Milan Cortina: What to watch today in the Winter Olympics — Team USA’s men’s hockey in quarterfinals vs. Sweden (2/18)

The Winter Games have begun in Italy. From the rink to the slopes, a new generation of stars has emerged to chase gold. We’ll keep you connected to all of the thrilling moments and top stories as we track the medal race each day of the Games.

Team USA is up to 23 medals after two early podium appearances Wednesday. There are several opportunities for the Americans to add to that count on Wednesday, too. And, while there’s no medal up for grabs yet, the men’s hockey team is back in action in a must-win quarterfinal game against Sweden.

Here are the top five things to watch on Wednesday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics:

Men’s snowboard slopestyle final (5:20 a.m. ET)

This was rescheduled due to weather, and a trio of Americans attempted to reach the podium in the final. While Red Gerard, who won the gold medal in 2018 as a 17-year-old, failed to finish on the podium this time around, Jake Canter came through.

With a fantastic final run, which saw Canter land a 1980, he secured a 79.36 score, which was good enough to move him into third place. Canter then had to watch as other riders tried to knock him off the podium. While one came extremely close — Norway’s Marcus Kleveland — Canter held on in the end, taking home the bronze.

Gerard finished sixth and Oliver Martin of Team USA finished ninth.

China’s Su Yiming, who won the silver in Beijing, managed to take the gold this time around. Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa grabbed the silver medal.

Mark McMorris of Canada who was seeking his fourth straight medal in the event, finished in eighth.

Team USA takes silver in men’s cross-country team sprint

Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher rallied after a slow start to take silver in the men’s cross-country team sprint Wednesday. Team USA finished behind Norway, which is led by Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. With the win, Klaebo set an Olympic record with his 10th gold medal in cross-country over his Olympic career.

For Team USA, it marked Ogden’s second silver medal of the Olympics. It was Schumacher’s first-ever Olympic medal.

Mikaela Shiffrin wins gold in her signature event

It had not been the start to these Olympics that Shiffrin had hoped for, after finishing off the podium in the team event (where she gave up the lead Breezy Johnson had posted her) and the giant slalom. But she delivered Wednesday in the women’s slalom, the event where she has made her name. She crushed the field to win the gold medal.

Shiffrin looked ready from the start with a dominant first run in a time of 47.13, 0.82 ahead of her nearest competitor, Germany’s Lena Duerr. That allowed Shiffrin to not have to risk much in her second run to take home the gold.

Switzerland’s Camille Rust win silver, while Sweden’s Anna Larsson Swenn took bronze.

Women’s snowboard slopestyle final (8:30 a.m. ET)

Like the men’s competition, the women’s snowboard slopestyle final was also rescheduled to Wednesday. Jessica Perlmutter and Lily Dhawornvej reached the final, but neither medaled in the event. Perlmutter finished sixth and Dhawornvej came in 11th.

Japan’s Mari Fukada came away with the gold, beating favorite Zoi Sadowski Synnott, who took silver. Kokomo Murase of Japan took home the bronze.

Women’s and men’s curling vs. Great Britain (3:05 a.m. ET/8:05 a.m. ET)

The U.S. men’s and women’s curling teams will each take on Great Britain on Wednesday in group play.

The women’s team holds a 5-2 record so far in group play after a dominant 10-3 win over Denmark on Tuesday, their largest win so far of the Games. They lost a narrow one to Great Britain on Wednesday, however, falling 8-7. They’ll wrap up with a match against Switzerland on Thursday before the knockout stage gets going.

The men’s team is in worse shape entering the match. They hold a 4-4 record after falling to both China and Italy on Tuesday, which has them in fifth. A win is critical, and still may not get them into the finals.

They couldn’t get it done, falling 9-2 to Great Britain. The loss doesn’t completely eliminate Team USA from the playoff, but they need a lot of help to get there now.

Men’s hockey quarterfinals vs Sweden (3:10 p.m. ET)

After an undefeated run throughout the group stage, the U.S. men’s hockey team will take the ice again on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. They’ll take on Sweden, who beat Latvia 5-1 in a qualification round game on Tuesday.

Men’s hockey beat Germany 5-1 after a slow start on Sunday to wrap up the group stage action, though they were far less dominant than they could have been. Sweden entered Milan as a medal favorite, too, and only lost their group due to a goal differential. Wednesday’s match looks like it’ll be far from easy for the Americans.

Men’s short track speed skating 500m finals (2:15 p.m. ET)

Andrew Heo made it through qualifying on Monday, so he’ll have a shot at a medal in the men’s 500-meter short track speed skating final on Wednesday night. The 24-year-old won the event at the ISU Short Track World Tour last fall, and he won his qualifying heat handily.

Heo will have to get past Canada’s Steven Dubois, who won bronze in the event in Beijing four years ago, and favorite William Dandjinou to reach the podium. The Canadian duo posted two of the fastest three qualifying times on Monday.

Olympics schedule for Wednesday, Feb. 18 (Day 12)

All times ET

Alpine Skiing

Slalom

Biathlon

Relay

Cross-Country Skiing

Team sprint

3:45 a.m.: Men’s and women’s qualifying (airs on USA Network 5 a.m.)

Curling

Women’s round-robin

3:05 a.m.: USA vs. Great Britain (airs on USA Network at 9:15 a.m.), China vs. Denmark, Sweden vs. South Korea
1:05 p.m.: Great Britain vs. Japan, Switzerland vs. Denmark, Canada vs. Italy (airs on USA Network at 8 p.m.), China vs. Sweden

Men’s round-robin

8:05 a.m.: USA vs. Great Britain (airs on CNBC at 5 p.m.), Italy vs. Canada, China vs. Czechia, Norway vs. Switzerland

Freestyle Skiing

Aerials

Hockey

Men’s quarterfinals

6:10 a.m.: Slovakia vs. Germany (airs on USA Network at 1 p.m.)
10:40 a.m.: Canada va. Czechia (USA Network)
12:10 p.m.: Finland vs. Switzerland (airs on USA Network at 6 p.m.)
3:10 p.m.: USA vs. Sweden (NBC)

Short Track

2:15 p.m.: Men’s 500m, women’s 3000m relay (airs on USA Network at 2:30 p.m.)🏅

Snowboarding

Men’s Slopestyle

5:20 a.m.: Men’s final (USA Network coverage begins at 5:20 a.m.; airs on NBC at 2:15 p.m.)🏅

Women’s Slopestyle

8:30 a.m.: Women’s final (Peacock coverage begins at 8:30 a.m.) 🏅