Milan Cortina 2026: Team USA’s golden girls

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🥇 Golden girls

Alysa Liu, bursting with joy, executed a virtually flawless free skate on Thursday to take women’s figure skating gold, making her the first American to medal since 2006, and the first to win since 2002.

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From Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee:

There are no record books to measure such things, but it’s entirely possible that no Olympian has ever smiled as much as Liu did on Thursday night.

She smiled when she stepped onto the ice, she smiled when she spotted Amber Glenn, she smiled through her lutzes and loops and salchows, she smiled when she pointed her left finger to the sky to close out her routine.

And she smiled — and giggled a triumphant laugh — when she skated right up to the rinkside camera and bellowed, “That’s what I’m f***ing talking about!”

That is the entire joy of the Alysa Liu experience — giddiness, confidence, joy, serenity — and gold-medal-winning talent. At an Olympics where so many others have crumbled under the pressure, she literally laughed in pressure’s face.

Meanwhile, in women’s ice hockey: Team USA captured gold with a 2-1 comeback victory over Canada, tying the game on captain Hilary Knight’s goal with two minutes left in regulation before winning on Megan Keller’s golden goal in overtime.

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“There was no way we were losing this game. That’s all. Simple as that,” said Knight. “This is the best team I’ve been a part of,” added Keller. “Every single player is top tier, best in the world.”

Back on top: This is the third gold medal for the Americans (1998, 2018, 2026), who went 7-0 in Milan with a ridiculous +31 goal differential and have won eight straight games against their northern neighbors.

Medal count: Team USA has won nine gold medals at these Olympics, one shy of its high-water mark of 10 set at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. And women have played an outsized role in this year’s success, winning six of the nine golds and helping win a seventh:

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1. Alysa Liu (figure skating)

2. Mikaela Shiffrin (slalom)

3. Breezy Johnson (downhill)

4. Elizabeth Lemley (moguls)

5. Elana Meyers Taylor (monobob)

6. Team USA (women’s ice hockey)

7. Team USA (team figure skating)

In fact, the only American man to win an individual gold medal at these Olympics so far is long track speed skater Jordan Stolz, who has two (500m and 1000m).

📺 Weekend Watchlist

🥇 Olympics, Days 14-16

The Winter Games come to a close on Sunday, with 20 medal events left across Northern Italy. Here are the main events to watch this weekend:

• 🏒 Final Four: The men’s hockey semifinals are today, with Canada and Finland meeting first (10:40am ET, Peacock), followed by USA vs. Slovakia (3:10pm, NBC). The bronze-medal match is tomorrow (2:40pm, USA), followed by Sunday’s championship (8:10am, NBC).

• 🥌 History on the line: The American women are in the curling semifinals after Thursday’s clutch victory, putting them one win away from their first medal ever. They face Switzerland today (8am, Peacock) for a spot in either the bronze-medal match (Sat. 8am, Peacock) or gold-medal match (Sun. 5am, Peacock).

• 🥇 Legends take the stage: Italian short track speed skater Arianna Fontana seeks her fourth medal in Milan and record-tying 15th of her career in today’s 1500m finals (2:15pm, USA). Then Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo goes for his sixth gold of these Games (in six events) in tomorrow’s cross-country 50km mass start (5am, Peacock).

• 🔥 The grand finale: The Milan Cortina Games officially end with Sunday’s Closing Ceremony (2:30pm, NBC) at the 2,000-year-old Verona Arena, a historic amphitheater that predates even the Colosseum.

Daily schedule.

🏀 College Basketball

How’s this for a doubleheader? The top four men’s teams in the nation face off on Saturday in a potential Final Four preview. First up is No. 4 Arizona at No. 2 Houston (3pm, ABC), followed by No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 3 Duke in D.C. (6:30pm, ESPN).

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Meanwhile, for the women: There are five ranked matchups on Sunday, headlined by No. 6 Michigan at No. 13 Iowa (12pm, Fox) and No. 17 Ole Miss at No. 3 South Carolina (12pm, ESPN).

⚽️ MLS Kickoff

The league’s 31st season begins this weekend, with all 30 teams taking the field. The headliner: Son Heung-min and LAFC host Lionel Messi and reigning champion Inter Miami (Sat. 9:30pm, Apple) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

New way to watch: Starting this season, all MLS games will be available to Apple TV subscribers at no additional cost. You previously needed a Season Pass subscription to watch every game.

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⚾️ Spring Training

We are back. Spring training games start today, with 37 total over the weekend across Florida’s Grapefruit League and Arizona’s Cactus League. Today’s opener: Yankees vs. Orioles (1pm, MLB).

World Series favorites: The Dodgers (+225 at BetMGM) are the preseason title favorites, followed by the Yankees (+1000), Mariners (+1300), Blue Jays (+1300), Mets (+1400), Braves (+1600), Red Sox (+1600) and Phillies (+1600).

More to watch:

• 🏀 NBA: Mavericks at Timberwolves (Fri. 7:30pm, ESPN); Clippers at Lakers (Fri. 10pm, ESPN); Rockets at Knicks (Sat. 8:30pm, ABC); Cavaliers at Thunder (Sun. 1pm, ABC)

• ⛳️ PGA: Genesis Invitational (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS) … Aaron Rai (-6) leads after an incomplete Round 1, which was suspended due to rain.

• ⚽️ Premier League: Manchester City vs. Newcastle United (Sat. 3pm, Peacock); Tottenham vs. Arsenal (Sun. 11:30am, USA) … Second-place City trails first-place Arsenal by just five points, with a game in hand.

• 🏁 NASCAR: Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway (Sun. 3pm, Fox) … With 28-degree banking at the turns, this is one of the steepest tracks in the Cup Series.

• 🏉 Six Nations: Week 3 of 5 (Sat-Sun, Peacock) … Only France remains undefeated through two weeks.

Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. Get tickets now!

🏀 March Madness comes early

Saturday brings a true college hoops unicorn: the AP poll’s top four teams all facing each other on the same day. It’s just the third time this has ever happened during the regular season — and only the fifth occurrence overall, NCAA Tournament included.

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The other four instances…

• 2025 Final Four: (2) Houston def. (1) Duke; (3) Florida def. (4) Auburn

• Nov. 5, 2019: (2) Kentucky def. (1) Michigan State; (4) Duke def. (3) Kansas

• 2008 Final Four: (4) Kansas def. (1) UNC; (2) Memphis def. (3) UCLA

• Dec. 5, 1992: (3) Kansas def. (2) Indiana; (4) Duke def. (1) Michigan

Flashback: Like tomorrow, the first instance also featured top-ranked Michigan facing Duke. “If you’d like to transport back to ’92, that game was massive,” notes CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. “Intentionally scheduled as a championship rematch from the previous season’s natty. The game aired on Raycom (!!) and was sponsored by Pizza Hut.”

Click here to travel back in time.

📸 Snapshots: Back to the future

“Back to the Future” is a series of images captured using vintage Graflex cameras, paying tribute to the type of camera that would have been used 70 years ago when Cortina previously hosted the games in 1956. In a modern twist, these cameras have been adapted to record images on smartphones, enabling live transmission of the content captured.

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Livigno — An athlete practices during ski cross training at Livigno Air Park.

Cortina d’Ampezzo — A two-man bobsled whizzes past as a security guard watches on at Cortina Sliding Centre.

Milan — The crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena looks on during the Free Dance.

Bormio — A general view of the Men’s Team Combined Downhill at Stelvio Alpine Skiing Centre.

⚽️ MLS trivia

Inter Miami begins its title defense this weekend, as they try to become the first back-to-back MLS champions since 2011-12.

Question: Which team won those two consecutive titles?

Hint: Western Conference.

Answer at the bottom.

📸 Photo finish

The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat.

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🥇 Watch: The golden goal

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Trivia answer: LA Galaxy

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