Olympics: Malinin Off Podium After Free Skate, USA Women’s Hockey Dominates Italy.

The U.S. women’s hockey team has reached a stage where they are pursuing more than just an Olympic gold medal. They are two victories away from solidifying their status as the most accomplished women’s hockey team in their nation’s history.

Their 51-6 shot advantage over Italy served as the most definitive demonstration yet of the team’s consistent superiority throughout the tournament. The Americans have advanced to the semifinals with overwhelming force, outscoring their initial five opponents 26-1 and outshooting them 225-72.

In one of the most shocking turnarounds in Olympic figure skating history, Ilia Malinin was unable to secure gold, stumbling through his free skate routine and dropping from a likely top finish to eighth place.

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov secured the gold medal, while Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama took silver, and Japan’s Shun Sato earned bronze.

And just like that, the score is 4-0 in favor of Team USA!

We are a few minutes into the second period of this quarterfinal contest.

Megan Keller secured the initial advantage for the USA in the quarterfinal against Italy.

Naumov’s parents passed away in the tragic plane accident that deeply affected the skating community last year.

The men’s free skate competition has started, but Ilia Malinin will not be on the ice for some time. He is scheduled to perform last among the 24 competitors, immediately after Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama. Malinin held nearly a three-point advantage over Kagiyama after the short program.

Lindsey Vonn announced on Friday that she anticipates requiring at least additional surgical procedures after sustaining a leg fracture during last Sunday’s Olympic downhill event.

In a social media message, the 41-year-old American alpine skier expressed gratitude to her supporters for their encouraging notes and plush toys while she remains hospitalized in Treviso. She stated that a fourth surgery on her leg is scheduled for Saturday, and she might return home to the U.S. for yet another operation.

Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates performed their career-best routine on Wednesday night in the figure skating ice dance category… only to witness in dismay as judges controversially awarded a higher score to the performance of France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. Chock and Bates ultimately received a silver medal — a monumental accomplishment, certainly, but, in Chock’s words, a “bittersweet” one when they felt gold was within reach.

On CBS News, Chock called for “transparent judging” to help the audience grasp the scoring process. She added, “I think it’s also important for the skaters, that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are also putting out their best performance,” further stating, “because there’s a lot on the line for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field.”

The figure skating establishment appears to be dismissing this as merely another inherent aspect of the sport, yet another in a lengthy history of judging-related frustrations. It doesn’t appear as severe as the 2002 Salt Lake City skating controversy, where a French judge admitted to being pressured to favor a Russian pairs team that eventually won gold… right?

The appeal by Ukrainian skeleton competitor Vladyslav Heraskevych, seeking to be reinstated into the skeleton competition at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, has been unsuccessful.

Heraskevych had submitted an urgent appeal on Friday morning to the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding his disqualification from the Olympic Games. This action followed his refusal to change a helmet that paid tribute to fellow athletes who perished during Russia’s invasion of his home country.

According to a statement from the CAS, Heraskevych contended that the decision to bar him from the Olympics was “disproportionate, unsupported by any technical or safety violation and causes irreparable sporting harm to him.”

Heraskevych filed his appeal with the CAS’s ad hoc division, which is present in Milan and equipped to issue rulings on cases within 24 hours. The CAS designated a sole arbitrator to “consider the matter with urgency.” By early Friday evening in Milan, the appeal had been rejected.

The U.S. women’s curling team achieved a 9-8 victory over Canada in round-robin play on Friday. This marks the first time in nine Olympic encounters that the Americans have prevailed against their northern counterparts.

The match remained closely contested through the initial five ends, with Canada holding a narrow 3-2 advantage. In the sixth end, the U.S. surged ahead by scoring four points. Canada responded robustly, adding two points in the seventh and three more in the ninth.

With the hammer in hand, Tara Peterson delivered two points on the final shot of the match, securing the Americans’ second tournament victory.

With Dawson’s withdrawal, there are now no U.S. team members left in this particular event. He stated his intention to redirect his focus towards the team pursuit, with quarterfinals for that event scheduled for Sunday, and the individual 1,500m next Thursday.

Dawson participated in the 5,000m last week, where he placed eighth.

U.S. coach Gabe Girard commented that Dawson’s decision “does not come as a surprise and always was a part of the options coming.”

The 29-year-old Norwegian cross-country skier secured victory in Friday’s men’s 10km free event, earning his third gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games. He has now won three golds across all three events he has entered, adding the 20km skiathlon and individual sprint to his collection in Italy.

Klæbo is now tied with fellow Norwegian skiers Bjørn Dæhlie, Marit Bjørgen, and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, each boasting eight career Olympic gold medals. He could potentially surpass this record on his own, with the men’s 4 x 7.5km relay, men’s team sprint, and 50km mass start still on his competition agenda.

Klæbo had previously won three golds in Pyeongchang and two more in Beijing four years prior, in addition to a silver and a bronze medal.

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych has launched an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport challenging his disqualification from the Olympic Games. The appeal stems from his refusal to change a helmet that paid homage to fellow athletes who perished during Russia’s incursion into his home country.

According to a statement from the CAS, Heraskevych is contending that his removal from the Olympics is “disproportionate, unsupported by any technical or safety violation and causes irreparable sporting harm to him.”

Heraskevych submitted the appeal to the CAS’s ad hoc division, which operates on-site in Milan and is capable of rendering decisions on cases within a day. The CAS appointed a single arbitrator to “consider the matter with urgency” but did not specify a timeline for the judgment.

Heraskevych had already missed the initial two runs of the men’s skeleton competition on Thursday, following the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation’s ruling that he was ineligible to compete and the International Olympic Committee’s withdrawal of his accreditation. The final two men’s skeleton runs are slated for Friday evening in Cortina.