Super Sunday: Olympic History and Local Heroes Take Over Milano-Cortina on day 9
Super Sunday: Olympic History and Local Heroes Take Over Milano Cortina
The tenth day of the 2026 Winter Games belonged to the old guard, as a series of clinical masterclasses from the circuit's most seasoned athletes dominated the headlines. On a day defined by pure experience, a legendary skier officially ascended to the throne of Winter Olympic royalty. While the next generation remains firmly in the mix, the over-30s proved that composure is the ultimate performance enhancer, with flawless execution from both local favourites and international stalwarts. From historic firsts on the big hills to an unprecedented double-gold haul for the British, Day 9 proved that in the Italian Alps, the veterans still hold the keys to the kingdom.
Biathlon
The men's 12.5k pursuit finally saw the Swedish breakthrough at these games as Martin Ponsiluoma upgraded his silver medal from Beijing to gold in Antholz with a brilliant performance, putting his usually shaky shooting behind him as he hit 19 out of 20 and crucially hit the final 10 targets, seeing him climb from over 40 seconds down at the start to winning by 20 seconds ahead of Sturla Holm Laegreid who claimed his third individual medal of these games adding to his two previous bronzes he came into the final shoot in a three way battle for 3rd 4th and 5th with Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen and Eric Perrot he was the only one of the three to shoot clear allowing him to claim the silver after hunting down Emilien Jacquelin on the final lap who again had a meltdown on the final shoot which he entered with a 20 second lead on Ponsiluoma but he missed two dropping him to bronze. This race saw the cream rise to the top, with the top 12 consisting of the top 11 in the world cup standings, currently the only exception being Phillip Horn in 11th. Quentin Fillon Maillet will feel he missed his chance of a golden double today. He won the sprint, so started first, but five misses saw him plummet down the order to seventh and finishing well over a minute behind the winner.
The Women's 10km pursuit also provided high-level drama as Italy's home favourite Lisa Vittozzi came from fifth at the start to claim the gold medal on the final shoot as she went clear and Maren Kirkeide missed two that saw her fall from first to third after the final shoot. Kirkeide had to regroup quickly as she was in a battle with Suvi Minkinnen of Finland, and pre-race favourite and world number one Lou Jeanmonnot for silver and bronze, which the Norwegian ultimately came out on top in, passing Minkinnen on the final climb and racing away to silver to back up her Gold in the sprint. Minkinnen managed to hold off Jeanmonnot to take Finland's first biathlon medal since Ville Raikkonen in 1998 and the first female ever to win an individual biathlon medal. Jeanmonnot will be disappointed to not claim a medal, but has now finished first, second, third and fourth at these Olympics in her four races. Dorothea Weirer deserves a mention as she flew through the field with the fastest shoot time and sixth fastest ski time to climb all the way from 44th to 9th, which bodes well for the 35 year old italian potentially having a fairytale end to her career in the mass start next weekend.
Freestyle skiing
The men's dual moguls made its highly anticipated Olympic debut, and it delivered a cinematic conclusion to the career of the greatest mogul skier of all time as Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury secured a dominant gold to claim his country’s first title of these Games, bringing his historic career total to five Olympic moguls medals and a second elusive gold. After the frustration of losing the individual gold on a tiebreaker earlier in the week, Kingsbury had an aura about him today, which saw his final, semi-final and quarter-final opponents all fall as he sauntered to the crown. Ikuma Horishima had the raw speed to challenge; his ambition proved his undoing as he overshot the bottom air, meaning he had to settle for silver. The podium was rounded out by Australia’s Matt Graham, who took the bronze by defeating Japan’s Takuya Shimakawa 20–15 in the small final, capping off a dad podium where all three medalists celebrated with their young children in the finish area. The bracket was defined by early-round carnage that saw several heavyweights fall well before the medal rounds. The most shocking exit was the reigning 2022 individual champion Walter Wallberg, who was bounced in the quarterfinals by Shimakawa in a major upset that cleared the path for Kingsbury. Similarly, the newly crowned individual gold medalist Cooper Woods saw his hopes of a double vanish in the round of 16; he was ousted by American Charlie Mickel, who finished as the top U.S. skier in 6th place.
Cross-Country skiing
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo became the greatest winter Olympian of all time as he, alongside Emil Iversen, Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget and Einar Hedegart, absolutely dominated the 4x7.5km relay to claim the gold and Klaebo's ninth to pull clear of Marit Bjørgen, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, and Bjørn Dæhlie at the top of the all-time winter Olympic individual medal table. This was probably the easiest gold of the lot for Klaebo, as all he had to do on the anchor leg was manage the gap his teammates, particularly Nyenget and Hedegart, had given him over the rest of the pack, and he barely broke a sweat and looked like he'd just been out for a jog, not skied 7.5km on one of the hardest courses in the world with over 500m metres of climbing. This is gold number four for Klaebo of these games, and he is still on for an unprecedented six gold medals from a single winter Olympics. France followed the Norwegians as they claimed their first-ever medal in this event on the back of brilliant legs two and three from Hugo Lapalus and Mathis Desloges, giving the latter his third silver of the games. Italy rounded out the medals after a brilliant final leg from Cross-country skiing legend Federico Pellegrino, who chased Finland down, turning a 21-second deficit into a 4-second lead at the line to claim his third Olympic medal, which would be so many more if Klaebo didn't exist and nothing should be taken away from his amazing career. Sweden had a nightmare finishing 10th over 3 minutes off the pace, showing how much of a transition period their men are in.
This race was made much worse than it could have been due to the IOC's ridiculous quota rules, meaning only 10 teams had 4 men qualified for the games and nations that had the potential to fight for the medals like Austria, Latvia and Great Britian couldnt even compete despite having good enough athletes to contend and if this rule isnt changed for the next games this event could die. It's all good and well giving qualifying spots for the lesser nations, but when it affects the quality of racing this much, i dont believe it's worth it. A relay should have at least 20 teams in it, not 10, an absolute farce.
Alpine skiing
Federica Brignone claimed the women's Giant Slalom to claim an unfathomable second gold of these games, as this was only her fourth race of the season after a terrible crash in April 2025 left her with multiple leg fractures and a torn ACL. She has somehow come back as strong as ever. Ultimately, she claimed this title by 0.62 ahead of second as the class of the field on a very difficult GS piste. The battle for silver was so close, with second to 14th being separated by 0.51, with Sarah Hector and Thea Louise Sjernsund claiming joint silver just 0.05 ahead of Lara Della Mea, who put in a second-run charge that almost saw her climb from 15th after the first run to the podium. Mikaela Shiffrin's Olympic hoodoo still exists as she yet again failed to medal for the eighth consecituive olympic event, as she finished way down in 11th, which would be an unfathomable streak on the World Cup tour. Plenty of the the pre event favourites faultered on this very Super-G style GS course, as pre-event favourite Julia Scheib finished fifth, fellow favourite Alice Robinson finished down in eighth, Camille Rast was twelth and Paula Moltzan was 15th in a very mixed-up finish list.
What a games its turning into for 35-year-old Italian women, the 'class of 90' now sit at five gold and two silvers, which puts just 35 year old italian women currently 4th in the medal table at the time of writing, with Brignone, Francesca Lollobrigida, Arianna Fontana and Dorothea Weirer all showing that age is just a number and you can still perform at an elite level in some of the most physically demanding sports well into a persons 30s.
Snowboarding
The mixed team snowboard cross saw a piece of history as Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale claimed Great Britain's first ever gold medal on snow. They beat Italy's Lorenzo Sommariva and Michela Moioli in silver and France's Loan Bazzolo and Lea Casta in bronze. In the final, Bazzolo won the men's race, but Nightingale was very close behind, and a good way clear of Italy and Australia, who fell so were effectively out of things before the women hit the track. Bankes chased Casta down on the lower turn with a brilliant penultimate turn as she turned underneath Casta on the toe edge, then out-pumped her on the final rollers to pull away and claim gold while towing Moioli also past Casta on the final straight. This gold medal finally arrived for Bankes after four games of trying, meaning she has now won pretty much everything in this sport, bar an individual Olympic medal.
The women's snowboard slopestyle qualification provided a brutal reminder of how thin the margin for error is on the Olympic stage. While defending champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott cruised into the final as the top qualifier with a score of 88.08, several podium favourites saw their gold medal dreams end early.
The biggest shock of the day was the elimination of Mia Brookes. The British sensation, who entered the Games as the reigning World Champion and a fresh X Games gold medalist, struggled to find her feet on the Livigno course. After a frustrating fourth-place finish in the Big Air earlier in the week, Brookes failed to land a clean run in either of her two qualification attempts. She finished in 16th place, well outside the top 12 required to advance.
Joining her on the sidelines is Australia’s Tess Coady. The Beijing 2022 bronze medalist came into the event with high hopes after a solid seventh-place finish in the Big Air, but the Livigno rails proved to be her undoing. Coady, who has been battling back from a recurring ankle issue, couldn't find the precision needed on the technical upper section as she finished way down in 27th.
Japan’s Momo Suzuki also faltered. After an impressive eighth-place finish in the Big Air final last Monday, Suzuki was widely tipped to challenge for the podium in her preferred discipline of slopestyle. However, the 18-year-old was unable to replicate the technical precision that saw her finish 4th in the Aspen World Cup last month. A heavy landing on the final kicker of her first run left her shaken, and a fall on the second rail in her final attempt confirmed her exit in 18th place, just one spot behind the qualification bubble.
So many athletes failed to land a clean run, with only the top 15 managing to land a clean run, showing just how tricky conditions were.
Speed skating
Femke Kok avenged her 1000m silver by taking gold in the 500m in dominant fashion, setting a new Olympic record of 36.49, beating her teammate and 1000m gold medalist Jutta Leerdam by 0.66, a huge margin of victory, the same gap as Leerdam in second and tenth. Miho Takagi claimed the bronze to secure her ninth career Olympic medal, adding to a legendary collection that includes her 1000m gold from Beijing, along with four previous silver medals and will be back for the 1500m, where she will expect to contend for gold. Defending champion Erin Jackson finished the race in fifth place, as the scorching pace set by the Dutch duo proved impossible to match in this record-breaking session.
The men's team pursuit quarterfinals in Milan delivered a major shakeup on Sunday, highlighted by the stunning elimination of the defending champions, Norway. In a high-octane head-to-head heat, the Italian trio of Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini, and Michele Malfatti fed off the raucous home energy to post the fastest time of the session, finishing nearly a full second ahead of the United States. While the Americans lost that specific heat, their time of 3:39.37 was still more than enough to comfortably secure the second-fastest seed for the semifinals. China and the Netherlands joined them in the top four.
Skeleton
Great Britain's Matt Weston and Tabitha Stoecker won the mixed team skeleton and, in the process, made history as Matt Weston is the first British person to win two medals from a single Olympics after his gold in the individual. He put in a superb run to make back a 0.3 deficit to Susanne Kreher and Axel Jungk in silver to win by 0.17 in what was a flawless run. Kreher and Jungk were only 0.01 ahead of their compatriots, Jacqueline Pfeifer and Christopher Grotheer, in bronze in what was a very tight contest. GB nearly got a second medal with Freya Tarbit and Marcus Wyatt, only 0.11 off the medals in fourth. Pre-event contenders Austria faultered due to a jump start from Individual gold medalist Janine Flock, which took away any chance they had of medalling.
Ski jumping
Anna Odine Strøm doubled her golden tally at Milano Cortina by taking the inaugural women's large hill title in clinical fashion, soaring 132.0m in the final round to post a competition-high score of 148.1 points. She overcame her teammate and first-round leader Eirin Maria Kvandal by a margin of 2.1 points. Nika Prevc claimed the bronze to secure her third medal of these Games, fighting back from fifth place at the halfway mark to add to her mixed team gold and normal hill silver. Prevc’s surge broke up what had been a perfect Norwegian lockout after the first round, as Silje Opseth and Heidi Dyhre Traaserud eventually settled for fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Bobsleigh
Germany's Laura Nolte dominated the opening day of the women’s monobob at the Cortina Sliding Centre, setting a track record of 59.44 in her first run to take the lead at the halfway point.
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