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Olympics 2026 Winter Olympics live Updated 5m ago Day 8 of the 2026 Milan Cortina Games brings several medal events including skiing, men's and women's hockey, skeleton and more. U. S. star Jordan Stolz took the gold medal in the men's 500m speedskating with an Olympic record time of 33. 77. Americans Jaelin Kauf and Elizabeth Lemley took dual moguls silver and bronze behind Australia’s Jakara Anthony. Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen took an historic first Winter Olympic medal for his country in giant slalom. Team USA men’s hockey faces Denmark, covered live here; Canada women’s side beat Germany to reach the semifinals — live reaction here. Get ready to hear an awful lot about goal differential the next few days. Because of the chaos in Group B in the men’s Olympic hockey tournament, it’s now highly likely that two of the best three teams in the event will face one another in a do-or-die quarterfinal next week. Because Sweden, Finland and Slovakia will have tied atop the group with the same number of points (with Finland set to beat Italy in regulation Saturday), they are separated by their goal differential in the three games they played against one another. Again, assuming Finland beats Italy, the Slovaks will win the group and Sweden will shockingly fall to third. This has major ramifications for the rest of the event, with Sweden now on a collision course to face either Canada or the United States in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Below, The Athletic explains why. GO FURTHER Why the U. S. , Canada or Sweden could be eliminated early from Olympic men’s hockey Finland has a 7-0 lead against Italy in the men's hockey. If Finland wins in regulation, Slovakia wins the group and gets a bye into the quarters. .. A late goal by Dalibor Dvorský might put Slovakia into the Olympic quarterfinals as the winner of Group B in a tiebreaker, even after losing 5-3 against Sweden. Slovakia will win Group B in the men’s hockey tournament if Finland beats Italy in regulation time later Saturday. “It’s the best loss of my life, probably, ” Dvorský said. “What a game, ” Juraj Slafkovský said. “I’ve never celebrated a loss. Everything has a first time. ” It's very unsettling when the skeleton broadcasters talk about a slider's helmet “scraping the ice” but it . .. seems to happen a fair amount. Yeesh. Anyway, related to that, Kelly Curtis just finished her third run and unfortunately for the Olympic veteran, it's her worst yet. Finishing in the top 10 would be a win at this point. Maybe she's got a great fourth run in her still. Whoops and hollers for American Kelly Curtis, who is 12th after the third heat of four in the women's skeleton. She started 10th but has dropped down two places. Nonetheless, the U. S. fans at Cortina Sliding Centre yell “Kel-ly! Kel-ly! Kel-ly! ” in support and she waves back, beaming. Not many changes to the field so far, evidenced by the top five being in all the same positions from after the second heat. Kim Meylemans and Freya Tarbit swapping places from eighth to sixth and vice versa. Anna Fernstaedt has jumped from 11th to ninth, pushing down Amelia Coltman, and Curtis. Pre-competition favorite Domen Prevc of Slovenia has the furthest jump from the men's large hill trial round, his effort measuring 132. 0. Japan's Ren Nikaido is second, ahead of Poland's Kacper Tomasiak. A reminder that Prevc is looking to add to his gold in the team event, which he won alongside his sister Nika. The first round of the men's large hill gets underway at 2: 45 p. m. ET, so sit tight for updates on that. Ski jumping is always mesmerizing to watch — even more so when it's at night. Here's Sandro Hauswirth of Switzerland getting some air time in the men's large hill trial round in Val di Fiemme. As with so many events at these Games, this one requires real nerves of steel. At the age of 21, Jordan Stolz came into these Olympics with huge expectations on his shoulders. But it's safe to say that he's delivered — twice. The American's victory in the 500 meters adds to his gold in the 1000 meters on Wednesday, having set Olympic records in both events. Stolz is fast becoming one of the stars of the Games — and still has the 1, 500 meters and the mass start to come. The leader through the first two heats goes first, and it's a fine 57. 26. A combined and field-leading time of 2: 51. 74. After the top four contenders have gone, Austrian Janine Flock and German trio Susanne Kreher, Jacqueline Pfeifer and Hannah Neise, it's Flock, Kreher, Pfeifer and Neise, in that order. Brits Tabitha Stoecker and Freya Tarbit are up next, Americans Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro later. This is medal day for women’s skeleton, and Austrian Janine Flock is leading the way after the first two heats. She finished in 57. 22 during her first run, just . 02 seconds ahead of Germany’s Susanne Kreher, a former world champion. Flock held on to first place in the second heat, leading a top-four consisting of her, Kreher and two other Germans. Among them was Hannah Neise, the defending gold medalist. Norway’s Marius Lindvik is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the large hill event and won silver in mixed team ski jumping this week. Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi won silver in Beijing, and his team took bronze in the mixed team event this week. Another Japanese competitor, Ren Nikaido, was on that team and won the individual bronze in normal hill. Philipp Raimund of Germany and Kacper Tomasiak of Poland took normal hill gold and silver. As Jacob mentions, Slovenia’s Domen Prevc is the current world champion in the large hill. It’s big hill time, baby. After eight days, we’ve finally moved off the terrifying ‘normal hill’ to the even more terrifying ‘big hill’. This one’s all about hang time, with the normal hill slightly more weighted towards technique. Expect the athletes to fly 30 per cent further. The favorite is Slovenian Domen Prevc, whose ability to manipulate himself in the air is unparalleled. He already has gold from the team event alongside his sister Nika, who has her own silver from the women’s normal hill. When the United States badly needed a Winter Olympic hero, speedskater Jordan Stolz delivered and gave Americans something to feel good about. The 21-year-old phenom won his second gold medal Saturday at the Milano Speed Skating Arena, in a chaotic, closely-contested 500-meter race that solidified Stolz’s place in Olympic lore. Stolz shattered another Olympic record, going 33. 77, 12 hundredths of a second off his personal best, in an event considered entering these Games to be his weakest. A quiet, mild-mannered Wisconsin native, Stolz became the first American to win gold in the 500m since Joey Cheek 20 years ago. Stolz, who will compete in two more events, is vying to get close to Eric Heiden, who won five gold medals for the United States in 1980. A very interesting hat worn by Jordan Stolz here after taking gold. Any thoughts on what it is? And what do you think of it? Let us know at: live@theathletic. com! A breathless men's 500-meter speedskating competition comes to an end — and it's gold to USA's Jordan Stolz. He needed an Olympic record to get it and was pushed all the way by Netherlands' Jenning de Boo, who takes a hard-earned silver. Bronze goes to Laurent Dubreuil of Canada having broken the Olympic record himself. Thrilling stuff at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium. Wow, incredible from Jordan Stolz! The American has already got a gold at these Games and might now have another. Going head-to-head with Netherlands' Jenning de Boo, Stolz edges in front of his rival and clocks 33. 77 seconds. That's a(nother) Olympic record and puts him top of the leaderboard, 0. 11 ahead of De Boo. Unbelievable drama! Still a fair way to go, but it’s going to take an official Olympic record to win gold in the men’s 500-meter race. Laurent Dubreuil of Canada just ensured that. But there are still 10 skaters to go, and all his 34. 26 shows is that this track is very fast today. The world record is 33. 61. And Jordan Stolz of the U. S. is on imminently. .. We've seen some quick times in the men's 500 meters event so far, but none as fast as Canada's Laurent Dubreuil! After a false start, he soars to an Olympic record time of 34. 26 seconds. That gives Dubreuil a great shot at a medal here. Now! An Olympic record to tell you about. ..