The 2026 Winter Olympics are in full swing all across Italy, especially in Milan. Let’s dive into the biggest headlines from the first week of competition.
Lindsey Vonn’s Path to Redemption Ends in Heartbreak
Perhaps one of the biggest stories heading into this year’s Olympics was Lindsey Vonn’s return to skiing after having been retired for 5 years. At age 41, it certainly drew a lot of criticism and doubt from fans over whether or not she’d be able to actually compete against the younger and new competitors from around the world. On top of that, just a week before Olympic competition started Vonn tore her ACL and meniscus. While many believed this would keep Vonn from competing, she shocked everyone when she announced through Instagram that her Olympic dreams weren’t dead. Anticipation grew as Vonn and Team USA went through training runs and qualifiers. While medical professionals on the internet doubted that this was a good decision from Vonn, she blocked out the noise. Unfortunately, this anticipation was short lived as just seconds into her race, Vonn had a nasty crash which forced her to be airlifted off the mountain. It was revealed that Lindsey suffered a severe fibular break requiring multiple surgeries. She gave it her best effort, and US fans will always remember Lindsey’s historic career.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates Robbed of Gold Medal
Heavy medal favorites heading into the Olympics, Chock and Bates certainly lived up to the hype. After the rhythm dance round, they lie just .46 of a point short of first place behind the French duo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. The pair, who are married, have been skating together since 2011 and have consistently shown what they are capable of. They made their Olympic debut in 2014 and have won 3 world championships as well as 7 national championships. Before they skated in ice dance, they also helped lead team USA to gold in the team event. It’s pretty safe to say that expectations were high going into the free dance round. Chock and Bates were the second to last pair to skate and they had to follow a great performance from Canadian skaters Piper Gillles and Paul Poirier, still with no doubt they were the favorites for gold. However, after their French rivals competed ad the scores were announced, Chock and Bates were awarded second with a score of 224.39 to Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron’s 225.82. Many people, including myself, were outraged considering the fact that the French skaters made mistakes that did not seem to be reflected in their score. The figure skating community sounded off on social media, but at the end of the day, that’s just how the results played out.
Chloe Kim Gets Upset on The Halfpipe
25 year old Chloe Kim, who won gold in both 2018 and 2022, was the heavy gold medal favorite heading into this event. If she won gold, she would have become the first person to win 3 consecutive golds in the event. It should also be noted that similar to Lindsey Vonn, she too suffered an injury just weeks before the Olympics. In Kim’s case, it was a shoulder injury, but without a doubt, Chloe let it be known that she did not intend to back out of the event. At the end of qualifiers, Kim was in first place reaffirming her talents. Heading into the finals, the snow was pouring down and made visibility difficult. Kim dropped in for her first run towards the end of the round and scored an 88.00 instantly projecting her into first place. None of the other competitors, even the two other Americans, had scores anywhere near her. In addition, many people were falling on their runs. This happened to Chloe during her second run, and even though she did not post a new score, she remained in first place. In the final round however, Kim was tested when 17 year old Choi Ga-on scored a 90.00 on her final run. The pressure was on. All she had to do was have a clean run, and Chloe would definitely score high enough to reclaim the lead. Unfortunately, Chloe yet again fell attempting a cab double cork 1080. This left her with a silver medal.
Ilia Malinin’s Disaster Free Skate
Last, and certainly not least, we have Ilia Malinin. The 21-year-old skating phenom nicknamed “the quad god” entered the Olympics as the gold medal favorite. He famously attempts multiple quads per program, which no other skater does. He has also been unbeaten in the past two years in world championships and other competitions. In qualifiers and the short program, Ilia blew up the internet when he landed a backflip, the first legal one since 1976, just for fun. At the end of qualifiers, Ilia was in first place with a score of 108.76 and a significant lead over his other competitors. Heading into free dance, Ilia was all anyone could talk about. Especially since the US had not had their best performance this Olympics. Ilia even planned on attempting a quad axle, something no one has ever done before. Unfortunately, it seems like the pressure got to him, and Ilia fell twice during his performance causing him to place 8th instead of 1st.
