Éliot Grondin wins silver in snowboard cross, bringing Canada’s medal total to six

Snowboard cross: Éliot Grondin from Québec (silver)

Men’s moguls: Mikaël Kingsbury from Québec (silver)

Figure skating pairs’ ice dance: Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier from Ontario (bronze)

Women’s 3,000 m speed skating: Valérie Maltais from Québec (bronze)

Women’s ski slopestyle: Megan Oldham from Ontario (bronze)

Short track speed skating mixed relay: Kim Boutin, William Dandjinou, Félix Roussel and Courtney Sarault (silver)

Stars from Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan has six athletes as well as 10 coaches or officials at the 2026 Olympics.

The officials include Hockey Saskatchewan referees Cianna Murray (Cudworth), Michelle McKenna (Moose Jaw) and linespersons Alex Clarke (Drake) and Tarrington Wyonzek (Yorkton).

Coaches heading to Italy are Adam Burwell (Regina, Snowboard – Big Air/Slopestyle), William Dutton (Humboldt, Long Track Speedskating), and Lyndon Rush (Humboldt, Bobsleigh); while support or mission staff include Chris Dornan (Saskatoon, bobsleigh), Lisa Hoffart (Regina, Mental Health Lead Team Canada), Jodi Perras (North Battleford, massage therapist cross country skiing).

Here is some information about the Saskatchewan athletes competing:

Emily Clark has been a mainstay for Team Canada at recent competitions. (Hockey Canada/Submitted)

Emily Clark

Hometown: Saskatoon

Sport: Hockey, forward, currently playing for Ottawa in the PWHL

Age: 30

Previous results: Gold at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

Emily Clark will make it a hat trick of Olympic Games.

Clark has been named to the Canadian Olympic women’s hockey team for the 2026 games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

“It means everything. Every time you get to be selected to a roster — let alone an Olympic roster — it is such a privilege and a dream come true,” Clark said.

“I can’t believe I am going to my third one but I am just as excited as my first one.”

While she has become a mainstay on the Canadian team — competing in a number of world championships as well — Clark said it’s still always a challenge to make the team.

“There’s no guarantees and you just want to do everything you can to be on that roster and fit the puzzle piece they believe will help us be successful at the Olympics,” she said.

“I’m just grateful I got the good news on that call and I can’t wait to get to Italy.”

This year, Clark is the only member of the team from Saskatchewan. Since the announcement, she has been feeling the love from the province.

“Being from Saskatchewan, you always root for people from Saskatchewan. You treat people as your own. Any time there has been other athletes from Saskatchewan representing our province on the international stage, you keep tabs and root for them,” said Clark, who plays for the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge.

“I know how I feel cheering on other people from Saskatchewan so I know people are feeling that way for me too whether they know me or they don’t, I can feel they are behind me so I just want to make everyone proud.”

At her first Olympics in 2018, she won a silver medal. In 2022, Canada bounced back to claim gold.

So where are those medals?

“Right now they are in mittens in a drawer in my parents’ house so keep them safe and sound. They aren’t out on display every day but it’s fun to get to share them with others,” Clark said.

Clark said this group is ready to defend that Olympic title.

“We’re ready. We’ve been preparing for these Olympics since the last one ended,” Clark said.

“People ask a lot about this season and the preparation but it’s a way bigger picture than that. The core of this group has been together for a long time and we have a lot of experience and have been through a lot together so that’s definitely a strength of ours going into these Olympics to defend gold for Canada.”

This year, the annual rivalry series between Canada and the U.S.A. Team went the way of the Americans, sweeping the four-game set.

“I think in an Olympic year with the rivalry series, you have to take them as experiment games,” Clark said.

“It didn’t go our way this season but it’s just part of the process. The Olympics are in February so we’re looking forward to that challenge and you just take those games as experiments and learn what you can from them and know that it’s just part of the process.”

While it can be expected Canada and the U.S. meet for gold, Clark said there’s a lot of top-end talent on other countries’ rosters as well.

“You have to treat every game like it’s a gold medal game and just keep building your game and set yourself up for success to be in that final game,” Clark said. “The competition at the world championship has just increased so much and no team is to be taken lightly.”

But while she’s a veteran on the international stage, it’s still a special time.

“I probably have more games in the Maple Leaf behind me than ahead of me. I’ve been fortunate to represent Canada for quite a few years now and every single time, it’s so special,” Clark said.

“You look at the roster that we have going to Italy and I have been able to play a lot of games with those girls so you just build such a strong connection that even practice days are really special to be there.

“Every single time you get to wear (the jersey), it’s special and a dream come true and I’ll never take it for granted.”

—by 980 CJME’s Britton Gray

Canada’s Mark McMorris displays his bronze medal during the medal ceremony for men’s snowboard slopestyle at the Beijing Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, China, on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

Mark McMorris

Hometown: Regina

Sport: Slopestyle snowboarding

Age: 32

Previous results: Bronze in 2014 in Sochi, bronze in 2018 in PyeongChang, bronze in 2022 in Beijing

Regina’s Mark McMorris is considered one of the greatest snowboarders of all time.

But one thing that has eluded him so far is an Olympic gold medal. He has won bronze in slopestyle the previous three times he has competed at the games.

He will compete in his fourth Olympics this month in Milano Cortina.

“I just want to ride to the best of my ability. That’s always the goal. I mean, it’s a judge sport, so we’ll see. If I do ride to the best of my ability, I’m sure I can get some hardware. We’ll see where it lands me on the podium,” McMorris said.

“(Gold) would be amazing, but I don’t really focus on that, to be honest. I’m just trying to ride to the best of my ability. If I do that, I’m always satisfied and I don’t beat myself up about any shade of metal or anything. It’s just all about doing my very best, and usually when I do that I have a good chance it’s standing on the box, if not on top.”

His Olympics got off to a delayed start as he suffered an injury during a practice session for big air snowboarding on Wednesday. The crash caused him to pull out of that event.

McMorris has won a record 22 X Games medals and is coming into the Olympics in fine form after once again claiming gold at the 2026 X Games in Aspen.

He said he is riding for all the people who have supported him in his life.

“They’ve all stood behind me like no one else. I’ve received a ton of support from the province of Saskatchewan. There’s been major players in helping me reach the level I have and major players in my longevity, and I’m just super thankful to have all them in my life,” McMorris said.

“I ain’t going nowhere, but it’s definitely gonna be be a really special moment, like all Olympics are.”

With McMorris out of the of the big air contest, he will have some time to continue his recovery. The slopestyle qualifications begin on Monday, with the final on Wednesday.

— By Britton Gray, 980 CJME

Logan Pletz will take part in his first Olympics as a member of the Canadian Biathlon team. (Logan Pletz/Instagram)

Logan Pletz

Hometown: Lumsden

Sport: Biathlon

Age: 25

Previous results: This is his first Olympics

Logan Pletz will get a chance to live out his childhood dream in Italy.

The 25-year-old product of Lumsden, Sask. will wear the maple leaf at the 2026 Olympic Games for the first time after joining the biathlon team.

“It’s something I’ve had on my on my mind for a few years. I was not that close to qualifying in 2022, but I was on the B-tier circuit when the A-team went to Beijing,” Pletz said.

“I kind of assumed that this would be the end goal at some point.”

While Pletz grew up playing hockey, when his family moved to Regina his parents decided to put him into biathlon, a sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

“My parents weren’t that stoked on the Hockey Regina program, just because I wasn’t able to play with my friends every year,” Pletz said.

“I dropped out of hockey and I was always pretty good at cross-country running as an elementary school kid. It just felt like a natural transition. It doesn’t sound like that, since it’s a pretty obscure sport, but I was pretty good at it right from the get-go, so that obviously kept me in it.”

He trained in Saskatchewan until he was finished high school. He then moved to Whistler, B.C., to train at the Olympic venue with the high-performance program. He moved to Canmore once he made the national team, but now calls Cochrane, Alta. home.

He has competed in three consecutive IBU World Championships (2023-25), with the sport taking him all over the world.

“I didn’t set out with the intention of it as an 11-year-old, that’s for sure. It is pretty cool,” Pletz said.

“This is my fourth year from November to March that I have been overseas and between nine or 10 different venues all through Scandinavia, Norway, Sweden, Finland. More commonly Germany, Austria and Italy. I only have one more this year that I’m checking off the list – it’s Estonia which I have never been before. That will be after the Olympics is over.”

And he has been feeling the love from is home province.

“I’ve definitely gotten messages from a lot of those people that used to be a big part of my life and helped me as a 14 or 15 year old to be the best 14 or 15 year old that I could be,” Pletz said.

“That only has put me on the journey towards being the best 25 year old I can be.”

The biathlon events run from Sunday until Feb. 21.

—by 980 CJME’s Britton Gray

Regina’s Ben Hebert (left) competing at the 2024 Brier. (Michael Burns/Curling Canada)

Ben Hebert

Hometown: Regina

Sport: Curling

Age: 42

Previous results: Gold in 2010 in Vancouver, fourth place in 2018 in Pyeongchang

Throughout his curling career, which spans more than 20 years, Ben Hebert has had two very different personalities when it comes to competition and regular life. It’s a split which has made him one of the most decorated curlers in the sport’s history.

“I’m a pretty nice guy off the ice, but when I get on that ice I’m a psychopath,” Hebert said. “I really want to win, and that’s what made me successful my whole career.”

For the third time in his career, the Regina-born lead will be donning the maple leaf at an Olympic Games, this time as part of Brad Jacobs’ rink in Milan. That gives Hebert, 42, an opportunity to win a second Olympic medal.

“There’s not too many things that get the old butterflies and nerves going these days for me in curling,” Hebert said, “but this is one of them.”

Hebert, skip Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy and second Brett Gallant all have previous experience at the Olympics and will be early favourites to win Canada’s first gold medal in men’s curling since Jacobs did so in 2014.

“We’ve been through it before and understand what to expect,” Hebert said. “But it certainly doesn’t take the little kid out of you and the excitement going to an Olympic games.”

Hebert’s Olympic debut in 2010 was about as storybook as it gets, winning a gold medal on home ice in Vancouver as part of Kevin Martin’s championship rink.

His second appearance on the Olympic stage didn’t end so joyously, as his 2018 rink skipped by Kevin Koe fell short of expectations and finished in a disappointing fourth place.That defeat has sat in the back of Hebert’s mind over the last eight years.

“We think we’re one of the favourites, but there’s probably three or four teams that think they’re the favourite,” Hebert said.

Combining for 16 Brier titles, five world championship gold medals and five medals at the Olympics, Team Jacobs will go down as one of the most decorated teams in the history of the sport.

Even with a roster full of future hall-of-fame-caliber curlers like himself, Hebert said the focus is on the next two weeks in Milan and not the legacies they’ve built on the ice.

“That’s not going to take away from the level of intensity, focus and desire. We have to come home with a medal for not just each other but, obviously, our country,” Hebert said. “The foot is going to be hard on the gas.”

While he’s called Alberta home since 2006, Hebert said he still looks back fondly on his first 22 years, growing up and discovering the game in Saskatchewan, and he knows the province be cheering him on as one of their own this month in Italy.

“There’s no better province for me that I could have chosen to grow up in,” Hebert said.

“I’m pretty lucky to be from there.”

Hebert and Team Canada will open the men’s curling event in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Feb. 11 against Germany.

—by 650 CKOM’s Scott Roblin

Los Angeles Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper  will be representing Canada at the 2026 Olympics in Italy. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Darcy Kuemper

Hometown: Saskatoon

Sport: Hockey, goalie, currently playing for Los Angeles Kings in the NHL

Age: 35

Previous results: This is his first Olympics

Darcy Kuemper was one of three goalies selected to the Olympic roster, and when he found out the news he quickly called his parents, Sharon and Brent Kuemper.

“He called right away,” Brent said. “We’re both excited. We were on a family group chat, and of course, the rest of the kids all chipped in and we were talking.”

Kuemper, who is in his 14th NHL season and already has a Stanley Cup under his belt. To represent Canada is a great honour said his mom, Sharon.

“We thought this was a nice cherry on top to represent your country,” she said. “Every hockey player wants to be on Team Canada when they’re growing up playing street hockey.”

This isn’t Kuemper’s first time wearing a Team Canada jersey, but it is his first time doing so at the Olympics, and it’s something his parents can’t wait to see.

“Just having the Olympic jersey, it’s going to be quite something for us parents to marvel about,” Brent said.

“We’ll be sitting pretty tall in those stands,” Sharon said.

The Kumpers said the Olympics are always an exciting time, but now that their son will be a part of it, that takes it to the next level.

“I get excited every two years when they come,” Brent said. “But when you have your own child in it, it’s pretty surreal.”

— by CKOM News

Saskatoon skier Maïa Schwinghammer will be one of several Canadians representing her country at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, Italy in February. (International Ski Federation/Submitted)

Maïa Schwinghammer

Hometown: Saskatoon

Sport: Freestyle skiing, moguls

Age: 24

Previous results: This is her first Olympics

Schwinghammer is just the third skier from Saskatchewan to represent the province on the world’s biggest stage, joining Jim Hunter (alpine skiing, 1972 and 1976) and Andi Naude (moguls, 2018).

“It’s crazy. I’m still in awe of it, really. This whole journey has been so incredible,” Schwinghammer said.

“To be heading to the games after all these years of work and dedication and just having my family by my side and my friends … it’s just pretty cool to have my spot for the games and be able to go and experience that.”

Schwinghammer qualified for the Olympics with a fifth-place finish at the Freestyle Moguls World Cup in Finland.

She said she felt quite a bit of pressure this year as she was preparing for the Olympics.

“As the season was beginning, I was definitely getting a little bit nervous,” she said.

“It’s all starting to feel real, and the contests (during an) Olympic year, it’s crazy. Everybody’s still trying to qualify for the games, and tensions and pressure is definitely really high.”

The journey to the Olympics has been a long one for Schwinghammer, who started skiing when she was just two years old.

“The first time I was on skis I was towed behind a snowmobile on Christopher Lake,” she said.

“I learned how to ski at Mount Blackstrap with my parents, (but I) kind of caught the bug for it watching the Olympics in 2010. My dad was working the event there, so I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go and watch as a very young kid, and that definitely gave me the inspiration.”

Schwinghammer said she has tried to reflect on the year she’s had and what’s in store for her in the near future, but said it still feels quite surreal.

“You think about something your whole entire life, and then it’s finally happening,” she said. “I think I really want to just experience everything and really enjoy the fact that I’ve put all this work in to get there.”

Schwinghammer said it’s been a whirlwind of a season so far.

“Without a doubt – a medal at world championships, winning the home event last season – it’s been a total ‘pinch-me’ year,” she said.

“It’s pretty cool to realize that I am living my childhood dreams right now, and it’s pretty special.”

Schwinghammer was training at Optimist Hill in Saskatoon during the holidays before heading out to more competitions.

“It’s a little different for sure. No mountains here in Saskatchewan, but I was lucky enough to have a crew build me a jump that’s similar to a mogul jump,” she said.

“For me to be able to stay fresh and stay on my toes and being able to work on my tricks here over the holidays, it’s definitely an edge I’ve got.”

— By Craig Silliphant, 650 CKOM

Day 1: Bronze in women’s 3,000m speedskating

Valérie Maltais from Quebec, who became just the third athlete in the world and the first Canadian to win Olympic medals in both forms of speed skating in 2022 in Beijing, took home a bronze medal in the women’s 3,000m speedskating on Saturday at Milano Cortina 2026.

Isabelle Weidemann from Ontario, who got bronze medal in the event in 2022, was fifth and B.C’s Laura Hall was 13th in her Olympic debut in the race.

Long track speed skating is considered the fastest human-powered sport in the Games, with skaters reaching speeds of more than 60 km/h. All long track speed skating events take place on a 400m oval and are timed to the hundredth of a second (0.01).

In the individual distance events, skaters race in pairs against the clock. Skating counterclockwise around the oval, the skaters change lanes once per lap to equalize the distance covered. The skater in the outside lane has the right-of-way if the two skaters arrive at the crossover point at the same time. The 3000m is 7 ½ laps.

Canadians in action on Day 2

At the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday, Canada’s mixed doubles curling team had two round-robin games, needing wins to keep their medal-round hopes alive.

Alberta’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman lost 7-6 to Sweden on Sunday morning and then 9-5 to South Korea, ending their medal hopes as they will not advance to the semifinal round. They still have one more round-robin game to play Monday.

The semifinals will be played Monday night and the medal games are set for Tuesday.

Speedskating continued this morning with Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen competing in the men’s 5,000 metres, skating to 13th place. Norway’s Sander Eitrem took the gold medal, Czech Metodej Jilek the silver and Italian Riccardo Lorello the bronze.

Meanwhile, Canada’s men’s hockey team hits the ice for their first official practice today ahead of their tournament opener against Czechia on Feb. 12., and Alberta’s Xavier McKeever finished 13th in the men’s 10km +10km skiathlon.

United States’ Lindsey Vonn in action during alpine ski women’s downhill training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Vonn comeback ends after early crash in downhill final

American skier Lindsey Vonn’s chase for Olympic gold in the women’s alpine ski women’s downhill race ended at the Milan Cortina Olympics Sunday when the 41-year-old crashed dramatically at the top of the course.

Vonn had been chasing another Olympic medal after an aggressive and successful training run where she wore a large brace on the knee where she tore her ACL nine days ago.

The four-time overall World Cup champion came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings.

Vonn was in obvious pain as she lay on the slope for several minutes before being stretchered off the course by helicopter and flown to hospital. She had surgery for a fracture in her left leg and was in a stable condition, Associated Press said.

Women’s hockey team beats Czechia on way to gold medal repeat

Canada’s women’s hockey team is on track for its gold medal defence after beating Czechia 5-1 on Monday to improve to 2-0 in the preliminary rounds after winning against Switzerland 4-0 .

Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin left the game with an apparent knee injury after being checked during the game. She returned to the ice but headed for the dressing room shortly after.

Canada got two goals from Julia Gosling and one each from Kristin O’Neill, Sarah Fillier and Laura Stacey.

The women’s team will face the U.S. tomorrow. It is not know if Poulin will play.

In men’s hockey, Canada’s quest for gold begins Thursday when they take on Czechia, before facing Switzerland on Friday and France on Sunday.

Megan Oldham, of Canada, reacts after winning the bronze medal in the women’s freeski slopestyle final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Livigno, Italy on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

Ontario skier Megan Oldham wins bronze in slopestyle

Ontario’s Megan Oldham claimed the bronze medal in the women’s ski slopestyle event at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy on Monday.

The 24-year-old skier suffered a crash in her second run, but came back with a score of 76.46 in her third run, according to the Team Canada website.

That was good enough for third place, behind Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud and silver medal winner Eileen Gu from China.

Canadian skier Dara Howell previously won gold for Canada in the event in 2014, the Team Canada website noted, with Kim Lamarre capturing bronze the same year.

American Breezy Johnson won the event, Germany’s Emma Aicher took silver and Italy’s Sofia Goggia bronze.

B.C.’s Cassidy Gray was the top Canadian in 26th place. Valérie Grenier of Ontario was disqualified after she originally finished her run in 17th place.

— CKOM News, with files from The Canadian Press and Associated Press

Team Canada’s Ella Shelton (17) battles against United States’ Kelly Pannek (12) during the second period in Women’s Preliminary Round hockey at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy on Feb. 10. (Leah Hennel/COC )df

Canadian women’s hockey team dominated 5-0 by U.S.

The two superpowers of women’s hockey squared off today at Milan Cortina in what was expected to be a preview of the gold medal game, with both Canada and the U.S. teams 3-0, meaning the top seed for the elimination rounds is at stake.

Team Canada, playing without captain Marie-Philip Poulin, was dominated by the Americans for just about the full 60 minutes with the final score 5-0.

The Canadians were out-shot 33-20 and goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens was pulled from the net after allowing five goals and replaced by Emerance Maschmeyer late in the third period.

The U.S. has now won seven straight games against Canada, which includes a four-game sweep in this season’s Rivalry Series.

The win means the U.S. has secured top spot in Group A, which also includes Canada, Finland, Czechia and Switzerland. All five teams in Group A earn spots in the quarterfinals, which begin on Friday.

Canada and the U.S have have met in six of the seven gold medal games in Olympic women’s hockey history.

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Team Canada celebrate their bronze medal in the Figure Skating Ice Dance competition during the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Canada takes home bronze in pairs ice skating

Ontario’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier have clinched the bronze medal in ice dance. This was their third Olympic appearance together.

Reigning world champions from France, Laurence Fournier Beaudry (formerly from Montreal) and Guillaume Cizeron took gold while Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates earned silver.

Ben Hebert off to winning start in curling

It took an extra end, but Regina’s Ben Hebert and the Canadian men’s curling team are off on a winning note to begin competition at the Milan Olympics.

Canada’s Kim Boutin competes in the women’s 500 meter short track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

Canadians claim silver in short track speed skating mixed relay

Canada will play their final preliminary round game on Thursday against Finland. Quarterfinal games will take place Friday and Saturday followed by the semifinals on Monday, Feb. 16. The gold and bronze medal games will be held on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Team Canada has won its first silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

The Canadians claimed the silver medal in the short track speed skating mixed relay event on Tuesday.

According to the Team Canada website, Kim Boutin, William Dandjinou, Félix Roussel and Courtney Sarault represented Canada on the track in the final, while Florence Brunelle and Steven Dubois will also receive medals after skating for Canada in earlier rounds.

“It is Canada’s first Olympic medal in the mixed relay, an event that was added to the program four years ago at Beijing 2022,” the Team Canada website noted.

The win brings Canada’s medal total up to three after athletes completed bronze-medal performances in slopestyle skiing and speed skating.

Saskatoon skier qualifies for moguls final

Saskatoon’s Maïa Schwinghammer made the most of her Olympic debut on the hill, qualifying for the finals of the women’s moguls competition on Tuesday.

She had a clean run to post a score of 74.90 in her first qualifying run in Italy, landing her in sixth place and receiving an automatic bye to the finals as one of the top 10 finishers.

She’ll be one of 20 freestyle skiers competing for gold on Wednesday morning in women’s moguls, with competition beginning at 7:15 a.m.

— CKOM News, with files from Canadian Olympic Committee

Freestyle skiers Mikael Kingsbury and Marielle Thompson carry the Canada flag during the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Olympic Games in Livigno, Italy, on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)

Opening day: Loud cheers greet Canadians at Opening Ceremony

FEB. 6 — Canada marched into the Milan Cortina Winter Games — at four different locations — on a colourful and unique Friday night.

The country’s delegation took part in a never-before-seen Parade of Athletes that stretched across northern Italy in the first Olympic curtain-raiser held at multiple venues for what is the most widespread event of its kind in history.

Moguls skier Mikaël Kingsbury and ski cross racer Marielle Thompson, both Olympic gold medallists, carried the Maple Leaf in Livigno, more than 200 kilometres from Milan in the Italian Alps.

Roughly 50 members of the Canadian delegation in Milan marched into the famed San Siro, renamed Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium for the event that runs through Feb. 22, to raucous applause.

Meanwhile, in Livigno, fans stood in -3 C temperatures to watch the ceremony on two big screens with the halfpipe and big air runs gleaming white under the floodlights as a backdrop.

Kingsbury and Thompson — both four-time Olympians — have five medals between them.

“It’s quite a responsibility,” Thompson said of carrying her nation’s colours before leading the pack with Kingsbury. “To share it with Mikael is huge. He is such an icon in Canada and in our sport.”

Other than the walkout of athletes competing locally, the festivities at Livigno Snow Park were largely an exercise in watching big screens.

The crowd cheered loudly when the town was announced as one of the host venues, but it was business as usual elsewhere as the occasional snowplow worked the slopes above the crowd.

Livigno is staging snowboard and freestyle skiing events. Bormio, about a 90-kilometre drive away, is hosting men’s alpine skiing, with the downhill first on the schedule Saturday, as well as ski mountaineering, which is making its Olympic debut.

Entertainers perform under the Olympic rings during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Cortina D’Ampezzo, which held the 1956 Games and had about two dozen Canadian athletes march, is roughly 400 kilometres from Milan in the heart of the Dolomite mountains.

Spectators in the town, brimming with shops, cafés and high-end boutiques is home to curling, sliding sports and women’s alpine skiing events gathered near the town square for an unusual ceremony.

Competition started in northeastern Italy a couple of days ago, and the Olympic buzz has been building since. A few dozen members of the Canadian team participated in the ceremony on a chilly but comfortable evening.

There was, however, no stadium setting in Cortina. Spectators instead lined the nearby streets and sidewalks or watched the unique proceedings from hotel or chalet balconies.

Predazzo, the fourth location taking part in the Friday’s ceremony, is about 300 kilometres away in the autonomous province of Trento.

Italy also welcomed the world at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and again in 2006 in Turin.

Back in Milan, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, who was booed when shown on the big screen as the American delegation walked onto the stadium floor, was among the dignitaries in attendance inside a tight security perimeter.

Sirens could be heard across Milan throughout the day and helicopters buzzed overhead in the hours leading up to the Games’ official opening.

The nearly three-hour spectacle in Italy’s second-largest city featured homages to the country’s arts and culture, including three massive tubes of paint suspended high above the arena floor

Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

There were also performances by American pop star Mariah Carey inside Milan’s iconic 75,000-seat stadium that’s home to soccer giants AC Milan and Inter Milan. The building, originally constructed in 1926, has also hosted World Cup games and Champions League finals.

Most countries were greeted warmly by the crowd — Ukraine and the Olympic hosts received the loudest ovations — but Israel received a mixed welcome that combined jeers and cheers.

The organizers of a Games set to be staged across 22,000 square kilometres of territory in order to use as much existing infrastructure as possible said in the official notes that Friday’s showcase was “a return that unites memory and vision, reaffirming Italy’s role as a crossroads of culture, innovation, and the ability to imagine new ways of creating an Olympic ceremony.”

Two cauldrons inspired by the geometric studies of Leonardo da Vinci were lit simultaneously in a Games first — one in Milan at the Arco della Pace, some four kilometres from San Siro, and at Piazza Dibona in Cortina.

The ceremony’s theme was “Harmony” at a time of increased tensions in a number of hot spots around the world.

— by Joshua Clipperton of The Canadaian Press, with files from Neil Davidson, Gregory Strong and Associated Press.

Feb. 7: Canadian women start with a 4-0 win against Switzerland

Canada’s women’s hockey team opened its Olympic gold medal defence against Switzerland on Day 1 of the Milan Cortina Olympics with a win, after its original opener against Finland was postponed on Thursday.

On Saturday, Canada defeated Switzerland 4-0 in its first game of preliminary round action after the Swiss team had been isolating in Milan because of one player diagnosed with norovirus, the same illness that forced the Finland postponement.

Natalie Spooner opened the scoring with a power-play goal, Sarah Fillier also had a power-play goal  and Julia Gosling added a third power-play goal for Canada, while Daryl Watts scored in her Olympic debut.

Goalie Emerance Maschmeyer recorded a shutout with the win, while Switzerland’s netminder Saskia Maurer made 51 saves in the loss after the Canadians outshot Switzerland 55-6.

— 650 CKOM News

The new 2026 Team Canada Olympic and Paralympic hockey jersey is shown in this undated composite of handout photos. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout – Hockey Canada Images)

Canadian Olympic hockey team rosters

Men:

Forwards:

• Macklin Celebrini (Vancouver, B.C.)
• Anthony Cirelli (Woodbridge, Ont.)
• Sidney Crosby (Cole Harbour, N.S.)
• Brandon Hagel (Morinville, Alta.)
• Bo Horvat (London, Ont.)
• Nathan Mackinnon (Cole Harbour, N.S.)
• Brad Marchand (Hammonds Plains, N.S.)
• Mitch Marner (Thornhill, Ont.)
• Connor McDavid (Newmarket, Ont.)
• Brayden Point (Calgary, Alta.)
• Sam Reinhart (West Vancouver, B.C.)
• Mark Stone (Winnipeg, Man.)
• Nick Suzuki (London, Ont.)
• Tom Wilson (Toronto, Ont.)

Defence:

• Drew Doughty (London, Ont.)
• Thomas Harley (Syracuse, N.Y.)
• Cale Makar (Calgary, Alta.)
• Josh Morrissey (Calgary, Alta.)
• Colton Parayko (St. Albert, Alta.)
• Travis Sanheim (Elkhorn, Man.)
• Shea Theodore (Aldergrove, B.C.)
• Devon Toews (Abbotsford, B.C.)

Goal:

• Jordan Binnington (Richmond Hill, Ont.)
• Darcy Kuemper (Saskatoon, Sask.)
• Logan Thompson (Calgary, Alta.)

Women

Forwards:

• Emily Clark (Saskatoon, Sask.)
• Sarah Fillier (Georgetown, Ont.)
• Jenn Gardiner (Surrey, B.C.)
• Julia Gosling (London, Ont.)
• Brianne Jenner (Oakville, Ont.)
• Emma Maltais (Burlington, Ont.)
• Sarah Nurse (Hamilton, Ont.)
• Kristin O’Neill (Oakville, Ont.)
• Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que.)
• Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, Ont.)
• Laura Stacey (Kleinburg, Ont.)
• Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, N.S.)
• Daryl Watts (Toronto, Ont.)

Defence:

• Erin Ambrose (Keswick, Ont.)
• Renata Fast (Burlington, Ont.)
• Sophie Jaques (Toronto, ON)
• Jocelyne Larocque (Ste. Anne, Man.)
• Ella Shelton (Ingersoll, Ont.)
• Kati Tabin (Winnipeg, Man.)
• Claire Thompson (Toronto, Ont.)

Goal:

• Ann-Renée Desbiens (Clermont, Que.)
• Emerance Maschmeyer (Bruderheim, Alta.)
• Kayle Osborne (Ottawa, ON)

Canada’s Connor McDavid (97) celebrates after his winning goal against the United States during an overtime period of the 4 Nations Face-Off championship hockey game on Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Rivals U.S. and Canada could put North American dominance on display

One more goal. That’s how close the U.S. was to beating Canada in the final at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics before losing in overtime.

One more goal. That’s how close the U.S. was from tying Canada in the semifinals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics before losing 1-0.

One more goal. That’s how close the U.S. was to beating Canada in the final at the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago before losing in overtime.

“Canada won, right?” U.S. centre Jack Eichel said. “So, they’re obviously on top.”

Canada has won every major international men’s hockey tournament featuring a the NHL’s best players over the past 16 years, a run that includes the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

With Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar joining forces for the first time on the same sheet of ice, the nation known as the cradle of the sport goes into the Milan Cortina Olympics as the gold medal favourite.

“It’s always been Canada,” longtime U.S. star Patrick Kane said.

The U.S. has been closing ground for decades, and the fight-filled 4 Nations put the border rivalry in the spotlight while ramping up expectations that the Games will be another showcase of North American dominance.

— Associated Press

The Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena will be one of the focal points of the games next month with NHL players returning to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade. (AP Poto/Luca Bruno).

New Milan Cortina hockey arena passes test

The Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena will be one of the focal points of the games next month with NHL players returning to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade.

The Milano-Cortina Olympic committee says on its website that the arean has a seating capacity of 14,000 and has been “specifically designed to provide spectators with an immersive and dynamic experience.”

“Its acoustics, sightlines, and modern amenities create a unique atmosphere, where the passion for sport meets the excitement of a world-class event,” the committee says.

After the Olympics, the arena will be turned into a multi-functional centre for sport events and live entertainment.

The venue has also been the focal point of the buildup with construction delays but a three-day test event at the arena in January went well, with three matches a day simulating use during the Olympics.

“We know how it’s difficult to have a high level of quality of ice for the third game of the third period. Yesterday that was a good test because that was fantastic, the puck was sliding, it was not bumping,” IIHF President Luc Tardif said after the test event.

The players themselves said they were happy with the quality of the ice and Canadian James Livingston, who plays for the Wipptal Broncos, said he was sure his compatriots in the NHL would be fine.

“I mean we all grew up playing on ponds back in Canada, so I’m sure that whatever gets thrown at them, they’re gonna adapt and they’re gonna enjoy it,” he told The Associated Press. “And they are playing for their country. So, I think it will be a great competition.”

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled from Feb. 11-22, the women’s from Feb. 5-19.

— Associated Press, with files from CKOM News

Team Canada at Milano Cortina 2026

Team Canada will be represented by 207 athletes at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, with six representing Saskatchewan.

Canada has competitors in 14 of the 16 disciplines and, for the first time at a Winter Games, Canadian athletes competing in women’s events outnumber those competing in men’s events.

The oldest athlete on Team Canada is curler Marc Kennedy, who will turn 44 the day before the Opening Ceremony. He will be the first Canadian curler to compete in four Olympic Games. Figure skater Deanna Stellato-Dudek is 42 years old, and will be the oldest woman to compete in an Olympic figure skating event since St. Moritz 1928.

Team Canada’s youngest athletes are both snowboarders: Eli Bouchard just turned 18 in mid-December while Felicity Geremia is just six months older.

— CKOM News, with files from Team Canada website

Loud cheers greet Canadians at Opening Ceremony

FEB. 6 — Canada marched into the Milan Cortina Winter Games — at four different locations — on a colourful and unique Friday night.

The country’s delegation took part in a never-before-seen Parade of Athletes that stretched across northern Italy in the first Olympic curtain-raiser held at multiple venues for what is the most widespread event of its kind in history.

Moguls skier Mikaël Kingsbury and ski cross racer Marielle Thompson, both Olympic gold medallists, carried the Maple Leaf in Livigno, more than 200 kilometres from Milan in the Italian Alps.

Roughly 50 members of the Canadian delegation in Milan marched into the famed San Siro, renamed Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium for the event that runs through Feb. 22, to raucous applause.

Meanwhile, in Livigno, fans stood in -3 C temperatures to watch the ceremony on two big screens with the halfpipe and big air runs gleaming white under the floodlights as a backdrop.

Kingsbury and Thompson — both four-time Olympians — have five medals between them.

“It’s quite a responsibility,” Thompson said of carrying her nation’s colours before leading the pack with Kingsbury. “To share it with Mikael is huge. He is such an icon in Canada and in our sport.”

Other than the walkout of athletes competing locally, the festivities at Livigno Snow Park were largely an exercise in watching big screens.

The crowd cheered loudly when the town was announced as one of the host venues, but it was business as usual elsewhere as the occasional snowplow worked the slopes above the crowd.

Livigno is staging snowboard and freestyle skiing events. Bormio, about a 90-kilometre drive away, is hosting men’s alpine skiing, with the downhill first on the schedule Saturday, as well as ski mountaineering, which is making its Olympic debut.

Entertainers perform under the Olympic rings during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Cortina D’Ampezzo, which held the 1956 Games and had about two dozen Canadian athletes march, is roughly 400 kilometres from Milan in the heart of the Dolomite mountains.

Spectators in the town, brimming with shops, cafés and high-end boutiques is home to curling, sliding sports and women’s alpine skiing events gathered near the town square for an unusual ceremony.

Competition started in northeastern Italy a couple of days ago, and the Olympic buzz has been building since. A few dozen members of the Canadian team participated in the ceremony on a chilly but comfortable evening.

There was, however, no stadium setting in Cortina. Spectators instead lined the nearby streets and sidewalks or watched the unique proceedings from hotel or chalet balconies.

Predazzo, the fourth location taking part in the Friday’s ceremony, is about 300 kilometres away in the autonomous province of Trento.

Italy also welcomed the world at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and again in 2006 in Turin.

Back in Milan, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, who was booed when shown on the big screen as the American delegation walked onto the stadium floor, was among the dignitaries in attendance inside a tight security perimeter.

Sirens could be heard across Milan throughout the day and helicopters buzzed overhead in the hours leading up to the Games’ official opening.

The nearly three-hour spectacle in Italy’s second-largest city featured homages to the country’s arts and culture, including three massive tubes of paint suspended high above the arena floor

Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

There were also performances by American pop star Mariah Carey inside Milan’s iconic 75,000-seat stadium that’s home to soccer giants AC Milan and Inter Milan. The building, originally constructed in 1926, has also hosted World Cup games and Champions League finals.

Most countries were greeted warmly by the crowd — Ukraine and the Olympic hosts received the loudest ovations — but Israel received a mixed welcome that combined jeers and cheers.

The organizers of a Games set to be staged across 22,000 square kilometres of territory in order to use as much existing infrastructure as possible said in the official notes that Friday’s showcase was “a return that unites memory and vision, reaffirming Italy’s role as a crossroads of culture, innovation, and the ability to imagine new ways of creating an Olympic ceremony.”

Two cauldrons inspired by the geometric studies of Leonardo da Vinci were lit simultaneously in a Games first — one in Milan at the Arco della Pace, some four kilometres from San Siro, and at Piazza Dibona in Cortina.

The ceremony’s theme was “Harmony” at a time of increased tensions in a number of hot spots around the world.

— by Joshua Clipperton of The Canadaian Press, with files from Neil Davidson, Gregory Strong and Associated Press.

Skimo combines uphill and downhill skiing with mountaineering skills, and will feature sprint events for men and women and a mixed relay event. (OIS/Jed Leicester/Team Canada website)

Skimo makes Olympic debut

One new sport will make its debut at Milano Cortina — ski mountaineering (or skimo).

It combines uphill and downhill skiing with mountaineering skills, and will feature sprint events for men and women and a mixed relay event.

Athletes use climbing “skins” to travel uphill on their skis. They put their skis on their backs and run up steep “bootpack” sections and they remove the skins to ski downhill.

The sprint races includes the essential features of ski mountaineering: an ascent on foot while carrying skis on a backpack, an ascent on skis with skins, and a single descent on skis.

The mixed relay features teams of one man and one woman. Each athlete will do two circuits of a course which includes two ascents and descents and a total height gain of 150 to 180 metres.

The skis used in ski mountaineering are lighter than those used in alpine skiing but, like those used in cross-country skiing, have moveable bindings to allow for proper joint movement.

Boots are made to be easy to wear whether the athlete is ascending on foot, ascending on skis, or descending on skis and they feature quick fastenings to adapt to each situation.

To help athletes make their ascent, skins are attached to the bottom of skis to allow for forward gliding and gripping the snow during push-off but stop sliding backwards. Once made of seal skins, they are synthetic in the modern world.

Canada narrowly missed qualifying for a mixed-relay place in the sport’s Oympic debut at Milan Cortina debut, after being narrowly beaten by the U.S. for the final quota in December 2025.

— CKOM News, with files from Team Canada and Skimo Canada websites

Facts and figures about the Games

• Milano Cortina 2026 will feature eight sports and 16 disciplines, with ski mountaineering making its Olympic debut
• A total of 116 events will be contested over the 19 days, with around 2,800 athletes from over 90 National Olympic Committees expected to compete.
• There are eight new events at the 2026 Games: Ski mountaineering men’s sprint, ski mountaineering women’s sprint, ski mountaineering mixed relay, skeleton mixed team, luge women’s doubles freestyle skiing men’s dual moguls, freestyle skiing women’s dual moguls, and ki jumping women’s large hill individual.
• For the first time since Sochi 2014, National Hockey League (NHL) players will return to the Winter Olympics.
• The Games will take place in Milan and Cortina, with 13 venues hosting the action.
• Some venues are legacies of the Cortina. d’Ampezzo 1956 Olympic Winter Games. Curling will take place in the Cortina’s Olympic Ice Stadium, which hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as ice hockey and figure skating 70 years ago.
• The Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium, where the Opening Ceremony will take place, is one of the most well-known sporting arenas in the world, being home to Italy’s AC Milan and Internazionale Milano football clubs.
• The Closing Ceremony will take place on Feb. 22 in the historic Roman amphitheatre, Verona Arena.

— Milan Cortina Olympic Committee website