Americans poised to win their first Winter Olympics medal
Welcome to your daily review and preview of this year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics. My name is John Cherwa and I’m your tour director for the Games wondering when the United States will get off the schneid and win a medal. Educated guess alert: How about today? Can you say team figure skating?
Saturday was the first day that medals were awarded at the Milan-Cortina Games and not unexpectedly, the host country is doing the best, sweeping all three medal types with a gold in the women’s 3,000 speed skating (Francesca Lollobrigida—before you ask, yes, a grand-niece to Gina) and silver and bronze in the men’s downhill (Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris).
The U.S. squeezed out a 21st in speed skating with Annika Belshaw and 10th in the downhill courtesy of Kyle Negomir.
There is no doubt there is a home country advantage for a variety of reasons: familiarity with the competition venues, easier qualification (the home country gets in every event) and enthusiastic crowds urging them on.
Let’s look. 2022 Beijing, China had 15 medals, only nine in South Korea; 2018 PyeongChang, 17 in 2018, eight in Sochi; 2014 Sochi, Russia had 29 that year to 13 four years earlier; 2010 Vancouver, closer with a 26-24 edge for Canada; 2006 Turin, no edge as Italy had 11 compared to 13 in Salt Lake City; 2002 Salt Lake City, the U.S. had 34 medals in Utah and only 13 in 1998 in Nagano.
Italy had 17 medals in Beijing, meaning it has only 15 more medals to top 2022.
Elsewhere on Saturday:
— The U.S. women’s hockey team beat Finland, 5-0, to go 2-0 in pool play.
— The U.S. mixed curling team, after starting 2-0, lost both matches on Saturday to Britain (6-4) and South Korea (6-5).
— Sweden went 1-2 in the women’s 10K skiathlon as Jessie Diggins topped the U.S. team finishing eighth after a crash on the first lap. The U.S. has never won a medal in cross-country skiing and Diggins was a pre-race medal contender.
— Norway won the women’s normal hill ski jumping competition, with Annika Belshaw being the tops at 21st for the U.S.
— Japan won gold and silver in the men’s snowboard Big Air competition. Ollie Martin of the U.S. was bounced off the stand by the last competitor and finished fourth.
— Despite a mediocre second-place performance by the “Quad God” Ilia Malinin, the U.S. holds the lead with one day to go in the team figure skating. Madison Chalk and Evan Bates of the U.S. won Saturday’s ice dance competition.
NBC GoldZone gets demoted
We have taken the unusual step to demote NBC’s GoldZone (on Peacock) to the SilverZone after a dreadful gaffe on Saturday. In the U.S.-South Korea mixed team curling match, the U.S. rallied with three points in the final frame to tie South Korea sending it to an extra frame. It was down to the last stone to be sent by South Korea with the match on the line. GoldZone, at this moment, cuts to commercial seconds before the final throw. When it came back from the break it went to a canned package on Malinin before picking up figure skating coverage. South Korea won on the last stone and the U.S. and NBC (now) SilverZone lost. Another big gaffe and they could drop to the BronzeZone. Presumably, NBC won’t repeat and pull a Heidi (from 1968) during today’s Super Bowl game.
In case you were wondering
During the Games, we’ll try and answer some questions you might have but didn’t know who to ask. Now you have a spot. We’ll generate a lot of the questions but if you have one, please send to my boss, newsletter editor Houston Mitchell at his email. He prefers to be called Mr. Mitchell as he’s really tired of people saying “Houston, we have a problem.”
In honor of today’s big events:
— Why do they indicate winners when only about a fourth of the downhill field has gone down the course? Unlike sports in which the best people start last (like golf, figure skating etc.) the best skiers go first . So, if you are seeded higher than 15th, your chances of winning are small and highly unusual. The seeding is decided by FIS points and a random bib draw of the top 15 skiers. There are two reasons, the course gets choppier every time a skier goes down the hill so the earlier you run the better chance of fresh and fair snow you have. And, the later in the day it is, the less firm the snow is because of the sun.
— What’s the difference between ice dancing and pairs in figure skating? In short, pairs is way more athletic. In ice dance there are generally no jumps or throws as there are in other disciplines. Skaters also have to stay within two lengths of each other, unlike pairs. Ice dancing is also the most scandal plagued discipline because of the subjectivity of scoring since there are few jumps, throws or lifts. There have also been rumors of deals made between countries. There have been fixing scandals in 1998, 2002 and 2014.
Best Thing to Watch on TV today
It’s going to sound a lot like Saturday, but the big story today is the likely first medal for the United States in the team competition in figure skating. It starts with the pairs at 10:30 a.m. PST and ends with the men’s singles, starring Ilia Malinin , at 2:55 p.m. Anything short of a gold will be a disappointment. If you are up early enough, the other big event is the women’s downhill with the return of Lindsey Vonn, who tore her ACL last week. It starts at 2:30 a.m. PST with Vonn being the 13th woman down the hill. If you want to just hang all day, there are four medal events today in snowboard, starting around 4 a.m. PST and going until about 6 a.m. PST.
Sunday’s full Olympic TV and streaming schedule
Sunday’s live TV and streaming broadcasts for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics unless noted (subject to change). All events stream live on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com with a streaming or cable login. All times Pacific. 🏅 — medal event for live broadcasts.
MULTIPLE SPORTS
7:45 p.m. — “Primetime in Milan” (delay; after Super Bowl): Figure skating, skiing, luge, curling, cross-country skiing and more. | NBC
ALPINE SKIING
2:30 a.m. — 🏅Women’s downhill | USA
6:20 a.m. — Women’s downhill (re-air) | NBC
BIATHLON
5:05 a.m. — 🏅Mixed 4X6-kilometer relay | Peacock
5:45 a.m. — Mixed 4X6-kilometer relay (delay) | NBC
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
3:30 a.m. — 🏅Men’s skiathlon | USA
8:50 a.m. — Men’s skiathlon (re-air) | USA
CURLING
Mixed doubles (round robin)
1 a.m. — Norway vs. Czechia | Peacock
1 a.m. — South Korea vs. Estonia | Peacock
1:55 a.m. — Mixed doubles highlights | USA
5:30 a.m. — U.S. vs. Estonia | USA
5:35 a.m. — Canada vs. Sweden | Peacock
5:35 a.m. — Britain vs. Switzerland | Peacock
5:30 a.m. — Italy vs. Czechia | Peacock
10 a.m. — U.S. vs. Sweden | Peacock
10 a.m. — Canada vs. South Korea | Peacock
10 a.m. — Italy vs. Britain | Peacock
10 a.m. — Switzerland vs. Norway | Peacock
2 p.m. — U.S. vs. Estonia (re-air) | CNBC
4 p.m. — U.S. vs. Sweden (delay) | CNBC
6 p.m. — Italy vs. Britain (delay) | CNBC
FIGURE SKATING
🏅Team competition
10:30 a.m. — Pairs, free skate | USA
11:45 a.m. — Women’s free skate | USA
12:55 p.m. — Men’s free skate | USA
10:30 p.m. — Team competition, final day (re-air) | USA
HOCKEY
7:40 a.m. — France vs. Sweden | Peacock
12:10 a.m. — Czechia vs. Finland | Peacock
2 p.m. — Czechia vs. Finland (delay) | USA
5:30 p.m. — France vs. Sweden (delay) | USA
LUGE
4:30 a.m. — Men’s doubles, training | Peacock
8 a.m. — Men’s singles, Run 3 | USA
9:45 a.m. — 🏅Men’s singles, final run | USA
7:30 p.m. — Men’s singles, runs 3-4 (re-air) | USA
SKI JUMPING
10 a.m. — Men’s normal hill, training | Peacock
SNOWBOARDING
Midnight — Men’s and women’s parallel giant slalom, qualifying | USA
4 a.m. — 🏅Men’s and women’s parallel giant slalom, finals | Peacock
4:30 a.m. — 🏅Men’s and women’s parallel giant slalom, finals (in progress) | NBC
4:30 a.m. — Men’s big air, final (re-air) | USA
7:30 a.m. — Men’s and women’s parallel giant slalom, finals (re-air) | USA
10:30 a.m. — Women’s big air, qualifying | Peacock
3:30 p.m. — Women’s big air, qualifying (delay) | USA
SPEEDSKATING
7 a.m. — 🏅Men’s 5,000 meters | NBC
In case you missed it …
Check out the following Milan-Cortina Olympics dispatches from from the L.A. Times team on the ground Italy:
Doctors explain how Lindsey Vonn can ski at Olympics with a ruptured ACL
‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin conserves energy in Olympic debut; U.S. still leads team skate
Hilary Knight and U.S. women’s hockey routs Finland, works to avoid norovirus
Italian police fire tear gas in clash with anti-ICE protesters near Olympics venue
Meet the ‘Quad God.’ Why Olympic star Ilia Malinin might revolutionize figure skating
NBC juggles emotions of Savannah Guthrie’s family tragedy, celebrating the Winter Olympics
Italians embrace unity — except with JD Vance — during Olympics opening ceremony
Review: Winter Olympics opening ceremony was a sleek Italian spectacle, as only they could deliver
Photos from the sweeping 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics opening ceremony
NBC’s Mike Tirico ready to pull off an Olympic-sized feat at Super Bowl
Inside the Milan Olympic village: real beds, free tech and other athlete perks
From cathedrals to Dolomites: Milan-Cortina Olympics pose a massive logistical test
How climate change is threatening the future of the Winter Olympics
Alysa Liu 2.0: How retirement, perspective helped the U.S. star reach new heights
The power of teamwork: Inside U.S. figure skating’s new Olympic golden age
Hilary Knight’s hockey achievements go beyond gold medals and championships
Everything you need to know about ski mountaineering, the newest Olympic sport
Ten U.S. athletes to watch at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics
Until next time…
That concludes today’s Sports Report Olympic Edition newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email newsletter editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here and select The Sports Report.