Sports
China’s Eileen Gu bounces back to land into halfpipe final
Feb 16, 2026; Livigno, Italy; Silver medalist Ailing Eileen Gu of the People’s Republic of China looks on during the medal ceremony for the women’s big air final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Livigno Snow Park. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images LIVIGNO, Italy — China’s Eileen Gu bounced back from a mistake to qualify on Thursday for the Winter Olympics freestyle skiing halfpipe final, giving the defending champion a chance to pick up yet another medal.
Gu crashed on her first run, after clipping the edge of the U-shaped ramp that defines the halfpipe discipline, but more than made up for it with a well-executed second attempt.
“I’m glad I was able to reinforce my sense of self-belief at the moment when it counted,” she said.
With 12 out of 21 competitors going through to Saturday’s final, Gu came fifth with a score of 86.5, out of a maximum of 100. Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin, the 2025 world champion, led the pack on 91.5 points, followed by China’s Li Fanghui with 90.
Atkin prevailed despite pre-competition nerves.
“I’m really happy I was able to kind of manage that nervousness and put down a clean run,” she said. “It’s honestly a really big relief, so I’m super excited for Saturday.”
NASTY CRASH FOR CANADA’S SHARPE
Canada’s Cassie Sharpe, who won halfpipe gold in 2018 and silver in 2022, came in third with 88.25 points, but crashed badly on her second run, prompting a medical intervention.
Rescue operations took several tense minutes during which the crowd fell quiet, but spectators cheered in relief as Sharpe was fit enough to wave her arms while taken away on a stretcher.
In Milan Cortina, 22-year-old Gu has already picked up silver medals in slopestyle and big air, turning her into the most decorated woman in the history of her sport.
The American-born freeskier, who switched to compete for her mother’s native China in 2019, also won golds in big air and halfpipe, plus a silver in slopestyle, at the 2022 Beijing Games.
In halfpipe, riders slide across a U-shaped snow ramp and perform acrobatics in the air. They are awarded points based on height, difficulty, variety of tricks, and other factors.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
Sports
Freestyle skiing halfpipe, aerial events postponed at Olympics
Feb 19, 2026; Bormio, Italy; Workers clear snow from the course before the women’s ski mountaineering final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Stelvio Ski Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Freestyle skiing halfpipe and aerial events were postponed at the Winter Olympics on Thursday because of heavy snow in Livigno, Italy.
The men’s aerials qualifiers and final were rescheduled for Friday morning, with the men’s halfpipe qualification beginning about an hour after the aerials conclude.
The aerial finals are scheduled for Saturday night, the final full day of competition at the Milan Cortina Games.
At the biathlon course in Anterselva, both men and women trained simultaneously for the mass start competition with heavy snow expected there later Friday.
“Snow is an occupational hazard of winter sports,” International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said at a news conference.
“They are well used to dealing with delays, changes and bad weather … We are used to it, the federations are used to it. It is something we have to work with, unfortunately,” he said.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Speed skater Jordan Stolz denied 3rd gold medal, takes silver in 1500m
Jordan Stolz of the United States won the silver medal in the men’s 1500m speed skating event Thursday at the Winter Olympics in Milan. MILAN — China’s Ning Zhongyan won the men’s 1,500 meters at the Winter Olympics on Thursday, denying American Jordan Stolz of his third speed skating gold medal of these Games.
Stolz claimed silver, while two-time defending Olympic 1,500m champion Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands secured bronze to round out a high-caliber podium.
Stolz entered the event as the overwhelming favorite after record-breaking victories in both the 1,000m and 500m. He was undefeated in the 1,500m this season.
But the field was stacked with heavyweights, including Nuis, the 1,500m world record holder; newly crowned 5,000m Olympic champion Sander Eitrem; 10,000m gold medalist Metodej Jilek; as well as Dutchman Joep Wennemars and Poland’s Vladimir Semirunniy.
But Ning, 26, already buoyed by two bronzes at the Milan Cortina Games in the men’s 1,000m and the team pursuit, had other plans.
Skating in the 13th of 15 pairs, Ning started in the inner lane alongside Nuis. On a remarkable day for the distance, the Olympic record fell twice: first to Wennemars in the 11th pair, and then to Ning, who obliterated the new mark moments later.
He stopped the clock at 1 minute, 41.98 seconds, finishing 0.77 seconds ahead of Stolz.
With Ning’s triumph, China now holds three gold medals at these Games, following Mengtao Xu’s victory in the women’s freestyle skiing aerials and Yiming Su’s win in the men’s snowboard slopestyle.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
Sports
US, Canada women advance to Olympics curling semis
Taylor Anderson-Heide, Tabitha Peterson and Tara Peterson of the United States advanced to the women’s curling tournament semi-finals on Thursday with a win against Switzerland in the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. REUTERS/Issei Kato CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Rachel Homan’s Canada team beat South Korea 10-7 on Thursday to book a spot in the semi-finals of the women’s curling competition at the Winter Olympics, where they will be joined by the United States.-
Both teams needed to win to lock in a place in the final four, and Homan delivered a fine performance to seal an Olympic semi-finals spot for the first time in her career.
Canada, two-time world champions, were pre-tournament favorites to win gold, but Homan’s record at the Olympics has been poor. She participated in the past two Games, finishing sixth as skip of the women’s team in 2018 and then once again ending up outside the qualification spots for the semi-finals while competing in the mixed doubles in 2022.
Canada had a poor start to its round-robin campaign with just one win after the opening four games.
“We’ve been in a single elimination tournament. We started off a little bit slow,” Homan said.
“We knew our game. We knew our training. We had belief in each other and just tried to stick with the process. … It’s hard playing a single elimination game the entire time, but that’s what the Olympics is. It’s a tough field.
“Everyone’s gunning for you, and you have to bring your best every single time or it’s going to be a loss.”
Tabitha Peterson and her United States teammates are hoping to become the first U.S. women’s team to win an Olympic medal. They claimed a 7-6 win over Switzerland, which already had sealed a spot in the semi-finals.
The game went into an extra end and Switzerland set up two stones in the house, but Peterson made a difficult draw with her last shot to snatch the win.
Asked about the final shot, the team’s second Tara Peterson said: “We just told her the speed. … You give Tab a draw, she’s going to make it, so we were very happy to have that opportunity.”
The United States will meet Switzerland once again in the semi-finals on Friday, while round-robin leader Sweden takes on fourth-place Canada.
Great Britain, the defending Olympic champion, beat host Italy 7-4 to finish sixth.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
Freestyle skiing halfpipe, aerial events postponed at Olympics
Speed skater Jordan Stolz denied 3rd gold medal, takes silver in 1500m
