Beset by delays, concerns and last-minute building works, the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena finally opened its doors to the Olympics on Thursday.
And while, as the International Olympic Committee admitted, it was not completely ready for its opening game, the arena was in a much better state than it had been when BBC Sport visited five days prior.
The 11,800-capacity stadium was nearly full for the Group B match between Italy and Olympic debutants France, won 4-1 by the host nation.
On the Saturday before the fixture, we found a frantic construction site, with building materials and dust inside and outside the stadium.
Rubbish littered the floor, lifts and toilets were covered in plastic wraps and many areas of the arena, including hospitality boxes as well as food and drink stalls, were unfinished.
Christophe Dubi, the International Olympic Committee’s executive director for the Olympic Games, admitted on Sunday: “Do we have every single space in that venue finished? No. And is everything in that venue needed [for the matches to take place]? No.”
Returning on the morning of the first game – about three hours before face-off – we found the piles of rubble and building materials gone from the concourses inside and out.
Not all the amenities were quite ready, with merchandise stalls being built and posters still to be put up. This is just over three hours before the opening match.
Inside the arena, one side of the stadium was simply a big black wall. This houses temporary stands on top of what will eventually be a stage for concerts, and was supposed to feature large boards with Olympic branding.
In the stands, it was very dusty and dirty. The arena had the feel of a new build, finished in a hurry without much spit and polish.
And around the stadium, it is an actual building site. The arena stands virtually alone in wasteland, 25 minutes’ walk from the nearest metro station and with no amenities, barring a car park, nearby. Bella Italia this is not.
Sebastian Aho scored early in overtime to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 win over the Kings on Sunday.
Brandon Bussi made 11 saves to continue his dominant rookie season, while Jordan Staal and Alexander Nikishin also scored for the Hurricanes, who have earned at least a point in eight straight games (6-0-2).
Samuel Helenius and Quinton Byfield scored for the Kings and Anton Forsberg made 31 saves. The Kings wrapped up their road trip with a 3-1-1 record with one game (last Monday at Columbus) postponed because of severe winter weather.
A winter storm dumped snow all around North Carolina but Raleigh was mostly spared, which made it easier for about 14,000 fans to make it to the arena for the afternoon start.
A day after squandering a three-goal lead in a 4-3 overtime loss at Washington, Aho made sure the Hurricanes didn’t blow a 2-0 lead against the Kings. He beat Forsberg 1:25 into the overtime period after the Kings’ goalie had made two tough saves on Seth Jarvis.
Bussi, a 27-year-old rookie claimed off waivers four days before the season started, continues to be a revelation. He has won 21 of his 25 starts (21-3-1) to help the Hurricanes to first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Nikishin put the Hurricanes up 2-0 with 7:03 to play in the third period. Helenius responded 24 seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1. Byfield finished a beautiful pass from Adrian Kempe with 3:11 left in regulation to tie the game at 2-2.
Staal tipped in Andrei Svechnikov’s pass for his third power-play goal of the season at 6:25 of the first period. Staal has matched last year’s scoring output with 13 goals but in 23 fewer games.
Up next for the Kings: vs. Seattle at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night.
Derek Chisora’s fight with former world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has been confirmed for the O2 Arena in London on 4 April.
The event will be a 50th professional fight for both 42-year-old Chisora and American Wilder, 40.
Chisora said last year he would retire after a 50th bout which would take place overseas, but the Briton is now set to face Wilder on home soil.
The pair were due to fight 13 years ago but Wilder withdrew from the bout after an arrest for domestic violence prevented him from travelling to the UK.
Chisora is on a three-fight winning streak, including points victories over Joe Joyce and Otto Wallin.
Wilder held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020, winning his first 40 fights, and was once considered the division’s most feared puncher.
He drew with Tyson Fury in 2018 in the first bout of their trilogy, then suffered successive defeats by the ‘Gypsy King’ in 2020 and 2021.
Wilder returned in June 2025 after more than a year out with a seventh-round stoppage of little-known Tyrrell Anthony Herndon.
CLEVELAND — He hears it in nearly every arena the Lakers enter.
“We want Bronny. We want Bronny.”
But on Monday night in Cleveland’s Rocket Arena, where the familiar chant reached arena-filling decibels, it felt different. It felt like home.
Bronny James provided some of the few Lakers highlights in the team’s worst loss of the year — a 129-99 drubbing by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday — to turn an emotional homecoming for his father into a happy return for the 21-year-old. James scored eight points with two rebounds, an assist and a steal. He knocked down two three pointers and slammed a one-handed transition dunk to elicit a roar from the crowd that welcomed back a son they watched grow up.
Laker Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers shakes hands with the Cavliers’ Larry Nance Jr. Wednesday.
(Jason Miller / Getty Images)
“I was just excited to go out there and play,” James said. “I’m always ready to go out and play, whether that’s when the entire arena is saying ‘We want Bronny‘ or no one is. I was just really, really grateful that they put me in at that time and I was able to go out and get a few buckets.”
With the Lakers trailing by 20 by the third quarter, the chants for James started early. “We want Bronny” chants occur at nearly every Lakers game, almost turning the young guard’s playing time into a sideshow instead of much-needed opportunities for a developing player trying to find his footing in the NBA.
James hadn’t played in a game since Jan. 18 and hadn’t scored since Jan. 12. But he got on the scoreboard in thrilling fashion Wednesday night, tipping away a crosscourt pass and taking the ball in transition for a dunk that left even his dad nodding approval from the bench.
“He handles all of it so well,” said guard Gabe Vincent, who called Bronny “a light” in the Lakers’ otherwise forgettable blowout. “It’s incredible. His maturity through it all is incredible. … It’s great to see him have a moment like that.”
The former USC guard who also scored his first NBA points in Cleveland as a rookie last year has bounced between the Lakers and the team’s G League affiliate this year as he hopes to make strides as a shooter and on-ball defender while “building up his tolerance for being in elite shape,” coach JJ Redick said. James has had some promising moments, especially when the Lakers were short-handed earlier this season, showing quicker decision making and increased confidence shooting the ball.
Monday was just the second time in his career that he made two threes in a game.
“He’s as level headed and just as normal of a 21-year-old as I’ve ever been around,” Redick said.
When the Lakers got to the arena Monday, James was welcomed home by a childhood photo of him on a screen outside the visiting locker room. It showed him on stage in 2016 during the Cavaliers’ championship celebration wearing a championship hat and white T-shirt, holding up one finger.
LeBron James glanced at the championship banner from that team before the game Monday, fueling the intense emotions of what could be his last game in his hometown against the team that launched his NBA dreams in 2003.
The Cavaliers, wearing navy blue throwback uniforms, showed a tribute video for LeBron James during the first quarter, highlighting James’ takeover of Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals in which he scored 25 consecutive points. Bronny was 3 years old at the time. Almost two decades later, he remembered all the afternoons he spent at the Cavaliers arena after school.
“It’s literally my entire life,” Bronny said of the city of Cleveland. “So just really appreciative of all the people that show some love. I just remember being a kid and being here pretty much every day after school. It’s a bunch of nostalgia coming back and being here.”
The James family was prepared for the occasion. LeBron scanned the arena before the game to find his mother in a suite. She once watched him begin his career in this very arena, now she was watching both her son and her grandson play in the same game. After saying it out loud, the elder James struggled to process 5 idea.
“I don’t even know how to even, like, wrap that all in one in my brain,” LeBron James said. “It’s so weird and so cool and so surreal. My mom gets to watch her son and her grandson play in the NBA at the same time.”
Gloria James waited in the hallway outside the Lakers locker room to take photos with her son and then her grandson. Bronny was the last Laker out of the arena, stopping to take dozens of photos with family members dressed in purple and gold Lakers jerseys. His grandmother told him to “act right.” He promised to oblige.
