2026 Winter Olympics Day 5 recap: Jordan Stolz wins speedskating gold

Thursday’s live TV and streaming broadcasts unless noted (subject to change). All events stream live on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com with a streaming or cable login. All times Pacific. 🏅 — medal event for live broadcasts.

MULTIPLE SPORTS

8 p.m. — “Primetime in Milan” (delay): Skiing, speed skating, skeleton, snowboarding and more. | NBC

ALPINE SKIING

2:30 a.m. — 🏅Women’s super-G | USA

MILAN — A single tear rolled down Madison Chock’s face. A silver medal hung around her neck. It was a bittersweet prize.

Chock and Evan Bates, the three-time world ice dance champions, settled for second place in their fourth Olympics together, falling 1.43 points behind France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron on Wednesday at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Cizeron has won back-to-back Olympic titles with different partners after climbing the podium in Beijing with Gabriella Papadakis.

MILAN — U.S. speedskater Jordan Stolz won the men’s 1,000 meters at the Milan-Cortina Games on Wednesday in an Olympic-record time for the first of what he hopes will be a four-gold Winter Games.

Skating in the next-to-last pairing at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, a temporary facility constructed for these Olympics that has been producing fast times so far, Stolz finished in 1 minute, 6.28 seconds.

The 21-year-old from Wisconsin didn’t threaten his world record of 1:05.37 but did better the Olympic standard of 1:07.18 that had stood since 2002 — before Stolz was born. All four long track speedskating races in Milan have been won in the fastest times ever turned in at an Olympics.

Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands was a half-second slower than Stolz and took the silver medal. No one else came within a full second of Stolz’s time. Zhongyan Ning of China got the bronze.

Stolz’s medal was his first at this level: As a 17-year-old at the 2022 Beijing Games, Stolz came in 14th in the 1,000 and 13th in the 500.

It also was the first medal of any sort in the men’s 1,000 for the United States since the 2010 Vancouver Games. That’s when Shani Davis — a mentor to Stolz — won his second consecutive gold in that event, and Chad Hedrick took the bronze. Dutch men had won the 1,000 at each of the past three Winter Games.

With Eric Heiden, the only speedskater to win five golds at one Olympics, sitting next to rapper Snoop Dogg in the stands, Stolz pulled ahead of de Boo by the time one full lap was done. Then de Boo moved in front. But Stolz moved into the lead at the final corner and crossed first with his hands on his knees.

He soon was celebrating with an understated pump of his right hand.

A full-on victory lap toting an American flag had to be put on hold for a bit, though: First, the day’s last heat needed to be held. And then there was a 10-minute delay before Joep Wennermars of the Netherlands was given the chance at a re-skate because he had been bumped during his original heat.

But Wennermars didn’t come close to beating Stolz, who entered the day as a big favorite — and came through in the clutch.

Fendrich writes for the Associated Press.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — For Italy, it was a double-gold night in doubles luge. And for the U.S., the wait for the biggest prize in the sport will continue.

Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner of Italy rallied in the second heat to win the Olympic men’s doubles gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday night, finishing in 1 minute, 45.086 seconds. That win for the home country came about an hour after Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer won the women’s doubles luge race.

Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl of Austria were second in 1:45.154 and Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany — the back-to-back-to-back Olympic champions coming into Wednesday — gave up their crown but still medaled, finishing third in 1:45.176.

They won gold in Sochi, Pyeongchang and Beijing, taking every men’s doubles gold at the Olympics since Andreas Linger and Wolfgang Linger won the race for Austria at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

For the U.S., Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa were the leaders at the midway point of the two-run race, making some Olympic history for USA Luge. No American sled had ever had the lead in an Olympic race with one run to go; for that matter, no American sled had ever held the lead after any full heat.

But a mistake in the second run doomed their shot at giving USA Luge its first-ever Olympic title, and they finished sixth in 1:45.293. Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander of the U.S. were eighth in 1:45.467.

Reynolds writes for the Associated Press.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer hadn’t won a race this season on the World Cup circuit. They weren’t even contenders in many of them.

Ah, the comforts of home.

A little Italian ice changed everything — and the first women’s doubles luge champions in Olympic history are a pair of Italians who stared down the best teams in the world on Wednesday night. Voetter and Oberhofer won the gold medal in 1 minute, 46.204 seconds, holding off the two sleds considered to be the best in the world.

Germany’s Dajana Eitberger — who won the silver medal in women’s singles at Pyeongchang in 2018 — and Magdalena Matschina were second in 1:46.404, and the Austrian sled of Selina Egle and Lara Kipp was third in 1:46.543.

Latvia’s Marta Robezniece and Kitija Bogdanova were fourth in 1:46.796. Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby were fifth for the U.S. in 1:47.565.

The race — barring any big mistakes — was basically down to three sleds for three medals going into the second and final heat.

Voetter and Oberhofer had the lead with a first-run time of 53.102 seconds. The other top contenders were within one-tenth of a second of the lead: Eitberger and Matschina had a time of 53.123, while Egle and Kipp were third in 53.193.

Only 11 sleds were in the race and no more than one per nation, meaning some of the best sleds in the world — namely the German team of Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal, along with the U.S. team of Maya Chan and Sophia Gordon — weren’t in these Olympics, and many within the sport weren’t happy about that.

In fact, four of the sleds that didn’t qualify for the Olympics were ahead of Voetter and Oberhofer in this season’s World Cup standings.

That didn’t matter Wednesday. The Italians reigned.

There were 106 available quota spots for luge at the Olympics: 25 men’s singles sliders, 25 women’s singles sliders and 17 men’s doubles teams took up 84 of those. That left room for 22 more women, or 11 doubles sleds.

Forgan and Kirkby were first down the mountain in the first heat, meaning they’ll forever have the distinction of being the first women’s doubles sled in Olympic history.

Reynolds writes for the Associated Press.

Here’s where the medal count stands Wednesday at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games:

MILAN — U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn announced Wednesday that she has undergone her third surgery since Sunday’s devastating crash in the Olympic women’s downhill, and that the surgery was successful.

Vonn suffered a broken left leg in the accident, which happened 13 seconds into her run. She was skiing on a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament she sustained in a race accident Jan. 30.

“Success today has a completely different meaning than it did a few days ago,” Vonn wrote on her social media accounts. “I’m making progress and while it’s slow, I know I’ll be OK.

“Thankful for all the incredible medical staff, friends, family, who have been by my side and the beautiful outpouring of love and support from people around the world. Also, huge congrats to my teammates and all of the Team USA athletes who are out there inspiring me and giving me something to cheer for.”

LIVIGNO, Italy — When the powder settled on the Olympic moguls course, Elizabeth Lemley was basking, true to her nickname, in the glow of a gold medal.

The 20-year-old American freestyle skier, called “Lizard” by her teammates, had slid and leapt over the slope’s icy bumps to land an unbeatable run, leading a red, white and blue 1-2 medal grab at the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday.

Lemley topped the eight-skier final with a score of 82.30 points, right in front of fellow countrywoman Jaelin Kauf, who successfully defended her silver medal from Beijing 2022 with a score of 80.77. Perrine Laffont of France, the 2018 champion, took bronze.

Elizabeth Lemley competes during the women’s freestyle skiing moguls on Wednesday.

(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

After her gold-medal run, Lemley had to wait it out at the bottom of the slope as defending champion Jakara Anthony of Australia launched herself on the final’s last run. But Lemley knew she was champion when halfway through her run Anthony wobbled off course, ruining her chances at taking another gold.

Normally cool and collected, Lemley said that emotion flowed when she saw Anthony commit the mistake that clinched her the title.

“When she pulled out I just had a huge gasp,” the Vail, Colorado, native said. “I started tearing up in my eyes. I was like, I can’t believe this. I just became Olympic champion.”

A friend then hoisted her on his shoulders to celebrate amid the dozens of family members and loved ones of the American skiers gathered at the foot of the slope.

Already in her young career, Lemley has had to show why, after she took up her nickname from a suggestion by her third-grade teacher, she “feels like I am mighty lizard.”

Two years ago, Lemley was winning two golds at the Youth Winter Games. Then came an ACL tear that any athlete knows can derail a career.

“I spent a long time just thinking about mogul skiing, thinking about coming back and so much work was put into my body for me to be healthy,” she said about her time recovering. “I’m super proud of myself, and I am super grateful for everybody who has helped me along the way.”

Now she has helped position the U.S. as the team to beat in four year’s time.

An American woman had last won gold in moguls in 2010, when Hannah Kearney did so in Vancouver. Lemley’s gold was the third in women’s US moguls history, but the team had never pulled off a sweep of the top two spots on the podium.

“It’s been a long time coming for this team to stand on top of the podium at the Olympic Games, since Hannah Kearney retired,” the 29-year-old Kauf said. “So it’s really cool to finally get that and to have one and two.”

The U.S. had four skiers in the top 10 in Livigno; Olivia Giaccio was ninth and Tess Johnson was 10th.

Wilson writes for the Associated Press.

MILAN — There’s a lot of love in those gloves.

Before her fateful downhill run Sunday — one that ended with a violent crash after 13 seconds — Lindsey Vonn pulled on a pair of out-of-production gloves from her childhood skiing idol, Picabo Street.

The gloves are weathered and white, their brightness dulled by the decades, with the brand name “reusch” across the knuckles and a big, plum-colored sun on top. On the wrist straps are Street’s initials, scrawled in marker.

ANTERSELVA, Italy — Julia Simon became the first Frenchwoman to win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon race and teammate Lou Jeanmonnot took silver at the Milan-Cortina Games on Wednesday.

Simon missed only one target and completed the course in 41 minutes, 15 seconds. Jeanmonnot missed two and finished 53 seconds behind.

It was Simon’s second gold of the Milan-Cortina Games after teaming with Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Quentin Fillon Maillet to win the mixed relay on Sunday.

Lora Hristova of Bulgaria shot a perfect race to secure a bronze medal and upset the favorites from Italy, Germany and Sweden, who have often stood atop the podium in individual Olympic biathlon competitions. Hristova finished 1:04 behind Simon.

Vanessa Voigt of Germany finished fourth, 1:17 behind, while Dorothea Wierer of Italy was fifth, 1:33 back.

The individual event is the longest and most challenging of all biathlon race formats. Racers go out at 30-second intervals and ski a three-kilometer loop five times, shooting in the prone and standing positions in between. Accurate shooting is critical. Instead of skiing a penalty loop for missed shots, they get one minute added to their time for each miss.

All three medalists in the individual race at the 2022 Beijing Olympics have retired, but Hanna Oeberg of Sweden won gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Oeberg missed three targets on Wednesday and finished a disappointing 41st — 4:04 behind.

Bellisle writes for the Associated Press.

TESERO, Italy — Jens Luraas Oftebro of Norway won the gold medal in the Nordic combined normal hill competition after making up a 28-second time penalty following the ski jump and holding off a chase from his chief rival in a thrilling 10-kilometer cross-country ski race.

Johannes Lamparter of Austria won silver, one second behind, and Eero Hirvonen of Finland took bronze, 2.5 seconds back.

The unique format of the contest starts with a single ski jump in the morning where the distance and scoring on style points are converted to a time advantage in a staggered start cross-country race in the afternoon.

The sport has been contested in every Winter Olympics since their start in 1924 and it’s the only event in the Games that does not include women.

Nordic combined is now facing possible extinction from the International Olympic Committee because it draws a small TV audience and a few nations dominate competition.

Lamparter entered the contest as the top-ranked skier, followed by Oftebro and Julian Schmid of Germany.

The top of the field included two sets of brothers, including Oftebro’s sibling, Einar Luraas Oftebro — the two are called the “Oftebrothers” — and Austria’s Stefan and Thomas Rettenegger.

Melley writes for the Associated Press.

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — The crowds have disappeared and so has the sun, dipping behind the frigid Dolomites as another day of Olympic racing is in the books.

This is the golden hour for the hidden heroes of the sport. You can find them in metal storage containers and dimly lit concrete garages, warmed by space heaters and hunkered over skis that will carry their clients down harrowing hills, places where 80 mph is routine and a seemingly minuscule mistake can spell disaster.

They scrape. They wax. They file. They meticulously pore over every detail, these ski technicians — commonly referred to as ski techs — whose work is graded in milliseconds.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych trained again in his banned helmet Wednesday, one day before the start of his race at the Milan-Cortina Games and with the International Olympic Committee urging him to make his point differently.

Heraskevych came to the Olympics with a customized helmet showing the faces of more than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches who were killed during their country’s war with Russia, a conflict that started shortly after the 2022 Beijing Games ended.

But the IOC said Monday night that the helmet wouldn’t be allowed in competition, citing a rule against making political statements on the Olympic field of play. Heraskevych wore the helmet for training Tuesday and Wednesday anyway, knowing the IOC could ultimately keep him from the Olympic race.

The IOC planned to talk to Heraskevych again Wednesday to discuss what would be allowed, spokesman Mark Adams said. Adams said those words about an hour before Heraskevych’s first training run of the day, so it wasn’t immediately clear when or if that conversation would occur.

“We will reiterate the many, many opportunities that he has to express his grief,” Adams said. “As we discussed before, he can do so on social media and press conferences in the mixed zone. So, we will try to talk to him about that and try to convince him.

“We want him to compete. We really, really want him to have his moment. That’s very, very important. We want all athletes to have their moment and that’s the point. We want all our athletes to have a fair and level playing field.”

The IOC has offered Heraskevych a chance to wear a black armband in competition as a display of his grief and mourning of countrymen, even though such tributes are typically not allowed. Adams said that represents a compromise; Heraskevych said he’s not interested.

“I think the way that we hope that we can deal with this is on a human level. … We will have conversations with him to try to explain that actually it’s in everybody’s interest for him to compete and for him also to be able to say what he wants to say,” Adams said. “So, I’m not saying that we have a solution, a ready solution, for this. But I think here, it’s better for people to talk to people and for human interaction, hopefully, to win the day.”

Chloe Kim was stellar in women’s snowboard halfpipe qualifying Wednesday, finishing first with a score of 90.25 — nearly three points better than the rest of the field at the Milan-Cortina Games.

Kim only needed her first run to reaffirm herself as the class of the field, showing no ill effects from the dislocated right shoulder she sustained last month. Immediately after the run Kim took off her helmet, raised her goggles and smiled, knowing she had done more than enough to advance to Thursday’s final (10:30 a.m. PST, NBC).

U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim competes in women’s halfpipe Wednesday at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.

(Adam Pretty / Getty Images)

The 25-year-old American is looking to become the first Olympic snowboarder to win three consecutive gold medals.

Japan’s Sara Shimizu qualified second with an 87.50 and American Maddie Mastro was third with an 86.00.

Seventeen-year-old Gaon Choi of South Korea, considered a top challenger to Kim’s golden reign, was sixth with an 82.25.

Bea Kim, among the snowboarders mentored by Chloe, finished 10th (76.75) to advance. The fourth American in the event, Madeline Schaffrick, failed to make the cut, finishing 15th (61.75).

China’s Jiayu Liu, the Olympic silver medalist in Pyeongchang in 2018, sustained an injury on her final run and had to be stretchered off.

BORMIO, Italy — Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland joined elite ski-racing company by winning the men’s super-G on Wednesday for his third Olympic gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Games.

Finding a fast line, von Allmen finished in a time of 1 minute, 25.32 seconds along the Stelvio course to beat American Ryan Cochran-Siegle by 0.13 seconds. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland captured bronze on a warm day.

The 24-year-old von Allmen became the third men’s Alpine ski racer to win three events at one Winter Olympics. The other two are legends of the sport, Jean-Claude Killy of France, who won three at the 1968 Grenoble Games, and Austrian Anton “Toni” Sailer, a three-time winner at the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

Von Allmen won the downhill on Saturday and paired with Tanguy Nef to win the inaugural team combined event Monday.

After his smooth run, von Allmen made a motion with his gloves almost as if to indicate it might not be enough. He playfully stuck out his tongue, too. He was the seventh racer and plenty of big names were still to fly down the mountain.

It turned out to be enough as he made even more history — the first men’s racer from ski-crazed Switzerland to win the Olympic super-G.

“I have to be very honest, as a boy that was not necessarily my dream to become a winner at the Olympics,” von Allmen recently said. “I was a skier because I really enjoyed it.”

U.S. skier Ryan Cochran Siegle competes in men’s super-G on Wednesday.

(John Locher / Associated Press)

It’s another Olympic medal for Cochran-Siegle, who also earned silver in the super-G at the 2022 Beijing Games. It’s also another medal for his family as his mom, Barbara, captured gold in the slalom at the 1972 Sapporo Games. He comes from a long line of skiers.

Odermatt, a four-time overall World Cup champion, added bronze to his silver in the team event. He was fourth in the downhill over the weekend.

After finishing as the 10th racer on the course, Odermatt bent down and began shaking his head.

His place on the medal stand held up. The Italian duo of Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris — the silver and bronze downhill medalists — couldn’t knock Odermatt off the podium. Franzoni took sixth while Paris was a “did not finish” after equipment issues. He was in the middle of a fast run when his right ski popped off its binding. He fell to the snow and slid to a stop before hiking back up to retrieve his ski.

Odermatt is the reigning Olympic champion in the next event on the men’s program, the giant slalom.

Graham writes for the Associated Press.

MILAN — The hockey group-play game between the U.S. and Canada at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games on Tuesday was both meaningless and vitally important.

For the record, the U.S. breezed to a 5-0 win behind two goals from Hannah Bilka, a goal and two assists from Carolina Harvey and three assists from Abbey Murphy. It was another complete, methodical performance, one that saw the U.S. score in every period for a fourth straight game in its third straight shutout.

But because both teams had already qualified for the next round, the only thing the result determined was positioning for the quarterfinals, with the U.S. (4-0) earning the top seed out of Group A.

MILAN — Mikaela Shiffrin has generally let her performances do the talking during a career that has seen her win two Olympic titles and more World Cup races than any skier in history.

But she clearly had something more to say before taking the slopes for the first time in the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.

“I actually have some thoughts,” she said when asked by a reporter how she felt about representing the U.S. at a time when the country is riven by deep political divides. “I can read something that I have written if you guys don’t mind.”

MILAN — The world is experiencing more conflict and turmoil than at any point since the Berlin Wall came down nearly four decades ago.

There are hot wars in Ukraine and Gaza, cold wars on the Korean peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait, and budding wars in Iran and parts of Africa. The Global Peace Index is at its lowest level ever.

But four days into the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, harmony reigns in the Olympic villages and venues across northern Italy,

Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid won his first individual Olympic medal on Tuesday, then immediately confessed to cheating — but not in the 20-kilometer individual race.

Lægreid used a post-race interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK to admit he had been unfaithful to his girlfriend.

MILAN — He raised up the Quad King. He refined the jump that defined the Quad God.

From a sprawling ice facility in Irvine, Rafael Arutyunyan could just be the “Quad Maker.”

The 68-year-old figure skating coach is renowned as one of the best technicians in the world. He trained Olympic champion Nathan Chen starting when the “Quad King” was 10 years old. Four years after Chen became the first U.S. man to win singles Olympic gold since 2010, Arutyunyan could have a second consecutive pupil on top of the Olympic podium.

Ilia Malinin, who has worked with Arutyunyan part time since 2021, is the only person in the world to land a quad axel and is the overwhelming favorite for men’s gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games.

Here are the athletes who’ve won medals heading into Day 5 of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics:

MILAN — The Pyeongchang Olympics sparked two Olympic dreams.

There, Chloe Kim reached superstar status, winning at 17 to become the youngest woman to claim an Olympic snowboarding gold medal. At 11 years old, Bea Kim watched in awe.

“To see somebody who looked like me, who’s from the same area as me do something that incredible, I was like, ‘OK, wow,’” said Bea, a Palos Verdes native. “I want to do this.”

Eight years later, the pair of Southern California natives posed together for photos in matching red, white and blue outfits before the Milan-Cortina Olympics opening ceremony. The 19-year-old Bea will make her Olympic debut Wednesday at Livigno Snow Park next to Chloe, the suddenly 25-year-old veteran.

Wednesday’s live TV and streaming broadcasts unless noted (subject to change). All events stream live on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com with a streaming or cable login. All times Pacific. 🏅 — medal event for live broadcasts.

MULTIPLE SPORTS

8 p.m. — “Primetime in Milan” (delay): Figure skating, luge, speed skating, snowboarding and more. | NBC

ALPINE SKIING

2:30 a.m. — 🏅Men’s super-G | USA

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