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.
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.
Elana Meyers Taylor added her first gold to a tally of six Olympic medals across five Games.
(MARCO BERTORELLO via Getty Images)
‘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.
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.”
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.
“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:
Amber Glenn performs during a Making the Team event of the 2026 United States Figure Skating Championships at Enterprise Center on January 11, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(Jamie Squire via Getty Images)
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.”
Alysa Liu competes in the team event earlier at the Milan Cortina Olympics. (Photo by Steve Christo – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
(Steve Christo – Corbis via Getty Images)
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 competes in women’s short program during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Jan. 07, 2026. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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.
More than 20 million viewers tuned into watch Team USA win gold in the men’s basketball final at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. (Photo by Aytac Unal/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(Anadolu via Getty Images)
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.
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.)🏅
Lindsey Vonn is on the road to recovery. The skier posted a video Monday showing the progress she’s made since undergoing multiple surgeries on her injured leg after a crash at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
In the video, Vonn, 41, is seen eating, drinking, getting her hair washed and getting some of her muscles stretched from her hospital bed. Vonn’s left leg, the one she fractured in the crash, was covered up in the video.
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In the caption of the post, Vonn thanks “friends, family, my team and all the medical staff that are getting me back to myself.” She said she was “slowly coming back to life” after the crash.
A few hours after posting that video, Vonn said that while she hasn’t been able to stand yet, she was back in the United States.
Vonn decided to compete in the Olympics despite tearing her ACL while doing some pre-Olympic practice runs just days before the Opening Ceremony. She then fractured her leg just seconds into her downhill race after clipping a gate with her shoulder. Vonn needed to be airlifted off the course and taken to a hospital. Vonn underwent at least four surgeries on her leg in Italy, and could need additional procedures now that she’s back in the U.S.
This was expected to be Vonn’s final Olympics after the skier came out of retirement in 2024. Despite her age, Vonn performed exceptionally well, securing her spot on the 2026 Olympic team.
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Following her crash, Vonn’s father said he hoped the incident was the end of Vonn’s career. The skier faces a lengthy recovery, but has not made any definitive statements about her future in the sport.
Welcome back to the world’s most accurate power rankings, where today, as we do every two weeks, we sort all 30 NBA teams into an order so perfect that it will make you rethink your life.
But first: A sidebar.
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As we exit the All-Star break, we have eclipsed the 50-game mark of the 2025-26 NBA season, and in some cases we are nearing 60 games, which means it is time to employ “the 40-20 rule.”
What is that, you say? It is a benchmark wholly manufactured by legendary coach Phil Jackson. Legit contenders, he argued, win a 40th game before losing a 20th. In the modern era, only four teams (all anomalies) — the 1994-95 Houston Rockets, 2003-04 Detroit Pistons, 2005-06 Miami Heat and 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks — won a championship without meeting a 40-20 standard.
Maybe I could come up with some other criteria that elicits a narrower field of exceptions, but I am not a 13-time NBA champion, so let us stick with what Jackson suggested — or should we?
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By Jackson’s logic, none of the Denver Nuggets (35-20), Houston Rockets (33-20) or New York Knicks (35-20) meet the 40-20 rule, since all of them lost a 20th game before winning their 40th.
Under Jackson’s rule, only the Oklahoma City Thunder (42-14) and Detroit Pistons (40-13) have qualified as contenders. The San Antonio Spurs (38-16) will almost surely soon join them, and the Boston Celtics (35-19), with a five-game win streak, have an outside shot. And that’s the list.
And maybe Jackson is right. You be the judge. Meanwhile, those perfect power rankings …
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
Is coach Doug Christie’s job safe? You tell us, GM Scott Perry: “I’m just expecting him to be my coach until I tell you anything different. I’m not even thinking along those lines right now. I want to see us get incrementally better each day, and I want to see him continue to improve as a coach. I expect him to continue to grow and improve and be the coach here for the Kings.” OK?
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As he nurses hand and groin injuries, Anthony Davis, according to multiplereports, will not play for the Wizards at all this season. When asked about Davis’ unavailability for the remainder of the season, Washington coach Brian Keefe said, “I can’t confirm that.” But Trae Young, who is also nursing injuries to his leg, has yet to play for the Wizards, either, and their tank rolls along.
The Nets, who kept Michael Porter Jr. and waived Cam Thomas at the trade deadline, quietly picked up two interesting players, Josh Minott and Ochai Agbaji. “We know they’re very good players. That’s why they’re here,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “Show me what you can bring to the group, and if you can be part of this group, you can be a future Net.” Congratulations?!?!
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The Jazz owe a top-eight protected pick to the Thunder, and they own the league’s sixth-worst record, which means they cannot afford to win many more games. Which meant Jazz coach Will Hardy benched both Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen in the fourth quarters of recent games. Asked how close he came to putting them in, Hardy said, “I wasn’t.” A March of tanks! The Jazz earned a $500,000 fine for tanking, while Jackson underwent season-ending surgery.
The Pacers haven’t entirely quit on the season, beating the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. “This was a really important game for us,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “With the season that we’ve had, this environment, the opponent, our guys just had a great collective spirit and collective will tonight.” That, and the addition of Ivica Zubac, bode well … for next season.
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“You can get lost and discouraged when you’re losing these tough games,” said coach James Borrego, whose Pelicans are 5-4 in their last nine games. “That’s human nature. The beauty in this team is that even within a game, we rise up. There is resiliency in us.” It helps, of course, that they have no incentive to lose, as their front office already traded their first-round draft pick.
The Grizzlies traded Jaren Jackson Jr. for a package centered around draft picks, just as they had done with Desmond Bane over the summer, and Ja Morant is no longer part of the plan. As general manager Zach Kleiman said quite clearly in his post-deadline press conference, “This is about organizational direction now. This is not about Ja in particular.” So, who wants Ja Morant?
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“It’s been different than what I expected,” Cooper Flagg said of a rookie season that will no longer include Anthony Davis as a teammate, and may not feature Kyrie Irving, either. “Doing the best I can. It was tough at first. Obviously, that much losing. … It still is. I’m a competitor, but, for me, it’s about learning from the losses as much as I can and trying to take positives away.”
Once Giannis Antetokounmpo stayed put at the deadline, both he and the Bucks acted as if the organization had not actively engaged in trade discussions involving the two-time MVP. Weird. By posting the “I’m not leaving” meme from “The Wolf of Wall Street,” does Antetokounmpo really mean he is staying in Milwaukee? Or are the Bucks, more likely, tabling negotiations until June?
After trading 25-year-old Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu for, mostly, a slew of second-round picks, “We’re not going to be a finished product,” warned Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “It’s not going to work like that. And we’ll see if we can ever get there.” What an uplifting message. No wonder “we’ve got to sit down as an organization, quite honestly … and just find the direction.”
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Out went Trae Young, Kristaps Porziņģis, Luke Kennard and Vít Krejčí. In came Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, CJ McCollum, Cory Kispert and Gabe Vincent. What are the Hawks selling to their fans? “Everything’s future forward,” said GM Onsi Saleh. Future draft picks, including one from the Pelicans, and cap flexibility, which has gotten Atlanta how far thus far?
The Heat, for all their bluster about being the league’s hardest-working team, lost to the tanking Jazz, and that cannot happen. As Bam Adebayo said, “We got to figure out how to consistently win games. It doesn’t matter if it’s a back-to-back, four games in five nights, whatever it is. We’ve got to find a way to win against teams that are, I guess you can say, trying to lose.”
It is not coincidence that Deni Avdija’s return from injury coincided with a return to normalcy for the Blazers, who play fast and free when they are at their best. And they were at their best in a recent blowout of the 76ers. As coach Tiago Splitter said, “That was the type of basketball that we envisioned from the beginning of the season, to be honest.” The play-in tournament awaits.
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Tanking? “It’s not good for the fans, for the league itself,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. What about in Golden State, where they have lost Jimmy Butler to an ACL tear and Stephen Curry through the All-Star break? “I can tell you that we are in a position where we’re desperately trying to win, not only each game, but put ourselves in position to be healthy for the playoffs.”
“I would contribute that to them being lesser teams,” Paolo Banchero said of Orlando’s short-lived win streak. “Not that good, you know? I think Utah took their starters out, Brooklyn not being very good. Milwaukee, they’re all right. So, I think we’ve just got to lock in and continue to just be who we are defensively and hopefully it translates to when we see some better teams.”
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The Hornets had their nine-game win streak snapped, but not before they got in a few punches against the Pistons. Charlotte coach Charles Lee, who was also (eventually) ejected from the game, liked what he saw from his charges. “I just loved everything that they brought tonight from a competitive spirit,” he asserted. “[…] We got better, and this was a really good game for us.”
All is right with Joel Embiid’s knee, for the most part … for the time being. “He’s like the fun-loving uncle now,” a Sixers insider told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We do think it’s sustainable,” Philadelphia executive Daryl Morey added of a recovery from chronic injury that has seen Embiid average a 30-8-5 on 53/39/87 shooting splits over his last 20 appearances.
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“It is probably harder for the high-end teams, or in this case, the high-salary teams, to keep adding,” said Raptors GM Bobby Webster. “That’s probably what we’re seeing. It’s just hard for them to keep adding salary. Maybe that’s the natural order of the new CBA, which is the dispersal of talent, parity, which I think in many ways is great for the overall health of basketball.”
“That’s a championship team right there,” Lakers superstar LeBron James said of the Thunder. “We’re not. We can’t sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes, and they can. That’s why they won the championship.” Wait, did he just admit that his Lakers are not contenders? “Sorry if I sound irritated, but I’m 41. My [patience for] irritation is being very, very low as the days go on.”
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“I don’t think we ever had what expectations are supposed to look like,” said coach Jordan Ott, whose Suns continue to overachieve, even despite the absences of Jalen Green and Devin Booker. “We just wanted to bring guys in here that played and went about their business the right way. And they continue to get better, and I think that’s the part where we’re at right now.”
“We’re in good shape. Everybody needs to chill out,” Fred VanVleet said of Houston’s up-and-down season. “I’ve been on Twitter a lot more this year than ever before since I’m not playing. I just think everybody needs to chill out and take the growth and the development of this team. We’re in good shape going into the break and the real basketball starts after the All-Star break.”
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Could it be, following a comeback road win over the Nuggets, the Cavs (10-1 in their last 11 games) are peaking in time, just as they have swapped Darius Garland for James Harden? “It’s a testament to who we have on the team and what we have going,” said Donovan Mitchell. “We’re just hooping on vibes right now.” James Harden and vibes. Go with God, Cleveland.
What are the Wolves getting in Ayo Dosunmu? He tells us, “When you’re a player like me who gives it your all each and every night, the only way you can pay back the fans is by going out there and giving your all on a night-in and night-out basis. You can’t control making shots, but you can control effort. You can control playing hard, and that’s just what I’m hanging my hat on.”
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Jayson Tatum returned to practice last week, joining the Maine Celtics for some real work on Tuesday, when he told reporters, “It was the next step. Doesn’t mean that I’m coming back or I’m not. It’s just following the plan.” The plan, as best as we can tell? Check every milestone until he feels 100%, which, barring any setbacks, should make him available sooner than later.
It is one thing to be the newest spark plug to Madison Square Garden for the Knicks. It is another to be from the streets of New York. “Playing for the Knicks is a huge thing, but I’m literally a kid from the same streets the fans are, and to be part of everything here, it’s a blessing,” said Jose Alvarado. “It’s something I had to get used to and get out of the way.”
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Cameron Johnson, who returned from injury, only as other players left the rotation, always has a way of putting things into perspective: “You don’t want to peak too early and hit the downslope of it. So if these injuries happen now, it’s better than them happening in April. And who knows what the future holds, but hopefully we get to the other side of this and ride that positive wave.”
When will opponents learn: Detroit is not to be trampled with. “People have tried to be extra aggressive with us, talk to us and whatever the case may be,” said All-Star center Jalen Duren, post-brawl. “As a group, we’ve done an OK job handling that energy and intensity, but at the end of the day, emotions got high, everybody’s being competitive, we’re all men, so things happen.”
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Everything Victor Wembanyama says sounds menacing when you read it in the voice of the villain in a French noir film. Following a 40-point masterpiece in 26 minutes of work against the Lakers, Wemby said, “These kinds of games, you have to have the greed. You have to want more every time.” Greed! More! Exactly what you want from your 22-year-old rising superstar.
“We have a team that we have a lot of confidence in,” coach Mark Daigneault said of his Thunder, the real winners of the trade deadline, who added Jared McCain. “With good reason, these guys have a lot of time and equity together with a lot of success. When you add somebody, you never take that for granted. The idea is to hope he can strengthen our team.”
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III is about to hit free agency at the best possible time. Coming off arguably his best game in the NFL — after which he was named Super Bowl MVP — Walker will reportedly be allowed to explore other options.
The Seahawks reportedly won’t use their franchise tag on Walker, allowing the running back to become an unrestricted free agent, according to ESPN. That would enable Walker to field offers from other teams as he decides where he wants to play next.
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The Seahawks reportedly don’t want to use the tag on Walker because the team has multiple other free agents it needs to re-sign. The team reportedly also wants to extend star wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who led the NFL in receiving yards last season.
By tagging Walker, the Seahawks would commit to spending roughly $14.5 million on the running back for next season. If the Seahawks handed Walker a transition tag, that figure would drop to $11.7 million. A transition tag would allow the Seahawks to match any offer Walker received on the open market. In the final year of his rookie contract, Walker’s base salary was $1.8 million.
Walker, 25, was a force in Super Bowl LX, rushing for 135 yards and catching two passes for 26 yards in the Seahawks’ 29-13 win over the New England Patriots. With that performance, Walker became the first running back since Denver Broncos great Terrell Davis to be named Super Bowl MVP.
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The Seahawks’ gambit might pay off. Following the team’s Super Bowl win, general manager John Schneider claimed Walker tried to negotiate a new contract with the team at the Super Bowl parade. Walker laughed that off, saying he never made those claims.
While the two still need to get on the same page, it’s clear the Seahawks would gladly take Walker back. Schneider said as much ahead of Super Bowl LX. That likely hasn’t changed after Walker turned in a fantastic performance in the game.
Since being selected by the Seahawks with the No. 41 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Walker has flashed big upside when on the field. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting after rushing for 1,050 yards and nine touchdowns. But Walker has battled injuries and workload management since then. While he has been a good player when healthy, Walker has not exceeded his rookie rushing yard total. He came close in 2025 while playing in all 17 games for the first time in his career, but fell short by 24 yards.
Walker’s health will be key moving forward. It’s the one area in which he could get dinged on the free-agent market, but it’s also the one advantage he could have over the Seahawks in negotiations. With co-starter Zach Charbonnet dealing with a knee injury, the Seahawks would face a massive hole in their depth chart if Walker leaves. The Seahawks haven’t announced a timeline for Charbonnet’s return, but said his knee injury was “significant,” hinting at the possibility he could miss time next season.
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NFL teams are allowed to start tagging players Tuesday and have until March 3 to make that move. Walker is among the bigger names who could receive a tag. That list includes Dallas Cowboys wideout George Pickens and New York Jets running back Breece Hall, among others.
