Winter Olympics briefing: final preparations amid the noise for Milano Cortina

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In my opening briefing last week, I wrote that organisers were banking on the cultural pull of Italy – its architecture, food, history and fashion – to cut through any political noise surrounding the Milano Cortina Games. So far, that has not been the case. And the Olympics have not yet officially begun.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Milan’s Piazza XXV Aprile, named for the day Italy was liberated from Nazi fascism in 1945, to protest against the planned deployment of ICE agents during the Games. The ICE agents to be deployed to Milan are not from the same unit as the immigration agents cracking down in Minneapolis and other US cities.

The IOC described the focus on ICE and the resurfacing of references to the Los Angeles 2028 chair, Casey Wasserman, in the Jeffrey Epstein files – as “distracting and sad”. Its president, Kirsty Coventry, said once competition begins, “the world [will] remember the magic and the spirit that the Games have.”

Demonstrators in Milan protest against ICE agents at the Winter Olympics

Athletes have largely drowned out the surrounding noise as final training sessions continue ahead of the opening events. Much of the early focus will fall on Lindsey Vonn, whose comeback at 41 could become the defining storyline of these Games, provided she can compete with a ruptured ACL in her left knee after a heavy fall in a World Cup race last Friday.

Vonn’s right knee was reinforced with titanium during surgery in 2024, which enabled her return to competition last season five years after her retirement. On Tuesday, she said: “Today I went skiing and considering how my knee feels, I feel stable, I feel strong. My knee is not swollen and with the help of a brace, I am confident that I can compete [in the downhill race] on Sunday. This is not obviously what I had hoped for … I know what my chances were before the crash and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today. But as long as there’s a chance I will try.”

Lindsey Vonn enters the press conference room

NHL players are returning to Olympic competition for the first time since 2014, restoring the Winter Games’ flagship team event to centre stage. Canada are favourites after winning last year’s Four Nations Face-Off, defeating the United States in a heated final that followed a round-robin meeting which featured three fights in the first nine seconds. Canada are led by Sidney Crosby, a two-time Olympic champion, alongside Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.

The Americans, chasing their first Olympic men’s gold since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980, are stacked with elite talent including Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and the Tkachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady. “I think it’s going to be even more intense at the Olympics,” Matthew Tkachuk said of the Canada-US rivalry.

The curling events stretch across nearly three weeks, all staged at the Cortina Olympic Stadium, which was built for the 1956 Games. Great Britain are prominent contenders, with Bruce Mouat’s men seeking redemption after losing the Beijing final against Sweden in a sudden-death extra end. Canada arrive as a familiar force in the women’s event, where Rachel Homan’s team lead the qualification standings after back-to-back world titles*. In mixed doubles, Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, the unbeaten Olympic champions, are expected to impress on home ice.

Ski jumping will be staged in the Fiemme Valley, regarded as one of the most technically demanding on the World Cup circuit. The two hills, a normal hill of 109m and a large hill stretching to 143m, sit at altitude in the Italian Alps and are expected to reward precision and nerve as much as distance. Slovenia arrive as the nation to beat, led by Domen Prevc, who tops the men’s World Cup standings despite a dramatic recent mishap in Oberstdorf, where a loose ski denied him a jump. His sister, Nika Prevc, leads the women’s standings and has enjoyed a remarkable season with 13 victories en route to consecutive world titles.

Domen Prevc poses with his sister Nika Prevc after setting a new world record in the men’s individual HS240

How it stood

You didn’t think we would forget about the emoji table, did you? Here is what the medal table looked like at the end of the 2022 Beijing Games.

1 🇳🇴 Norway 🥇 16 🥈 8 🥉 13 – Total: 37
2 ◻️ ROC 🥇 5 🥈 12 🥉 15 – Total: 32
3 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 12 🥈 10 🥉 5 – Total: 27
4 🇨🇦 Canada 🥇 4 🥈 8 🥉 14 – Total: 26
5 🇺🇸 US 🥇 9 🥈 9 🥉 7 – Total: 25
Select others
17 🇦🇺 Australia 🥇 1 🥈 2 🥉 1 – Total: 4
20 🇬🇧 Great Britain 🥇 1 🥈 1 🥉 0 – Total: 2

Picture of the day

Snoop Dogg stands on an ice resurfacer at the figure skating venue rink

What to look out for today

Times are all local for Milan and Cortina. For Sydney it is +10 hours, for London it is -1 hour, for New York it is -6 hours and San Francisco is -9 hours.

Curling – 7.05pm: the first session sees four mixed doubles, round-robin matches, including Sweden v South Korea, Great Britain v Norway, Canada v Czech Republic and Estonia v Switzerland.

The last word

Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté competes wearing blue overalls and a yellow T-shirt in the men’s short program of the European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield

Huge thank you to everyone who reposted, shared and supported. Because of you, Universal Studios reconsidered and officially granted the rights for this one special occasion. There are still a couple things to be tied up with the other two [songs in] the program but we are so close to accomplishing it! And it’s all thanks to you!! I’m so happy to see that the minions hitting the Olympic ice is becoming real again!! – The six-time Spanish figure skating champion Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté has been cleared to use music from the Minions franchise after he was initially denied due to a copyright dispute. Minion mania is back on in Milan.

If you have any thoughts, questions or predictions you want to share, you can get in touch with me at [email protected].

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