2026 Winter Olympics live updates: U.S. women in hockey semifinals; Americans compete for pair skating medals

As they’ve done all tournament, Sweden’s women's curling team once again put together a win today, defeating Switzerland, 6-4, in round-robin play.

Mother Nature shook the Bormio snow globe mightily today as the world’s top Alpine skiers carved through blizzard conditions in Run 1 of the men’s Olympic slalom.

Atle Lie McGrath from Norway most successfully navigated the treacherous course, posting the fastest Run 1 time out of the massive 96-racer field. He clocked in at a leading 56.14.

Two-time 2026 Winter Olympic medalist Switzerland's Loic Meillard continued his blistering skiing, finishing a little over half a second behind McGrath (+0.59).

Austria’s Fabio Gstrein, who cracked the top 10 twice during the 2025-26 World Cup season, placed 3rd (+0.94).

Who said bronze medalists aren’t winners? Here’s a compilation of the happiest bronze medalists so far during the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer won gold in the women’s 1,000-meter short track speed skating final, sneaking by Canada’s Courtney Sarault for the top spot.

Velzeboer celebrates on the ice today. Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

Sarault won silver, while Korea’s Gilli Kim won bronze. Italy’s Arianna Fontana skated in second for much of the race, but ultimately fell to fourth.

Fun morning on the short track, where the energy was high for an 11 a.m. local start. The Netherlands is doing a great job on the ice after also winning gold and silver in the women’s 500-meter (normal) speed skate yesterday.

Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud and China's Eileen Gu, who won gold and silver in slopestyle earlier at these Games, are set for another showdown in the women’s big air final.

Gu qualified for the 12-woman final in second place with a score of 170.75, while Gremaud was third with a score of 169.00. Canada’s Megan Oldham, who won slopestyle bronze earlier at these Games (behind Gremaud and Gu), qualified in first place after earning the only 90+ score of the round (91.25). No Americans qualified for today’s final. 

In the final, each skier will take three runs, with their best two scores combined to determine a winner. 

As we wait for the women’s 1,000-meter short track speed skating final to begin, fans from all over the world got down to the Village People’s timeless hit, “Y.M.C.A.”

After two semifinals, one crash and another athlete bumped out of her race, the five-skater final of the women's 1,000 meters at short-track speed skating is set — and it won't include Belgium's Hanna Desmet, who posted the top time out of the quarterfinals. Desmet was penalized.

Canada's Courtney Sarault had the fastest time, followed by 13-time Olympic medalist Arianna Fontana of Italy. Xandra Velzeboer of the Netherlands, Li Gong of China and Gilli Kim of South Korea also advanced out of an earlier heat.

Kim advanced after she crashed but Desmet was penalized for it.

The final is in a little more than a half hour.

The men are in a qualifying round to see who will compete in the 500-meter short track speed skating quarterfinals, and there was chaos during the second heat. A crash on the final turn took out two skaters.

Racers crash during a lively short track heat this morning. Wang Zhao / AFP - Getty Images

An Italian skater who was previously in the lead managed to keep his balance after the crash, but was also turned around and forced to cross the finish line, um, rear-end first.

It was a photo finish for the Italian Pietro Sighel.  Omega

Here at short-track speed skating the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of the 1,000 meters all will be held today in the span of about two hours.

Belgium's Hanna Desmet had the fastest time in the quarterfinals, with a time of 1:27.533 seconds. The second- and third-fastest times were held by two Canadians, Florence Brunelle and Courtney Saurault, and the fourth- and fifth-fastest times came from Italy's Arianna Fontana and Elisa Confortola. Fontana has 13 career Olympic medals, including three gold medals.

The only American skating today in the women’s 1,000-meter short track speed skating event won’t make it to the semifinal, as Kristen Santos-Griswold finished third in her quarterfinal heat.

Her time wasn’t good enough to grab one of the spots given to the two best third-place finishers.

Kristen Santos-Griswold during the short track speed skating women's 1000m today. Jamie Squire / Getty Images

The women’s 1,000-meter short track speed skating tournament is underway, with the first quarterfinal race just wrapping and the final to come later today. If you’re only waking up, don‘t worry about your morning coffee — these races should provide enough of a jolt.

It was a strong display yesterday for Team USA’s contingent in the women’s monobob, with two Olympic veterans leading the charge in second and third positions heading into today’s third and fourth runs at 1 p.m. ET.

Kallie Humphries, currently third on the leaderboard, is the defending gold medalist in this event, having won in Beijing four years ago. A three-time Olympic gold medalist, Humphries returns to the Olympics at 40 years old and now, as a mother, having gone through IVF since the last Games.

“Sport and IVF process, they mimic each other,” Humphries told NBC’s ‘My New Favorite Olympian’ podcast ahead of the Games. “The tools you need to get through one are the exact tools you need to become and get through an Olympics and be the best in the other. You’re chasing a dream that you don’t know will ever come true. And it’s this feeling of control and lack of control at the same time.”

Elana Meyers Taylor, a year older than Humphries at 41, sits just ahead in silver medal position. This is her fifth Winter Games, having won silver and bronze medals on each of her previous appearances, but gold has remained elusive.

“I still believe it’s possible,” Taylor told NBC News. “Nobody in their right mind would say, ‘Hey, a 41-year-old woman is going to have a shot at another Olympic medal in a speed and power sport... I want my children to know that people told their mom that it can’t happen and then she went for it anyways.”

Kaysha Love, meanwhile, sits not far behind in fifth heading into the final runs. She won gold in the monobob at last year’s world championships in Lake Placid and can’t be ruled out of contention despite an error-strewn second run.

U.S. Olympic bobsledder is going for gold in her fifth Winter Games

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Johannes Hosflot Klaebo’s historic ninth gold medal and Femke Kok’s thrilling win headlined the gold medal moments from Day 9 of the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

The U.S. women’s hockey team plays Sweden in the semifinals for a spot in the gold-medal game. Pairs figure skating will hand out medals, and a trio of American women are in contention for the podium in monobob.

All times are in Eastern, and an asterisk signifies a medal event:

3:05 a.m.: Curling, women’s round-robin (Sweden vs. Switzerland, China vs. Canada, Denmark vs. Great Britain)

4 a.m.: Alpine skiing, men’s slalom run 1

4 a.m.: Bobsled, two-man heat 1

5 a.m.: Short-track speedskating, women’s 1,000-meter quarterfinals

5:17 a.m.: Short-track speedskating, men’s 500-meter heats