeister falls, Karl celebrates emotionally

A fall in the parallel giant slalom cost snowboarder Ramona Hofmeister her chance of winning a medal at the Winter Olympics in Italy. The 29-year-old was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Quite surprisingly, the three-time Olympic champion Ester Ledecka from the Czech Republic also ended up in the round of the best eight starters.

Hofmeister’s running opponent and Ledecka’s compatriot Zuzana Maderova secured the gold medal. In the men’s category, 40-year-old Benjamin Karl repeated his Olympic victory. Immediately after crossing the finish line, the Austrian tore his clothes off his upper body and tensed his muscles.

3:21 p.m.: Bronze for German biathletes

The German biathlon team got off to a brilliant start in the games with bronze in the mixed relay. Justus Strelow, Philipp Nawrath, Vanessa Voigt and Franziska Preuß won Germany’s first ever Olympic medal in this competition in Antholz. In a dramatic race, the quartet had to admit defeat only to favorites France and hosts Italy, 1:05.3 minutes behind, after a penalty lap by final runner Preuß.

2:14 p.m.: Two-seater tobogganers fall during training

In his fourth Olympic participation, he should finally get the gold. But the way there is a difficult one – luger Toni Eggert and his doubles partner Florian Müller fell during training on Sunday. A few days ago, Eggert caused a stir. The eleven-time world champion was exhausted after finishing sixth at the Olympic dress rehearsal in Oberhof at the end of January. He publicly criticized Müller after a botched start.

Eggert said about his lower man: “He just has to join in once and then we can sort it out. Unfortunately, at the moment we don’t work as a team, that’s annoying to no end. It has to change. When I look at the times, nobody has as fast a box as we do.” Sentences that caused bystanders to shake their heads. According to information from “Bild”, a written complaint was even received by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).

1:37 p.m.: German cross-country skiers have no chance – Klaebo takes gold

As expected, the German cross-country skiers were unable to intervene in the fight for the Olympic medals in the skiathlon. Friedrich Moch took 26th place as the best member of team boss Peter Schlickenrieder’s team. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo secured the gold medal. Shortly before the finish, the Norwegian broke away from a leading group of five and cheered wildly on the home straight. After 20 kilometers, second place surprisingly went to the Frenchman Mathis Desloges. Norway’s Martin Loewstroem Nyenget took bronze.

1:10 p.m.: Silver! Aicher wins first German medal

Ski racer Emma Aicher won the first German medal at these games. The 22-year-old took silver in the downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo and missed gold by just a blink of an eye. The winner was the American Breezy Johnson.

You can read our detailed text here:

12:15 p.m.: Lindsey Vonn had a serious fall

Drama in Cortina: Superstar Lindsey Vonn fell badly in the women’s downhill. The 41-year-old was flown out by helicopter.

You can find all developments here:

12.04 p.m.: Toboggan icon Hackl injured his shoulder

Toboggan icon Georg Hackl fell on the newly built track at the Cortina Sliding Center and injured himself. According to a Latvian FIL doctor, Hackl has dislocated his shoulder and is currently in a clinic. “Bild” first reported on the accident during the women’s training. The 59-year-old “Schorsch” Hackl, who moved from the German association to the Austrians in 2022, is the most successful luger in Olympic history with three gold and two silver medals. “I wanted to watch my tobogganers’ training. I went onto a path and climbed up a little to look at the track. That’s my job. Unfortunately, something broke away from underneath me and I also fell on my head from 1.80 meters,” Hackl told “Bild”.

9.20 a.m.: Olympia makes Italian hits popular again

The Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo are also making Italian hits, which had been somewhat forgotten, popular again. On the first day, spectators at many competition venues sang along to “Nel blu, dipinto di blu”, which is better known internationally as “Volare”. The song from 1958 – originally by Domenico Modugno and Johnny Dorelli – was also part of the central opening ceremony at the San Siro Stadium in Milan.

The classic “Azzurro” by Adriano Celentano could often be heard at the competitions. On the sidelines of the competitions, “Felicità” by Al Bano and Romina Power as well as “Sarà perché ti amo” by Ricchi e Poveri often came off the production line.

8:10 a.m.: Police take action against demonstrators

Riots broke out in Milan during a demonstration on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics. After a protest march of more than 3,000 people toward the Olympic Village, some participants threw smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails toward security forces. The police used batons, water cannons and tear gas. There were six arrests. The protest was directed, among other things, against the presence of officers from the US immigration police ICE at the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The police spoke of around 3,000 participants. According to other estimates there were around 5,000.