🥇 Eileen Gu wins gold in the women’s halfpipe!
So after a fall on her first run, Gu shows nerves of steel to improve with each of her next two runs. Zoe Atkin led after the first runs but despite improving her score to 92.5 on her final effort she falls just short of Li Fanghui, who bagged silver.
Here are the final standings:
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Eileen Gu (CH) 94.75
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Li Fanghui (CH) 93
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Zoe Atkin (GB) 92.50
Key events
What was your favourite moment of Milano Cortina 2026? Get in touch via the link at the top of the page.
Hello all, the players are back on the ice for the second period in the ice hockey. Follow that one with Beau Dure:
That is all from me today. Tom Bassam is back to take you through memory lane.
It began with an opening ceremony at San Siro that showcased Italy’s rich cultural history of music, art, fashion and dance. The overarching theme was harmony – brining together what was different.
Sean Ingle wrote:
In the buildup, the creative director, Marco Balich, had promised that his team of artists and performers had devoted 700 hours of rehearsals to ensure everything would be perfect. They delivered – and then some.
The show began with 70 dancers from Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, twirling and spinning in perfect time, across a background of classical statues. Soon there were also nods to Ancient Rome and the Renaissance, food and fashion, literature and design.
There were also genuflections to Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Armani. There were supermodels in red, green and white, the colours of the Italian flag, walking down a catwalk before the Italian national anthem was played. There was even a surreal section devoted to hand gestures – although none of the ones that are usually seen in Milan rush hour.
Emma John
These Games have been a joy to watch for winter sport experts but equally for those who tune in every four years and had to frantically Google: “What is ski mountaineering?” and “Why do Norway win every gold medal in existence?”.
Emma John’s questions include: “Are Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood actually a disguised Joaquin Phoenix and Timothée Chalamet, deep in character for an upcoming reboot of Wayne’s World?” and “Are Canadians not the nice guys any more?”.
Ice hockey: The Americans draw first blood against Canada! After breakaway and some deft puck handling, Matt Boldy puts his side ahead with their first shot on goal. Auston Matthews and Quinn Hughes assists.
Follow along below for full updates.
Angela Giuffrida
It was a slow start for Team Italy at Milano Cortina but once the hosts began to pick up medals in the second week, the public’s imagination was captured. Angela Giuffrida writes from Rome:
If the streets in the Italian capital felt largely bereft of Olympics fever, the numbers told a different story. More than 1.27m spectators who had bought tickets by the event’s midway point, filling venues to an average 85% of their available capacity.
For what has been the most geographically scattered Winter Olympics ever, that was no small feat. Held under the official banner of Milano Cortina, the Games stretched across almost 8,500 square miles, encompassing Alpine villages in Lombardy such as Bormio and Livigno, along with Anterselva and Val di Fiemme in Trentino-Alto Adige, before wrapping up with Sunday’s closing ceremony in Verona. The vast footprint presented complex logistical challenges for its organisers and athletes, and provided no single hub for its spectators to celebrate.
Speaking to reporters last week, Andrea Varnier, the Milano Cortina Games chief executive, said: “We know that this is not a walk in the park.” He added: “We are completely aware that we are pioneers when it comes to this edition of the Games. We knew that we had many challenges and, after one week, most of them seem to have been overcome.”
Read the full feature on how Italy fell in love with their home Games below.
The Milano Cortina Games surpassed expectations despite a large number of obstacles in the run-up to the world’s biggest winter multi-sports event, the International Olympic Committee said on Sunday, ahead of the closing ceremony.
The Games, which started on 6 February with a dazzling opening ceremony at San Siro in Milan, were under extreme pressure for years due to tight deadlines and a number of building delays, with the widely dispersed venues across northern Italy posing additional challenges for organisers. But when the curtain falls with the closing ceremony in the arena of Verona, organisers and the IOC can breathe a sigh of relief.
“They have been fantastic,” the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, said in her address to members at the Olympic body’s session. “It could not happen without incredible teamwork … and we had it every step of the way.”
“Over the last two weeks we have seen and experienced incredible Games. I have no words really,” said Coventry, presiding over her first Games after her election last year. It was a completely different picture only a few weeks before the start, with organisers scrambling to complete the Santagiulia ice hockey arena as well as the newly built sliding centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, a hotly debated project throughout preparations due to the cost and tight construction deadlines.
“These have been very challenging, difficult years for a series of circumstances,” the Games chief, Giovanni Malago, said. “We never tried to find alibis. But we are all satisfied.”
Despite vocal IOC opposition, Italy decided midway through preparations in 2023 to build a new sliding centre in Cortina. The IOC had suggested that organisers could shift the competition to another country and an existing sliding centre but the Italian government refused.
It opted instead to build a new one, piling more pressure on the embattled organisers and angering the IOC. A series of protests took place on the day the Games began in the Italian financial capital to oppose the presence of analysts from a department that falls under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while the US vice-president JD Vance, present at the opening ceremony, was booed when shown on the stadium’s big screens.
Such were the IOC’s concerns before the Games that when Malago, an IOC member, ran for a spot on the Olympic body’s executive board on the eve of the opening ceremony, he failed spectacularly.
Around 48 fellow members voted against him in a clear snub. It is extremely rare for an IOC member of a host nation to face such opposition from fellow members prior to staging the Games. But when the Olympics got under way most operations went off without any major problems, surprising organisers. While Olympics traditionally struggle with teething problems or more serious issues that can affect venue operations or even a lack of atmosphere, the Games in Italy did not face a major crisis while the winter weather played along to offer impressive snowy Alpine backdrops.
Initial transport concerns between Milan and the mountain clusters in the Dolomites eased almost instantly, mainly due to the limited number of spectators commuting between the two because of the long travel times that can reach six or seven hours. Most fans chose to stay in either Milan or in the mountains.
The European time zone of the Games also meant increased viewership across the continent and the key market of North America, compared to the previous two winter editions held in Asia.
The Games also got a major boost domestically with Italy picking up 30 medals, including 10 golds by Sunday morning, to make the top five on the medals table, and increased viewership and ticket sales during the Games with several hundred thousand sold during the competitions, to bring the total to about 1.5 million from 1.2 million at the start of the Games.
“Thank you for never ceasing to believing in us,” Malago said. “For supporting us in the most difficult moments and there were not a few. Together we were stronger than any challenge and any adversity.”
Here, we will be looking back at the last two weeks of sporting action and looking ahead to tonight’s closing ceremony. In the meantime, get in touch via the email at the top of the blog and send over your most memorable moment from these Games.
Ice hockey: I will be providing key moments from the men’s ice hockey final but if you want full updates, follow along with Beau Dure in our dedicated live blog.
Summary of the day
If you’re just joining us, here is what has happened so far on the final day of the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games:
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Eileen Gu defended her Olympic ski half-pipe title to make it six medals in six events over her Winter Games career. The 22-year-old Gu is already the most decorated freeskier in the short history of the sport at the Olympics. She won the event on the strength of her second run, a clean, technically sound pass and got even better in her final run to finish with a score of 94.75. Her teammate, Li Fanghui, took silver and Zoe Atkin of Britain was third, upping GB’s medal tally to five.
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Sweden’s Ebba Andersson surged away from her rivals to secure a commanding win in the 50km classic cross-country ski race, winning the first gold medal in the event on its Olympic debut. It was redemption for Andersson, who suffered a series of falls in the relay that likely cost her team a gold medal. She also has three second-place finishes at Milano Cortina, one earned after an impressive comeback in the relay and individual silvers in the skiathlon and 10km freestyle event.
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Germany’s Johannes Lochner collected his second bobsleigh gold of these Games in the four-man event, completing a hugely dominant week for the sliding superpower. Compatriot and double-defending champion Francesco Friedrich took silver but Germany’s hopes of a first-ever clean sweep in the event were spoiled when Michael Vogt snatched bronze for Switzerland on the final run.
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Sweden beat Switzerland for women’s curling gold to conclude the sport’s competition at Milano Cortina. It was Sweden’s sixth curling Olympic gold and 13th medal overall the sport, trailing only Canada in both categories. After upsetting top-ranked Canada in the semi-finals Anna Hasselborg’s Sweden defeated Silvana Tirinzoni’s Switzerland 6-5. Canada beat the United States for bronze on Saturday.
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Sidney Crosby is out for Canada in the men’s Olympic hockey gold medal game against the United States after a right knee injury. Crosby skated in a closed practice on Saturday. The 38-year-old left Canada’s quarter-final against the Czech Republic and missed the semi-final against Finland. Connor McDavid wears the captain’s “C” again. He leads the tournament with 13 points in five games.
🥇 Sweden claim women’s curling gold against Switzerland
The final stone dislodges Switzerland’s red and there it is. Sweden win 6-5 to win their second Olympic gold eight years on. What a result for Anna Hasselborg and her team!
Curling: Sweden are just hitting their shots perfectly. Switzerland have one last chance to disrupt the yellow stone in the middle …
Curling: Huge end for the Swiss as they score two to level it all up against Sweden – 5-5 as we go to the 10th end.
Bobsleigh: The Great Britain pilot, Brad Hall, speaks to BBC Sport after a seventh-place finish in the four-man bobsleigh:
It’s very difficult to put into words to be honest. It’s pretty devastating to finish where we did today but we weren’t in the place we wanted to be overnight and we said we were going to come out fighting and do the best we can – and that’s what we feel like we did.
It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to but we have so much to be proud of over the past four years – world championships medals, European champions and World Cup medals as well so, it’s just sucks to end a four-year Olympic period with a result like this. It’s difficult to put into words right now.
Curling: Sweden steal one in the women’s final after an error from Switzerland’s Alina Pätz with the hammer. The Swedes now lead 5-3 with two ends left to make up for it.
Ice hockey: Some big breaking news for the men’s ice hockey final. Canada’s captain, Sidney Crosby is out of the gold-medal game against the United States.
The two-time Olympic champion, will play no part due to an injury sustained in the quarter-final win over the Czech Republic after a heavy hit from the defenceman Radko Gudas. The 38-year-old has two goals and four assists in four games this tournament.
Connor McDavid will continue to wear the ‘C’ in Crosby’s absence.
You can follow our dedicated live blog for the final with Beau Dure below.
🥇🥈 Germany win one-two in four-man bobsleigh
Gold for Johannes Lochner and his team, as the Beijing 2022 gold and silver medallist pilots swap places in 2026! That is a fifth Olympic gold for Thorsten Margis, part of Lochner’s crew. He won two-man and four-man gold in 2018 and 2022 as part of Friedrich’s team.
Francesco Friedrich (Germany) takes silver and it is bronze for Michael Vogt’s Switzerland sled!
Great Britain’s team comprising pilot Brad Hall, Greg Cackett, Leon Greenwood and Taylor Lawrence finish seventh.
Thanks Tom and hello all. Let’s see how those medals shake up then …
Right, to see you through to the conclusion of this one is Yara El-Shaboury. I’ll be back in a bit.
Ammour can’t go clean for the Germany third team and that guarantees a bronze for the Swiss! The third German team post a 3mins 38.68secs overall time.
The fourth-place Swiss put down their quickest start and Vogt delivers in the pilot seat. They’ve put the pressure on Ammour’s German unit in the bronze medal position, with an overall time of 3mins 38.64secs.
Big roar for Baumgartner’s crew go for Italy, but they’re losing time all the way down and can’t move up from fifth.
Unfortunately Hall can’t go quicker, it’s not his cleanest run and the British four finish in 55.03 for a total time of 3mins 39.12secs. It looks like a seventh-place finish for Team GB.
Follador’s team for Switzerland go down in 54.94 so their four-run total is 3mins 39.03secs. Brad Hall’s GB team were on the same time ahead of that Swiss run, can they go better?
Now we’re turning our focus back to the bobsleigh. Here’s the top five ahead of the final runs:
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Germany (Lochner) – 2mins 42.86secs
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Germany (Friedrich) – 2mins 43.34secs (+0.48secs)
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Germany (Ammour) – 2mins 43.78secs (+0.92secs)
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Switzerland (Vogt) – 2mins 43.87secs (+1.01secs)
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Italy (Baumgartner) – 2mins 43.96secs (+1.10secs)
Switzerland and Team GB are joint sixth on 2mins 44.09secs (+1.23secs off the lead)
Quick update on the curling. We’re into the sixth end and the Swedes lead Switzerland 3-1.
For a full look at the updated medal table, hop over to our live page here.
Email from Chris Page:
Gutted for Zoe, but very proud. I think the judges were unnecessarily harsh. But my mind is now turning to the upcoming Paralympics, especially the Wheelchair Curling. It requires even more skill and finesse than the non-disabled variety, as there’s no sweeping involved.
Let me know your thoughts on the action via the link at the top of the page.
Cross country is a mad sport, 49km of gruelling skiing and then a sprint uphill. Super human athletes. Right, here are the final places in the cross country:
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Ebba Andersson (SWE)
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Heidi Weng (NOR)
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Nadja Kälin (CHE)
Here comes Diggins, but she can’t get past Fosnæs on the climb. Kälin still leads this mini-race and is pulling away. It’s bronze for Kälin!
Nadja Kälin of Switzerland has a little lead going into the last climb and Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs of Norway is just behind her. Jessie Diggins of USA is on their tale, she could go past on this incline.
Norway’s Weng comes in to take silver, who will take bronze? This will comes down to a sprint.
🥇 Sweden’s Ebba Andersson wins gold in the 50km cross country
Andersson goes into Klaebo mode on the final climb and enters the stadium all alone. She’s been the silver lady so far in this Games, but now gets her golden moment.
Taking a brief switch over the cross country, Sweden’s Ebba Andersson has a huge lead with less than 5km to go. She well away for gold and Heidi Weng has a decent gap for second, but the shake up for bronze could be interesting with five athletes all in with a shout.
🥇 Eileen Gu wins gold in the women’s halfpipe!
So after a fall on her first run, Gu shows nerves of steel to improve with each of her next two runs. Zoe Atkin led after the first runs but despite improving her score to 92.5 on her final effort she falls just short of Li Fanghui, who bagged silver.
Here are the final standings:
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Eileen Gu (CH) 94.75
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Li Fanghui (CH) 93
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Zoe Atkin (GB) 92.50
It’s bronze for Atkin!
She put it all out there, the height was massive and she lands a switch 900 to finish but the judges only gave her 92.50, meaning she’s 0.50 short of silver. That’s Team GB’s fifth medal of the Games, adding to the three golds and one silver.
Zoe Atkin goes for gold..
Li Fanghui is guaranteed a medal, will this see her move into gold? It’s clean, technical and greater difficulty than her second run. That’s a 93, meaning Zoe Atkin needs slightly more to move up from bronze.
Indra Brown puts in her best run, she’s a long way off the medals at the moment, but will that change? She goes to 87, for fifth place.
Eileen Gu shuns the 1080 but her run is better than the one that scored 94 but it only improves her scored by 0.75. The task for Zoe Atkin and Li Fanghui is not impossible but is a little bit harder. The BBC boys are surprised that doesn’t score higher.
Zhang Kexin is yet to land a run, but she can put up big scores. Ooooo, that’s the first 1080 we’ve seen in this final and that was an impressive technical run. It wasn’t big on the height and the score of 83.25 reflects that.
What can Amy Fraser do? She’s fourth currently and that’s a big run. There was a lot of switch tricks in there but not a lot of height. It’s good enough for 88 and that won’t win a medal for the Canadian.
This is good, Svea Irving skipped the second run after a bang on the first run and I thought she was out, instead the American is going to give it a go. Unfortunately she calls it early after fighting the landing on her second trick.
Rachael Karker is next, but she falls coming off her jump. The Canadian’s 79.50 puts her in fifth for now.
There’s no improvement from Mischa Thomas, she finishes with a best of 77.75.
