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Tuesday was a marquee day at the Milan Cortina Olympics as the women’s figure skating competition got underway. For USA, that meant the Olympic debut of the “Blade Angels,” USA’s power trio who entered the Games hyped as contenders to sweep the podium.

The results for Team USA were mixed.

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Meanwhile, there was thrilling action and a dramatic finish in the men’s freestyle big air final. And Lindsey Vonn is back in the U.S. after undergoing multiple surgeries on her shattered left leg in Italy.

Here are five of the top stories from Milan Cortina on Tuesday:

Joy and heartbreak for ‘Blade Angels’

It was a mixed bag for USA’s “Blade Angels” in the women’s figure-skating short program.

Alysa Liu went first and delivered a seemingly effortless skate that left her in third place (76.59 points) and in contention for the gold medal in Thursday’s free skate.

Isabeau Levito skated a relatively clean program that left her with some work to do for a shot at the podium with an eighth-place finish (70.84).

But it was Amber Glenn’s performance that was the story of the day. Glenn opened her skate with a clean triple axel, a difficult move achieved by only one other skater Tuesday — Ami Nakai of Japan.

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But Glenn came up short on a planned triple-loop combination that instead landed as a double. That mistake invalidated the element, costing her seven points and plummeting her down the standings despite an otherwise relatively clean program.

She didn’t fall. But the mistake left her in 13th place (67.39) and a long shot to make the podium when she otherwise would have remained in contention for the gold medal. She left the ice in tears knowing how costly the mistake was to her medal chances.

“I had it,” she said as she received a consoling hug from her coach in the kiss and cry area.

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Japan, meanwhile, leaves Tuesday’s short program in possession of the top two spots. Nakai, 17, is in first place (78.71) after a joy-filled skate in her Olympic debut.

Kaori Sakamoto will enter Thursday’s skate in medal position after a second-place finish (77.23).

And their Japanese teammate, Mone Chiba, is a medal contender with a fourth-place finish (74.00) in the short program.

Big drama in big air final

The big air men’s final saw big drama Tuesday before Norway’s Tormod Frostad secured gold, just ahead of U.S. silver medalist Mac Forehand.

Frostad took control of first place early and appeared to be cruising to gold after posting the highest score in each of the first two rounds. In a competition where the two best of three runs count, his combined score of 192.25 from those rounds stood a chance to count for gold.

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But Forehand, who entered the final round in second place, was overtaken by Austria’s Matej Svancer in the third round and entered his final jump in bronze medal position. He needed a score of 96.25 to retake silver.

Instead, he laid down a 98.25 for the highest score yet of the Games with a jump that had never been completed in competition. It was good enough to take over first place.

But his gold-medal position was short-lived. Frostad answered the pressure with a 98.50 on the final jump of the day to reclaim the top spot on the podium.

All three medalists stood together in anticipation at the bottom of the hill as they awaited Frostad’s final score. When it landed, they exchanged hugs and congratulations while celebrating a big air final to remember.

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Italians taunt USA during gold-silver finish on short track

Host Italy and USA entered Tuesday’s men’s 500-meter team pursuit final as rivals.

Italy won the world championship in 2024. USA won in 2025. The U.S. skaters entered Milan Cortina undefeated in World Cup competition this season and the favorites to win gold.

And with Olympic gold on the line, USA took an early lead in Tuesday’s final and extended it near the mid-point of the eight-lap race. But Italy started closing the gap with five laps remaining. And it chipped away from there before pulling into the lead with two laps to go.

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By the time they crossed the finish line, the Italians had opened a wide margin and enough time for Andrea Giovannini to hit the U.S. team with a celebration quite familiar to U.S. sports fans — Stephen Curry’s night-night taunt — before the U.S. skaters crossed the finish line.

Giovannini, Michele Malfatti and Davide Ghiotto secured gold with a time of 3:39.20, 4.51 seconds ahead of the U.S. team of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran, who settled for silver.

USA finishes fourth behind German sweep in 2-man bobsled

The U.S. team of Frank Del Duca and Joshua Williamson entered its final run in the two-man bobsled in fourth place after three of four runs. It put down its best run of the competition with a 55.34 to remain in contention with three German sleds remaining.

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But the Germans didn’t cede their ground and finished 1-2-3 on the podium. Johannes Lochner and Georg Fleischhauer won gold (3:39.70), Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schüller took silver (3:41.04) and Adam Ammour and Alexander Schaller secured bronze (3:41.52).

Del Duca and Williamson finished just off the podium in fourth place (3:41.96), 2.26 seconds off the gold-medal pace and .44 seconds off the podium.

The podium sweep was the second straight for Germany after a 1-2-3 finish in Beijing.

Lindsey Vonn’s back home

It remains a tough road for Lindsey Vonn after her horrific injury crash in the alpine downhill. But she’s navigating it from home now.

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Vonn announced via social media late Monday that she’s returned to the U.S. from Italy after spending nine days in an Italian hospital and undergoing three surgeries to repair a complex fracture in her left leg.

“Haven’t stood on my feet in over a week… been in a hospital bed immobile since my race,” Vonn wrote. “And although I’m not yet able to stand, being back on home soil feels amazing.

“Huge thank you to everyone in Italy for taking good care of me.”

That Vonn remains unable to stand comes as no surprise given her previous updates. She announced on Feb. 11 that she’d undergone her third surgery since the crash and posted an image of herself in a hospital bed with a complex brace on her injured leg.

Two days later, she announced that she would have a fourth surgery on her leg before being cleared to fly home to the U.S. She anticipates needing another surgery now that she’s back in the U.S. and has acknowledged that she has “a long, long way to go” in her recovery.

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Vonn has also posted upbeat video of herself smiling from her hospital bed while receiving treatment and undergoing physical therapy with caretakers. She declared Monday that she’s “slowly coming back to life.”

Highlight of the day

A snowstorm delayed the start of Tuesday’s big air final. But it didn’t cancel it.

And as the first run started, the snow was still coming down hard. It didn’t appear to slow down any of the competitors, including Forehand, who landed a monster triple cork 2160 that set the tone for his silver-medal performance.

One more thing

Ilia Malinin is not shying away from the Olympics after his devastating free skate knocked him from gold-medal position into eighth place and off the podium in men’s figure skating.

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Sporting his gold medal from the team skating competition, the U.S. figure skater joined NBC for an interview and revealed that he’d received messages of support from some of USA’s top athletes.

“I got so much love, so much support,” Malinin said. “Everyone was there for me. Had so many people reach out to me — Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Simone Biles, Snoop.

“I’m honestly just so honored for that. It just made my day honestly.”

Zak Kuhr is interim no more.

The New England Patriots have promoted Kuhr to be their full-time defensive coordinator, according to multiple reports Tuesday.

Kuhr joined the Patriots in 2025 as inside linebackers coach after previously working under head coach Mike Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans. He was quickly thrust into the role of interim defensive coordinator when defensive coordinator Terrell Williams was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September.

The result under Kuhr was a defense that ranked eighth in the regular season in yards allowed and fourth in points allowed as New England secured the AFC East title and the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs. New England’s defense dominated in playoff wins over the Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos before meeting its match in its Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

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But it was an outstanding run for New England’s defense in Kuhr’s first year leading the unit. And now the job is his. Defensive assistant Vinny DePalma will reportedly take over as inside linebackers coach.

As for Williams, he’s since been declared cancer free and was able to join the Patriots on their trip to the Bay Area for the Super Bowl. Per NFL Network, he’s moving into a high-ranking role on Vrabel’s staff.

We are approaching the final days of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and we already know one of the biggest narratives of the 2030 Games: the redemption of Ilia Malinin.

Malinin’s fall to eighth place in men’s free skate last weekend has triggered both an outpouring of support from his peers and attempts at a postmortem to answer the question, “How does the best figure skater in the world fall off the Olympic podium?”

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Malinin attempted to answer some of those questions on “Today” Tuesday morning, describing his mindset the day of as positive:

“Going into that day, I felt really confident, really good. Stepping on the ice, I definitely felt that amazing environment, from in that arena, so much support, so much energy. Going onto the ice, I really had a nice day, excited to get out there.

“Of course, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but we can’t look at that now. All I have to do is just learn from my mistakes there and push to see how I can improve in the future.”

Malinin knew more than anyone what had just happened when his music cut out. As he entered the kiss-and-cry section while awaiting his score, NBC’s mics caught him saying, “Beijing, I would not have skated like that.”

As commentator Johnny Weir explained, that seemed to be Malinin saying he could have avoided disaster had he been part of the Olympic team in 2022, when he was 17 years old but still finished second in the U.S. championships. With more Olympic experience, maybe he could have avoided disaster in Italy.

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Malinin reinforced that idea when asked about his emotions following his performance, essentially saying the pressure got to him, while also hinting he could take a different approach at the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps:

“Honestly, it’s not a pleasant feeling. The most honest way to say it is it’s just a lot on you, just so many eyes, so much attention. Not only from people, fans, media, it’s just so much. It really can get to you if you’re not ready to fully embrace it. I think that might be one of the mistakes I made going into that free skate was I was not ready to handle that to a full extent.

Looking back at that, I know now I’ll be able to understand how that feels, so that way I can take a different approach leading up to the next Games, hopefully.””

Plenty of skating fans can’t wait to see how he changes that approach. He’ll get his first chance at a bounce back next month, when he goes for a three-peat at the world championships in Prague.

After a 23-0 start to the season, things have gone downhill fast for Arizona.

The Wildcats have lost two straight since that start and fallen from their No. 1 ranking. And on Tuesday they revealed they’ll be without one of their best players for an extended period.

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Arizona announced that star freshman Koa Peat has a muscle strain in his lower leg. He’ll be re-evaluated next week without a precise timeline to return.

A five-star recruit, Peat has been a revelation for Arizona this season as the Wildcats have staked their claim as the nation’s best team. He’s Arizona’s leading scorer behind fellow freshman Braden Burries with averages of 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.7 blocks per game while shooting 54.2% from the field.

He’s been a spark for the Wildcats during their hot start that included wins over No. 3 Florida, No. 3 UConn, No. 12 Alabama, No. 13 BYU, No. 15 UCLA and No. 20 Auburn.

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Peat sustained the injury during Saturday’s loss to No. 16 Texas Tech, Arizona’s second straight setback following defeat to No. 9 Kansas on Feb. 9. Peat missed the entire second half and overtime of the 78-75 loss.

Now he faces an extended absence as Arizona approaches the stretch run of its season with four games against ranked opponents in its next five. Per the timeline provided by Arizona, Peat will miss upcoming games against No. 23 BYU (Wednesday) and No. 2 Houston (Saturday). His status beyond that is unclear with games against No. 8 Kansas and No. 6 Iowa State remaining on Arizona’s regular-season schedule.

The MLBPA is losing its leader months before the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is set to expire. MLBPA executive director Tony Clark has resigned from his position, the union announced Tuesday.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Clark resigned on the heels of an internal investigation, which revealed an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, who worked for the union beginning in 2023. At an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon, union leadership did not vote on an interim executive director, according to Passan. That vote is expected to happen on Wednesday.

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Clark, 53, and the MLBPA were expected to start touring spring training facilities Tuesday. Their first stop — at Cleveland Guardians camp — was reportedly canceled, per The Athletic.

The reported news comes just months before the current CBA is set to expire on Dec. 1. The union and MLB owners are expected to engage in a furious labor battle ahead of the new CBA, which many expect could lead to a lockout ahead of the 2027 MLB season. There is speculation the owners will push hard for a salary cap, something the players have opposed for years.

Clark has played a major role in helping negotiate previous CBAs for the players. He reportedly took an active part in negotiations as a player before being hired by the MLBPA in 2010. He was initially a director of player relations before being hired as the union’s executive director in 2013. He oversaw negotiations ahead of the 2016 CBA and the contentious 2022 lockout, which resulted in Opening Day being postponed by a week as negotiations extended into March.

Deputy executive director Bruce Meyer also played a big role in the 2022 CBA negotiations. While Meyer is the most likely candidate to replace Clark as the MLBPA’s executive director, that’s not a guarantee. Players reportedly took issue with Meyer as recently as 2024, asking for him to be fired, per ESPN. The players who opposed Meyer reportedly wanted to put lawyer Harry Marino, who played an instrumental role in helping minor-league baseball players unionize ahead of the 2023 season, into the deputy role. Marino left the MLBPA in 2023, months after negotiating the first CBA for minor-league players.

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Despite the 2024 incident, Meyer is considered the most likely person to take over following Clark’s reported retirement, per ESPN.

Prior to working with the MLBPA, Clark had a 15-year career in the majors. A first baseman, he put up a career slash line of .262/.339/.485 with 251 home runs. He spent time with six MLB teams, with the majority of his playing career split between the Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Clark’s resignation also comes amid a federal investigation into whether MLBPA officials used “licensing money or equity to improperly enrich themselves,” per The Athletic.

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New York Mets second baseman Marcus Semien, who is part of the MLBPA subcommittee, said Tuesday that he was unsure whether Meyer would continue as the organization’s lead negotiator.

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Brent Suter — another member of the MLBPA subcommittee — added that the MLBPA will likely go with an interim leader ahead of the upcoming negotiations, per The Athletic. Suter said the organization wants to keep things stable with the CBA expiring in a few months. He added that he has a sense of who will be chosen as the interim leader of the MLBPA but did not name a specific person.

The nation’s No. 1 team faced one of its toughest tests of the season in a road game against No. 7 Purdue on Tuesday.

It passed with no issue. Michigan opened up a 16-point halftime lead and went on to a 91-80 win over a Purdue team that entered Tuesday’s game with two wins over top-10 opponents and riding a four-game win streak.

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But the Boilermakers were no match for a Michigan team that continues to look like the best in the nation. The win will bolster Michigan’s case for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, a path that was cleared last week when previously undefeated Arizona lost two straight games.

Michigan blows game open early, doesn’t look back

Tuesday’s game was close for only the opening minutes. The Wolverines turned an 11-10 deficit at the 13:36 mark of the first into a 26-11 lead with 9:28 remaining and never looked back.

They extended the lead to 48-28 before halftime and entered the break with a 48-32 advantage despite the best efforts of a raucous Mackey Arena crowd.

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Purdue eventually whittled the deficit to single digits late in the second half, but never got any closer than 86-78. Michigan’s lead was never in peril. Point guard Elliot Cadeau led the Michigan effort with 17 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds.

The Wolverines outshot the Boilermakers from the field 53% to 39% and were overwhelming from 3-point distance (57%, 13 of 23). Michigan secured a 39-31 rebounding advantage and assisted on 24 of its 30 made field goals.

Another impressive Michigan win

Now Michigan has another double-digit win over a quality opponent in a season filled with them. For the season, that adds up to 20 of Michigan’s 25 wins by 10 points or more. The Wolverines also have 14 wins by 20-plus points, 10 by 30-plus points and seven by 40 or more.

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This is all while playing in one of the nation’s best conferences and a preseason schedule that included No. 21 Auburn and No. 12 Gonzaga, which Michigan beat by 30 and 40 points, respectively.

Michigan’s only loss remains a 91-88 defeat to Wisconsin in January. It faces what may be its toughest test yet next — a showdown with No. 3 Duke in Washington D.C. on Saturday.

NC State took full advantage of its injured in-state rival on Tuesday night.

The Wolfpack rolled to a dominant 82-58 blowout win over No. 16 North Carolina at the Lenovo Center, marking their first win over the Tar Heels in nearly two years and their largest over North Carolina since 1962. It also marked North Carolina’s second loss to an unranked opponent in a three-game span after its huge upset win over No. 4 Duke earlier this month.

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After a back and forth on the first few possessions, NC State opened the game on a 16-8 run and never looked back. The Wolfpack took a 16-point lead into the locker room at halftime, and then Matt Able pushed that to 20 with a tip-in near the midway point of the second period. From there, the deficit was too big for North Carolina to overcome. NC State rolled to grab the 24-point win without any issue.

Zayden High led North Carolina with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Jarin Stevenson added 13 points and nine rebounds. They were the only North Carolina players to hit double figures in the loss, and the Tar Heels went just 5 of 33 from behind the arc.

To North Carolina’s credit, it was extremely shorthanded. The Tar Heels were without forward Caleb Wilson, who is out with a recent hand fracture he suffered early in the team’s loss to Miami. He is on track to return “soon,” though it’s unclear when he’ll be back. Wilson is averaging 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Center Henri Veesaar was also ruled out with a lower body injury, which kept him out of the team’s win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. James Brown and Ivan Matlekovic were out, too.

The loss dropped North Carolina to 20-6 on the season. The Tar Heels will take on Syracuse next on Saturday. While they are still very much a NCAA tournament team, they are rapidly running out of time to get healthy and back on track before March.

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Quadir Copeland led NC State with 20 points after he shot 7 of 16 from the field. Able added 19 points off the bench. While it came against a down North Carolina team, it was easily the Wolfpack’s biggest win of the season so far. It also came after they had lost back-to-back games, including a 41-point loss at Louisville in which they allowed 118 points.

The victory, their second against a ranked opponent, got them to 19-8 on the year and very likely secured a spot in the NCAA tournament barring a late collapse down the stretch. The Wolfpack will travel to No. 14 Virginia on Saturday, and will still have to host No. 3 Duke to close out the regular season.

Chris Paul’s NBA career is over after 21 seasons, and the way he went out is going to be remembered for quite some time.

Officially, Paul retired Friday, shortly after his release by the Toronto Raptors. However, his last game was months ago with the Los Angeles Clippers, who signed him for his final season in the NBA, then benched him, sent him home and traded him to Toronto.

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In an appearance on his friend Carmelo Anthony’s “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast filmed last weekend, Paul addressed the circumstances of his Clippers exit. The podcast posted only part of the interview on social media as of Tuesday night, but Paul’s comments painted a picture of a relationship that went from friendly to contentious at rapid speed.

As Paul tells it, he reached out to both Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank to signal his interest in finishing his career in Los Angeles, where he was a five-time All-Star.

The reunion made for a nice story. No one expected Paul to replicate his old numbers with the Clippers, but at worst he could give them depth at point guard while supplying veteran experience, cementing his legacy as one of the franchise’s greats and playing near his Los Angeles-based family.

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It was apparently going according to plan at one point in the season, as Paul claimed Frank praised his leadership:

“Earlier in the season, Lawrence Frank sent me an article about how great my leadership was, an article I had never seen. He texted it to me saying, ‘Man, this is great leadership right here.’”

However, as we learned in the aftermath of Paul’s benching, there were apparently some major communication issues involving Paul and Lue. The pair reportedly clashed over Paul’s attempts to provide his own guidance to members of the team and coach and player were allegedly not on speaking terms by the end, though Lue has denied that latter part.

Paul, however, confirmed that some members of the Clippers organization didn’t want him giving players advice:

“During training camp, I talked to one of my teammates for a while and then, as soon as I went in the meal room, somebody came and told me they didn’t want me giving players advice. So I told them, ‘You were my assistant coach, I know you.’ But it was a lot of back-and-forth.”

Paul is possibly referring to Lue with that “I know you” line, as Lue was an assistant on the Clippers coaching staff during Paul’s first tenure there.

When the subject of the Clippers retiring Paul’s jersey number came up — which would be highly awkward anytime in the near future — Paul said that Frank actually said his number should be retired … before dropping the ax. He also indicated Frank neglected to set up a meeting with Lue, indicating there might be something to the reports they weren’t talking:

“[Frank] said that to me before he sent me home. … Before I left the room, I asked him, ‘So L-Frank, you said you was gonna get me a meeting with T-Lue, right?’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t do that. Go home.’”

There’s no telling what Paul’s relationship with the Clippers will be going forward. The team posted a tribute video for him after he announced his retirement, so there might be a willingness to bury the hatchet on their side already, but no one’s going to blame Paul for keeping them at arm’s length as long as the current leadership is in place.

Former Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore will get an evidentiary hearing next month.

A judge granted Moore’s motion for the hearing Tuesday, which will allow his lawyer to challenge the basis for his arrest in their quest to have the case thrown out, according to The Athletic. That hearing is currently set for March 2.

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Moore’s attorney argued in court Tuesday that a detective did not disclose that the alleged victim in the case had worked closely with him within the Michigan football program. That, his attorney argued, presented a one-sided picture that was used to establish probable cause for his arrest in the first place.

“Judge Simpson got it right in this motion, and due process matters,” Moore’s attorney Ellen Michaels said. “Coach Moore maintains his innocence, and the truth will come out.”

Moore was fired in December and then arrested hours later in a massive scandal. The university fired him for cause after it said he “engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.” He was eventually charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering. Officials said Moore grabbed butter knives and kitchen scissors at the woman’s house after he was fired and threatened to take his own life.

In court Tuesday, Michaels argued that a detective told a court magistrate only that the alleged victim had been in a romantic relationship with Moore, not that the alleged victim also worked for the Michigan football program and needed to communicate with Moore regularly. That meant that repeated communication from Moore to the alleged victim, Michaels argued, may not actually constitute stalking.

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Michigan reportedly received a tip in October that Moore had been in a relationship with the alleged victim, though they initially denied it. Officials then said the woman broke up with Moore and came forward to the university in December to reveal the yearslong relationship.

Prosecutor Kati Rezmierski argued Tuesday that disclosing the working relationship would not have altered the underlying facts that justified Moore’s arrest, per the report. Rezmierski cited messages that Moore sent after his firing, including allegedly, “I hate you,” and “My blood is on your hands,” as evidence of the stalking.

“On Dec. 10, as was sworn to by detective Welker, there is more than sufficient probable cause for the issuance of a warrant that includes stalking,” Rezmierski said. “That’s my position.”

Moore had been Michigan’s offensive coordinator under previous head coach Jim Harbaugh, though he was promoted to take over for Harbaugh before the 2024 season. He spent two seasons as the team’s head coach. Michigan has since hired Kyle Whittingham as its next head coach.