Key events
Check out our daily briefing:
Let’s also send Maisie Hill a hold tight. She didn’t make the final but, on the other hand, did return from a:
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lacerated liver
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punctured lung
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major brain bleed
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two broken vertebrae
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four broken ribs
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damaged pelvis
Not normal behaviour, mates.
On TNT, they’re showing Mia Brookes’ big air qualifying from last evening. After falling when landing her first go, she nailed her second and third, showing ridiculous temperament to perform under pressure like that, and she’s a really good chance of a medal; the final is 6.30pm.
The morning’s mixed doubles curling is over, completing the round robin section and, with USA beating Italy 7-6, we now know that in the semi-finals, at 5.05pm, Great Britain will face Sweden with USA meeting Italy a second time.
So what is freestyle skiing slopestyle? Says the Team GB website:
Slopestyle combines elements of freestyle skiing and skateboarding. Athletes navigate a course filled with rails, boxes, and jumps, performing tricks at each feature.
Judges focus on how creative tricks are, their difficulty, how well they are executed and the amplitude that is gained whilst they are being performed. Progression is also judged, by which skiers are rewarded for producing tricks and combined moves that have been done before.
Says me: absolute freak-of-nature insanity which, I concede, doesn’t differentiate it from any other of the many very different other events we’re enjoying.
Learn more about Muir by reading Yara El-Shaboury’s interview.
Our next big event is the freestyle skiing women’s slopestyle final. That’s at 11.30am, and Kirsty Muir of Great Britain is going for a medal.
Chemmy Alcott advises that slalomers under pressure, trying to bring home the medal opportunity their downhilling teammate has set up for them, need to forget what’s happened this morning and just get after it – “there can be no safe skiing”, words which absolutely terrify me.
I enjoyed that – it’s so interesting how tiring something that looks like involves no effort can be. But the forces, torques and tensions are so extreme that it takes an unreal toll on the body.
That’s the downhill section of the men’s combined done with; they’ll reset the course, then slalom section will be with us at 1pm, and the medals will be settled.
Goodness me, Sejersted of Norway is racing with a broken shoulder; I guess I’d assumed limbs were necessary for this activity, but apparently not. He’s trying to give his mate McGrath a shot at something tomorrow, and finishes 1.89s off the lead; effort, old mate.
Oh whoops, I misinformed myself. We’re not quite done, but it’d be a surprise if anyone among those yet to go again goes faster than Franzoni.
Franzoni of Italy does indeed record the fastest runwith Monney of Switzerland second, Odermatt of Switzerland third, and Von Allmen of Switzerland fourth. We’ll see how their partners go in tomorrow’s slalom section.
Franzoni, by the way, looks not unlike a non-ginger version of Jannik Sinner – himself a brilliant skier, good enough to contemplate life as a pro before opting for tennis. Naturally, though, he’s not missing this, so has himself a job.
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There’s a second Italy team, 36-year-old Dominik Paris an old stager relative to the 24-year-old Franzoni, and he’s close … but tires on the second half of the run and has to settle for third.
The speedometer in the corner of the screen is a pleasing addition, reminding us just how nuts all this is, and Franzoni of Italy has a chance of dipping under Switzerland’s time … here he comes, clipping a gate, and he’s quicker by 0.28s.
Austria have Switzerland in their sights, through Daniel Hemetsberger with his two black eyes and missing teeth following a training-run crash. He goes quicker … but Odermatt of Switzerland beats the time on his second run, then Schieder of Italy falls at 90mph, then gets up and dusts himself down like he’s Jake Blues.
Furthermore, which event demands the hardest athletes?
Which of these events is most terrifying? This a question that reminds me of when a teacher asked five-year-old me which hand I wanted to be caned on, and I kept saying neither – yes, a real man would’ve said either or both – except the other way around, the answer being all of them. But for the less lily-livered, there must be an answer.
The slalom section of this competition is tomorrow, which is to say the downhillers go today, then the times of the two team members are added together, with the quickest taking gold. Germany now lead, having gone faster than Switzerland.
We’re away in our skiing, Switzerland up first. They set a combined time of 1:53.64, believed to be pretty decent, but let’s see how Chechia do; so far, they’re behind.
The opportunity to absorb into a whole new world of sport and competition, love and joy, is such a blessing. It’s nice and sunny today, and I’m looking forward to seeing who has the best big coat. Last time, Ghana were the winners and by far – click the arrow, third photo.
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We’re almost ready to start the men’s team combined skiing. This is a new Olympic event that begins with downhill then moves into slalom.
The photo in question…
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Trump must’ve been steaming, etc etc.
Shout out, hold tight, biggup.
Today’s highlights
Times are all GMT. For Sydney it is +11 hours, for New York it is -5 hours and San Francisco it is -8 hours
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9.30am – Alpine skiing men’s team combined, downhill
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11.30am – Freestyle skiing women’s slopestyle final, featuring Kirsty Muir
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1pm – Alpine skiing men’s team combined
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4.30pm – Speed skating women’s 1000m
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5.05pm – Curling mixed doubles semi-final, featuring Great Britain
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6.30pm – Snowboard women’s big air final, featuring Mia Brookes
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7.12pm – Ski jumping men’s individual – normal hill, final
A primer for today’s Team GB hopes.
Preamble
Good morning everyone and welcome to the 2026 Winter Olympics – day three!
We open today with some light curling, after which it’s into the alpine skiing and the downhill discipline of the men’s team combined. That should get us going nicely for the freeski women’s slopestyle final, up at 11.30am and featuring Team GB’s 21-year-old Kirsty Muir, third-best in qualifying and going for a medal.
After that comes the final of the men’s team combined slalom at 1pm, then we might take in some women’s ice hockey, with Germany facing France, before it’s into some luge and the final of the women’s 1,000m speed skating.
At 5.05pm, Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds go for Great Britain in the semi-final of the mixed doubles curling – they’re heavy favourites – then we’ve more luge, some ski jumping and figure skating, before the medal run of the women’s big air snowboarding, featuring the 19-year-old Brit Mia Brookes – who has a serious hope of a medal after saving herself following a fall, nailing her second and third efforts to qualify.
“I listened to Metallica. Megadeth. Pantera, Judas Priest, stuff like that,” she explained. “It came out of me in an athlete way.”
Exactly! Let’s go!
