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Monday’s competition at the Milan Cortina Olympics produced elation, heartbreak and an unexpected decision to cancel the final stage of an event.

A 41-year-old U.S. bobsledder secured her first gold medal after five silvers and bronzes in four previous Olympics. Team USA’s podium drought in pairs skating extended to 38 years. And a slalom skier’s heartbreak played out on the mountain after his dream of Olympic gold ended in an instant.

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Here are five of the top stories from Day 10 of the Milan Cortina Olympics:

U.S. women cruise into hockey gold-medal round

Six games in, and U.S. women’s hockey’s run through the Olympics has been nothing short of a coronation.

Team USA continued its dominance Monday with a 5-0 win over Sweden in the semifinals, securing a medal and a trip to the gold medal game. The U.S. women are now guaranteed at least a silver medal and will face Canada on Thursday.

At this point, anything short of gold would be a stunner.

Team USA and Canada entered Olympic competition as co-favorites, and since then, the U.S. has established itself as the overwhelming favorite.

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Team USA opened its Games with a 5-1 win over Czechia in group play. It hasn’t allowed a goal in five games since while scoring five-plus goals in each of those games. That includes a 5-0 win over rival Canada in group play.

Monday saw more of the same. The U.S. dominated the puck early, but left the first period with just a 1-0 advantage. Then Team USA opened the floodgates with a four-goal second period to secure the game’s final margin. Five different U.S. players scored.

Team USA now has a 31-1 goal differential through six games and will enter Thursday’s final as the clear-cut favorite to win gold.

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Elana Meyers Taylor gets her gold

U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, at last, has her first gold medal following a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Monday’s monobob final.

She’s now tied with speedskater Bonnie Blair for the most Winter Olympic medals won by a U.S. woman with six.

Meyers Taylor’s U.S. teammate Kaillie Humphries won bronze, while Germany’s Laura Nolte secured silver.

Meyers Taylor entered her final run in silver medal position, knowing the time she needed to finish ahead of her teammate, Humphries, who secured a podium position one run earlier.

She had a clean run and crossed the finish line with a combined time across four runs of 3:57.93, 0.12 seconds ahead of Humphries. The run secured silver at worst and put pressure on Nolte, who had held the lead through the first three runs of competition.

Nolte sledded the final run of the day and crossed the finish line with a combined time of 3:57.97, .04 seconds behind Meyers Taylor’s run, ensuring gold for Meyers Taylor.

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Meyers Taylor started the Games with two silver Olympic medals and two bronze medals in two-woman bobsled from Vancouver (2010), Sochi (2014), Pyeongchang (2018) and Beijing (2022). She also won the silver medal in Beijing in monobob. Now she has gold.

Japan duo tops pairs podium; USA shut out again

Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara secured gold in the pairs figure skating competition with a nearly flawless free skate that vaulted them to the top of the standings after a fifth-place finish in the short program.

Their free skate score of 158.13 was the best of the day and the best of their careers. It put them in gold medal position with four teams remaining.

But their gold wasn’t secure going into the final skate of the day by Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, who had a shot to overtake them thanks to their first-place finish in the short program.

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But Hase and Volodin made mistakes where Miura and Kihara did not, ensuring gold for the Japanese pair. Hase and Volodin dropped to third place for the bronze medal, while Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava won silver.

Ellie Kam and Daniel O’Shea posted the best U.S. finish in seventh place. They will take home gold from Milan Cortina thanks to their contributions to Team USA’s win in the team skating event last week.

The U.S. is still in search of its first Olympic medal in pairs since Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard won bronze in 1988.

Ski jump medals awarded sans finals

Harsh winter weather came for the Games on Monday. It was enough for officials to call the men’s super team ski jump competition early.

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With heavy snow and high winds, officials canceled the third and final round of competition in progress before the top teams had a chance to land their final runs. The runs of the teams that competed in Round 3 were wiped out, and the medals were awarded based on standings after two rounds.

The weather had changed enough to create drastically unfair conditions for athletes jumping later in the competitions.

“We had this sudden, heavy snowfall, wet snowfall, and we were trying to clean the track, but we saw immediately that we lost the speed in the in-run,” Sandro Pertile, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation race director, told NBC Sports. “The difference was very [significant]. We also had completely different wind conditions. … With these conditions it was really unfair to continue.”

That meant gold for Austria’s Jan Hörl and Stephan Embache, silver for Poland’s Paweł Wąsek and Kacper Tomasiak and bronze for Norway’s Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal and Johann André Forfang.

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Slovenia’s Domen Prevc and Anze Lanisek, who won gold last week in the mixed team normal competition, finished fifth.

“Unfortunately, we have to take this as it is,” Prevc said, per NBC.

It wasn’t immediately clear why officials opted to cancel the final run rather than postpone it.

Canada’s Megan Oldham tops Eileen Gu in big air final

Eileen Gu put down a great third run with Olympic gold on the line. But it wasn’t enough to overtake Canada’s Megan Oldham for the top of the podium in the freestyle skiing big air final.

Oldham’s first two of three runs in the big air final were good enough to secure gold with a score of 180.75, and her final jump of the day was a victory run. A skier’s two best runs out of three are added up for a final score. With the gold medal, Oldham unseated Gu as Olympic champion after Gu won gold for China in Beijing.

Gu’s third-round 89 gave her a combined score of 179, 1.75 points behind Oldham’s total. It was good enough for a silver medal, her second of the Milan Cortina Games in addition to two golds and one silver from Beijing. She and Oldham shared a hug after Oldham’s final run. Italy’s Flora Tabanelli won bronze.

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Gu will have a chance to secure her first gold medal of the Games in halfpipe, her best competition. Halfpipe qualifying is scheduled for Thursday, and the finals are scheduled for Saturday.

Highlight of the day

First, it was Japan’s Ikuma Horishima in moguls. On Monday, it was Italian speed skater Pietro Sighel.

Sighel lost his footing near the end of his preliminary heat in the 500-meter short track competition after two skaters collided behind him. But he remained upright and crossed the finish line backward. He placed second in his heat, which was good enough to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Here’s another look at Sighel’s backward finish next to Horishima, who had a similar finish while falling in Sunday’s dual moguls competition.

Horishima ended up winning silver in his competition. Sighel is certainly hoping that his wild finish also helps him onto an Olympic podium.

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One more thing

The misery of defeat played out in dramatic fashion in Monday’s men’s slalom final.

Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath had a shot at gold after finishing first in the first of two runs. He skied last in Run 2 and had a spot on the Olympic podium in his sights.

But he didn’t finish the race. He missed a gate early in his run, and his Olympic dream was over in a flash. He did not react well.

NBC declined to make footage of his reaction available. But as soon as he missed his gate, McGrath launched his poles into the air. He then unstrapped his skis and walked off the course to the adjacent forest nearby.

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He lay down in the snow as he processed the disappointment.

Officials eventually approached him and gave him a ride down the mountain on a snowmobile.

“I thought I would get some peace and quiet, which I didn’t because photographers and police found me out in the woods,” he told media after it was over. “I just needed some time for myself.”

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.

The United States increased its medal count to 19 at the 2026 Winter Olympics after Day 10’s competition. Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillee Humphries picked up gold and bronze, respectively, in the women’s monobob on Monday.

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Team USA has an opportunity to add four other medals on Day 11 at Milan Cortina in freeski Big Air and two-man bobsled, in addition to team pursuit in men’s and women’s speed skating.

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

1. Women’s figure skating opens with short program (12:45 p.m. ET)

You may have heard of Team USA’s “Blade Angels,” and you’ll see them in action on Tuesday as women’s figure skating begins its short program. Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito will compete for Team USA on Tuesday in hopes of securing the U.S. its first women’s singles medal since Sasha Cohen’s silver in 2006. The last U.S. woman to win gold was Sarah Hughes in 2002.

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Their chances for multiple spots on the podium aren’t bad — Liu won the women’s singles title at the 2025 World Championships, while Glenn has won gold at the U.S. Championships the last three years.

2. Mac Forehand pursues gold in men’s freeski Big Air final (1:30 p.m. ET)

U.S. freestyle skier Mac Forehand finished a disappointing 11th in the freeski Slopestyle competition, but he has an opportunity to win a medal in Tuesday’s Big Air final. He placed first in Sunday’s qualifying runs, with defending gold medalist Birk Rudd placing third. Forehand won Big Air gold at the 2023 and 2026 Winter X Games and now has a chance to add Olympic gold to his trophy case.

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Another American who could be on the podium is Troy Podmilsak. He finished 10th in qualifying but won gold at the 2023 World Championships and 2024 Winter X Games.

3. U.S. chases medal in two-man bobsled (1 p.m. ET)

The U.S. duo of Frank Del Duca and Josh Williamson has a shot at medaling in Tuesday’s two-man bobsled competition. The pair finished a tenth of a second out of third place after their first two runs on Monday at a combined 1:51.24.

That left them fourth behind Germany’s Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller. (Germany took the first three spots after two runs, with Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer in first place.) The final two runs of the event are Tuesday, scheduled for 1 p.m. and 3:05 p.m. ET.

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4. USA men’s and women’s speed skating eyes medals in team pursuits (8:30 a.m. ET)

On the men’s side, Emery Lehman, Casey Dawson and Ethan Cepuran are viewed as the favorites to win gold, which would be Team USA’s first in the event. But the home nation of Italy could challenge for the top of the podium with Davide Ghiotto, Andrew Giovannini and Michele Malfatti. China and the Netherlands hold the other two semifinal spots.

For the women, Brittany Bowe and Mia Manganello are set to be the first racers for the U.S., with either Greta Myers and Giorgia Birkeland skating as the anchor. The team placed fourth in qualifiers, earning the last spot in the semifinals. Canada (which won gold in Beijing with Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann, and Valarie Maltais), China and the Netherlands are viewed as the medal favorites.

The men’s semifinal begins at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by the women scheduled for 8:52 a.m. ET.

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5. U.S. women’s (8:05 a.m. ET), men’s (3:05 a.m. ET) curling build resumes for semifinal berth

The U.S. women’s curling team lost for only the second time in round-robin competition, falling to Italy 7-2 on Monday. They could not recover after falling behind 4-0 after five ends, showing a surprising lack of offense and precision.

At 4-2, Team USA is in a three-way tie with Switzerland and Korea for second in the round-robin standings. Sweden is in front with a 6-0 record. The top four teams qualify for the semifinals. The U.S. has two more matches in the round-robin session, facing Denmark on Tuesday and Great Britain on Wednesday.

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On the men’s side, the team is also 4-2 thus far through the round-robin session after defeating Sweden and Norway on Sunday. That has them tied with Norway for third place behind Switzerland (5-0) and Canada (5-1). With matches versus China and Italy remaining, the U.S. still has a chance to finish in the top four and qualify for the semifinals.

The one certainty on the men’s side is that Sweden will not defend its gold medal won at the 2022 Beijing Games. The Swedes are 1-5 after losing to Germany on Monday.

Olympics schedule for Tuesday, Feb. 17 (Day 11)

Biathlon

Relay

• 8:30 a.m.: Men’s final (USA Network coverage begins at 9:05 a.m.)🏅

Bobsled

• 1 p.m.: Two-man runs 3, 4 (airs on USA Network at 5:30 p.m.)🏅

Curling

Men’s round-robin

• 3:05 a.m.: Switzerland-Sweden, USA-China (airs on USA Network at 6 a.m.), Czechia-Germany

• 1:05 p.m.: Germany-Switzerland, USA-Italy (airs on USA Network at 9:30 p.m.), Canada-Great Britain, Sweden-Norway

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Women’s round-robin

• 8:05 a.m.: Sweden-Canada, Italy-Japan, Denmark-USA (airs on CNBC at 5 p.m.), South Korea-Switzerland

Figure Skating

• 12:45: Women’s short program (USA Network; NBC coverage begins at 2:40 p.m.)

Freestyle Skiing

Aerials

• 4:45 a.m.: Women’s qualifying (USA Network)

• 7:30 a.m.: Men’s qualifying (airs on USA Network at 11 a.m.)

Big air

• 1:30 p.m.: Men’s final (NBC)🏅

Hockey

Men’s qualification playoffs

• 6:10 a.m.: Two games, teams TBD (airs on USA Network at 12:15 p.m.)

• 10:40 a.m.: Teams TBD (airs on USA Network at 3:10 p.m.)

• 3:10 p.m.: Teams TBD (airs on USA Network at 8 p.m.)

Nordic Combined

Large hill

• 3 a.m.: Men’s ski jump (airs on USA Network at 1 a.m.)🏅

• 7:45 a.m.: Men’s 10km cross-country ski (airs on USA Network at 9:50 a.m.)🏅

Snowboarding

Slopestyle

• 7 a.m.: Women’s final (USA Network)🏅

Speed Skating

Team pursuit

• 8:30 a.m.: Men’s and women’s semifinals and finals (USA Network)🏅

The boards for ice hockey games at Milano Santagiulia Arena will have a different look for the remainder of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The International Ice Hockey Federation will change the color of the boards along the rink to a lighter color after getting feedback on the matter from various teams and national federations, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported.

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Though the IIHF usually does work on the boards to clean up dents, scuffs and other wear and tear at the midway point of a tournament, the change is being made in response to concerns that the darker turquoise color is different from what is typically seen in professional arenas throughout Europe and the NHL.

In particular, the issue is that the darker color has made it difficult to track the puck when it travels along, or even above, the boards. The boards in NHL and European professional hockey arenas are typically white, even if covered with banner ads.

The Milan Cortina tournament has seen several unexpected goals from long distances, in addition to closer shots traveling through the air or taking quirky bounces. One of the most notable was allowed by Team USA goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who let in a first-period slapshot taken by Denmark’s Nick Jensen from center ice. Swayman appeared to lose sight of the puck as it left Jensen’s stick.

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Swayman also allowed another goal in the second period on a shot he didn’t appear to see, but he was likely screened by teammate J.T Miller on that shot.

Following Team USA’s 6-3 win over Denmark, Swayman told reporters he couldn’t track Jensen’s shot, which was “the perfect height, right between the stands and the board level.”

Asked if he lost the puck because of the dark boards, Swayman joked, “I’m colorblind, so it doesn’t matter to me.”

Teammate Jack Eichel defended Swayman, saying he lost the puck in the lights during the game. But if there were other such complaints, that apparently isn’t a change the IIHF is considering.

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However, Swayman didn’t use the board colors as an excuse.

“It’s something all of us always have to face, and we play in different arenas every night in the NHL,” he said. “So this is just one, another one, and it’s a challenge that we have to embrace,” Swayman said.

Work on the boards in Milan began immediately after Monday’s women’s ice hockey match between Canada and Switzerland, according to The Athletic.

U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, at last, has her first Olympic gold medal following a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Monday’s monobob final at the Milan Cortina Games.

The 41-year-old mother of two is now tied with speedskater Bonnie Blair for the most Winter Olympic medals by a U.S. woman with six. And she’s the oldest Winter Olympian to ever win a gold medal in an individual event, breaking a record set by Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl just days earlier.

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Meyers Taylor’s U.S. teammate, Kaillie Humphries, won bronze, while Germany’s Laura Nolte secured silver.

Dramatic final secures repeat U.S. gold

Meyers Taylor entered her final run in silver-medal position and knowing the time she needed to finish ahead of her teammate, Humphries, who secured a podium position one run earlier.

Meyers Taylor ran a clean run and crossed the finish line with a combined time across four runs of 3:57.93, 0.12 seconds ahead of Humphries’ time. The run secured silver at worst and put pressure on Nolte, who had held the lead through the first three runs of competition.

Nolte sledded the final run of the day and crossed the finish line with a combined time of 3:57.97, .04 seconds behind Meyers Taylor’s run, ensuring gold for Meyers Taylor.

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When Nolte’s time was posted, Meyers Taylor clutched a U.S. flag in joy. She celebrated the moment with her two young sons and then Humphries.

‘E Money’ secures first gold in fifth Olympics

Meyers Taylor is a decorated Olympic medalist who entered this year’s competition seeking her first gold. She started the Games with two silver Olympic medals and two bronze medals in two-woman bobsled from Vancouver (2010), Sochi (2014), Pyeongchang (2018) and Beijing (2022). She also won the silver medal in Beijing in monobob.

Armed with that hardware, she entered the Milan Cortina Games brimming with confidence.

“My nickname for people who know me most is E-Money,” Taylor told NBC News prior to competition. “I’m money under pressure.”

She now has an Olympic gold medal to back up her boasts.

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USA dominant in monobob

Through two Games, Team USA now has four of the six medals awarded in Olympic monobob competition. Humphries and Meyers Taylor have all four. Humphries won gold in Beijing in addition to Meyers Taylor’s silver.

Monobob is in its second Games after debuting in Beijing in 2022. It features a single driver in a lighter sled than used by two- and four-person bobsled teams. It’s a women’s-only event at the Olympic level and brings the number of bobsled competitions for men and women to two each.

Women compete in monobob and two-woman bobsleds. Men compete in two-man and four-man teams.

Iowa State looks like it’s fully back on track.

The Cyclones, after a rough loss in Fort Worth early last week, have now won back-to-back top-10 matchups in the Big 12 in the span of three days.

No. 6 Iowa State rallied from a double-digit hole in the second half to knock off No. 2 Houston 70-67 at Hilton Coliseum on Monday night. That got the Cyclones to 23-3 on the season and handed Houston its second loss in Big 12 play.

The Cyclones opened the game on a 15-5 run Monday night, but ended up taking just a three-point lead into halftime. Emanuel Sharp scored all 16 of his points in the first half to keep Houston in it after he went 4-of-7 from behind the arc.

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Houston came out of the break hot, though, and took control of the game almost instantly. The Cougars went on an 18-6 run to open the second half and shut the Cyclones down offensively in a very stark contrast from the first 20 minutes. It very much looked like Houston was poised to run away with it.

But, after going 1-of-11 from behind the arc in the second half, Iowa State responded. Jamarion Batemon drilled a wide-open 3-pointer to put the Cyclones in the lead again, and then Nate Heise followed it up with one of his own from the corner just moments later to keep the Cyclones up by two.

While Houston had one last look to tie it up after Chris Cenac blocked Joshua Jefferson at the rim on the other end, Cenac missed a 10-footer that fell right into Blake Buchanan’s hands under the rim in the final seconds. That was enough to send the Cyclones, who ended the game on an extended 17-4 run, to the three-point win.

Kingston Flemings led Houston with 22 points and five rebounds after he went 9-of-15 from the field. Milos Uzan added 11 points to go with Sharp’s 16 first-half points. The loss snapped a six-game win streak for the Cougars, who will have to turn around and take on No. 4 Arizona and No. 8 Kansas in their next two games.

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Jefferson led Iowa State with 12 points and six rebounds, though he went just 1-of-5 from behind the arc. Heise added 11 points off the bench, and Buchanan added 10 points. Iowa State was fresh off a nearly 20-point win over No. 9 Kansas on Saturday.

The Cyclones have an equally rough finish to their regular season, including a stop at No. 23 BYU on Saturday and games against No. 13 Texas Tech and Arizona.

Though Monday night’s win will be a huge boost for the Cyclones, especially after their bad loss at unranked TCU last week, the Big 12 is still very much up for grabs. They still have a ways to go, but the Cyclones have played themselves right back into the mix to claim what would be their first regular-season conference title since 2001.

Lindsey Vonn is finally back in the United States.

The skier, who has undergone several surgeries in Italy after her devastating crash early in the Milan Cortina Olympics, revealed on social media Monday night that she had made it back home to the United States.

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While she’s not yet been on her feet since the crash, Vonn said being “back on home soil feels amazing.”

The 41-year-old fractured her left leg just 13 seconds into her downhill race earlier in the Olympics in a massive crash. She had to be airlifted off the course and ended up needing four surgeries in Italy.

Vonn revealed after her last procedure that she was preparing to return to the United States. Vonn may need to undergo further surgeries, as well.

Vonn retired from the sport in 2019, but opted to return in 2024 after undergoing a knee replacement. She said her body “felt so good” after that procedure, and she wanted to return for the Games in Cortina D’Ampezzo, the site of her first World Cup podium and the place where she’s won a record 12 World Cup races. But a week before the Opening Ceremony, Vonn crashed into a barrier training in Switzerland and had to be airlifted off the course. She completely tore her ACL. Despite that injury, Vonn competed in the Olympics anyway.

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Vonn has won three Olympic medals in her career. Her time competing professionally, however, is almost certainly over.

“She’s 41 years old, and this is the end of her career,” her dad, Alan Kidlow, said last week. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”

Even though Vonn still has a long recovery ahead of her, she’s finally back in the United States. Considering how rough her crash was, that’s a major milestone and should help her significantly.

Tyreek Hill is officially a free agent, putting him in an unfamiliar position for the first time in his career.

So, what’s next for the star wide receiver?

The Miami Dolphins officially released Hill on Monday, ending a four-season run in which the franchise bet big on him being a key piece to pair with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Ultimately, that didn’t work out. The Dolphins failed to win a single playoff game during his time in South Florida, continuing a drought that dates back to the 2000 season.

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Hill went down with a devastating knee injury early this past season, including a dislocated knee. Hill’s agent said Monday that he’s “progressing well” in his rehab and will be ready to play at some point next season, and Hill vowed to return.

But who is in play for Hill next season? Yahoo Sports’ “Inside Coverage” podcast discussed a couple of possibilities Monday.

“He still has that speed. Even if he’s 80% of what he was, he’s still going to be one of the faster players in the NFL,” Yahoo Sports senior betting analyst Ben Fawkes said. “So I think he can be a useful piece for a contender, but also at what price is the big question too.”

Kansas City Chiefs

The first landing spot is obvious. The Chiefs are the easiest match for Hill because his career began in Kansas City, and he won a Super Bowl ring there. He appeared to give a nod of approval on social media of the Chiefs’ recent rehiring of Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator.

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But Hill’s usage in Kansas City may not be what he’s used to.

“Is [Hill] willing to accept a lesser role if that’s what he is right now? Let’s say the Chiefs, right? Well, is he their No. 1 [wideout]? No, that’s probably Rashee Rice, who has his own set of baggage,” Yahoo Sports NFL senior reporter Frank Schwab said. “And is he their speed guy? Well, no, that’s probably Xavier Worthy. What role is he willing to accept? How much money is he willing to accept?”

There are, naturally, a lot of questions to be answered there. But Hill would be a solid weapon for the Chiefs, who just missed the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.

Buffalo Bills

Buffalo appears hellbent on doing just about anything possible to help lift quarterback Josh Allen over the postseason hump and to a Super Bowl. That included jettisoning a successful head coach in Sean McDermott in favor of offensive coordinator Joe Brady earlier this offseason.

Hill could be an easy add for a team needing an extra option. Khalil Shakir was their leading receiver last year with just 719 receiving yards, while tight ends Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox were second and third.

“They need that veteran piece,” podcast host Andrew Siciliano said.”They need that deep threat. They need a guy who down the field — I’m sorry, Brandin Cooks — can attack that football or just run away from the guy closest to him. So he doesn’t have to have a contested catch there to win a playoff game in Denver.”

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Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers could be a great fit for Hill for multiple reasons. He’d get to pair up with Justin Herbert, who has statistically been a top-tier quarterback during his first six seasons in the league even if the team has struggled at times. The Chargers have plenty of money to pay Hill, too, as they’re sitting with the third-most salary cap space in the league this offseason.

Oh, and Mike McDaniel is now the Chargers’ offensive coordinator after he was fired by the Dolphins earlier this offseason. Reuniting with his former head coach on the other side of the country feels like it would make things even easier for Hill coming off of his injury.

New England Patriots

Sure, the Patriots reached Super Bowl LX this past season. But something was missing, and that was very evident in the final game as the Seahawks cruised to the dominant win in the Bay Area.

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Hill could easily step into New England and help young quarterback Drake Maye as he enters his third season in the league. Pairing Hill with fellow star Stefon Diggs, who racked up 1,013 receiving yards last season, and tight end Hunter Henry, might just be the boost the team needs to get over the hump.

Las Vegas Raiders

Now this may not be Hill’s first choice, considering the state of the Raiders in recent years. But there are plenty of reasons why it would work.

The Raiders are under new leadership once again this season with Klint Kubiak coming in as their head coach. The franchise has the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, which it will presumably use on Indiana quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. Getting Mendoza a veteran like Hill right away in his career, along with young running back Ashton Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers, would be huge early on in his career.

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Oh, and the Raiders have money to spend. That’d be nice for Hill, too.

MILAN — Figure skating as a sport and an Olympic endeavor is built on hope — hope that a skater’s next routine will be flawless, hope that their grace and artistry will be enough to impress the judges, hope that the precise combination of athleticism and emotion will lead to an Olympic medal. But for the United States, hope hasn’t carried the day since 2006.

That’s how long it’s been since an American woman has won an Olympic medal, any medal, in individual figure skating. Sasha Cohen captured a silver in 2006, and Sarah Hughes and Michelle Kwan won gold and bronze, respectively, in 2002. It’s been two decades since the once-dominant American women have stood anywhere on the podium.

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Will Milan Cortina break that dubious streak? Some notable observers think this could be the Olympics where American women reassert their figure skating dominance.

“I don’t think I have seen a team this good in decades,” Tara Lipinski, Olympic gold medalist-turned-NBC commentator, said recently.

That’s because the trio of Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito — affectionately known as the Blade Angels — are rolling into Milan Cortina with more momentum and hope than any Olympic contingent in many years.

“We have a team that is really looking strong for the podium,” Lipinski added, then went a step further. “There’s a part of me that could see a possible U.S. sweep happening.”

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A sweep? All three medals? Sounds far-fetched, until you start to look at the numbers. All three rank in the top five in the International Skating Union’s world rankings, behind Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto (1) and Mone Chiba (2). All three medaled at the highly competitive U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis last month. And all three represent America in the very best way.

“It’s very special that there’s a woman from figure skating representing each section of the country,” said Johnny Weir, Lipinski’s fellow Olympian and NBC commentator.  “Isabeau Levito is from South Jersey to southside Philly. Amber Glenn is from Texas, and Alysa Liu from California, and I think it’s cool that there’s those three different perspectives and three different styles in each of those women.”

“As long as we do our programs to the best of our abilities, we cannot control the outcome,” Glenn said recently. “But I think the US ladies have come so, so far in the last two decades, that if we do our jobs in Milan … then more than likely someone’s going to be up there.”

So who exactly are the Blade Angels? Get to know America’s next great figure skating hopes:

The three-time defending national champion, Amber Glenn learned to skate at a suburban Dallas mall, showing such early promise that her parents took on extra shifts to fund her skating, and scoured eBay to find secondhand skates.

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But after years of competitive skating, and all the attendant pressure to perform and fit into a narrowly-defined box, Glenn rebelled. She focused more on her mental health than her on-ice performance, and she embraced her true self by coming out in 2019. She’s only continued to add to her accolades since then.

“She is so special and important for our sport, the way that she’s so open and vulnerable about her mental-health issues and struggles and how she overcomes the doubts and the pressure that she faces,” Lipinski said.

Glenn missed the 2022 Olympics in Beijing when she tested positive for COVID just before the U.S. championships. But since then, she’s won those three straight U.S. titles, and her technical repertoire is second to none.

“She’s landing consistent triple axels. She’s leading the world in many ways in terms of that technical side of our sport and the artistic side,” Weir said. “She really wears her heart on her sleeve when she performs, which makes it very welcoming to watch her.”

No Olympian skates with more freewheeling joy, and none have a better backstory than Liu, either. Born and raised in California, she began skating at 5, and became the youngest-ever U.S. champion in 2019 at age 13. She was named to the U.S. Olympic team in 2022, but like so many others, resisted the relentless pressure of the skating life. She walked away from the sport entirely in 2023, getting in touch with herself and even hiking to Mount Everest’s base camp.

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She returned to the sport in 2024, and all she’s done since then is win a world championship and skate her way onto her second Olympic team.

“She’s so relatable and so authentic in the way that she performs and competes,” Lipinski said. “She is skating in her own little bubble without pressure, because she really feels that she’s doing this for herself, and she’s taking full ownership over her skating.”

Liu, Weir added, “has found a way to completely relax into competition. … She doesn’t feel like her life is on the line anymore when she skates, so she’s able to put a lot of that pressure that many athletes feel down.”

“I’m so excited,” Liu recently said. “‘Cause, you know, last Olympics was COVID Olympics and really different. I had a lot of fun at that one, but everyone’s saying, ‘Listen, that one’s nothing compared to what a real Olympics is like.’ So all this big talk, y’all better show up and show out in Milan.”

Isabeau Levito 

Levito fell in love with figure skating the way so many other young girls did, by watching the Olympics. In her case, she was 3 years old and watching the 2010 Vancouver Games when she decided to test the ice herself. Within a few years, she was a junior champion, and by 2023, she’d claimed the U.S. championship.

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“I call her that skater in the snow globe. She is that quintessential ballerina that was put on ice,” Lipinski said. “She brings elegance and grace and charm and she is a perfectionist. As beautiful and sparkly are her costumes, underneath it all is desire and will.”

Levito is neither as outgoing as Glenn nor as exuberant as Liu, but instead chooses a more delicate, measured path on the ice, one that’s seen her achieve podiums throughout her career.

“She is one of those skaters that can tell you, and count on one hand, how many times she’s fallen that week, because she is so driven and striving for perfection,” Weir said.

In Milan Cortina, she’ll be skating to the music of Sophia Loren, a tribute to the Italian film legend and a nod to her own Italian and Milanese heritage.

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“Honestly, I am just so excited and stoked about the [Olympic] village,” Levito said after her bronze medal at the U.S. championships. “I see TikToks, I see videos, I see articles about it, and I hear about it firsthand, but I just am so excited about that. I just know it’ll be the time of my life.”

“The big three, they couldn’t be more different even though they’re all competing in the same sport,” Weir said. “That makes it really exciting for an audience, because there’s going to be someone for everyone to root for.”

“We are all individual artists, and we are all just doing the best that we can and not trying to fit into any shape or mold that anyone tries to put us into,” Glenn said. “I think that is what has brought us back into such a successful group of women in figure skating.”

The women’s short program is Tuesday with medals to be awarded two days later. And then we’ll see if hope can become hardware.

LIVIGNO, Italy — The original concept of the Winter Olympics was simple. In the early 1920s, a movement was born within the International Olympic Committee to designate a week for celebrating sports on snow and ice. By 1964, it had grown to more than 1,000 athletes in 34 events.

Three decades later, the Winter Games moved to a new schedule so that they no longer took place in the same year as the Summer Olympics. More recently, they’ve evolved to add more modern, youth-focused sports like snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

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All the changes, however, have failed to solve one of the major issues inherent to winter sports: Except for a small handful of athletes who are mostly from mountainous European countries, the Winter Games lack diversity and star power. Even in the U.S., it’s the rare athlete like a Lindsey Vonn or Shaun White that can break through into the mainstream conversation.

That’s why the Winter Olympics needs to tweak its criteria and include the most popular winter sport in the world.

It’s time to take basketball out of the Summer Games and put it where it belongs.

Basketball is, of course, not a winter sport by the IOC’s definition because it’s played indoors with no ice or snow to be found. But the rules can change when it’s convenient for the IOC. Heck, this is an organization that put recent Winter Olympics in places like Sochi, Russia — a beachside resort where the temperature rarely gets below 40 degrees — and Beijing, where the climate is so dry they had to manufacture snow.

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If they wanted basketball to be a Winter Olympic sport, they could easily manufacture a rule change that would allow it to happen. Is the sport played and watched in winter? OK, you’re good to go!

And the IOC should push for that because it would significantly enhance the allure of the Winter Games to a worldwide audience while taking very little excitement away from summer, where basketball often seems like an afterthought.

As great as the basketball tournament has been, particularly at the last two Olympics with countries like France and Serbia mounting significant challenges to Team USA, fighting for attention with track and field, gymnastics, swimming and the rest is difficult. There’s simply too much going on, particularly as the Summer Games have become bloated with events.

Two years ago in Paris, there were 329 medal events across 32 sports with more sports being added all the time like sport climbing in 2024 or flag football in 2028. This year in Milan Cortina, there will be 116 medal events in 16 sports. The Winter Olympics can grow only so much if you’re restricting it to sports that require snow or ice to compete.

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Maybe that works now for the IOC, but is it a sustainable strategy for the future?

If the IOC isn’t concerned about TV ratings, particularly in the U.S., they should be. NBC’s coverage in 2022 averaged 11.4 million viewers across all its platforms, down from 19.8 million in 2018. That was already down about 7% from Sochi in 2014.

There’s probably some statistical noise in that trend line due to time zone issues (holding the last two Winter Olympics in China and South Korea was a disaster for American viewers), as well as the bad vibes surrounding 2022 with Beijing still in the midst of a full COVID lockdown. At that point Americans were tired of talking about it, but it was impossible to flip on an event, see empty stands and not think about the pandemic.

Interest has bounced back and ratings are reportedly up with a more traditional Winter Games set in the Italian Alps and event times that are more conducive to American viewership. It’s also helps significantly that NHL players have returned to the men’s hockey competition for the first time since 2014.

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But over the long haul, the Winter Olympics are just too limited, philosophically and geographically, to grow viewership with younger demographics.

Outside of Europe, the U.S. and Canada, participation is sparse. Adding the X Games sports has brought in some athletes from Australia and New Zealand, while Japan, China and South Korea usually have a big presence in skating events. But South America, Africa, the Middle East and even some large population countries like Spain (14 athletes at 2022 Games), Brazil (10) and Mexico (4) are practically absent.

That’s always going to be a challenge for the IOC. It’s hard to build a viewer base for winter sports in places that don’t have much winter.

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But that’s also why it makes so much sense to take basketball — a sport that reaches all corners of the globe — and give it the Olympic showcase it deserves at a time of year when fans are used to watching the NBA and the various leagues around the world.

Suddenly, Argentina is interested. Australia and Greece are involved. The South Sudan story was huge in Paris and it would be even bigger in this context simply because of what it would mean for awareness of the Winter Games across the entire African continent.

Also, no disrespect to any athlete getting ready to compete in Milan Cortina, but the Winter Olympics just doesn’t have as many big, worldwide stars as the Summer Games. Yes, every speed skater is famous in the Netherlands, the Germans love their bobsledders and cross-country skiers are huge in Norway. But those are niche sports and niche markets. Having a Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic or Caitlin Clark bring mainstream appeal to the Winter Olympics would be transformative.

Such a huge change, of course, would require a lot of cooperation from the NBA and European leagues to pause their seasons in February. It would probably be difficult to find many NBA owners who want to send their star players away for a couple weeks and risk injury before the stretch run.

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Admittedly, it’s a lot to ask. But the NHL has managed to do it, and the upside is that it wouldn’t require NBA players to devote such a huge chunk of their offseason in Olympic years going to training camps and playing exhibition games before the actual event. If the NBA was willing to tweak its schedule to allow for it once every four years, there would be clear momentum coming out of the Olympics that might even reengage some casual fans before the playoffs.

At the end of the day, basketball is just not needed at the Summer Olympics. There is already so much to consume, you could remove it entirely and few would notice. It would, however, transform the Winter Games into a more global event that could comfortably share the stage with its traditionally popular offerings like figure skating and hockey.

The Olympic movement always evolves. Its next big move should be placing the world’s most popular winter sport in the Winter Olympics.

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 at 19 medals after picking up two medals on Monday, with more up for grabs on Tuesday in Milan Cortina.

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

The Blade Angels begin their quest for gold (1 p.m. ET)

No American woman has won an individual figure skating medal since 2006. That’s expected to change in Milan, where the U.S. has a stacked team of Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito. Their competition begins Tuesday with the short program, then will conclude on Thursday with the free skate.

Is it Mac Forehand’s time in big air? (2:15 p.m. ET)

The American freestyle skier qualified first overall. After a disappointing result in slopestyle, where he finished 11th, he’ll be out for some redemption Tuesday in what is actually his weaker event. Two other Americans are among the 12 who qualified for the final — Konnor Ralph and Troy Podmilsak.

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Can the U.S. break Germany’s hold on bobsled? (3:03 p.m. ET)

Through two runs in the 2-man bobsled, Germany ranks 1-2-3. Right behind them, though, is the American duo of Frankie del Duca and Joshua Williamson. They are just one-tenth of a second back of the third-place German team. You may recognize del Duca, who was one of the U.S. flag bearers in the Opening Ceremony.

Will Team USA sweep team pursuit in speed skating? (10:22 a.m. ET)

The U.S. men are the favorites; the women will have to overcome the favored Canadians. In team pursuit, three skaters, racing in a straight line to reduce drag, complete eight laps for the men and six laps for the women. Fastest time wins. If you’re wondering, Jordan Stolz is not on the U.S. team, meaning he will not attempt to add to his gold medal collection today.

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Olympics schedule for Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 (Day 11)

Biathlon

Relay

• 8:30 a.m.: Men’s final (USA Network coverage begins at 9:05 a.m.)🏅

Bobsled

Curling

Men’s round-robin

• 3:05 a.m.: USA-China (airs on USA Network at 6 a.m.), Switzerland-Sweden, Czechia-Germany

• 1:05 p.m.: USA-Italy (airs on USA Network at 9:30 p.m.), Germany-Switzerland, Canada-Great Britain, Sweden-Norway

Women’s round-robin

• 8:05 a.m.: Denmark-USA (airs on CNBC at 5 p.m.), Sweden-Canada, Italy-Japan, South Korea-Switzerland

Figure Skating

Freestyle Skiing

Aerials

• 4:45 a.m.: Women’s qualifying (USA Network)

• 7:30 a.m.: Men’s qualifying (airs on USA Network at 11 a.m.)

Big air

Hockey

Men’s qualification playoffs

• 6:10 a.m.: Two games, teams TBD (airs on USA Network at 12:15 p.m.)

• 10:40 a.m.: Teams TBD (airs on USA Network at 3:10 p.m.)

• 3:10 p.m.: Teams TBD (airs on USA Network at 8 p.m.)

Nordic Combined

Large hill

• 7:45 a.m.: Men’s 10km cross-country ski (airs on USA Network at 9:50 a.m.)🏅

Snowboarding

Slopestyle

Speed Skating

Team pursuit