Olympics: Lara Naki Gutmann closes the games with a smile. USA gold in women's hockey

The skater Ilia Malinin has regained his smile, at least in front of the cameras, thanks to rapper Snoop Dogg, who got him into the groove, as seen in the video featuring them together with celebrity host Martha Stewart. The 'God of Quadruplets', "is a handsome young man with a bright future, sad he didn't achieve his goals for this year's Olympics, but still very optimistic for the next ones," wrote Martha Stewart. The famous presenter and the rapper hosted the cooking programme 'Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party' together, where they prepared dishes for celebrity guests, and these days they are in Milan as Olympics commentators for Nbc.

"It's bad, of course, but we have to adapt. I hope that from next season, after these Olympics, we will no longer be neutral athletes but will be able to compete as in the past'. So says Russian Nikita Filippov, the first medal for neutral athletes at the Olympics in Milan Cortina, silver in the ski mountaineering sprint. "The others are wearing national team jackets, national team boots, but I am happy to be here, it is my childhood dream," adds Filippov, born in Russia's faraway Kamčatka, at the conference in Bormio. "I hope that from next season, after the Olympics, we will no longer be neutral athletes but like in the past'.

"I am sincerely speechless and very excited," said Lisa Vittozzi, the first individual Olympic gold medallist in the history of Italian biathlon, who was chosen with Davide Ghiotto as Italy's flag-bearer at the closing ceremony of the Milan Cortina Games to be held at the Arena in Verona on Sunday evening. 'This appointment is a source of pride for me,' she adds. 'Among so many athletes who deserved to be nominated by CONI in this historic Olympics, President Buonfiglio chose yours truly.

Further reading

First historic gold in biathlon: Lisa Vittozzi wins in the pursuit

15 February 2026

Historic result for Samuel Costa, who bids farewell to the competition in the best possible way, and for fellow Italian Aaron Kostner: Italia at the foot of the podium with a super performance. Gold to Jens Luraas Oftebro of Norway, silver to Eero Hirvonen of Finland and bronze to Johannes Lamparter of Austria.

Samuel Costa, to whom Aaron Kostner has just passed the baton, passed the Japanese and moved up to fifth position.

Italy's Samuel Costa and Aaron Kostner competed in the 2x7.5 km Nordic Combined Team Sprint at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Trentino, Italy.

'Sport must be free from politics'. This was said by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Ukraine's refusal to participate in the Paralympics in Milan Cortina because Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete under their own flags. The Kremlin believes that all athletes, both Olympic and Paralympic, should have the right to compete freely under the flag of their country in international competitions, especially at the Olympics and Paralympics, Peskov added. This is a purely sporting competition, he stressed, "not a political competition".

Giulia Murada is there, with a little thrill. On the Stelvio in Bormio, the Italian flies into the semi-finals of the Olympics in the women's ski mountaineering sprint. After winning the morning's battery, Murada finished third in her semi-final, securing qualification for the final as a lucky loser (repechaged with the last time, 3'12"43). At 13.55 she will therefore be on the track to play for a medal. Eliminated was the other Italian Alba De Silvestro, who finished her semi-final in fifth place.

"The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is an independent body from the IOC". This was stated by Mark Adams, spokesman for the IOC, in response to a question about Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed to participate in the Paralympic Games with an anthem and flag. 'In an assembly of their own they made their decision,' he concludes.

"Snow is one of the points of winter sports and I seem to remember that in Nagano 1998 some competitions were held after" the closing of the Games, "there are often problems with snow, we can deal with them, we are used to it, the federation is used to it, it is something that is just there, we have to deal with it". Thus IOC spokesman Mark Adams, after the men's halfpipe freeski qualifiers at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games were postponed and rescheduled due to bad weather. The event was supposed to start today at 10:30 a.m. in Livigno and has been rescheduled for tomorrow at the same time.

Three hundred drones on Sunday in Tesero for the closing ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Games: this is the farewell that Val di Fiemme and Trentino tribute to the five-ring event. It is the first time, inform the Fiemme Cembra Tourist Board and the Municipality of Tesero, that such a concentration of unmanned aircraft has been accounted for. The drone show is scheduled an hour and a half after the start of the festival (from 6 p.m.) to close the Olympics with a parade through the village streets by the Banda Storta, a formation of musicians, and in some ways also to celebrate the Cornacci Sports Union of Tesero, which for 80 years has 'contributed to the sporting growth of the youth of the community, organising courses and sporting events in the village'. From a meadow below the Pedonda area, after 7.30 p.m., the fleet of 300 drones will take off, drawing luminous choreographies in the sky above Piazza Cesare Battisti, following a musical base. The show will last 10 minutes. The drones, coordinated by sophisticated control systems, will move in synchrony to create figures, symbols and inscriptions dedicated to the Olympic Games, to Tesero and to Val di Fiemme, revealing both the sporting and the musical vocation, also through explicit references to the 'forests of violins', those spruce trees also chosen by Stradivari for his famous musical instruments. A message of peace will also appear in the sky.

Switzerland wins again, the match ends 9-5 for the Swiss. For Joël Retornaz's men, the Olympics ends here.

Italia-Switzerland 5-7 at the ninth end. There was little left to play and the Helvetians still had a large lead.

The director of Rai Sport, Paolo Petrecca, has relinquished his mandate in the hands of Rai's managing director Giampaolo Rossi and will leave the post at the end of the Milan Cortina Olympics. Responsibility for Rai Sport - on a transitional basis - will be entrusted to Marco Lollobrigida, deputy director. This was announced in a Rai note.

Petrecca's step back - learned from Rai sources - came after the Rai Sport director ended up at the centre of the controversy for the errors in the commentary of the opening ceremony of the Olympics Milan Cortina, in which he decided to take the place of his colleague Auro Bulbarelli, who was forced to step aside after anticipating information on the presence of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, at San Siro. Also on the warpath was the editorial staff of Rai Sport, ready to go on strike at the end of the Games. In support of the protest, the journalists of the news and gr programmes of the newspaper withdrew their signatures from all commentaries, interviews and reports during the Games. Petrecca had also ended up at the centre of new protests for the 'crazy' expenses of his management, which had risen, according to rumours filtered through the press after a meeting with the head of personnel, to the tune of recruitment, promotions and bonuses and external consultancies.

It proceeded 3-4 at the seventh end the match that would allow the Italians to enter the semifinals. The Swiss were still ahead, but Retornaz's men recovered.

It will be a symbolic pair of the Italian delegation to lead the tricolour in the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, scheduled for Sunday evening at the Arena in Verona. Olympic championsLisa Vittozzi and Davide Ghiotto have been chosen as the Italian flag-bearers for the final act of this five-circle event, which brings down the curtain on an edition that has rightfully entered the history of Italia sport.

The Friulian biathlete, protagonist of an Olympic Games of the highest level crowned with the first individual Olympic gold medal in the history of the Italian biathlon (in the pursuit) and the silver medal in the mixed relay, confirmed herself, with talent and determination, among the great international interpreters of the discipline, a symbol of resilience after the injury that made her miss the entire 2024/2025 season.

He finished fifth in his heat Michele Boscacci. He improved his starting position, but it was not enough to enter the men's sprint final.

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The sixth end began: 4-1 for the Swiss against the Italians.

Closing in 3:17.63 in the first round was Giulia Murada, earning her a rightful place in the semifinals. Alba De Silvestro, second among the 'lucky losers', also made it into the semifinals. The blue ladies will compete together in the semi-final 2.

Italy's Giulia Murada, perhaps the most concrete medal hope for Italia in this discipline (at her Olympic debut), started in first place.

Beautiful first jump of the day by the Italian team in the Nordic combined sprint. Samuel Costa placed second, just 18 seconds behind the leading United States. Waiting for the cross-country part, scheduled in the afternoon.

Fifth end in progress, the Azzurri score a point: 1-3 against Switzerland.

Unfortunately, the Helvetians extend their lead over the Italians. The fourth end is underway.

Eighteen athletes started, in 3 different heats. The athletes with the top 3 absolute times and the 'lucky looser' from each heat will qualify for the semi-finals.

On the day off, on the eve of the last two competitions of the Milan Cortina Games, snow is today the big protagonist in the Biathlon Arena in Antholz. A Mediterranean depression is bringing precipitation from the south, which will also be intense during the course of the day. That is why there will be only one training session for the men and women, who will take part in the mass start races on Friday and Saturday, between 1 and 2.30 pm. The training sessions will take place without spectators, so no particular problems are expected for the traffic in the valley, which has been put to the test in recent days due to the large influx of spectators.

Last match of the round for the Azzurri, who in the event of victory would secure fourth place and advance to the semifinals. It was a highly tense and (almost) impossible challenge, because the Swiss are undefeated so far. The second end starts 0-2 in favour of the Swiss, but Joel Retornaz's team - with Sebastiano Arman, Mattia Giovanella and Amos Mosaner - tries.

Today's medal events, Thursday 19 February

between Nordic combined, women's hockey, skating:

It will be a Nordic combined under the snow that will be held today starting at 10 a.m. at the jumping stadium in Predazzo and at the cross-country skiing circuit in Lago di Tesero. At the moment, the five-circle competition, the last act of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, is confirmed, as the Civil Defence's Operations Room let it be known, while in Trentino it is snowing even at low altitude. For the first time, the competition takes the form of a team sprint, becoming to all intents and purposes the heir to the team event that entered the Olympic programme in Calgary 1988. The pairs event therefore makes its debut today with a jump and a cross-country segment. The favourite is Norway, led by Jens Luraas Oftebro, who is aiming for the third gold in this first edition of the widespread Games. Also in contention for the podium are Austria, Finland and Germany. Italy's Samuel Costa and Aaron Kostner have a clear goal: to try to achieve a top 8 Olympic finish.

Ecco gli azzurri e le azzurre in gara oggi, 19 febbraio, nella tredicesima giornata alle delle olimpiadi di MIlano-Cortina:

09:05 - 12:05 - Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium Curling, Fase a gironi U: Italia-Svizzera Sebastiano ARMAN, Mattia GIOVANELLA, Amos MOSANER, Alberto PIMPINI, Joel Thierry RETORNAZ

Further reading

From podium to success: what the Olympic Games teach managers

18 February 2026