Author: rb809rb

Nate Tice & Matt Harmon deep dive on the 8 most QB-needy teams in the NFL to determine who will be starting for them Week 1. The duo start with their reactions to the latest coordinator hires around the NFL, including the Seattle Seahawks finding their Klint Kubiak replacement in new OC Brian Fleury.

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Next, Nate & Matt play quarterback matchmaker for the 8 most QB-needy teams in the NFL. The two hosts start with deep dives on the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins (would Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill be interesting names in the free agent market?), Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.

Later, Nate & Matt find quarterback matches for the Indianapolis Colts (franchise tag Daniel Jones?), Minnesota Vikings (will JJ McCarthy get another shot?), Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons.

(4:50) – Latest coordinator hire reactions

(16:40) – QB matchmaker: Jets

(29:20) – QB matchmaker: Dolphins

(40:10) – QB matchmaker: Steelers

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(46:20) – QB matchmaker: Browns

(57:30) – QB matchmaker: Colts

(1:05:40) – QB matchmaker: Vikings

(1:17:40) – QB matchmaker: Cardinals

(1:22:50) – QB matchmaker: Falcons

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

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NBA skills coach Drew Hanlen joins Kevin O’Connor to break down the season’s hottest topics, from star player development to the reality of tanking in the league. Drew shares inside stories about working with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jayson Tatum and others and explains why self-belief can be both a gift and a curse for rising talent.

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(0:48) When will Tatum return for Celtics?

(12:13) Player development & Deni Avdija

(21:43) Can Hornets maintain their winning ways?

(26:25) How can NBA stop tanking?

(31:09) Joel Embiid’s recovery and development

(43:02) How teams use data & analytics to improve

(49:03) Chris Paul retires from NBA

(56:43) How will defensive coaching evolve?

(01:00:11) Future of the All-Star game

🖥️ Watch this full episode on the Yahoo Sports NBA YouTube channel

Check out all episodes of The Kevin O’Connor Show and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

Subscribe to Inside Coverage

Andrew Siciliano deep dives on the 2026 NFL Draft with Nate Tice & ESPN’s Matt Miller. Andrew kicks things off with Nate Tice as they parse through Nate & Charles McDonald’s latest mock draft and cover a few of the more interesting selections, including EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. going second overall to the New York Jets, RB Jeremiyah Love in the top ten, EDGE David Bailey to the Washington Commanders and more. Next, Andrew & Nate set their sites on Indianapolis for the NFL Combine as Nate gives his top prospects he’s most excited to watch test next week.

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Later, Andrew is joined by ESPN’s Matt Miller to get his thoughts on the draft (including Ty Simpson, Caleb Downs and more) before talking through his latest NFL mock draft.

(6:55) – Nate Tice breaks down latest NFL mock draft

(21:55) – Nate’s top prospects to watch at the NFL Combine

(44:00) – Matt Miller talks latest NFL mock draft

Inside Coverage would be nothing without the impact of our beloved Terez Paylor, who was a pillar of Yahoo Sports’ NFL editorial and podcast coverage. We will continue to produce this NFL podcast in his honor, and hope that you can support Terez Paylor’s legacy in one of three ways:

• Buy an “All-Juice Team” hoodie or tee from BreakingT.com/Terez. All profits directly fund the Terez A. Paylor scholarship at Howard University.

• Donate directly to the PowerMizzou Journalism Alumni Scholarship in memory of Terez Paylor

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• Donate directly at giving.howard.edu/givenow. Under “Tribute,” please note that your gift is made in memory of Terez A. Paylor. Under “Designation,” click on “Other” and write in “Terez A. Paylor Scholarship.”

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Check out all episodes of Inside Coverage and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at Yahoo Sports Podcasts

Today on the Kevin O’Connor show, KOC is joined by Tom Haberstroh to ask some big questions in the NBA world: Are the Houston Rockets done? What teams have the most to prove in the 2nd half of the season? Which young players might break out and which coaches are on the hot seat?

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Then, the pair look at two of the hottest names in college basketball: Darius Acuff and Darryn Peterson. How does Acuff’s 49-point explosion affect his draft stock? Is Peterson’s self-check-out gambit for Kansas threatening his no. 1 draft pick potential?

Later, KOC is joined by Daman Rangoola, Sam Esfandiari & Claire De Lune from All-Star Weekend to talk the latest with the Lakers and Warriors. That and more on today’s show!

(1:11) Contenders with the most to prove
(13:38) Young players to watch
(20:26) NBA coaches on the hot seat
(33:46) Kings decimated by injuries
(37:12) Darius Acuff drops 49 points vs. Alabama
(41:44) What’s going on with Darryn Peterson?
(56:32) Daman Rangoola & Sam Esfandiari join from All-Star
(1:43:10) Claire De Lune joins from All-Star

🖥️ Watch this full episode on the Yahoo Sports NBA YouTube channel

Check out all episodes of The Kevin O’Connor Show and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

Nate Tice & Charles McDonald join forces to answer the NFL offseason’s biggest looming questions submitted by the audience. The duo start off by diving into the New York Giants’ potential NFL Draft plans with the 5th overall pick, how the Chicago Bears can fix their defensive line and whether or not Brian Daboll is a good fit with QB Cam Ward as the new Tennessee Titans OC.

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Next, Nate & Charles discuss whether or not the Los Angeles Chargers can fix their offensive line in one offseason, if the Jacksonville Jaguars defense can take a leap next season, who the Denver Broncos should be targeting in free agency (Tyler Allgeier?) and what our expectations for the 2026 Washington Commanders should look like.

Later, the two hosts wrap up with thoughts on the New England Patriots’ upcoming offseason decisions, why Sean McVay changed to a duo run game style with the Los Angeles Rams, whether Sean McDermott was really the problem with the Buffalo Bills and more.

(2:40) – Biggest offseason questions: Giants draft plans, Bears DL, Daboll & Cam Ward

(24:30) – Biggest offseason questions: Chargers OL, Jaguars defense, Broncos, Commanders

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(44:15) – Biggest offseason questions: Patriots, Rams, Bills & more

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Check out all episodes of Football 301 with Nate Tice and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

Subscribe to The Cooligans

The Cooligans welcome former MLS head coach and analyst Giovanni Savarese for a deep dive into the 2026 MLS season. Gio shares his predictions, breakout teams to watch, and how the league continues to evolve ahead of a massive 2026 on home soil. The conversation also turns to the USMNT, as the guys assess expectations, pressure, and what success should realistically look like at the 2026 World Cup.

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Christian and Alexis then tackle the troubling racist incident involving Vinícius Júnior during Real Madrid’s clash with Benfica. They unpack how these situations are currently handled, question whether the responsibility to stop a match unfairly falls on the player experiencing abuse, and debate what meaningful structural changes could better protect players moving forward.

Finally, it’s a jam-packed Champions League recap. Folarin Balogun shines in a statement performance against Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus suffer a shocking defeat to Galatasaray, and Bodø/Glimt pull off a stunning win over Inter Milan. The boys react to all the drama, surprises, and what these results mean going forward.

Timestamps:

(6:30) – 2026 MLS preview and predictions

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(30:00) – Gio Savarese’s USMNT World Cup outlook

(39:00) – Vinicius Junior deals with racism again: time for a rule change?

(59:00) – Folarin Balogun shines in Champions League loss to PSG

(1:04:30) – Serie A teams suffer shocking Champions League losses

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

Over the course of 19 days in February, the 2026 Winter Olympics covered more ground than the 11-hour drive from Milan to Cortina to Livigno/Bormio — the three main clusters of these Games. It started with a ski jumping scandal that involved, of all things, the crotch. It ended with an epic hockey game between two bitter rivals. Sandwiched in between was the golden glory of an American who’s more famous in Europe than in his hometown in Wisconsin and the sheer guts and determination of an American icon who simply went for it.

Here is the winding path taken during these Olympic Games:

From Jeff Eisenberg:

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MILAN — Male ski jumpers must wear tight-fitting suits that are no more than 4 centimeters larger than their body measurements at any point. Most national teams seek to find every millimeter they can because a bigger, baggier suit catches more wind and provides more lift during flight than a smaller one does.

Fittingly, the most advantageous place to enlarge a ski jumper’s suit is the crotch area.

It’s a story you have to read to believe.

Once the Games began, all eyes quickly turned to Cortina, where Lindsey Vonn was attempting to win a gold medal on a busted ACL she’d torn just a week earlier. She managed both training runs in the downhill without incident, and actually appeared strong. But then …

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From Dan Wolken:

LIVIGNO, Italy — It was devastating to watch, even more brutal to hear.

For a nation that had become enraptured in Lindsey Vonn’s comeback story and the norm-defying attempt to win an Olympic medal without an ACL in her left knee, the helpless cries of pain as she lay on her back and as the mountain fell silent will be hard to erase from memory.

Downhill skiing is often breathtaking. It is sometimes gruesome. And for the second time in nine days, the images of an American sports heroine being strapped to a board and lifted into a helicopter churned the stomach.

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But that’s skiing down a mountain at 80 miles per hour. That’s the risk Vonn signed up for when she decided to compete in an Olympics nine days after an ACL tear during a different competition in Switzerland. That’s what happens sometimes when you go for it.

And that’s exactly what Vonn did.

While Vonn’s daily health updates from surgery after surgery and her eventual return to the United States captured everyone’s attention, so did Jordan Stolz, a celebrity in Europe but a virtual unknown in America until …

From Jeff Eisenberg:

MILAN — Since rocketing onto the global speedskating scene three years ago, Jordan Stolz — called the next Eric Heiden by none other than Eric Heiden — has become the rare athlete more famous internationally than in his home country. The 21-year-old is a superstar in speedskating hotspots like the Netherlands, Norway and Germany, but he remains almost completely unknown across America and even in his home state of Wisconsin.

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Stolz took a big step toward changing that Wednesday night in Milan when he shined in the first of his four races on the Olympic stage. The kid who learned to skate on his family’s backyard pond in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, outraced a world-class field in the men’s 1,000 meters to win his first Olympic gold medal.

Stolz wasn’t done.

But while Stolz lived up to the pre-Olympics hype, even if claiming silver in the 1500 left him feeling these Olympics were only a “partial success,” Ilia Malinin felt the pressure, and it got to him.

From Jay Busbee:

MILAN — Something was wrong from the very start. Something about Ilia Malinin’s free skate seemed tentative, uncertain, so very unlike the “Quad God.” This was his gold-medal moment, and it was slipping away from him.

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He landed his first element, a quad flip, but it had the feel of an unexpected success, like a half-court heave that went through the net, rather than the start of a triumphal procession. And then he skated toward his planned quad axel, a move literally only he can land, a move that could have put him on a direct path to the top of the podium.

He flinched … and was lost.

In one of the most stunning collapses in Olympic figure skating history, Malinin plummeted from a near-certain gold medal all the way to eighth place.

Malinin wasn’t the only American feeling the pressure. Maybe nobody was under more than Mikaela Shiffrin, the most accomplished World Cup skier of all time but one who has struggled on the Olympic stage. Early in the Games, she let slip a lead in the women’s team ski event, one staked to her by Breezy Johnson, the gold medalist in the downhill. After going medal-less four years ago in Beijing, the doubts started to creep in. And then …

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From Jay Busbee:

MILAN — One of the cruel ironies about the Olympics is that it’s better to be a one-and-done medalist than a win-a-few, lose-a-bunch multi-time Olympian. Beijing blanked Mikaela Shiffrin; she didn’t even finish three of the events she entered. Milan Cortina was a bit kinder — she at least made it down the mountain in her earlier events, though at underwhelming-for-her speeds.

With every event that passed without hardware, though, the muttering grew louder. Was Shiffrin spooked by the Olympics? Cursed? How could the most decorated World Cup skier in history dominate everywhere else on the calendar except these two weeks every four years?

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So that’s why Wednesday’s race was so critical for Shiffrin. Imagine if she’d fallen short yet again. Imagine if her pole had broken, or if she’d caught that first gate, or suffered any of the other hundred woes that would have kept her off the podium. Imagine the questions that would have followed her, the media second-guessing, the social-media garbage, the internal anxieties that would have wracked her for another four years, and maybe forever.

“There will always be criticism, but I was here to earn the moment and that is going to require some risk,” she said. “Risk of not finishing. It’s also risk of being criticized, and to accept that. [It is] not the easiest thing to do, but in the end today we were able to do that.”

She stared that grim future in the face … and she flat-out skied right through it.

A little more than 24 hours later, these Olympic Games hit maxim overdrive when, simultaneously, the women of USA and Canada squared off on the ice for gold, while Alysa Liu tried to become the first American women to medal in figure skating in 20 years …

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From Jay Busbee:

MILAN — As she skated around the Assago Ice Skating Arena rink, moments before the most important routine of her life, Alysa Liu caught sight of her teammate Amber Glenn near the kiss-and-cry couch. Glenn, devastated after Tuesday night’s program, had skated a spectacular routine of her own nearly two hours before. As Liu drew close, she gave Glenn a congratulatory thumbs-up.

“What are you doing?” an exasperated Glenn replied. “Go skate!”

So Alysa Liu did. And she won herself a gold medal, smiling all the way.

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, executing a brilliant, virtually flawless free skate that vaulted her from third place into first. She smiled when she stepped onto the ice, she smiled when she spotted 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!”

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That is the entire breadth 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.

And then …

From Jeff Eisenberg:

MILAN — Hilary Knight felt the responsibility to speak up.

The previously unbeaten, unchallenged  U.S. women’s hockey team was facing real game pressure for the first time at these Olympics, down a goal and running low on time with just one period left in Thursday’s gold-medal match.

“Who’s going to be the hero?” the 36-year-old American captain said. “We need a hero. There’s a hero in this room.”

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Turns out Knight was wrong about one thing . There wasn’t one hero in the U.S. locker room. There was two.

The U.S. doesn’t take gold and glory without Knight giving her team new life with a tying goal with just over two minutes left in regulation, nor without Megan Keller juking a Canadian defender out of her skates to set up the winning goal four minutes into overtime. Those are the plays that made possible a 2-1 gold-medal-clinching, come-from-behind U.S. win. Those are the plays that will live on in U.S. women’s hockey lore long after the American victory celebration comes to an end.

Outside of Liu and, no American-born female individual athlete generated more attention than Eileen Gu … who doesn’t compete for the United States. She skis for China, which has many wondering: Why?

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From Dan Wolken:

The answers that many of you seem to want? Sorry, but they’re not coming — certainly not in a press conference room in the Italian Alps after jumping off a 15-story ramp. They’ll probably never come.

Did she cut a deal with the CCP to keep her American passport, in defiance of Chinese law that does not allow for dual citizenship?

Did the $6.6 million she and another American-born athlete earned from the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau last year — an amount that was accidentally disclosed on a fiscal report before it was scrubbed from the Internet, according to the Wall Street Journal — come with unsavory strings attached?

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Does she really believe that inspiring Chinese women to participate in winter sports will make women’s lives better under a regime that is embarrassingly far behind most of the modern world in terms of political representation, economic opportunity and rights for domestic abuse victims?

She’s been asked about all these things, many times over many years in many different venues. And as good as she is on the slopes, she’s even better at Never Going There.

… Here’s the truth: Gu may wear the Five-star Red Flag on her ski suit, but the only entity she truly represents is Eileen Gu, Inc. To present her as anything more than that to fuel American political outrage on social media represents something almost as obnoxious as she is.

But if Eileen Gu is, indeed, all about Eileen Gu, the final gold-medal winners of this Olympics were all about team, and in particular, one member of the team that couldn’t be in Milan.

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From Jay Busbee:

MILAN — They gathered on the ice, two dozen of the best hockey players the United States has ever produced, all of them with wide smiles on their faces and gold medals around their necks having just beaten Canada 2-1 in an overtime thriller. They carried the American flag with them, but they carried something else, too: a Team USA jersey emblazoned with the No. 13 on the back, the name of Johnny Gaudreau embroidered along the shoulders.

It felt good to have a jersey for Gaudreau, who died in a shocking traffic accident 18 months ago, out there in the team’s finest moment. But it didn’t feel quite right.

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And then Matthew Tkachuk and Zach Werenski went to the stands and hoisted up Gaudreau’s two oldest children, Noa and Johnny Jr., and brought them out onto the ice. In that perfect moment, all of American hockey smiled through tears.

“To have Johnny and Noa out there,” Dylan Larkin said afterward, “it just felt right.”

Now, it’s on to Los Angeles.

Dominance and drama collided at the 2026 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships.

Virginia’s women swam with commanding control, stamping their imprint on nearly every race and locking up another ACC crown. On the men’s side, California edged past Stanford in a much closer battle for the conference title.

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Here are the main takeaways from this year’s ACC swimming and diving championships.

Virginia women stay dominant in post-Walsh era

After five straight NCAA titles, there was no doubt the Virginia women would continue to succeed in 2026. However, there was a question whether they would continue to dominate without Alex and Gretchen Walsh.

Virginia and head coach Todd DeSorbo reminded the rest of the NCAA that the Hoos are still the most dominant force in collegiate swimming.

The Cavaliers opened competition posting the second-fastest time in NCAA history in the 800 freestyle relay, surpassing a Stanford quartet that featured Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel back in 2017.

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It seemed like the meet was over before it even started as the Virginia women had extended a sizable lead after the first full day of swimming competition, winning three out of the four swimming events. They again posted the second-fastest swim in history, this time in the 200 freestyle relay, trailing only themselves from the 2024 ACC Championships.

Olympic medalist Claire Curzan is the Hoos’ X-factor as she threw down an NCAA record in the 200-yd back, stopping the clock in 1:46.09. Curzan also clocked the second-fastest 100-yd backstroke in NCAA history, behind only Gretchen Walsh. Curzan was named the ACC most valuable swimmer of the meet after winning four gold medals.

Anna Moesch has had a major breakout season. This week, she became just the fourth woman to break 1:40 in the 200 freestyle. The sophomore is now just six-tenths of a second off Missy Franklin’s legendary NCAA record of 1:39.10 set back in 2015.

Overall, the Virginia women racked up 11 total titles en route to their seventh straight ACC championship. This team has young stars, suffocating depth, and will enter the NCAAs as the clear favorite for a sixth straight national title.

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California tops Stanford on the last day of competition

The California men are 2 for 2 as members of the ACC, but this year it came down to the last day of competition.

The Bears locked up the 2025 title early on, winning the meet by over 200 points, but it was a different story in 2026.

Stanford and Cal faced off in a seven-round heavyweight battle. Through a full week of competition, there was little separation.

Relay scoring was almost dead even between the two and the Cardinal outscored the Bears in diving; it was the points gained from individual swimming events that secured the win for the defending champs.

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California’s Yamato Okadome led the way, winning three gold medals in the 100-yd breast, 200-yd breast and 400-yd medley relay.

The Bears didn’t win the meet because of total titles, as California won only four individual and relay events overall. Stanford also won four and the North Carolina State men won seven ACC titles, but lacked the complete team that California brought to Atlanta.

The California men were second at last year’s NCAA championships and will look to compete for another top-three spot in March.

New stars emerge

Although seniors like Stanford’s Torri Huske and Lucy Bell found success, winning nine ACC medals, the conference has turned over a new leaf.

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Underclassmen found continued success throughout the week filling up championship finals and winning half of the ACC individual titles.

Freshmen and sophomores won a staggering 16 individual events. In comparison, they collected only seven wins in 2025.

Seven freshmen finished in the top eight in the men’s 500-yd freestyle, and NC State freshman Max Carlsen won it. The lone fifth-year, Cal’s Eduardo Oliveira de Moraes, was fourth.

Carlsen also won the 1,650-yd freestyle, and UVA sophomore and U.S. Olympian Katie Grimes doubled up winning the 500-yd free and 1,650-yd freestyle.

Louisville freshman true freshman Nikita Sheremet posted the second-fastest 18-and-under 100-yd freestyle of all-time, and he’s now tied with NC State’s Kaii Winkler, who placed second in the event this year as a sophomore. Sheremet also won silver in the 50-yd freestyle.

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Moesch, a sophomore, swept the 100-yd and 200-yd freestyles, knocking off Huske in the 100.

Okadome, who was the ACC’s most valuable men’s swimmer of the meet, is just a sophomore as well. Additionally, half of Cal’s 20 athletes who scored points were underclassmen.

The trend continued in diving, as Stanford freshman Ellie Cole and Stanford sophomore Misha Andriyuk swept the platform events.

The ACC is ready to compete with the rest of the country

This week showcased that the ACC is ready to compete for national titles and top-five finishes at the NCAAs in March.

The Virginia women are the standard in collegiate swimming, but Stanford, Louisville, California, and NC State were also impressive.

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The Louisville women knocked off Virginia in the 200-yd medley relay and NC State’s Eneli Jefimova 100-yd breaststroke is now the fastest in the country after this week.

The California women have been in rebuilding mode over the past several years and are now catching stride as they broke a school record in the 200-yd medley relay. Sophomore Mia West also won Cal’s first ACC title in the 200-yd butterfly.

On the men’s side, Texas and Arizona State are going to be tough to catch nationally, but Cal, Stanford, and NC State look ready to race come the end of March.

Stanford’s Henry McFadden posted a top-five time in the country this year in the 200-yd freestyle, and Okadome’s times in breaststroke stack up with the best in the NCAA this season.

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NC State’s 200-yd freestyle relay and 400-yd freestyle relay teams broke the ACC meet and conference record. In the 400-yd freestyle relay they finished four-tenths of a second faster than the SEC champion Florida Gators.

The impressive times in the pool and exquisite diving on the boards set up the ACC for an exciting close to the 2026 season.

Full Team Results

Men

California: 1,154

Stanford: 1,076

North Carolina State: 973

Louisville: 844

Virginia Tech: 715.5

Florida State: 624.5

Virginia: 577.5

North Carolina: 572.5

Notre Dame: 488

SMU: 407

Pittsburgh: 401

Georgia Tech: 357

Miami (FL): 162

Duke: 138

Boston College: 112

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Women

Virginia: 1,410.5

Stanford: 1,039

California: 1,027.5

Louisville: 925

North Carolina State: 851.5

Pittsburgh: 552

North Carolina: 522.5

Duke: 432.5

Virginia Tech: 409.5

Florida State: 371

Notre Dame: 366

Miami (FL): 322

Georgia Tech: 274

SMU: 261

Boston College: 98

MILAN — There’s something endearingly chaotic about the Winter Olympics. This is a collection of sports that could very easily kill you … and also, curling. So it makes sense that the latest installment of the Winter Games would include one scandal involving skating judging, another involving the crotches of uniforms, and a third involving a scrape of a fingernail. These are the Games where several Olympians got engaged … and one blew up his relationship right there on the podium.

It’s time to honor the most (and least) notable performers in the Olympics, the same way we honor the best (and worst) for our American sports back home with our “Winners and Losers” columns. Let’s be honest, though: There aren’t really any “losers” in the Olympics, just people who didn’t quite make the podium. So we’ll change it up a bit here, awarding gold, silver and bronze medals to those who deserve it … and no podium whatsoever for those that don’t.

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Now, please bring out the medals and the little stuffed toys …

Gold medal: Alysa Liu

In an Olympics where so many crumbled under the pressure of the rings, Liu laughed … and then went out and snared gold. She’s brought joy and exuberance back to skating, and she might have at least one more Olympics in her to share with the world.

Off the podium: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo

Kidding! The Norwegian cross country skier entered six events and won six gold medals. At this Olympics! Not only is he on the podium, he is the podium. Everybody else, give him your golds. He’s going to win them from you anyway. He is inevitable.

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Gold medal: Nazgul the Dog

Yes, if you or I ran onto an active Olympic cross country race course and started sniffing the skiers, we’d get in a lot of trouble, but Nazgul the dog got nothing but praise. That’s what happens when you’re a very good boy. Bonus: Nazgul didn’t get himself in trouble with any post-race interviews.

Silver: Brittany Bowe

Look, when you get three straight fourth-place finishes in your final Olympics, you damn sure deserve some kind of medal for that, even if it’s a made-up one. At least Bowe left with a ring courtesy of fiancée Hilary Knight, who proposed before the gold-medal game. (Wise idea.)

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Gold medal: Jordan Stolz

Sure, he tapered off a bit at the end, but wouldn’t you? Two golds and a silver in speed skating is a pretty solid haul. And when your quads are getting compared to Saquon Barkley’s, well, you’re in rare air. Next Olympics, he needs to jump over one of his challengers.

Off the podium: The International Olympic Committee

The IOC has a difficult role trying to thread the needle of creating a competition where the parties involved don’t get too competitive. The Olympics would be a whole lot easier if nations actually carried through on their promise to leave politics out of the Games. The Olympics would also be a whole lot easier if everybody got a participation trophy instead of a gold medal, too. By its own standards of misfiring, this Olympics wasn’t a catastrophic one for the IOC. But the mishandling of the case of a Ukrainian skeleton pilot’s helmet, and the inexplicable decision to sell 1936 Berlin Olympics gear on its website marked two more of the IOC’s self-inflicted black eyes. But with Russia eyeing a full return to the Games, the IOC’s real challenges still lie ahead.

Silver medal: Ski Mountaineering

What a weird, glorious sport! Skiing uphill, carrying your boots up stairs, skiing downhill! Throw in “waiting in absurdly long lift lines” and “drinking way too much right after you get off the mountain” and you’ve got yourself the full skiing experience! No idea if this sport will stick around or not, but we applaud the Olympics for taking chances with new, strange ideas.

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Bronze medal: Amber Glenn

So close. So very, very close. Amber Glenn missed out on a likely medal by a single missed jump in her short program, then rallied in her longer free skate to climb from 13th place all the way up to fifth. It’s one of the real tragedies of the Olympics that once you learn how to handle the pressure of them … you might be out of chances to compete in them.

Gold medal: Liz Lemley

The best Olympic stories are the surprises, the unknowns who leap from nowhere right to the top of the podium. Just 20 years old, Lemley was expected to be good — but not this good, this fast. She claimed gold in the moguls event, outperforming a much deeper, older, more experienced field. Sometimes Olympic pressure is no pressure at all.

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Bronze medal: The wayward biathlete

Sturla Holm Lægreid became an instant worldwide sensation/cautionary tale when he decided to use his bronze medal-winning podium interview to confess to cheating on his girlfriend … after three months. “Six months ago, I met the love of my life, the most beautiful, kindest person in the world. And three months ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life and cheated on her, and I told her about it a week ago.” That’s … that’s a whole lot to deal with there, Sturla! Here’s another bronze, maybe you can give it to a third party … we predict you’re going to have some trouble reconnecting with the first two.

Gold medal: Lindsey Vonn

Sure, her 2026 Olympic experience didn’t last very long, and ended in the most painful and churning way possible. But she made it there, she made it onto the top of the mountain, she made it onto the slope — despite her age, despite her injuries, despite a terrible crash just a week before the Opening Ceremony. That’s as Olympian as it gets.

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Off the podium: Figure skating judges

One of the traditions about the Olympics is the way that the vast majority of America comes parachuting into a sport with ready-made indignant snap judgments — like, Hey, these figure skating judges sure seem biased! — while the regulars just shake their heads in resignation. Americans raised on football don’t much care for judged sports, but we sure do love to judge the judges. Irony, huh?

Gold medal: The U.S. men’s hockey team

This wasn’t exactly a miracle — Team USA is end-to-end NHL players —- but knocking off Canada 101 seconds into a dramatic 3-on-3 overtime wasn’t exactly a Dream Team-esque romp, either. Plus, the way the Americans honored their fallen friend Johnny Gaudreau at center ice after the win brought tears along with the smiles.

Silver medal: Mikaela Shiffrin

Splitting the difference between her gold medal-winning run and her earlier Olympic missteps. Shiffrin is the world’s greatest skater by the numbers, but Olympics ghosts have lived in her head since 2018. She finally evicted them with her final run of the 2026 Milan Cortina games, a thoroughly dominant gold medal-winning slalom run that reasserted her dominance over the sport.

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Bronze medal: Eileen Gu

An award purely for her attitude. Gu has managed to deftly straddle the line between U.S. and Chinese culture with more skill — and more profit-taking — than any other public figure. She can leap right over intrusive questions or condescending presumptions and land with more style than anyone in the room. It’s an impressive show … and that’s very much what it is with Gu, a show.

Silver medal: Cortina d’Ampezzo

Cortina made for an absolutely gorgeous tableau for all the mountain sports. The Dolomites were a spectacular backdrop … and a terrifying one, too, when we got a look at the helicopter rescue of Lindsey Vonn. There were logistical problems with buses, of course, and the weather wasn’t always on the Olympics’ side, but still … what a view.

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Off the podium: Snoop Dogg

We’re way past the point where it’s weird to see the onetime proponent of smokin’ indo and sippin’ on gin and juice palling around with Martha Stewart. Now, Snoop is just flat-out overexposed, stealing the spotlight from every sport he visits. And he visits every sport.

Gold medal: Alex Ferreira

Yes, the halfpipe legend won a gold medal, validating an entire career. That’s worthy of praise. But he also revealed that he has the finest motivational slogan we’ve ever heard: “I am greatness, and this is my moment.” Perfect.

Bronze medal: Milan

This is the average of two scores: the gold medal for the very small, but very festive area around the Duomo (that giant cathedral you saw in the background of all those NBC shots) … and the anonymous office-park vibe that smothered the skating and hockey arenas. Much of Milan didn’t even appear to notice the Games were happening. But in the area around the Duomo and the Arco della Pace — the arch where the Olympic flame hung — you could catch a bit of the classic multicultural Olympic vibe.

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Silver medal: Curling

Every Olympics, America falls in love with curling … and then forgets all about it right after the torch goes out. It’s a shame, really, because curling is a perfect kind of rec sport — easy to learn, difficult to master, able to be done while drinking beer. The Canadian curling scandal — don’t touch that rock! — elevated the sport this year, but the United States’ struggles on the big stage brought it back down to earth a bit. Can a new curling league tide us all over until 2030?

Off the podium: The Blade Angels hype

Well, that didn’t work out so well. The Blade Angels — Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito — came skating into the Olympics with some observers suggesting they could sweep the podium. That didn’t come close to happening: Liu won gold, but Glenn made a crucial mistake and Levito never really got going. Did NBC (and, uh, other media) hype the Blade Angels too much, or did they underachieve? This is one of those cases where two things can be true at once.

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Gold medal: Team USA women’s hockey

American Olympic hockey is in a very, very good place right now. The men are NHL players, and playing up to every bit of their potential. But the women … the women are just flat-out crushing it. When you allow only two goals during the entire Olympics, you’re doing something very right. And an overtime gold-medal win over Canada? Are you kidding me?

Bronze medal: The Slovakian criminal who loved hockey too much.

Look, some things are bigger than the law, like fandom. A Slovakian fugitive who’d been on the run from Italian authorities for 16 years over a series of thefts made the ill-fated decision to come to Milan — which is, in fact, in Italy — to watch his team play hockey. Italian authorities nabbed him when he checked into a campsite in Milan. You’ve got to respect the dedication to his team, though. Maybe he can trade this bronze in prison.

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Off the podium: Italian Olympic organizers

We get it, planning a full Olympics is hard work. And nobody ever writes about the medals that don’t fall apart. But still … from finishing the hockey arena literal hours before the start of the first game to creating an ice skating medal podium that shredded ice skates, the Italian Olympic organizers had some struggles.

Silver medal: Crotch-gate

No matter how ridiculous you thought the “crotch-gate” scandal involving ski jumping could be, we guarantee you it was better than that. From fake junk to penis injection, this was perhaps the perfect Olympic scandal — hysterical and absurdly well-planned. The only knock is that it blew up a couple years too early; there actually wasn’t any crotch-related skulduggery in the Milan Cortina Olympics. Well, not on the ski jump, at least …

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Off the podium: Ilia Malinin, Team USA figure skater

The Olympics are the ultimate test of physical skill, yes, but they’re also a test of mental fortitude, too … which is why it’s not enough just to be the most talented skater in the world for the other three years and 50 weeks between the Games. You’ve got to prove it when the torch is lit … and sadly, world champion Ilia Malinin didn’t get it done in Milan, conceding that Olympic pressure got to him. Maybe he’ll fare better in the French Alps … but he’s got four years to wait.

Gold medal: “Free Bird” and “Country Roads”

A couple of ‘70s classics have found new life as Olympic anthems — “Free Bird” for every time Team USA scored one of its (many) goals, “Country Roads” as the Netherlands won one of its (many) speed-skating medals. There’s a reason why these songs have stuck around … plus, any time playing them is time not playing “Sweet Caroline” or that agonizing “Freed from Desire” song (the Euro-singalong one that goes “Na-na-na-na-na-na-naaaaa”). John Denver forever!

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So there you have it, a wrap on the 2026 Winter Olympics. Congratulations to all the medalists, and better luck in the French Alps to everyone else. Next up: Los Angeles 2028!

Canada’s Connor McDavid didn’t win a gold medal, but he’s going home from the Milan Cortina Olympics honored as the best men’s hockey player from the Games.

McDavid was named the MVP of the men’s ice hockey tournament following its conclusion on Sunday, which ended with USA’s thrilling 2-1 win in overtime in the gold-medal game.

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Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal in overtime for USA, and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck limited Canada, which entered Sunday’s final averaging 5.4 goals per game in Olympic competition, to just one goal while securing 41 saves.

But the MVP is awarded for the entire tournament, not just the final. And media voted McDavid as MVP thanks to a record-setting scoring performance throughout the Games.

McDavid breaks scoring record

McDavid scored 13 points across six games, breaking the record for most points in a single men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament previously held by Finland’s Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu (11 points each). McDavid reached his tally with two goals and 11 assists. Those goals helped Canada to 5-0, 5-1, 10-2, 4-3 and 3-2 wins prior to Sunday’s loss in which McDavid didn’t score.

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McDavid’s MVP was one of three individual awards announced on Sunday. Hellebuyck was named best goaltender. His U.S. teammate, Quinn Hughes, who scored the overtime game-winner in a quarterfinal win over Sweden, was named best defender.

Olympic hockey All-Stars

Meanwhile, three Canadians and two U.S. players were named to the tournament’s six-man All-Star team:

Goaltender: Connor Hellebuyck, USA
Defender: Quinn Hughes, USA
Defender: Cale Makar, Canada
Forward: Connor McDavid, Canada
Forward: Macklin Celebrini, Canada
Forward: Juraj Slafkovsky, Slovakia

Hellebuyck’s MVP case

Of the U.S. players, Hellebuyck probably had the best MVP case.

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Hellebuyck started five of the six games in net for USA, including each of its three games in the knockout round. He allowed six goals in those five games for a tournament-best 1.18 goals against average. He made 131 saves on 137 shots on goal to lead the Games with a 95.62 save percentage, including 41 saves on 42 shots in Sunday’s gold-medal game.

In the one game Hellebuyck didn’t started, USA’s Jeremy Swayman allowed three goals on 21 shots in a 6-3 group play win over Denmark.

Ultimately, voters awarded MVP to a skater in McDavid who played in all six of his team’s games and set a new Olympic scoring record en route to a silver medal.