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Winter Olympics 2026: Norway break own record for golds won in single Games after biathlon triumph – live
Key events
Curling: I stand (happily) corrected.
“I wouldn’t call Sweden the favourite in that game,” writes Beau Dure. “Rachel Homan is a generational talent, and she skips one of the best teams ever assembled. Tracy Fleury nearly skipped Canada’s Olympic team in her own right, then decided to join up with Homan. They’ve been absolutely dominant since they settled in together about three years ago. Failing to medal would be unfathomable, though in a bronze-medal rematch with the USA, you’d have to like their chances.”
Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Ice hockey: while Canada sup from their water bottles, down 5-2 with three ends to go in the curling, bad news from their ice hockey team. Captain Sidney Crosby, who took a double hit during the quarter-final against Czechia, will miss the semi against Finland, which starts in half an hour.
Women’s Curling: at the moment, the scores in the two semi-finals favour the favourites: Sweden lead Canada 4-2; and Switzerland the USA 4-3. It’s all very subdued in the stands.
Outside my window, the rain continues to soak the streets.
Golden Games – Winter Olympic record for Norway
Johannes Dale-Skjevdal’s win in the 15km mass start biathlon made it 17 golds for Norway, breaking their own Winter Olympic record of 16 in Beijing.
Cross-country skiing machine Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo has won five himself – the 10km interval, the men’s 4x 7.5km relay, the skiathlon, the sprint classic and men’s team sprint.
Klaebo v Weston – what’s your highlight?
Time for you to have your say:
Women’s curling: a risky stone by Fleury falls flat, and Sweden lick their lips, especially as they have the hammer. Favourites Sweden, incidentally, are sponsored by Uniqlo
Women’s curling: I’m quite a fan of the Swedish curler’s bold flora tattoos on her left arm. We’ve paused for a while at 2-2 while everyone ponders the stones in the house and points their brushes.
A welcome email from Beau Dure, who knows rather more about curling than I have gleaned over the last week.
“In my expert opinion, if Switzerland keeps scoring two when they have the hammer while the USA only scores one when they have the hammer, Switzerland will win.”
Beau, you’re going to have to be on hand to update us as British TV is concentrating on Sweden v Canada.
Women’s curling: After a long trudge through the curling round-robins, don’t give up in sight of the summit, d’you hear?Roll up, for the women’s semi-finals. Canada v Sweden and Switzerland v USA.
After five ends, Canada, with Mila lookalike Tracy Fleury, are all square with Sweden, 2-2. Switzerland lead the USA 4-3.
🥇Johannes Dale-Skjevdal grabs gold in the men’s 15km biathlon
Another red ski suit crosses the line first, another gold for Norway, as Johannes Dale-Skjevdal combines sharp shooting and ski speed through the pine-lined mountain course.
His compatriot Sturla Holm Laegreid takes silver, to add to his tally of one silver, three bronzes and a televised cheating confession.
And bronze for Quentin Fillon Maillet, who becomes France’s most successful Olympian with this, his ninth medal.
That is all from me. Tanya is here to take you through the rest of the afternoon.
Biathlon: Johannes Dale-Skjevdal of Norway is in the lead with 3km to go but his teammate Sturla Holm Lægreid is in second right behind him.
🥇Wang wins freestyle skiing gold in men’s aerials
Wang Xindi of China wins gold! He had a long, long wait until the confirmation but he pips Noe Roth of Switzerland by a mere 1.02. Wang can’t believe it! He did not even make the finals in his last two Olympics. He runs onto the course and falls to his knees. His wife, Xu Mengtao, won gold in this event a couple days ago and will be competing in the team event in a few days time – what a power couple! Li Tianma of China takes bronze.
Freestyle skiing: Noe Roth of Switzerland with an incredible back double full-double full-full! He gets the height, the twists and the best landing of the day. Will that be good enough for gold?
Freestyle skiing: Pirmin Werner of Switzerland is next and is about to attempt the Hurricane – a triple backflip with five total twists. It looks good but he just does not have enough rotation at the end and he lands with a somersault in the snow. That is a rough landing but he looks to be OK. He scores a 99.32. Wang Xindi, who is in gold with one more skier to go, is crouched with his back to the course.
Freestyle skiing: The fourth and final Chinese is Qi Guangpu, the defending Olympic champion. Oof, that is not going to be good enough! He buckles on the takeoff and that messes up his whole jump. His knees bend in the first somersault and he can’t salvage it. He slots into fourth with 81.00.
Freestyle skiing: Wang Xindi with the best jump of the day so far at his third Olympics. He lands a double full-double full-full – good separation between tricks, great form and bang onto his feet. 132.60 is his score and he is into gold with three more skiers to come! Remember, his wife won gold in this event a couple days ago. Can he keep that top spot?
Freestyle skiing: Excellent from Li Tianma! Five twists and a bit of compression on the landing, but he skis away with confidence. He takes the lead with 123.93. That is 0.51 better than his compatriot – these are the margins!
Freestyle skiing: Right the medal event, here we go! Up first is Sun Jiaxu who goes for the big spins at the end of a back full-double full-double full. It is a risky jump because the degree of difficulty is quite high and it means he does not have as much visibility when it comes to his landing. He just about nails it, as his coach yells “You’re good!”. He isn’t too happy with it even though he scores a 123.42. He knows the competition coming up is fierce.
Biathlon: Émilien Jacquelin of France is perfect at the range and is in the lead. Quentin Fillon Maillet missed one of the targets and now has to take his penalty loop.
Sean Ingle
Skiing: At the start of these Winter Olympics, President Trump called Hunter Hess a “real loser” after the US skiing star admitted he had mixed feelings about representing his country. As he swooped down the halfpipe in Livigno on Friday, Hess delivered his response, flashing an L-sign with his hand after qualifying for Friday night’s final.
“Apparently I am a loser,” Hess said when asked about his gesture. “I am leaning into it.” And asked whether he had any regrets, Hess was just as firm: “I stick with what I said,” he replied.
However the American also admitted that the last two weeks had been the toughest of his life following Trump’s comments – and the abuse that followed.
“There was a lot of noise and I’ve never been subject to that type of criticism,” he added. “But with my family’s help, I was able to get through it. And skiing has saved my life, time and time again, and it seems to have done so again. It was probably the hardest two weeks of my life.”
Read the full story from Sean Ingle below.
Freestyle skiing: None of the skiers who landed between seventh and twelfth in the first jump were able to get into the top six with their second jump so our finalists will be Switzerland’s Noe Roth and Pirmin Werner and China’s Qi Guangpu, Wang Xindi, Li Tianma and Sun Jiaxu.
They cannot repeat what they have done in the first final so we will be seeing all new twists.
Biathlon: This discipline has brought so much excitement to these Games and the penultimate event is about to begin.
France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet will hope for his fourth gold in the men’s biathlon 15km mass start but he will have stiff competition from his own compatriot Éric Perrot along with Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel and Norway’s Johan-Olav Botn.
As its name suggests, every racer will begin at the same time so the first man across the finish line will win. There are four visits to the shooting range, the first two lying down and the next two standing; any missed shots (five rounds per visit) is a 150m penalty loop.
Freestyle skiing: Even though he is first, Noe Roth opts to jump. He doesn’t get it right at all, scoring just over half his first score. That will be a complete write off.
Christopher Lillis has nothing to lose here with his second jump. It is much better than his first and it is a long agonising wait for the judges to calculate … Ouch, he slots into seventh. He will not make the final.
Curling: The women’s semi-finals has just begun with Canada taking on Sweden and Switzerland taking on the United States.
Freestyle skiing: Great jump from Switzerland’s Pirmin Werner, who lands a back double full-full-double full and does the classic archer celebration. He slots into second behind his teammate.
This is unprecedented. Switzerland in first and second, China take third, fourth, fifth and sixth. Canada in seventh and eighth. The sole Ukrainian is in ninth and the three Americans make up the bottom three.
Now the 12 skiiers will decide whether they want to improve their score with a second jump. Remember the top six go onto final 2.
Freestyle skiing: China’s Wang Xindi, husband of Xu Mengtao who defended her Olympic title in this event a couple days ago, scores a 120.36 and is followed up by his teammate Qi Guangpu who earns a 121.68. One more to go!
Freestyle skiing: Up next, Ukraine’s Oleksandr Okipniuk who is doing one of the hardest tricks in the air – he is attempting five full twists in the air. Here he goes … does well in the air but ooooh can’t quite stick the landing, and that is where he loses all his points. He is in fifth and will certainly need a second jump.
Freestyle skiing: China’s Sun Jiaxu, a World Cup winner, scores a 117.26 with a back full-double full-full. You can hear his coach yelling ‘stretch. STRETCH!’ as he is in the air.
His teammate Li Tianma comes right after him and pips him with a score of 119.91.
Freestyle skiing: Christopher Lillis of the US is next. He gets good height and his form in the air is fantastic but he can’t stick his landing and he scores an 86.73. He will have another chance with a second jump.
Freestyle skiing: Switzerland’s Noe Roth is first up. The 25-year-old is a two-time defending world champion but at Beijing 2022 he finished eighth.
A beautiful back full-triple full-full with some great turns before he sticks his landing, though he almost hits his chin with his own knee.
He scores a massive 131.56, which is better than any of the scores we saw in qualifying.
Freestyle skiing: These medals are coming thick and fast, just like the snow. Up next is the men’s aerials finals. Twelve athletes in the first final and the best six will advance to the second final.
🥇Maier wins gold for Germany in women’s ski cross
Sandra Näslund and Daniela Maier starts strong but Fanny Smith is right on the German’s tails and sneaks in front. The two who battled for bronze four years ago and now one of them is going to win gold … Final straight and a big jump from Maier to just take it! She screams in excitement as she crosses the finish line before the German coaches smother her in an embrace! Smith takes silver for Switzerland and Näslund wins bronze for Sweden.
Thanks Tanya and hello all! Big final here we go … Daniela Maier, Fanny Smith, Sandra Näslund and Marielle Berger Sabbatel.
Time for me to take a little break, Yara will be your expert guide to the women’s skicross big final and much more.
Women’s ski cross final: ah, what a shame for Italy’s Galli who goes flying off mid course. Talina Gantenbein wins the small final.
Women’s ski cross final: three of the four finalists from 2022 have made it to the final four, who are Naeslund, Smith, Maier and Berger-Sabbatel.
Chemmy Alcott is very excited “it’s like supermarket sweep on Black Friday on skis, with sharp edges and all going for the same tin of beans.”
Women’s ski cross: the big two safely through in semi-final two, as Sandra Naeslund and Fanny Smith bump fists over the line.
Women’s ski cross: Daniela Maier eases across the line in the first semi and Marielle Berger-Sabbatel clinches the second qualifying spot. Switzerland’s Gantenbein skates for the line in desperation, then slumps, head in hands.
