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There were no new medals for Team USA on Monday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

But there was plenty of high-stakes competition that sets up U.S. athletes in medal position with gold at stake in multiple events. USA women’s hockey continued to cruise in group play ahead of a showdown with Canada.

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Lindsey Vonn, meanwhile, released her first public statement since her devastating crash in the alpine downhill competition. She has “no regrets” from competing on a torn ACL and doesn’t believe the injury contributed to her crash.

And ahead of the men’s short program Tuesday, Ilia Malinin’s cat is joining in on USA’s gold medal in team figure skating.

Here are the top five stories of the day from Monday:

Chock and Bates in silver-medal position after rhythm dance

Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ pursuit of their first Olympic medal in pairs competition is off to a strong start. But they’re not quite where they want to be in their quest for Olympic gold.

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Chock and Bates skated a strong program Monday. But a technical deduction on a pattern step placed them in second place, just behind the first-place French duo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.

Beaudry and Cizeron posted a score of 90.18, less than half a point ahead of Chock and Bates’ score of 89.72. Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier leave Monday’s rhythm dance in third place with a score of 86.18.

The scores carry over to Wednesday’s free dance and will be combined with the free dance totals to determine medal winners. Since the scores carry over from the rhythm dance instead of the placement, the French and U.S. skating pairs are locked in what amounts to a virtual tie in what’s expected to be a two-way battle for the gold medal.

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Chock and Bates have team gold medals from this year’s competition and from 2022 in Beijing. But they’re still in search of their first Olympic medal in pairs competition after finishing in fourth place in Beijing.

They enter the Milan Cortina Games as the gold medal favorites after securing three consecutive world championships. But they’ll have their work cut out for them against Beaudry and Cizeron.

Five teams, including USA’s Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (6th place, 83.53 points) are within five points of the third-place Canadian pair in what’s expected to be a competitive race for the bronze medal.

Lindsey Vonn’s first statement since crash, surgery

Lindsey Vonn made her first public statement Monday since her devastating injury crash in the alpine downhill competition on Sunday, declaring that she has “no regrets.”

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In an Instagram post, Vonn wrote that her ACL tear didn’t factor into the crash or her injury, which she described as a “complex tibia fracture.”

Vonn explained that her crash and injury were strictly the result of her right arm hooking into a gate and a sending her flying through the air off balance at a high rate of speed — not because of her previous ACL injury.

“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.”

Vonn, 41, added that she sustained a “complex tibia fracture” that “will require multiple surgeries to fix properly. She did not address her future in the sport.

USA Curling is medal-bound

USA Curling is guaranteed a medal. The only question at this point is what color it will be.

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USA’s mixed doubles team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin exceeded expectations just by advancing to the knockout round thanks to a 6-3 record in round-robin play. When they got to Monday’s medal-round semifinal, they faced their stiffest test yet — a matchup against the reigning Olympic champion Italian tandem of Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner playing in front of a friendly home crowd.

The Italians put the Americans to the test. But Thiesse and Dropkin prevailed in dramatic fashion with a final shot that secured a 9-8 win.

Thiesse had the final throw with USA trailing 8-7 and needing two points to win and advance to the gold-medal match. She delivered a perfect throw that Dropkin guided into place to knock out Italy’s scoring stone and secure two points for the win.

With the win, USA advances to face Sweden at 12:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday with the gold medal on the line. The loser of Tuesday’s match will secure silver.

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Italy advanced to face Great Britain in the bronze-medal match Tuesday at 8:05 a.m. ET.

U.S. women blitz Switzerland ahead of Canada showdown

The U.S. women continue to cruise in ice hockey group play and are now 3-0 following a 5-0 blowout over Switzerland on Monday. Up next — a showdown with Canada.

Hilary Knight didn’t score and remains tied with Natalie Darwitz and Katie King for the most goals scored by a U.S. player in Olympic competition with 14. But there was little to find fault with in a game in which Alex Carpenter, Haley Winn, Joy Dunne, Hannah Bilka and Caroline Harvey found the back of the net. Gwyneth Philips, meanwhile, made 20 saves in a shutout in her first start in goal at the Olympics.

USA has now outscored its Olympic competition, 15-1 in wins over Switzerland, Finland and Czechia. USA leads Group A with 9 points and a plus-14 goal differential.

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Canada is 2-0 with a 9-1 goal differential in wins over Switzerland and Czechia. And it promises to provide a considerably stiffer test in Tuesday’s showdown (2:10 p.m. ET) that’s widely expected to be a preview of the gold-medal game.

USA misses speed skating podium as Netherlands goes 1-2

U.S. speed skaters Brittany Bowe and Erin Jackson entered Monday’s 1,000-meter competition each with an outside shot of making the podium. They didn’t get there.

The Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam set an Olympic record with a time of 1:12.31 to secure the gold medal and was joined on the podium by her teammate and silver medalist Femke Kok. Japan’s Miho Takagi, the reigning gold medalist in the event, took bronze.

Jackson left her skate with the fastest time, but was surpassed by five others en route to a sixth-place finish. Bowe, the world-record holder in the event, was in podium position ahead of the final race. But Leerdam’s and Takagi’s medal-securing skates knocked her into fourth place.

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Bowe, 37, set the world record in the event with a time of 1:11.61 in 2019 at the ISU World Cup in Salt Lake City in 2019, and it still stands. She won bronze at the Beijing Games. This is her last Olympics. She plans to retire after the Games. She’ll also compete in the 1,500 meters (Feb. 20) and the women’s team pursuit (Feb. 14, 17).

Jackson is a 500-meter specialist who began training for the 1,000 meters after Beijing. She’ll seek to repeat her 500-meter gold medal performance from Beijing on Feb. 15.

Team USA medals

Team USA did not add to its medal count on Tuesday. Through three days of competition, USA’s medal count stands at two golds: Breezy Johnson’s in the alpine downhill competition and the team figure skating competition that concluded Sunday.

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Host Italy leads the way with nine total medals, while Norway and Switzerland are tied for the lead with three golds each.

Highlight of the day

There was nothing at stake for Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud for her final run at Monday’s slopestyle final.

Her first two runs secured her second straight gold medal on top of her gold medal from Beijing. So her third run was a true victory lap. She ran it in style while adorned with the Swiss flag.

One more thing

Meet Mysti.

This is Ilia Malinin’s cat joining in on the celebration after Malinin clinched for Team USA in the team figure skating competition Sunday night.

Malinin’s hoping to bring home another gold for Mysti in the men’s competition that starts Tuesday with the short program.

Klint Kubiak just won the Super Bowl.

He isn’t going to Disney World. He’s going to Las Vegas.

NFL Network interviewed the Seahawks offensive coordinator in the aftermath of Seattle’s dominant 29-13 win over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl Sunday night. In the interview, he confirmed the worst-kept secret in football — that he’s leaving Seattle to take over as the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

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Kubiak didn’t volunteer the information when asked an open-ended question. But when pressed, he spilled the beans.

“You guys know I’m going to Las Vegas, I’m fired up about it,” Kubiak said. … “Hell yeah, I’m going. Of course I’m going.”

So Kubiak’s fired up, and justifiably so.

First and foremost, he just won the Super Bowl. Perhaps less exciting, he’s going to Las Vegas to take over as head coach of one of the worst teams in football. Don’t expect him back here next season.

But it’s a head coaching job in the NFL, and that’s more than enough reason for excitement for a 38-year old fresh off a Super Bowl win.

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The news has been known for a week. Kubiak and the Raiders reportedly reached agreement on a deal on Feb. 1. But since Kubiak was the offensive coordinator of a team preparing to play in the Super Bowl, neither he nor the Raiders could confirm their partnership.

The team confirmed the hiring on Tuesday night. The two sides, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, reached a five-year deal.

And while the Raiders are coming off a 3-14 campaign that was tied for the NFL’s worst last season, there’s reason for excitement for Kubiak and Raiders fans. There’s a decent chance that Heisman Trophy winner and national champion Fernando Mendoza will play quarterback for the Raiders next season.

Freestyle skiing might just be one of the Winter Games’ most thrilling events. The sport comprises aerials, moguls, cross-country, halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air competitions, where flips, spins, and acrobatics showcase individual competitors’ skills and artistry on the slopes. This year, Team USA is sending 32 freestyle skiers to the Milan Cortina Games to compete, and events will run from Feb. 7 through Feb. 22.

Here’s a complete schedule of all Team USA Freestyle Skiing events at this year’s games, along with a rundown of who is competing. While every event will stream on Peacock, you can also find most on USA and NBC too. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule, and toggle your search to “TV Only.”).

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If you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milan Cortina Games.

How to watch freestyle skiing at the 2026 Winter Olympics

Dates: Feb. 7 – 21

Location: Livigno Snow Park.

TV channels: USA, NBC

Streaming: Peacock, DirecTV, and more

Where can I stream freestyle skiing at the 2026 Winter Olympics?

Where to watch freestyle skiing on TV:

Team USA men’s and women’s freestyle skiing coverage will be split between NBC and USA. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule, and toggle your search to “TV Only.”). You can stream these channels on DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more.

Tight end David Njoku said his goodbyes to the Cleveland Browns and their fans in a social media post on Monday as he approaches free agency in March.

“Cleveland, first off I love you,” Njoku wrote in an Instagram post. “These 9 years have been a beautiful journey. I’m so grateful for all the memories we shared together.”

“Thank you to The Haslams, Andrew Berry and the whole browns organization for everything!!” he added. “All my teammates I shared the battle with I’m so grateful for you guys. The time for me to find a new home has come and all I can think of is just the gratefulness in my heart. The city of Cleveland will forever be home❤️ #ChiefOut“

Njoku, who will turn 30 before next season, has played his entire NFL career with the Browns to this point. He was Cleveland’s first-round pick in 2017 (No. 29 overall) out of Miami. But the team only had two winning seasons during his tenure.

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In nine seasons with the Browns, Njoku appeared in 118 games, starting 88. During his career, he’s compiled 384 receptions for 4,062 yards and 34 touchdowns. His best season was in 2023 with 81 catches for 862 yards and 6 TDs, and he was named to the Pro Bowl. With his catch total and touchdowns, Njoku ranks second in team history for tight ends behind Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome.

Njoku’s contract will void on March 12, making him a free agent. Amid rumors that he could be dealt at the trade deadline in November, he said publicly that he wanted to stay with the Browns.

However, with Cleveland firing head coach Kevin Stefanski and bringing in Todd Monken to replace him, it’s possible that either Njoku doesn’t want to go through another Browns rebuilding project or he was told that his role will change.

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Njoku wasn’t the Browns’ most productive tight end this past season. Rookie Harold Fannin led Cleveland with 72 receptions for 731 yards and 6 TDs. Njoku was far behind with 33 catches for 293 yards and 4 scores. He played in 12 games, suffering a knee injury in Week 14. That could also affect his availability and production in 2026.

The second half of Monday night’s contest between the Charlotte Hornets and the Detroit Pistons was full of chaos at the Spectrum Center.

A group of four players and Hornets head coach Charles Lee didn’t make it to the end of the Pistons’ 110-104 win in North Carolina.

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The first skirmish erupted midway through the third quarter after Hornets forward Moussa Diabate fouled Pistons center Jalen Duren as he was going up for a shot in the middle of the lane. The two got face-to-face after the foul was called, and words were exchanged briefly, before Duren gave Diabate a hard shove to his face.

That set Diabate off. He charged at Duren, and things immediately escalated into a huge altercation that took several assistants and officials to break up. Diabate tried to swing at Duren as he was being held back, then he broke away to charge at Duren again.

Eventually, after Diabate was pulled away, Miles Bridges charged at Duren and threw a punch. That prompted Isaiah Stewart — who wasn’t even in the game at the time — to run off the bench and scuffle with Bridges. A second scrum then moved over toward the team benches while officials had to separate that group.

Eventually, officials got things back under control. After a long review, Diabate, Bridges, Duren and Stewart were all ejected from the game. The league is sure to assess further penalties in the coming days.

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The Pistons led 70-62 at the time.

After the contest, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was quick to place blame on the Hornets for the incident.

“It was clear, through frustration because of what JD was doing, that they crossed the line,” Bickerstaff said, via The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson. “I hate that it got as ugly as it got. That’s not something that you ever want to see. But if a guy throws a punch at you, you have a responsibility to protect yourself, and that’s what happened tonight. If you go back and watch the film, they’re the ones that initiated crossing the line, and our guy had to defend himself.”

Hornets coach Charles Lee ejected, too

Though he wasn’t involved in the first incident, Lee was ejected from the game midway through the fourth quarter.

Hornets guard Grant Williams was called for an offensive foul after he charged into Paul Reed near the top of the key, which sent Reed down to the court. Williams didn’t have the ball at the time, and seemed a bit confused by the call.

But Lee wasn’t having it. He started screaming at the officials. He was held back by Williams, Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball as he continued lighting up the referees. Lee was quickly thrown out of the game.

“I take ownership of it. … I thought it was a very physical game,” Lee said, via The Associated Press’ Steve Reed. “Grant’s walking down in pain and barely touched somebody and the guy fell over, and that’s what we were gonna call a foul. Again, they have a hard job to have to make these calls, but I don’t think that that was like the consistency of what had been called the rest of the game.”

Lee is in his second season leading the Hornets this season, which marks his first head-coaching job in the league.

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The Pistons, who led nearly the entire way in the second half, ended up holding on down the stretch for the six-point win. Cade Cunningham led the way with 33 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Duncan Robinson added 18 points. The Pistons now sit at 39-13 on the season.

Miller led the Hornets with 24 points in the loss, which snapped a nine-game win streak. Kon Knueppel added 20 points and five rebounds, and Ball finished with 20 points.

Kansas did something that no other team had been able to pull off so far this season.

And the Jayhawks did it without star Darryn Peterson.

No. 9 Kansas rallied in the second half to knock off top-ranked Arizona 82-78 on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse on Monday. It marked the Wildcats’ first loss after a 23-game win streak to open the season, and likely paved the way for a new team to claim the No. 1 ranking next week. It marked Kansas’ first win over a No. 1 program since 2003, when it also beat Arizona.

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The loss also means that 24-0 Miami (Ohio) is the last undefeated team left in the country.

Peterson misses another game

The game was billed as one of the biggest on the college basketball calendar with the projected No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft in Peterson leading Kansas at home against the top-ranked and undefeated Wildcats.

Instead, Peterson missed another high-profile matchup as injuries and now illness have marred his otherwise standout freshman campaign. A Kansas spokesman revealed shortly before tip that Peterson was going to be a late scratch due to flu-like symptoms. Peterson joined his teammates for the start of pregame warmups before leaving the court on his own. Further details of his condition were not revealed.

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Monday’s was the 11th game that Peterson has missed out of 24. He missed nine with a hamstring injury and another with an ankle injury prior to Monday’s absence.

Kansas rallies to upset Arizona

Even without Peterson around, Arizona only managed a three-point lead at the break. Bryson Tiller led Kansas with 14 points and Jamari McDowell had 10 in the first 20 minutes, both of which were season-highs for the two players in a single half, to keep the Jayhawks in it.

Though Arizona pushed that lead to 11 points early in the second half and briefly looked like it was going to run away with the game, Kansas finally came alive. The Jayhawks mounted a long 12-3 run — which included a huge lob to Flory Bidunga, who also put them in the lead for the first time all night a few possessions later.

Arizona only managed a single field goal over an eight-plus minute stretch to let Kansas take control. Eventually, Ivan Kharchenkov hit an easy bucket to end the dry spell and make it a two-point game again with about two minutes left.

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Arizona cut the deficit to a single point in the final minute after Jaden Bradley drained a 16-footer and then Brayden Burries hit a 3-pointer after a Kansas turnover on an inbounds pass.

But a pair of free throws from Melvin Council Jr. extended Kansas’ lead to three points again. Then it was Bidunga who finally sealed the deal for the Jayhawks. Burries tried to drive right to the rim, but Bidunga flew in from behind him for a massive block. That gave the ball back to the Jayhawks and allowed them to hang on for the four-point win.

Burries led Arizona with 25 points and five rebounds. Motiejus Krivas added 14 points and 15 rebounds in the loss. Monday’s game marked the first of a tough four-game stretch for the Wildcats, who will have to host No. 16 Texas Tech and No. 22 BYU before traveling to No. 3 Houston next weekend. They also have Kansas a second time and No. 5 Iowa State looming before the end of the season.

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Bidunga led Kansas with 23 points and 10 rebounds to go with three blocks in the win, which marked its eighth straight. He’s now just the third player in the last 35 years to have a 20-point, 10-rebound, three-block night over a No. 1 team in the nation, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

Absences don’t appear to be hurting Peterson’s draft stock

Peterson has lived up to his billing when he’s been available and is averaging 20.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game. A 6-foot-5 guard with a quick first step, Peterson’s a threat to blow by his defender for a dunk or pull up from 3, where he shoots 41.9%.

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Peterson’s availability concerns so far haven’t impacted his projection as the No. 1 pick out of a standout freshman class in which BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson and Houston’s Kingston Flemings are all projected to join him in the top 5 of June’s NBA Draft. That’s thanks to his uncommon athleticism and skill set on both sides of the ball.

After a disappointing 11-5 start, Kansas had thrived with Peterson on the court and entered Monday night with a seven-game win streak that included victories over then-No. 2 Iowa State, No. 13 BYU and No. 13 Texas Tech.

Kansas dropped from preseason No. 19 to out of the rankings in Week 11, only to rise to No. 9 ahead of Monday’s Arizona game with Peterson back in the lineup.

While Peterson’s presence on the floor undoubtedly makes a massive difference for Bill Self’s group, Monday night was more than enough proof that it’s not required for the Jayhawks to win.

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 U.S. has an opportunity for several gold medals on Day 4 of the 2026 Winter Olympics. The mixed doubles curling team could earn gold for the first time, while Breezy Johnson seeks the top of the medal stand in Cortina again. Alex Hall is also chasing Olympic glory for the second consecutive time. The “Quad God” might be officially coronated on the ice rink in men’s figure skating. And it’s always a good time when the USA and Canada face off in hockey.

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

1. Team USA goes for gold in mixed doubles curling

The curling duo of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin already made history by becoming the first U.S. mixed doubles team to advance to the medal round since the competition joined the Winter Olympics in 2018. But they didn’t merely settle for finishing among the tournament’s top four teams.

After losing to defending gold medalist Italy 7-6 in their earlier match on Monday to close out the round-robin session, Team USA had to face the home team again in the semifinals. Team Italy looked as if it might sweep the U.S. after taking a 2-0 lead, then going up 4-2 after the third end. The Americans gained the advantage with a 3-0 fourth end. But the match came down to the eighth end and Thiesse hit the perfect throw for two points and the win.

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Team USA will face reigning bronze medalist Sweden for the gold medal. Thiesse and Dropkin previously defeated Isabella and Rasmus Wranaa to get to the medal round. Can they get one more victory to win gold?

2. ‘Quad God’ begins quest for men’s singles figure skating gold

U.S. sensation Ilia Malinin surprisingly finished second to Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama in the men’s short program of the team figure skating competition Sunday. But the “Quad God” landed a backflip and quad flip in the free skate to help lift Team USA to a gold medal.

Can Malinin bring even more spectacle and style to the singles competition? Skating in his first Winter Olympics, he’s been viewed as the favorite for the event going into the Milan Cortina Games — arguably the United States’ best contender for a gold medal. However, Kagiyama has shown he’s a more than capable challenger. Their next showdown will begin with the men’s singles short program.

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3. USA and Canada clash in women’s ice hockey

The U.S. women’s ice hockey team has been dominant in group play, defeating Czechia, Finland and Switzerland by a combined score of 15-1. Goaltenders Aerin Frankel and Gwyneth Philips have been excellent for the U.S, while Alex Carpenter is tied for the tournament lead with five points (3 goals, 2 assists) and four teammates each have 4 points.

But in the next matchup, Team USA will face its top rival in Canada. The two countries have combined to win gold in every Olympics or World Championships. Playing one fewer game thus far (the Canadians will face Finland on Thursday), Team Canada has been equally formidable, beating Switzerland and Czechia by a total 9-1 score.

4. More Olympic struggles for Mikaela Shiffrin

Alpine skier Breezy Johnson became just the second U.S. woman to win a gold medal in the women’s downhill on Sunday. She had an opportunity for one more on Monday, competing in the team combined downhill event that debuted in the 2026 Winter Games with Mikaela Shiffrin as her partner.

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While Johnson posted the fastest time in the downhill portion of the event, Shiffrin couldn’t hold the lead in the slalom. The pair ended up in fourth place, failing to reach the podium.

5. U.S. freestyle skier Alex Hall wins silver

Team USA freestyle skier Alex Hall was the defending gold medalist in the freeski slopestyle and went into Tuesday’s competition as a strong contender to repeat. Norway’s Birk Ruud, however, finished with the top score to win gold. Hall took silver.

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026 (Day 4)

Alpine Skiing

Women’s team combined

• 4:30 a.m.: Downhill (USA Network)

• 8 a.m.: Slalom (USA Network)🏅

Biathlon

20 kilometer individual

• 7:30 a.m.: Men’s final (airs at 4:30 p.m. on USA)🏅

Cross-Country Skiing

Sprint

• 3:45 a.m.: Men’s women’s qualifying

• 5:35 a.m.: Men’s and women’s finals (airs at 1:15 p.m. on NBC)🏅

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Curling

Mixed doubles

• 8:05 a.m.: Bronze-medal game, Great Britain vs. Italy (USA Network coverage begins at 9 a.m.)🏅

• 12:05 p.m.: Gold-medal game, USA vs. Sweden (USA Network) 🏅

Figure Skating

• 12:30 p.m.: Men’s short program (USA Network)

Freestyle Skiing

Moguls

• 5:15 a.m.: Men’s qualifying

• 8:15 a.m.*: Women’s qualifying *Light situation needs to be checked

Slopestyle

6:30 a.m.: Men’s final (USA Network)🏅

Hockey

Women’s pool play

• 6:10 a.m.: Japan vs. Sweden

• 10:40 a.m.: Italy vs. Germany

• 2:10 p.m.: USA vs. Canada (USA Network)

• 3:10 p.m.: Finland vs. Switzerland

Luge

Women’s singles

• 11 a.m.: Run 3 (USA Network)

• 12:45 p.m.: Run 4 (NBC)🏅

Short Track

• 4:30 a.m.: Women’s 500m qualifying, men’s 1000m qualifying, mixed team relay (airs at 11:30 a.m. on USA Network)🏅

Ski Jumping

Normal hill

• 12:45 p.m.: Mixed team finals (airs at 6:15 p.m. on USA Network)🏅

MILAN — Three years ago, the greatest speedskater in American history made a rare appearance at the Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City.

Eric Heiden was curious to see the 18-year-old phenom who had already laid waste to the world junior record book and was by then beginning to snap at the heels of the fastest speedskaters on the international circuit.

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To Heiden, watching Jordan Stolz was like witnessing a younger, blonder version of himself. It wasn’t just the teenager’s power and efficiency in the straightaways, his ability to maintain speed in the curves or his unflappable demeanor under pressure. Their life stories also unfolded astonishingly similarly.

They both grew up in idyllic small towns in Wisconsin. They both learned to skate on frozen ponds. They both debuted on the Olympic stage at age 17 but were too young and green to contend for medals. They both came back stronger and more determined and ascended to the top of their sport during the following Olympic cycle.

“It’s a little freaky how similar our histories are,” Heiden, now a 67-year-old orthopedic surgeon in Park City, Utah, told Yahoo Sports. “Every time I think about it, I’m like dang, man, this guy is the same as I was.”

For Stolz to live up to the label of the next Heiden, he’ll need to seize his moment in the Olympic spotlight the same way Heiden did 46 years ago.

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Heiden won a mind-blowing five gold medals in Lake Placid, showcasing unparalleled range by sweeping every men’s speedskating race from the explosive 500 meters to the draining 25-lap 10,000 meters. To this day, no other Winter Olympian has claimed that many gold medals in a single Games. Only three other athletes have even won four gold medals at the same Winter Olympics.

Stolz, now 21, did not attempt to qualify for the long-distance races in Milan, but he’s a legitimate threat to return home with gold medals in the men’s 500, 1,000 and 1,500 as well as the chaotic and unpredictable mass start event. He has dominated the World Cup circuit this year, winning 16 out of 24 races that he has entered, with all of the non-victories coming in the 500 or the mass start. Those two events are the most volatile and feature the toughest competition.

Last week, Stolz publicly set a goal of winning four medals

“I can’t say which colors they’re going to be,” he admitted with a smile.

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Stolz’s first chance to begin stacking medals comes Wednesday night in the men’s 1,000.

Is Stolz the best American speedskater since Heiden? Yes, said Heiden, without the slightest hesitation.

“He’s a once-in-a-generation athlete,” Heiden added. “There hasn’t been anybody better for decades.”

The backyard pond

Over a quarter century ago, Dirk and Jane Stolz bought a plot of land about 45 miles outside of Milwaukee and had plans drawn up for a two-story house overlooking the forest and the prairie. They envisioned a place where their children could develop the same passion for the outdoors they both had.

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As kids, Jordan Stolz and his older sister Hannah were outside from dawn until after dark. They hiked. They biked. They caught bullfrogs. They fished in streams. They helped with the family’s deer and elk farm. When Jordan and Hannah were old enough, their parents would take them to the Alaskan wilderness every summer to hunt moose, and fish for salmon and halibut.

The Stolzes didn’t permit their kids to watch much TV. Except when the 2010 Winter Olympics began. Dirk, a youth ski racer in Germany before emigrating to the U.S., declared to his family, “OK, for the next two weeks we’re watching this.”

The most frequently repeated portion of Jordan Stolz’s origin story is that he and his sister fell in love with speedskating while watching charismatic short-track star Apolo Anton Ohno compete in Vancouver. In reality, Dirk also played a pivotal role.

While Dirk never had interest in team sports like baseball, football or basketball, he liked the idea of his kids pursuing a winter sport, especially one the whole family could do together. He also was aware of the rich history of the Milwaukee-based Pettit Center, the first indoor speed skating oval built in the U.S. and the place where decorated Olympians like Bonnie Blair, Dan Jansen and Shani Davis trained.

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So when 5-year-old Jordan and 7-year-old Hannah were wowed by Ohno, Dirk seized his chance and gestured toward the three-acre-wide frozen pond in their backyard.

“You guys want to go out on the pond and skate?” he asked. “We can make a short track.”

Days later, after their dad shoveled off part of the pond and bought two pairs of cheap hockey skates, Jordan and Hannah stumbled out onto the ice. They both wore life vests because Jane was deathly afraid of the ice cracking beneath their feet.

That humble start soon gave way to bigger things as Jordan and Hannah grew more and more obsessed with speedskating. Eventually, Dirk plowed an oval into the track so his kids could do laps and set up a light system so that Jordan could safely skate past dark.

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Late one night, Jane shined a flashlight out in the backyard and found Jordan doing laps by himself. He was practicing his crossover technique to generate speed in the turns.

“You still out there?” Jane shouted.

“Just a little bit longer,” Jordan replied.

That’s when Jane began to realize how driven her son was.

Says Jane now with a laugh, “Even then, he was just different.”

Becoming the next Eric Heiden

Before long, the pond became too small to contain Jordan’s ambitions. Dirk and Jane began taking him and Hannah to the Pettit Center to work year-round with youth coaches.

One morning, when Jordan was about 10, he and Hannah whined for the first time ever to their mom, “Do we have to go to practice today?”

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Jane responded as if the Cookie Monster had just turned down a plate of chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin.

“I was shocked,” Jane recalled. “I was like, ‘What?’”

Since the Stolzes had never needed to bribe or prod their kids to get them to practice before, Jane went to the Pettit Center to sit and watch. What she found was that her kids were standing around for so long that their feet were getting cold, that “there was a lot of talking, a lot of instructions and no skating.”

Hoping for some advice, Jane approached a prominent Milwaukee-based coach with a big heart and a booming voice. Bob Fenn was best known for developing Shani Davis into a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time world all-around champion but he also worked with many other world-class speedskaters.

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Fenn had previously seen Jordan and Hannah skate and had developed a rapport with them during their many trips to the Pettit Center. Rather than recommend a new youth coach to Jane, Fenn out of nowhere told her, “That’s it. I’m taking your kids!”

To Jane, that was the equivalent of Bill Belichick volunteering to coach a Pop-Warner team. As she says, “He didn’t train kids. He trained Olympians.”

The Stolzes agreed to let Fenn coach their kids, but Dirk and Jane agonized over what the price was going to be. Jane repeatedly asked Fenn after practices, “How much do you charge?” Finally, he told them he would accept $250 per month to coach both Jordan and Hannah, pennies on the dollar compared to what Dirk and Jane expected.

“We basically paid for his gas money, but he didn’t care,” Jane said. “He loved them. He was like, I’ve got another Eric and Beth Heiden.”

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Intense yet compassionate, Fenn pushed Jordan hard for three years and got more out of him than even he thought was possible. Jordan began winning prestigious races, leading his parents to homeschool him so that he had more flexibility to handle the time demands of practicing five or six times per week and traveling to far-flung events.

Then on Oct. 8, 2017, Fenn didn’t show up to the rink for a scheduled practice session. Later that day, the Stolz family learned the 73-year-old had passed away suddenly, the cause of death reportedly a heart attack. 

Fenn’s death was very hard on both her children, Jane said. Hannah gradually retreated from speedskating, preferring to focus on her passion for raising exotic birds and doing taxidermy. Jordan also drifted. Shani Davis filled in for Fenn for a little while, but when he accepted an opportunity to coach junior skaters in China, Jordan was coachless again.

The Stolz family found an unlikely savior in Bob Corby, a close friend of Fenn who hadn’t been part of the speedskating world for more than two decades. Corby coached the U.S. Olympic speedskating team in 1984 but eventually stepped away from the sport to pursue a career in physical therapy.

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The retired coach and the young skating prospect had gotten to know each other before Fenn’s death when Jordan suffered a hip flexor and needed a physical therapist. Corby helped Stolz with his hip, watched him skate and instantly recognized his potential.

While Corby provided guidance and advice from time to time after Fenn died, Jordan needed more than that. He and his mom called Stolz and all but begged him to come out of retirement.

“Well, I could help out,” Corby said.

“We don’t need help,” Jane replied. “We need a full-time coach.”

Intrigued by the chance to work with a talent like Jordan, Corby gradually took on a bigger and bigger role. He brought an old-school mentality on the ice and off, introducing more hill running, weight lifting and dry-land imitations to improve both Jordan’s technique and strength.

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The weight training in particular helped Jordan evolve from a talented but scrawny kid into a powerhouse. By the time speedskating began to emerge from the COVID pandemic, Jordan didn’t just stand out among skaters his own age anymore. The teenager was ready to take on the fastest men in America.

Boy beats world

Shortly before he competed for the first time at the U.S. Speedskating Championships in March 2021, Jordan made a startling prediction.

“Mom, I can beat every one of these guys here,” the 16-year-old matter-of-factly told his mother.

Jane was skeptical until she discovered those weren’t just empty words from her son. Many of the top American speedskaters posted their heart rate data to the app Strava after completing road cycling workouts. Jordan had compared his own data to theirs after rides and realized that the numbers favored him.

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Proof of that arrived in the men’s 500 meters when Jordan outraced a field that included past Olympians and men nearly twice his age. Jordan’s national junior record time of 34.99 seconds was a breakthrough that trumpeted his arrival on the international scene and foreshadowed the dominance that was yet to come.

“Everyone just went nuts,” Jane said. “They were like, can you believe this? I was thinking to myself, ‘Well, he told me could.’”

The eye-opening performances from Stolz didn’t end there.

At 17, Stolz won both the men’s 500 and 1,000 at the U.S. Olympic Trials, qualifying him to participate in the Winter Games in both events.

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At 18, he swept the gold medals in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 at world championships.

At 19, he did it again.

He might have repeated that feat a third time last year were it not for the one-two punch of pneumonia and strep throat. Even then, he still made the podium in his three signature events at world championships, claiming a silver medal and two bronzes.

While Jordan is already a superstar in the speedskating-obsessed Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, he remains largely anonymous in his home country. Outside of perhaps the Pettit Center, he can go virtually anywhere without being recognized.

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The chance for Jordan to change that begins Wednesday when he returns to the Olympic stage. NBC has promoted him as one of the faces of these Games. His image is splashed on all sorts of signs and billboards.

It’s a monumental opportunity, not that Jordan seems fazed.

“I try not to think about it too much,” he said. “Once you get to the line, it’s the same thing you’ve been doing for years. Everything else around you is just noise.”

Heiden plans to be in Milan to watch Jordan and support him. He has no doubt the young American will handle the pressure well.

What Heiden can’t help but wonder is whether Jordan has more in him. Could he someday enter all five men’s speedskating races at an Olympics, from the 500 to the 10,000? Does he have the rare combination of sprinting speed, power and endurance to match what Heiden once did?

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“I think he could be very competitive at all five distances,” Heiden said. “I’m just not sure he could be competitive across the board at the same moment.”

Heiden acknowledged the competition is a lot stronger than it was in his day and there are way more athletes who now specialize in a single distance.

“To be good at the 5,000 and 10,000 may mean that he’s going to lose some of his speed at the shorter distances,” Heiden said. “It would be a lot to ask, but we do not know what Jordan’s true abilities are yet. The sky’s the limit with this guy.”

What’s been suspected is now official.

Stephen Curry won’t play in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters Monday night that Curry will miss Sunday’s game due to a lingering knee injury.

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Curry was selected as an All-Star starter and chosen to play alongside LeBron James and Kevin Durant on one of three All-Star teams as part of the league’s new USA-vs.-World All-Star tournament format. Curry’s status opens up a roster spot for another player to be named an All-Star. That player will presumably be named by the league.

Curry will also miss upcoming Warriors games against the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs. He’s already missed three games with the injury that the Warriors have been calling “runner’s knee.” Per the National Institutes of Health, runner’s knee consists of pain around the kneecap and can be triggered by exposure “to too much or too frequent strain.”

The Warriors did not provide a timeline for Curry to return beyond his absence through the All-Star break. Kerr announced the news ahead of Monday’s game against the Grizzlies. Golden State beat the Grizzles 114-113 to improve to 29-25, good for eighth place in the West.

Jimmy Butler has surgery

The Warriors are already playing the rest of this season and likely beyond without All-Star forward Jimmy Butler, who suffered a torn ACL on Jan. 19. The Warriors announced earlier Monday that Butler had surgery to repair the ACL tear. He’s expected to “make a full recovery,” according to a team statement.

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With Butler sidelined, the Warriors were reportedly targeting two-time Milwaukee Bucks MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in an effort to team Curry up with another star to compete for a championship on the back end of his prime. But Antetokounmpo stayed put, and the Warriors instead acquired oft-injured center Kristaps Porziņģis from the Hawks in a trade that sent Jonathan Kuminga to Atlanta.

Porziņģis has been sidelined since Jan. 7 with an Achilles tendon injury and illness. Kerr announced on Saturday that Porziņģis will also be out through the All-Star break amid hope that he’ll be ready to make his Warriors debut after the break.

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