Despite not adding to their medal count, Team USA had a productive day at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics on Monday. Madison Chock and Evan Bates put themselves in strong position to medal after an impressive rhythm dance performance, the U.S. women’s hockey team continued to dominate the competition in the preliminary round and Team USA’s mixed doubles curling team advanced to the gold-medal match.
Thanks to that mixed doubles curling team, the U.S. is guaranteed to add to its medal count Tuesday. A win over Sweden nets the gold, but a loss sends Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin home with silver medals.
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Elsewhere, the “Quad God,” Ilia Malinin, will take the ice Tuesday for the men’s short program. Malinin’s performance in the team portion of the men’s short Saturday was shaky, as he actually finished behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama in the event. Malinin already shook off the rust from that performance, propelling Team USA to the gold medal in the team event after an exceptional free skate Sunday. Tuesday, however, will give Malinin a chance to fully bounce back in the men’s short.
To close out the day, women’s luge and mixed team ski jumping will get underway before the U.S. women’s hockey team squares off against Canada. It will be Team USA’s biggest test yet, as Canada is the only other undefeated team left in Group A.
But before all that happens, there were a number of early morning events Tuesday.
Here are the top stories of the day so far:
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1. Mikaela Shiffrin experiences heartbreak again, but Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan take bronze for Team USA in combined ski
Breezy Johnson proved Sunday that she is a threat in the downhill. Johnson picked up one of Team USA’s two gold medals at the 2026 Olympics — so far — in the event, beating Emma Aicher of Germany by just just four-hundredths of a second.
On Tuesday, Johnson proved that performance wasn’t a fluke. She cruised to the lead in the downhill during the team event, finishing with a 1:36.59 time. That was enough to propel Team USA into the lead.
With Johnson’s portion out of the way, it was up to Mikaela Shiffrin, a slalom great, to deliver the gold medal. But after failing to medal in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Shiffrin missed out on the podium again.
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Appearing hesitant on the course, with rounder turns than normal, Shiffrin’s time in the slalom was just the 15th fastest of the day, and it dropped her and Johnson to fourth place in the event. They clocked out more than three-tenths of a second behind gold medalists Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber of Austria. Fortunately for Team USA, though, Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan grabbed bronze. Moltzan followed up Wiles in the downhill with a clean run in the slalom.
2. Italy takes gold in speed skating mixed relay, Team USA falters
The host country scooped up its second gold at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, upsetting Canada in the short track speed skating mixed team relay.
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It was a narrow victory for Italy, which posted a time of 2:39.019. Canada finished just behind with a time of 2:39.258, and Belgium wasn’t far behind them, taking bronze. For Belgium, that marked the first medal the country has earned so far at the 2026 Olympics.
With the win, Italian speed skater Arianna Fontana made history, becoming the first woman to medal at six consecutive Winter Olympics. Fontana now has three golds, four silvers and five bronzes since the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Team USA failed to reach the final. Though the team recovered from a Corinne Stoddard fall to advance in the quarterfinal, it could not overcome another fall from Stoddard in the semifinal.
3. Sweden dominates cross-country women’s sprint
Move over, Jonna Sundling, because Sweden has a new cross-country gold medalist. Swedish skier Linn Svahn took home the gold in the cross-country women’s sprint Tuesday, finishing with a time of 4:03.05. Svahn finished just ahead of Sundling, who took the silver medal with a time of 4:04.64. Sundling won the gold medal in the event during the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. Finishing in third … was another Swede. Maja Dahlqvist put up a time of 4:07.88, giving Sweden a clean sweep of the medals at the event.
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American Julia Kern finished in sixth place, posting a time of 4:43.41.
4. Ben Ogden takes silver in cross-country men’s sprint
Ben Ogden didn’t win the gold medal in the cross-country men’s sprint Tuesday, but he did pull off something that hasn’t been done by Team USA in the sport in half a century. With a silver medal, Ogden became the first American man in 50 years to earn an Olympic medal in a cross-country skiing event. The last individual to pull off the feat was Bill Koch, who won the silver back in 1976. Ogden finished behind a legend. Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot won the event, giving him his second medal of the Milan Cortina games and his ninth Olympic medal overall. Of those nine medals, seven have been gold.
5. Alex Hall’s gold-medal defense falls short in slopestyle
Alex Hall won gold in freeski men’s slopestyle four years ago in Beijing, and Americans had won six of the nine total medals in the event since it was added to the Olympic program in 2018. This time around, though, Hall was the only member of Team USA to make the podium, and he was dethroned in the process. Norway’s Birk Ruud, who came into the Games as the world’s top-ranked slopestyle freeskier, took gold, whereas Hall’s impressive second run helped him secure a silver medal. As for his fellow Americans, however, Konnor Ralph finished ninth in his Olympic debut and Mac Forehand, a medal hopeful, struggled to navigate rails and placed 11th.
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Highlight of the morning
Stevenson Savart is Haiti’s first-ever Olympic cross-country skier. The 25-year-old was the country’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony. While he didn’t medal, he made national history and wrapped up his groundbreaking run in this year’s Games to the tune of cheers.
