Olympics, Heraskevych: 'I challenge IOC ban, compete with memory helmet'

After the narrow loss to Germany, the Italian women's national ice hockey team left the ice 'with more awareness than regret'. Underlining this was Anna Caumo, who pointed out that the match remained in the balance for a long time: "It was a 50-50 game, decided by a detail. We played with heart and with our style, showing that we can be on par with Top Division teams". The women's Italhockey team looks to the future, also in view of a possible challenge against the giants USA or Canada. "We will not change the way we play," Caumo explains, "they know how we play and we know how they play. It is important to stay united, as a family'.

Verena Hofer 63 thousandths off the podium, Sandra Robatscher fifth.

It ended 2-1 to the Germans in the women's ice hockey match that saw the Azzurri hope for second place in Group B until 90 seconds to go.

Fisi has announced the names of the eight Italians who will take part in the two 10 km skating events that will award the Olympic medals at Tesero Lake. The women will compete first, on Thursday 12 February at 1.00 p.m. The men will instead take to the track on Friday 13 at 11.45 a.m. Dt. Markus Cramer has chosen for the women's race the three who have already taken part in the skiathlon, Martina Di Centa, Anna Comarella and Maria Gismondi, plus Caterina Ganz. On the other hand, Barp and Pellegrino are out for the men: Davide Graz, Martino Carollo, Simone Mocellini and Simone Daprà will take part in the race. Great expectations for Maria Gismondi, who in this race format achieved a 6th place this year in Trondheim and a 9th in Oslo last season. Results that could even make one dream in view of the Olympics, but the Roman appeared far from her best condition after being forced to stop for a long time due to illness. Martino Carollo also came ninth in the 10 km in Trondheim, where there was, however, plenty of Norway. The Italian seems to be in good condition. Who made a great impression in the skiathlon was Davide Graz, who has twice finished in the top ten in the World Cup in this format.

The men's figure skating competition starts this evening at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Assago. Defending the tricolour will be the Italian Matteo Rizzo and Daniel Grassl, two of the legendary seven who won the historic bronze medal in the team event on Sunday. Rizzo, who was born in Rome but grew up in Sesto San Giovanni, on the outskirts of Milan, will take to the ice in 18th place. For his short programme, still unreleased at the Games (in the team event he skated Grassl) he chose the song Silverlines by Damiano David. There were four jumps in the line-up: a quadruple Toe loop, the triple Lutz and triple Toe loop combination and a triple Axel. Coached by his mum and dad, the former ice dancer couple Brumilde Bianchi and Valter Rizzo, the 27-year-old athlete of the Blue Flames is at his third Olympic participation. Instrumental in winning the team bronze on Sunday evening, Rizzo won silver at the European Championships in Sheffield earlier this year. "I skate a lot and with the public," he said after the Olympic bronze in the team event. One that represents 'an important turning point for me, it will change my life. Two years ago I didn't even know if I was going to skate again'. Just one skater behind Rizzo, the other Italian artistic skater, Daniel Grassl, will take to the ice in 20th place this evening. The 23-year-old South Tyrolean athlete of the Golden Flames, who was just 19 years old, finished seventh in Beijing 2022. With the short programme, to the notes of the soundtrack of the TV series 'Tango for Freedom' he finished fifth in the team event on Saturday. Everyone's eyes this evening, however, will be on the figure skating prodigy Ilia Malinin from the USA. The first to compete in a quadruple Axel, 'Quad God', 21 years old, recently turned 21, on Sunday left the audience inside and outside the Milano Ice Skating Arena (including Novak Djokovic who was present at the competition) breathless, performing the somersault, which is banned until 2024 by the Federation. The previous day, however, in the short jump not everything had gone as planned and Malinin had to be content with 98 points and a second place, behind Japan's Yuma Kagiyama. He will be the last one on the ice this evening, in 29th place, just behind Malinin.

The Azzurri competing in the 10 km free technique cross-country skiing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics have been announced. The women, competing on 12 February, will be Ganz, Gismondi, Di Centa and Comarella. The men, competing the following day, will be Graz, Carollo, Daprà and Mocellini.

The second interval sees Italia-Germany at 1-1 after goals from Reyes and Nix: it will all be decided in the last partial

Verena Hofer and Sandra Robatscher continue to chase the podium in the women's singles in Cortina: the third of the four runs scheduled on the Eugenio Monti slope of the Cortina Sliding Center sees the two Italians in fourth and sixth place, respectively 0"802 and 0"909 behind Julia Taubitz. The German confirmed the first position she deserved on the first day and leads after three quarters of the way with an overall time of 2'37"918, followed by Latvia's Elina Bota, 0"704 behind, and the USA's Ashley Farquharson, third at 0"755 in a comeback. Just behind is Hofer, author of the fifth partial time of the heat, followed by Maranza's Emily Fischnaller from the USA, who was excellent in this heat and climbed to fifth place at 0"830, overtaking Robatscher. Instead, German Merle Frabel, who was second just behind Taubitz at the end of the first day, slipped back due to a serious mistake at the start. At 6.34 p.m. the decisive downhill is scheduled: if Taubitz appears to be on her way to success, the games for the other medals seem to be open to at least six athletes, including Hofer and Robatscher.

At the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena, a roar broke out: the Italian women's national ice hockey team took the lead (Anna Caumo scored) against Germany in the fourth and final game of the preliminary round, a match that was anything but symbolic despite the fact that qualification for the quarter-finals is already in the bag. Against Germany, Italia will play for their ranking, international ranking and the possibility of finishing second in Group B.

"I dedicate this medal to my family, my girlfriend and also to my girlfriend's mother, who unfortunately passed away last year and who cared so much about being here". Thus, in tears, Amos Mosaner after the bronze medal won together with Stefania Constantini in the mixed doubles curling at the Milan Cortina Games. "Then I would like to dedicate it to my trainer Andrea Cardona, who has been by my side for the last year and a half, who made me face this thing in a carefree way,' the Italian added, speaking in the mixed zone. 'It was a very difficult period, especially the last six months, but I really have to thank him. He made me arrive here at the right time with the right energy,' he said.

Gli italiani Amos Mosaner e Stefania Constantini festeggiano dopo aver vinto la medaglia di bronzo nel doppio misto di curling contro la Gran Bretagna, alle Olimpiadi invernali del 2026, a Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italia, martedì 10 febbraio 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu) Associatesd Press / LaPresse Solo Italia e Spagna

"My dedication after the medal? In the stands doing the commentary and thus following me really closely was my teammate and best friend Angela Romei, with whom I would have liked to share this Olympic experience next week. That will not be the case, but I will carry her in my heart with me. She is supportive and it was nice to have her there looking down on me, so this victory, in addition to my boyfriend, my family, goes to her'. This was Stefania Constantini's dedication after winning the bronze medal as a pair with Amos Mosaner in the mixed doubles curling in Milan-Cortina. Angela Romei was at the centre of a case, complete with an appeal to Tas that was later rejected, for her exclusion from the women's Olympic national curling team in favour of Rebecca Mariani, daughter of technical director Marco. "How sorry do I feel about her exclusion? I think that for our team it was a moment to remember, but we are ready, we recognise the importance of this great event, tomorrow we have the opportunity to try the ice together and we will certainly all get together at the end of the competition," the Italian added.

The third heat of the women's luge started in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Two Italian women in the hunt for a medal: Verena Hofer starts fourth, Sandra Robatscher sixth after the second run

Italia's path in Group B of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic women's ice hockey tournament has reached the final turn before the knockout phase. At the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena the Azzurri are facing Germany in the fourth and final game of the preliminary round, a match that is anything but symbolic despite the fact that qualification for the quarter-finals is already in the bag. The two victories against France and Japan have already allowed the national team to surpass, in every respect, the historical precedent of Turin 2006. But inside the Azzurri dressing room there is no room for complacency. Stefano Daprà, Italy's assistant coach in his fifth consecutive season on the national team's staff, tells of the spirit that animates the group. The 61-year-old from Trentino, who works daily alongside head coach Eric Bouchard, retraced the emotions of the historic 3-2 victory against Japan: "It was a beautiful moment for the girls, but also for all women's hockey in Italia. That success confirmed the growth of the group and our ability to remain faithful to the mantra that has accompanied us for some time: we want to shock the hockey world. Nobody expected such results, but we are here and ready to challenge teams that, for ranking and international experience, start ahead'. Words that underline how the triumph against the Japanese was not an isolated episode, but the result of a long journey built with sacrifices, daily work and a strong team identity. "It was the victory of the whole group, the staff and the project," added Daprà, "The sacrifices made are finally paying off. The challenge with Germany, however, is not an easy one. On the contrary, it puts concrete and prestigious goals up for grabs. "We are in the most important context possible, the Olympic one, and every game must be played to the maximum," explained the assistant coach. "Against Germany we are playing for ranking, international ranking and the chance to finish second in Group B," he concluded.

The Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina will bring more than 5 million presences in mountain agritourisms. These are the estimates by Coldiretti and Campagna Amica released during the first day of the Bit, the International Tourism Exchange, in Milan. The impact of the Winter Games is part of an already structural growth trend that sees longer average stays, a higher daily expenditure, and a demand increasingly oriented to the quality of the experience, nature and food of certain origin. Agritourism "represents a fundamental component of tourism in mountain areas," Coldiretti emphasises. One out of three agritourism structures "is in the mountains and presides over them, and moreover 13,000 offer trekking, horseback riding, cycling, hiking, realising every day that combination of sport and healthy food that the Olympics bring to the world stage. This is the first edition of the Winter Games to be fully open to the public after the pandemic, with a global visibility that puts the Olympic territories in the international spotlight,' the association adds. In Lombardy alone, 'there are more than 500 agritourisms in mountain areas, where they play a central role in protecting the territory and defending biodiversity, in support of sustainable tourism,' specifies the regional Coldiretti on the latest Istat data. The first province for number of agritourism farms in the mountains is Sondrio (132 structures), followed by Brescia (115) and Como (93). Behind them are the provinces of Bergamo (70), Lecco (39), Varese (36) and Pavia (21). Coldiretti and Campagna Amica actively participate in the Olympics with a widespread presence in the main competition venues. In Bormio, in the province of Sondrio, until 22 February, at the Coldiretti Valtellina Village it is possible to find a zero-kilometre market, peasant catering and entertainment activities dedicated to local agricultural and food excellence and Valtellina agriculture, including talks, in-depth studies and show cooking by starred chefs and local chefs. In Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Italia of food and agricultural supply chains finds space in the initiatives promoted within the symbolic places of the Olympic reception, while in Predazzo, in the heart of Val di Fiemme, the presence of Coldiretti enlivens the Olympic evenings with events and tastings that tell the story of Trentino's mountains, its productions and the agricultural culture that presides over them every day. The estimates of Coldiretti and Campagna Amica thus indicate that Milan-Cortina 2026 will not only be a great sporting event, but an accelerator of lasting development for the Italian mountains, capable of consolidating rural and food-and-wine tourism as a strategic asset, well beyond the days of the competitions.

"The Olympic Games are meant to celebrate excellence in sport, discipline, sacrifice and greatness forged through years of hard work. More than 650 Ukrainian athletes will never take the Olympic stage. They were killed by the Russians. Their lives were cut short, their careers ended forever. Against this reality, the decision to ban the helmet of our athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, commemorating some of our fallen, is deeply wrong'. This was stated on X by Ukrainian premier Yulia Svyrydenko, commenting on the IOC's decision. For Svyrydenko, 'remembering the dead is not politics. It is dignity. I thank Vladyslav for his decision and express my gratitude to all our athletes who continue to represent modern Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, drawing world attention to the challenges we are facing and experiencing, while hoisting our flag with pride and dignity. The IOC should honour those who can no longer compete, not silence their memory,' the Prime Minister concluded.

Two shows on 22 February in the Arena of Verona will mark the closing of the Winter Olympics in the direction of Filmmaster, which will also be in charge of the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympic Games. The show will extend beyond the confines of the Arena, involving also Piazza Bra and the Teatro Filarmonico, where the choir and orchestra of the Fondazione Arena di Verona will perform. Protagonists will be étoile Roberto Bolle, composer Michele Braga and musician Vittorio Cosma; performers will include the Scuola di Ballo del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma directed by Eleonora Abbagnato, choreographer Diego Tortelli with Aterballetto.

"If I had to go back to Turin 2006 I would never have expected to be here 20 years later. I made this reflection just this morning and it also quite charged me up, because I said to myself 'damn you've had a long career, you've won everything you wanted to win, you've achieved everything you wanted to achieve. But you're here, you're ready, have fun'," Fontana confessed. The night before the race, as usual, 'I slept peacefully' and today, with her twelfth medal around her neck, the 'blonde arrow' said she was 'happy and proud of all the decisions I have made in my career'.

Olimpiadi Milano Cortina 2026 - Pattinaggio di velocità su pista corta - Staffetta mista a squadre - Cerimonia di premiazione - Milano Ice Skating Arena, Milano, Italia - 10 febbraio 2026. La medaglia d'oro Arianna Fontana dell'Italia reagisce con il suo volto ritagliato mentre festeggia sul podio durante la cerimonia di premiazione REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw TPX IMMAGINI DEL GIORNO

Ukrainian flag-bearer Vladyslav Heraskevych will be allowed to wear a black armband during competitions at the Milan-Cortina Games, the International Olympic Committee said today, but not the helmet he wanted to commemorate the lives of some of his country's athletes who fell in the war with Russia. The IOC called the decision a compromise.

"I think what we have tried to do is to respond to his wishes with compassion and understanding," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said today. "He has expressed himself on social media and during training and, as you know, we will not prevent him from expressing himself in press conferences, when he comes out of competition in the mixed zone and in other contexts." "We think this is a good compromise," Adams said.

"Mangiarotti's record? I'm not thinking about it now, I'm focused on the next races and then we'll see what happens in the end'. This was said by Arianna Fontana after winning the gold medal in the mixed short track relay at the Olympic Games in Milan Cortina. For the Italian woman it is the 12th medal in her career at the Games, a record for winter sports, in case of another medal she would equal fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti as the absolute medal record holder at the Games for an Italian athlete.

Johan-Olav Botn won the gold medal in the 20 km individual biathlon at the Games in Milan Cortina. The Norwegian with a time of 51'31"5 beat the French Eric Perrot at 14"8, silver, third the other Norwegian Sturla Holm Laegreid at 48"3. Sixth was Italian Tommaso Giacomel with three errors at the polygon. Thirteenth Patrick Braunhofer, fourteenth Lukas Hofer, twentieth Elia Zeni.

Johan-Olav Botn della Norvegia festeggia dopo aver tagliato il traguardo nella gara individuale maschile di 20 km di biathlon ai Giochi Olimpici Invernali Milano Cortina 2026, ad Anterselva, Italia, il 10 febbraio 2026. EPA/PIERRE TEYSSOT

Great second run in Austria 2 with Raedler and Huber taking the gold medal in the women's combined. Silver for Germany's Weidle-Winkelmann/Aicher and bronze for the other USA 2 with Wiles and Moltzan. Surprisingly off the podium were the favourites from USA 1, Johnson and Shiffrin, in the lead after the downhill, who only finished in fourth place. Too bad for Italian Pirovano, third after the downhill, and Peterlini, who dropped out in the slalom after an attacking run. The 16-year-old Giada D'Ambrosio, at her Olympic debut and the youngest of the Italian expedition, did not make it to the finish line, so the only Italians classified were Nicol Delago and Anna Trocker, who finished in tenth place. Lara Della Mea did not ski after Sofia Goggia's fall in the first run.

"It was an exciting race, we managed all the events calmly, it is great to start like this and there was no better way, it will give us a great charge". This is how Arianna Fontana commented the Italian gold medal in the mixed relay of the short track at the Rai microphones. "I have finally closed a circle with the Olympic gold - echoed her teammate Pietro Sighel, so far one silver and one bronze at the Games - and I did it with an incredible team and this makes me very proud. We came out easily in the final, in these cases you have to take advantage of the tension of the others'.

Swedish hat-trick in the women's classic technique cross-country sprint at the Milan Cortina Games. Gold medal for Linn Svahn, silver for Jonna Sundling and bronze for Maja Dahlqvist. Italians Federica Cassol and Caterina Ganz were eliminated in the semifinals.

"Fontana? Arianna is a great champion, she completed this team, she helped. But look that the other athletes also gave incredible results in this competition. So I would not stop to talk about one athlete, Arianna does not need to be described, we all know her by now. But she won in a team with a Sighel who is an extraordinary phenomenon, I consider him one of the greatest skaters in the world, but Nadalini, Confortola who is amazing. Stopping to talk about individuals is reductive because this is the team result. Then now we will go with the individual competitions, we will see, but we still have two relays, but this is a complicated sport in the sense that a push, a foul, anything excludes you even if you are the strongest. I must say that we were also lucky because Holland did not make it to the final, and we know that they are a very annoying competitor. This is this sport, we have been there, our guys have been the best, there is no doubt about it'. This was said by FISG President Andrea Gios, commenting from Casa Italia the historic gold medal of the mixed short-track relay, the tenth medal of Italia in Milan-Cortina. The short-track one is the second gold from the ice. "How many medals can we win? Making numbers on medals is always quite difficult for me, at the beginning of the Olympics I said 4-5, we are already 4 so we will probably do more. I'd like to get one in curling now, that's the thing I'm most interested in, because it means we bring medals to all the sectors except hockey, but eighth place for women in a world championship like hockey is like a medal," added the federal president. 'We are getting results with the teams, it means that it is not a movement that lives on the isolated champion. Arianna Fontana, a great champion, arrives at the Olympics and wins three medals, well it's Arianna, Carolina Kostner, wins medals alone, but we have brought a team here in all disciplines and this is the thing I like. We were able to bring a federation that won medals, yes in the past, extemporaneous, to win medals that are more structured, where there is a team, but you can also lose, I did three Olympics, in the first four medals, it seemed like a dream, in the second in Beijing we got to eight, and I still think it is an incredible record for us, now we try to reach eight and maybe make a ninth, but what comes, comes, we are happy because we have a positive feedback of our world, 'added Gios.

On Monday 9 February, the third day after the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, 56,000 tickets for the competitions were sold and the stadiums 'are often sold out'. This was reported by the communications director of the Milano Cortina foundation, Luca Casassa, during the daily press point, adding that the fan zones set up in various locations outside the competition areas are also "full of people". "There is always the possibility to improve and to get better, but we start from a data of great satisfaction," he added. "We can only be satisfied also because the feedback from the athletes is extremely positive," he concluded.

"In the World Cup there is much more pathos. With all the Olympic restrictions, logistically it's not easy to come here, and also the tickets cost a lot more, it's almost a disincentive to come". So said Sofia Goggia after her fall - without consequences - in the downhill in the women's alpine skiing team combination at the Games in Milan Cortina, talking about the warmer American fans in the stands than the Italian ones. "It's still an Olympic event but in the cup there are more people and more Italia fans," added the Bergamasque, confident that "for the super-G there will be more Italians". Goggia finally returned to Alberto Tomba's words that Gustav Thoeni should have lit the brazier in Cortina. 'The decision was not mine, it was proposed to me and I accepted,' she concluded.

No final for Simone Mocellini, who had to bow to the supremacy of Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Finland's Lauri Vuorinen in the sprint on the Tesero Lake cross-country skiing stadium circuit, who were able to gain a pass for the final. In the last semi-final, Federico Pellegrino, who nevertheless closed his battery in third place, failed to qualify for the final, as did the other Italian Simone Daprà.

Cio bans Heraskevych helmet for Ukrainians, but OK to mourn

(by Andrea Buoso) (ANSA) - CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, FEB 10 - Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych has been banned from wearing a helmet with the faces of war victims by the IOC after the athlete wore it at practice on the Monti slope in Cortina d'Ampezzo, prompting a reaction and solidarity from Volodymir Zelensky. Even if you want to keep them out in the name of the Olympic climate, politics and wars are peeping back in Milan Cortina. There is no shortage of precedents, if you want to go back to the historic black gloves of Tommy Smith and John Carlos at Mexico 68. They may not be blatant gestures, but they 'pierce' the public's attention, especially with the amplification given by social media. This is what happened to Heraskevych, one of Ukraine's flag bearers at the Games in Italia, who complained on Instagram that he was banned from wearing a customised helmet in honour of his compatriots who fell in the Russian war. The IOC, he wrote, 'has banned the use of my helmet in official training sessions and competitions', after it had been shown in the first trials on the Olympic track. 'A heartbreaking decision,' he stressed, 'that breaks my heart. The feeling is that the IOC is betraying those athletes who have been part of the Olympic movement, preventing them from being honoured in the sporting arena where they will never set foot again,' he added. The IOC, through its spokesman Mark Adams, announced that it would allow the athlete to wear a black armband as a sign of mourning, deeming it 'a good compromise'. This is not the first time the athlete has come out in favour of his country: four years ago in Beijing he displayed a banner saying 'No to war in Ukraine'. President Zelensky also came to his defence: 'He reminded the world of the price of our struggle. This truth cannot be embarrassed, inappropriate or labelled as a political demonstration at a sporting event. And this is what reminds everyone of the global role of sport and the historical mission of the Olympic movement itself: it is all for peace. Ukraine remains true to this. Russia proves the opposite'. Political tensions continue to resonate in Milan Cortina. It started with the booing of US Vice-President JD Vance at the opening ceremony and the protest against Ice agents with 'sorry' signs. If Donald Trump responded brutally to Hunter Hess who thought it was difficult to represent the USA these days, today Chloe Kim, snowboarding Olympian and daughter of immigrants, also made herself heard. Proud to represent the USA, 'the country that allowed my parents to be well. But,' she pointed out, 'we have the right to express our opinions about what's happening and I think we should be guided by love and compassion, and I'd like to see more of that'. (ANSA).

Federico Pellegrino, Simone Mocellini and Simone Daprà will advance to the semifinals of the Milan-Cortina classic technique cross-country sprint race. The race is scheduled in Tesero, Val di Fiemme: at 13.09 the two semifinals. Elia Barp, however, has been eliminated.

italian feat, gold in mixed short track relay

Vola in finale, chiudendo in prima posizione, la squadra italiana della staffetta mista dello short track. A guadagnarsi la sfida per la medaglia sono stati Chiara Betti, Arianna Fontana, Thomas Nadalini e Pietro Sighel.

"I slipped again at Scarpadon. I jumped a lot to the right. There was a bit of flat visibility". Thus Italian skier Sofia Goggia after falling in the downhill of the women's team combined in Cortina at the Winter Olympics. "On the other hand, when you don't finish a downhill because you fall, you just have to be thankful that you are OK. I managed this semi-fall, this slip, well. It was just a slip. I'm sorry, but it was OK in the end," he added.

"I definitely could not recreate the same mood as in the downhill," she added referring to the race in which she took bronze. "I suffered a bit from the mental energy I had to put in two days ago to do what I did. I realised it at the starting gate," she continued. "I was focused, I knew very well what to do, yet it was like I wasn't charged up to a thousand, that's all," she reiterated.

Waiting for Italia-Great Britain, the curling final for bronze

These are the Azzurri competing today in Milan-Cortina: