Team GB are underway for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games in Italy as they look to improve on their medal tally in Beijing.
Despite the opening ceremony taking place this evening at the San Siro stadium, home to bitter rivals AC Milan and Inter Milan, the Winter Olympics are already well underway.
With that said, it was not underway for the Canadian and Finnish ice hockey teams, who had to postpone their preliminary round contest on Thursday due to a norovirus outbreak in Finland’s camp.
Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat are unbeaten from five round robin sessions in the mixed doubles, as Team GB are looking favourites for a gold medal in Italy. They are yet to play the reigning Olympic home heroes, Italy, who they play in their final session on Sunday.
However, Team GB’s performance in the figure skating team event was dampened by the results from the pair and women’s single skating events, after Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson finished third in the Ice Dance – Rhythm Dance.
Fear will join bobsledder Brad Hall as the flagbearer for Great Britain during the opening ceremony at the San Siro on Friday.
What has happened so far?
The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games began on the 4th February, two days before the opening ceremony.
Men’s downhill alpine skiing was the first session scheduled, with the training session followed by numerous curling fixtures to kick off the games.
The inaugural stages of the figure skating, ice hockey and snowboarding events have also taken place, alongside several other training sessions for luge, ski jumping and alpine skiing.
Curling
Curling has seen the most action with Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat going unbeaten in all of their round robin sessions in the mixed doubles.
They won five-from-five beating silver and bronze medalists from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Norway and Sweden, as reigning champions Italy yielded to Canada in a 7-2 defeat on Thursday.
The Team GB duo missed out on the podium in Beijing, finishing fourth, but arrived in Italy with medals from respective events from the previous games.
Dodds became an Olympic gold medalist in the women’s event alongside compatriots Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith, beating Japan 10-3 in the final. Mouat attained silver in the men’s event after marginally trailing Sweden 5-4 in the final.
“We knew we were going to need a sharp start this morning, they were world champions two years ago,” said Dodds, adding, “This is better than four years ago. Very happy with the position we are in.”
Great Britain will play Canada on Saturday in the mixed doubles, and it will be another big test for Dodds and Mouat as they pursue gold in the event.
Figure Skating
Team GB returned to the figure skating team event for the first time in 12 years, last competing in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson finished third in the Ice Dance – Rhythm Dance – behind the USA and France, with Madison Chock and Evan Bates on top.
The United States seek to retain their Olympic crown in the team event from Beijing as they currently lead the standings above Japan and Italy – the former securing silver in 2022.
Despite Fear and Gibson’s good fortune, Great Britain trailed at the bottom of the table in both the pair and women’s single skating events. Anastasia Vaipin-Law and Luke Digby, as well as Kristen Spours, trailed in their respective events as Team GB plummeted to eighth in the standings.
This piles pressure on Edward Appleby to perform in the men’s single skating event, which will take place on Saturday.
Ice Hockey
The preliminary round of the women’s ice hockey featured wins for Sweden, Italy and the United States on Thursday, and Japan and Switzerland on Friday.
Canada clinched gold in Beijing against their neighbours, the USA, as they have yet to play at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games. They were supposed to play Finland on Thursday, but a norovirus outbreak in the Nordic camp postponed the match until 12th February. 13 Finnish players were reportedly in quarantine.
Gina Kingsbury, general manager of the Canadian women’s Olympic ice hockey team, wished Finland’s camp a “speedy recovery”, adding: “To fall sick and to have a group of athletes under the weather the way they are, we feel for them.”
Canada is scheduled to play Switzerland on Saturday, who beat Czechia on Friday.
Snowboarding
Hiroto Ogiwara qualified on top in the men’s snowboard big air, with the final scheduled for Saturday.
Home hero Ian Matteoli provided the biggest score of the evening with a 93.75 as he trailed Ogiwara in second. Three of the five top finishers were from Japan.
Txema Mazet Brown failed to qualify for Team GB, finishing 21st, as he could not improve on his final run. The 19-year-old finished ninth in the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea.
Great Britain has a busy day on the first official day of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games on Saturday. Team GB’s mixed doubles will be in action at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, against Canada and the United States. Meanwhile, Edward Appleby will take part in the final event of the team figure skating, the men’s single.
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