The Latest: Winter Olympics closing day: US wins gold in men’s hockey final

MILAN (AP) — The 2026 Winter Games are coming to an end, and the closing ceremony is underway. The next Winter Games will be held in the French Alps in 2030. The official handover happened at the ceremony, with anthems and a flag-raising.

Earlier Sunday, the United States beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the men’s hockey gold on the final day of the Milan Cortina Olympics. Jack Hughes scored the winning goal just 1:41 into overtime.

Arrivederci from the AP

It’s all over.

It has been our honour to tell these stories in words, photographs and videos over the last few weeks.

Arrivederci from our closing ceremony crew in Verona, and from all of us who covered the Games across northern Italy. We’ll see you in Los Angeles in 2028!

The opera characters bid us farewell

The opera characters and Rigoletto say “ciao” return to the depths of the arena. The closing ceremony of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics is over. The Paralympics begin here in Verona on March 6 and run through the 15th.

Achille Lauro performs

Italian singer-songwriter Achille Lauro, a Verona native, performed his iconic song “Incoscienti Giovani.”

Athletes on their feet

The athletes are still dancing to Major Lazer and now they’re helping create a light show, too.

Most of them have bracelets on, flashing white and red, and are waving their hands in the air.

Others are using the flashlight on their phones.

Rigoletto returns

Rigoletto “rekindles” the arena with light as EDM act Major Lazer performs “Lean On” and other hits. Most of the athletes were on their feet dancing in the audience.

Now the twin cauldrons are extinguished and the Olympics are over

It’s a blackout in the arena and throughout Verona as the twin cauldrons are extinguished in Milan and Cortina as Italian pianist Gloria Campaner plays “Experience” by Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi. The Olympics are officially over.

Coventry’s turn

Kirsty Coventry, the IOC’s first female president, lauded the success of the spread-out Games.

“You delivered a new kind of winter games and you set a new, very high standard for the future,” she said.

A handful of boos when Meloni is mentioned

Some people in the audience booed when Malagò thanked Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

Don’t forget about the speeches

First up is Giovanni Malagò, the president of the Milan Cortina Foundation that organized the 2026 Winter Olympics. Malagò was head of the Italian Olympic Committee when Italy won the bid to stage the Milan Cortina Games.

It’s time for France to join the chat

The next Winter Games will be held in the French Alps in 2030. The official handover happens now, with anthems and a flag-raising.

This segment symbolizes a new dawn, featuring the French national anthem of “La Marseillaise.”

Ballet star Roberto Bolle performs aerial routine

Internationally acclaimed ballet star Roberto Bolle has taken the stage. He’s performing his first aerial routine, suspended inside a ring that’s meant to represent the primordial drop of water.

Bolle, who performed at the opening ceremony for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, is a familiar sight at the arena, where he travels each summer with his “Roberto Bolle and Friends” annual gala.

The water cycle imagined in song and dance

Now we return to the concept of the water cycle that spans from the Dolomites to the Venetian canals to Verona’s Adige River.

‘Grazie’ to the 18,000 volunteers

Italian DJ Gabry Ponte played the catchy “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” as a tribute to the thousands of volunteers.

The dancers formed a “26” in the style of the Games’ logo, with Mario Gargiulo — the oldest volunteer here, at 89 — in the centre.

Two final medal ceremonies

The winners of the women’s and men’s 50 km classic mass start cross-country skiing received their medals tonight, as is tradition.

Sweden’s Ebba Andersson got the gold medal Sunday after finishing more than 2 minutes ahead of Norway’s Heidi Weng.

That was a sort of redemption for Andersson following her disastrous crash that cost Sweden a gold medal in the team relay the previous week.

On Saturday, Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo completed his historic gold medal sweep of the men’s cross-country skiing events by winning his sixth race and setting the record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics.

Elevation is more than just the height of a mountain

In this segment, elevation is conveyed as an athlete’s most vulnerable moment.

The final push, the last dash, the split second before a body gives out that means the difference between a podium finish and fourth place.

It’s the endurance and drive that separates Olympians from the rest of us mere mortals.

Protesters in Verona march against the Winter Olympics

There was a demonstration in Verona ahead of the closing ceremony, with protesters marching against what they said was an “unsustainable” and “bloody” event.

Deemed the “Olympics No Thanks” demonstration, the march was meant to protest the challenge of the economic, environmental and political impact of the Winter Games.

“We are here because we believe that these Olympics are hypocritical, are unsustainable and are also bloody,” said protester Filippo Comencini.

Olympics organizers have pledged that virtually all of the electricity needed to power the games would be clean, from lighting up venues to making snow.

After embarrassing gaffes, Italian TV changes its commentator

After a series of gaffes during the Olympic opening ceremony on Feb. 6, Italian state-owned broadcaster Rai has swapped its commentator for tonight’s event.

RaiSport director Paolo Petrecca had replaced Auro Bulbarelli for the opening ceremony, but his commentary was so blunder-strewn that some of the broadcaster’s thoroughly embarrassed journalists announced they would go on strike.

His gaffes included: misidentifying Mariah Carey, mistaking the Olympics’ top boss for the Italian president’s daughter and confusing the location of the opening ceremony.

For the closing ceremony, Bulbarelli is doing Rai’s commentary.

As for Petrecca, he handed in his resignation and his tenure will end at the end of the Games.

Athletes walk in together

In the opening ceremony, the athletes walked in by country.

In a closing ceremony tradition since the 1956 Melbourne Games, they all walk in as one group to represent friendship, peace and unity that comes after the competitions are over.

Organizers are expecting some 1,500 Olympians, a bit over half those who competed in the Games, to parade in together.

The Stars and Stripes

Hilary Knight and Evan Bates carry the Stars and Stripes into the arena.

Knight captained the women’s hockey team to gold, scoring a spectacular tying goal late in the final against Canada.

Along with Madison Chock, Bates earned silver in ice dance as well as helping the U.S. to gold in the team event.

Delegations’ flags

Ninety-two delegations competed in these Games.

The flag-bearers are accompanied by marshals wearing old stage costumes repainted for the closing ceremony.

Nations out of order?

In case you’re wondering why the nations aren’t bringing their flags into the closing ceremony in alphabetical order, they are.

Sort of.

Greece, per Olympic tradition as the originator of the ancient games, almost always enters the ceremony first and then it shifts to alphabetical order — that is, the Italian alphabet.

And the final three flags to come into the arena will have nothing to do with the alphabet.

The U.S. goes third to last because it’ll host the 2034 Utah Games. France goes next to last because it’ll host the 2030 French Alps Games. And the flag of the host Italy will be the final one out.

The flame arrives

The so-called “drop of fire” has entered the arena to light the amphitheatre’s rings.

It’s the flame that lit the cauldrons in Milan and Cortina as part of a 12,000-kilometre (nearly 7,500-mile) journey and is now being carried in a vessel crafted by a renowned Venetian glassmaker.

Three of the four members of Italy’s 1994 cross-country skiing team that took the gold in the Lillehammer Games in the 4x10km relay are escorting it.

Italy’s most successful Winter Olympics

Italy’s medallists have walked out to resounding cheers after the home nation’s most successful Winter Games ever.

Italian athletes racked up 30 medals on home snow and ice, crushing the nation’s previous best Winter Olympics medal haul of 20, set more than 30 years ago at the Lillehammer Games in 1994.

The breakdown at Milan Cortina? 10 gold, six silver and 14 bronze.

This is the third time Italy has hosted the Winter Olympics: Cortina previously hosted in 1956, and Turin held the Games in 2006.

Italy has also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.

Let’s meet Rigoletto

Rigoletto, the court jester and star of the eponymous Verdi opera, will be our guide tonight. He lives among the scenery and costumes of past and present operas in the arena’s underground tunnels, known as the “Devil’s Labyrinth.”

He is considered the spirit of opera and he’s just joined us onstage atop a giant chandelier rising from beneath the stage. One of the famous songs from “La Traviata” rings out from the orchestra playing at Philharmonic Theater of Verona, across the Piazza Bra.

Tonight’s theme is ‘beauty in action’

From the artistry of a twirling figure skater on the ice to the grace of a ski jumper on the slopes, beauty is everywhere at the Olympics. The closing ceremony seeks to highlight the elegance behind the Games’ non-stop movement, and spotlight it alongside the grandeur of Italian performance and opera.

The ancient Roman Arena will also host the Paralympics opening ceremony

The Roman Arena anchors the city of Verona. It has hosted the summer opera season since 1913, and enormous stage props can often be found outside in Piazza Bra between performances.

The ancient arena will also host the opening ceremony for the Paralympic Games on March 6.

Here we go

The closing ceremony has begun!

Athletes need police escort

Some athletes needed a police escort to get to the closing ceremony to help them beat the traffic, according to American luger Sophia Kirkby.

Kirkby — who was based in Cortina for the Games — posted a video to her Instagram page from inside the coach bus, which was stuck in traffic before weaving through the vehicles behind a police car.

She added the caption: “On our way to Closing Ceremony and we hit Olympic traffic. Lucky for us, the local police are helping us out with an escort.”

Kirkby has gone viral during the Games, documenting her attempt to date at the Olympics. She has also been selling her handmade pins.

Our favourite moments at the Games

From long days to unforgettable moments, here’s what our AP journalists loved most about covering these Winter Olympics.

Mascots Milo and Tina were the Games’ surprise winners

For fans of the Milan Cortina Olympic mascots, the eponymous Milo and Tina, it was nearly impossible to find a plush toy of the stoat siblings in Milan and Cortina.

Many of the official Olympics stores in the host cities were sold out less than a week into the Winter Games.

Tina, short for Cortina, is the lighter-coloured stoat and represents the Olympic Winter Games. Her younger brother Milo, short for Milano, is the face of the Paralympic Winter Games.

Watch US figure skater Ellie Kam’s ‘GRWM’ video

U.S. figure skater Ellie Kam films a ‘GRWM’ video for the AP.

U.S. figure skater recorded a “Get Ready With Me” video for the AP on Saturday before the Olympic figure skating gala. Here, she answered some of her most frequently asked questions as she applied her makeup.

A drop of water to remind us of climate change

The closing ceremony stage was inspired by a drop of water, meant to symbolically unite the Olympic mountain venues with the Po River Valley, where Milan and Verona are located, while serving as a reminder that the Winter Games are being reshaped by climate change.

With an expected 12,000 spectators inside the arena, it’s a much more intimate experience than the opening ceremony at Milan’s San Siro Stadium — which held more than 60,000 fans.

A loose dog made an Olympic cameo on the cross-country ski course

A surprise participant in the action had four legs and zero concern for race times.

As elite cross-country skiers pushed to the finish in the women’s team sprint heats, a dog wandered onto the course and ran with athletes down the straightaway.

The dog had slipped away from a local owner while out on a walk nearby, officials later said.

Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won South America’s 1st medal at Winter Games

Alpine ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen gave Brazil another reason to celebrate this year: an Olympic gold medal at the Winter Games.

The win for the 25-year-old known in Brazil as “O cara do ski” — the skiing dude — took place on the first full day of Carnival, the pre-Lenten party that draws revellers to fill city streets across Brazil to dance and drink to their hearts’ content. Brazilians in Milan and Rio de Janeiro celebrated his win.

30 minutes to go

Italian radio presenter Annie Mazzola and DJ Federico Russo are warming up the crowd as it trickles in.

In Olympic host village Cortina, wearing fur never went out of style

Fur coats are plentiful on the streets of Cortina, especially during these Winter Games.

When asked to explain why furs remain so common here, while much of the world has moved to synthetic alternatives for environmental, ethical or affordability reasons, the answers are revealing.

Italians say it’s a bubble, devoid of political activists and the working class. Coats of mink, lynx, wolf, sable and ocelot can be seen up and down the Corso Italia, the main street. They can range from a few thousand euros to 80,000 euros.

The ‘King of the Volunteers’ is 89 and ready to shine in the closing ceremony

Mario Gargiulo, 89, was among the first of 18,000 volunteers to sign up and, on Sunday night, will take the stage at the closing ceremony with a starring role: the Games’ oldest volunteer.

This isn’t his first rodeo. In 1956, he travelled from Naples to see the Olympics in Cortina.

“I went to Cortina out of a sudden desire to do something out of the ordinary. Nobody wanted to come with me so I, fascinated by this new thing everybody was talking about, went alone,” he said.

Only able to afford a room without heat during the Winter Games, he went to sleep wearing every layer of clothing he’d brought. Gargiulo relished the chance to watch figure skating and speedskating up close.

He enjoyed Cortina so much that, after he married an American woman, they honeymooned there. He later enlisted in the U.S. army and, after his promotion to captain, became a citizen. And he has earned the nickname “King of the Volunteers.”

The AP’s reporters are inside the arena

Buonasera, amici!

I’m inside the Roman Arena now, seated alongside my colleagues Daniella Matar and Colleen Barry in the press tribune. Our photographers will take their positions throughout the amphitheatre shortly. We’ve got videographers throughout the city talking to spectators, as well as monitoring a protest.

It’s a clear night here in Verona, and we’re hoping the temperatures don’t drop too much — it’s a little chilly in this ancient open-air venue!

Jack Hughes lost some teeth from Bennett’s high stick

Jack Hughes lost some teeth before he won Olympic gold for the U.S.

The forward who scored the winning goal did so with a bloody mouth and less of a bite than he began the game with.

Hughes was spittin’ chiclets after taking a stick to the mouth from Sam Bennett in the third period.

Honouring ‘Johnny Hockey’

Auston Matthews, Zach Werenski and Matthew Tkachuk carried a Johnny Gaudreau No. 13 jersey around the ice following the win as the latest tribute to the beloved player who was killed along with his brother in 2024.

Gaudreau’s parents, Guy and Jay, his widow, Meredith, and their oldest children were in attendance. It was John Jr.’s second birthday.

The team brought 3-year-old Noa and 2-year-old John Jr. onto the ice as they held up Gaudreau’s jersey for the team photo.

Victory lap by the Americans

The U.S. team took a victory lap of sorts off the ice before heading off to celebrate.

The Americans came off the ice but instead of heading to the locker room they high-fived fans waving American flags for a several minutes. Jake Guentzel and Jaccob Slavin got big hugs from family members along the way.

Minnesota’s proud lineage to Olympic gold lives on

One of the Americans celebrating their gold medal is Brock Nelson, a forward for the Colorado Avalanche and a player with family ties to the first two U.S. teams to win Olympic gold.

His grandfather, Bill Christian, was on the team that won gold during the 1960 Winter Games. His uncle, Dave Christian, won it with the 1980 “Miracle On Ice” team.

Nelson is a first-time Olympian and now he has a shiny, new gold medal of his own.

It’s also a special moment for his hometown of Warroad, Minnesota. Nelson is the eighth Olympic hockey player from the tiny lakeside town a few miles from the Canadian border that has supplied players for the 1960 and 1980 championship teams — including his grandfather, great-uncle and uncle.

A sea of red Canada jerseys made up the first exodus out of the stadium

“Five-on-five!” was chanted by one group, reflecting the disappointment of overtime rules that stipulate 3-on-3.

A tearful young fan wearing a Connor McDavid jersey was consoled by his older sister as their family headed to the buses that have been shuttling fans between Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and a nearby metro station.

Trump praises US team

U.S. President Donald Trump praised the U.S. men’s hockey team for winning the gold medal, posting on Truth Social: “Congratulations to our great U.S.A. Ice Hockey team. THEY WON THE GOLD. WOW! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Coach Mike Sullivan also said Trump FaceTimed the team to congratulate the players.

Golden again

The United States is golden again — exactly 46 years to the day when the men’s hockey team pulled off the “Miracle on Ice” on 1980.

In that game on Feb. 22, 1980, the Americans beat the heavily favoured Soviet Union to reach the gold medal game in Lake Placid, New York. The U.S. then beat Finland — and had to wait until now to do it again.

The 2-1 victory over Canada in overtime on the final day of the Milan Cortina Olympics is the third Olympic title in men’s hockey for the U.S. The American team also won it 1960.

‘U-S-A!’

As the U.S. team gathered on the ice to celebrate their country’s first gold in men’s hockey since 1980, the crowd joined in on the fun with loud chants of “U-S-A!”

The American men beat Canada 2-1 in overtime — just like the American women beat Canada 2-1 in overtime on Thursday for the other hockey gold.

US wins men’s hockey gold on goal by Jack Hughes

The U.S. beat Canada 2-1 in overtime.

Jack Hughes scored the winning goal just 1 minute, 41 seconds into the first extra period.

It is the third Olympic title in men’s hockey for the U.S. — and first since the “Miracle on Ice” at Lake Placid in 1980.

OT again!

It’s a gold medal hockey matchup between the U.S. and Canada. So OF COURSE it’s going to OT.

This men’s matchup is heading to an extra period tied at 1.

Just like Thursday, when the same two countries were even at that score after regulation and went to overtime to decide the gold medal in women’s hockey.

The United States wound up winning that one, beating Canada 2-1 on Megan Keller’s goal.

Canada is outplaying the Americans — but not outscoring them

Canada has outshot the U.S. by a whopping 41-26 margin through three periods.

The numbers since the start of the second period: 33 shots for Canada, 18 for the U.S.

But American goalie Connor Hellebuyck has kept his team in the game, making 40 saves to keep the score 1-1 as they head to overtime.

He wasn’t able to get to one of Canada’s best chances late in the third period — but Hellebuyck, it turned out, didn’t need to.

That’s because Nathan MacKinnon’s shot right from the doorstep went wide to the right of the net.

Next goal gets gold: Hockey final heads to OT

Canada and the U.S. are headed to sudden-death overtime in the men’s hockey final, tied 1-all.

The overtime format for the Olympic gold medal game is similar to what the NHL uses in its Stanley Cup playoffs.

The first goal wins it, no matter how long it might take for one team to score — there’s no shootout — but with 3 on 3, instead of 5 on 5.

Now a high-stick penalty called on the US

Jack Hughes of the U.S. was called for high-sticking Nick Suzuki with 49 seconds left on the 4-minute power play for Canada.

The score is 1-1 late in the third period.

US gets a 4-minute power play

Canada needs to try to kill off a 4-minute power play after Sam Bennett was called for a double minor for high-sticking U.S. player Jack Hughes.

The score is 1-1 late in the third period.

The game so far

Canada is outshooting the U.S. and has drawn more penalties heading into the third period.

The only stat that really matters, of course, is the score, and that reads Canada 1, U.S. 1.

Canada leads with 27 shots to 15.

Canada has drawn two penalties while committing one — and even had a 5-on-3 advantage for about 1 1/2 minutes.

US and Canada are tied 1-1 after 2 periods

The U.S. and Canada are tied 1-1 heading into the third period in the men’s hockey final.

After trailing since the sixth minute, Canada got on the board with less than two minutes left in the second period — and on its 26th shot of the afternoon — when defenceman Makar skated in and sent the puck past Hellebuyck.

The Americans almost went back up just before the end of the second, but Brock Faber’s shot went off Jake Guentzel’s stick and then clanged off the post.

Cale Makar ties it for Canada

The men’s gold medal hockey game is all tied up.

Canada defenceman Cale Makar skated in and ripped a shot far side, just inside the left post, past Connor Hellebuyck to tie the score at 1-1 with 1:44 left in the second period. Canada’s first goal came on its 26th shot.

Shoutout to the volunteers at the final event

The 2026 Olympics is the most far-flung in Winter Games history and it took 18,000 volunteers from Anterselva, Italy, to Milan to make it work.

Some of those volunteers got a shoutout on the big screen hanging over the ice at the gold medal hockey game between the U.S. and Canada and were cheered by the fans in the final event before the closing ceremony.

The volunteers have been warm, helpful and at every venue, night and day. They come from more than 90 countries, with a huge number from Italy, of course.

It’s not over for some of them: The Winter Paralympics are coming up next month.

In Olympic golds, Canada leads the US 9-2

The United States has won the Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey twice, both times at home — in the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics and the “Miracle on Ice” in the 1980 Lake Placid Games.

Canada is a nine-time Olympic champion, most recently in the 2014 Sochi Games. That was the last time NHL players took part in the tournament until the Milan Cortina Games.

US perfect on the penalty kill

The Americans taking back-to-back penalties and putting Canada’s power play on the ice looked to be the perfect chance for a tying goal. Canada had scored on 43% of its chances over its first five games.

Instead, Hellebuyck and the U.S. penalty kill remained perfect. Hellebuyck stopped all three shots he faced on the Canada power play, including 93 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage to keep the U.S. up 1-0 past the midway point of the gold medal game.

The hockey arena that was bare

ly finished in time

The Santagiulia hockey arena, where the men’s final is being played, was finished just in time for the Olympics. It came down to the wire.

Workers were putting the finishing touches on the construction right before the first puck dropped.

They got it done, though, and the arena has had a good atmosphere throughout the Games.

Goaltenders are shining as play opens up

Connor Hellebuyck made a sequence of big saves in the first few minutes of the second period to keep the U.S. up 1-0 on Canada. At the other end of the ice, Jordan Binnington got a piece of Brock Nelson’s shot from point-blank range not long after to keep Canada’s deficit at one.

Hellebuyck has stopped all 13 shots he has faced so far and Binnington 10 in a row after allowing the opening goal to Matt Boldy.

The US leads Canada 1-0 after one

The U.S. leads Canada 1-0 after a fast-paced first period, but missed an opportunity to take a two-goal lead.

On the power play after Brock Nelson drew a hooking penalty on Shea Theodore, captain Auston Matthews had the puck at the edge of the crease and chose to pass it rather than shoot it on net. Canada killed off the rest of the penalty.

Shots are even at eight apiece.

US goes up 1-0 

early

Matt Boldy put the U.S. ahead 1-0 exactly 6 minutes into the game.

He got the puck from Auston Matthews, batted it to himself off his stick blade to manoeuvre between Canadian defencemen Devon Toews and Cale Makar and slid a backhand past goalie Jordan Binnington.

It was the Americans’ first shot on goal of the game.

O Canada!

Based on the sheer volume of the “Let’s go, Canada!” chants just before the puck drop, the red-wearing Canadian fans sure seem to have the U.S. supporters outnumbered inside the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena for the much-anticipated men’s hockey final.

And the boos were loud when the Americans skated onto the ice.

More evidence: There were a lot more maple-leaf flags dotting the stands than Stars and Stripes.

Earlier, the cheers were thunderous when the Canadians made their way to playing surface for pregame warm-ups — and again when their lineup was announced over the loudspeakers.

Sweden gets curling gold

The Swedish women beat Switzerland for curling gold to conclude the sport’s competition at the Games.

It was Sweden’s sixth gold and 13th medal overall in Olympic curling, trailing only Canada in both categories.

Mike Eruzione is in the house

Mike Eruzione is at the arena for the U.S. vs. Canada game.

Eruzione scored the go-ahead goal for the “Miracle on Ice” American team when it stunned the Soviet Union along the way to the gold medal at the Lake Placid Winter Games in 1980.

That was the last time the United States won the Olympic title in men’s hockey.

Eruzione was 25 when he scored his famous goal against the heavily favoured Soviets.

No Crosby for Canada

Injured Canadian captain Sidney Crosby will miss the men’s gold medal hockey game against the United States.

The 38-year-old centre is the most decorated player on Canada’s team with two Olympic gold medals — including netting an overtime winner against the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Games — and three Stanley Cup rings.

Crosby left Canada’s quarterfinal Wednesday night with an apparent right knee injury and did not play against Finland in the semifinals on Friday.

Connor McDavid has been wearing the captain’s “C” in Crosby’s absence.

Germany wins 4-man gold and silver to cap bobsled at the Olympics

Germany got another gold and silver to cap the bobsled competition.

Johannes Lochner won gold and Francesco Friedrich won silver in the four-man event at the Milan Cortina Games on Sunday. But Switzerland’s Michael Vogt grabbed the bronze, overtaking Adam Ammour on the fourth run and denying Germany a medal sweep.

Lochner won in what he says is his final race before retirement. Friedrich got his sixth Olympic medal: two golds in 2018, two more golds in 2022 and two silvers this year.

Lochner became the seventh pilot to sweep both men’s bobsled events in an Olympics.

Dropped call?

New Zealand freeskier Mischa Thomas dropped her phone in the middle of the halfpipe on her second run Sunday. It had to be retrieved for her. After the competition, she reported the phone is doing “great. Never been better.”

Ever have that happen before?

“First time, actually,” said Thomas, who finished eighth in an event won by Eileen Gu. “I was joking about it the other day, ‘My phone never falls out of my pocket.’”

No cross-country medal for Jessica Diggins

The American was in the race for bronze until the last kilometre of the 50 km mass start when Switzerland’s Nadja Kaelin pulled away and finished in third place.

Sweden’s Ebba Andersson won the race more than 2 minutes ahead of Norway’s Heidi Weng. Diggins finished fifth.

It was the first time at the Olympics that the women raced 50 km, just like the men. Previously, the mass start was 30 km for the women.

Italian Olympic organizers taking a victory lap

Organizers of the Milano Cortina Olympics are taking a victory lap.

Italy’s most senior Olympic official, Giovanni Malagò, got a standing ovation from his fellow International Olympic Committee members at their games-closing meeting.

“We are so overjoyed that we cannot feel how tired we are,” Malagò said a later news conference for the organizing committee that he leads.

Milan Cortina faced doubts about getting venues ready on time, if enough fans would buy tickets and if athletes could enjoy being in venues more separated by distance than at previous Winter Games.

“These have been challenging, difficult years, you all know that,” Malagò tells reporters.

The first draft of Olympic history is judging these games a success.

Eileen Gu finally got her gold

The world’s best freeskier defended her title in the halfpipe to add this gold medal to the two silvers she’d won earlier at the Olympics in slopestyle and big air.

She has now won medals in all six events she’s entered over the last two Games — three gold and three silver.

Gu, born in America but competing for China, was part of a 1-2 Chinese finish with Li Fanghui taking silver.

Britain’s Zoe Atkin won bronze.

Jessica Diggins fights for a medal in her last Olympic race

The 34-year-old American skier, who is retiring after this season, already has two individual medals, a silver and bronze, from the 2022 Winter Olympics and a team sprint gold from the 2018 Games.

She is with a group of skiers in contention for the bronze with about 7 km to go in the mass start race.

The gold and silver appear out of reach though: Race leader Ebba Andersson of Sweden is more than 5 minutes ahead of Diggins.

Norway’s Heidi Weng is a minute behind Andersson.

Canadian Olympic Committee weighs in on the curling controversy

The CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee is comparing the double-touching scandal that plagued the country’s curling team to “a foot fault in tennis or travelling in basketball.”

David Shoemaker, who is also the committee’s secretary-general, was asked by The Associated Press about the controversy a day after the Canadian men swept aside the cheating allegations to claim gold.

He said it “was not cheating.”

“For me it’s like a foot fault in tennis or travelling in basketball,” Shoemaker added. “If LeBron James takes four steps on the way to the hoop no one says LeBron James is a cheater.

“I understand the furor that’s erupted on social media, but that part is not fair and hopefully we will see that go away.”

The sport was sent into turmoil during the round robin phase when Oskar Eriksson of Sweden accused Marc Kennedy, Canada’s vice skip, of touching the rock again after initially releasing it down the sheet of ice. Kennedy responded with an outburst full of expletives.

Drink up, hockey fans!

Fans back in parts of the U.S. and Canada are being allowed to get an early start on consuming alcohol this morning.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul both announced they’ll allow alcohol to be sold as early as 6 a.m.

That will let folks “watch the U.S. go for the gold together,” Hochul posted on social media.

Ford wrote on X: “Let’s all come together, support local businesses and cheer on Team Canada!

Where the Miracle happened, they’ll watch hockey

Exactly 46 years ago, the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York, was the site of the greatest moment in USA Hockey history — the 4-3 win over the Soviets in the men’s semifinals of the 1980 Games.

People will watch hockey there again Sunday.

A café at the arena is opening early so fans can watch the U.S. men play Canada in an effort to win their first hockey gold since 1980. And bars all over the Empire State will likely follow suit.

Israel sled out of 4-man bobsled race

Israel’s first Olympic four-man bobsled team didn’t make it to the last day of the Games.

The team piloted by AJ Edelman tried to change push athletes after Saturday’s first two runs. That’s only allowed under special circumstances.

Some Israeli media outlets reported the national Olympic committee had questions about the team’s motivation for making a lineup switch. Israeli officials did not respond to messages Sunday.

Edelman acknowledged the team tried to get a replacement athlete in the sled for Sunday’s resumption of the competition. “But the circumstances under which we made the substitution did not meet the bar that allows a team to make a lineup change,” he posted.

Edelman’s sled was 24th out of 24 finishers in the two runs held on Saturday.

Sweden’s Karlsson and Sundling missing from cross-country race

A big setback for Sweden, which has dominated the women’s cross-country competition in Milan Cortina: Top stars Frida Karlsson and Jonna Sundling aren’t competing in the 50-kilometre mass start race.

Swedish ski federation spokeswoman Ulrika Sterner told AP both of them have cold symptoms. Karlsson won two gold medals at the Games before she got sick: the skiathlon and the 10-kilometre interval start. Sundling placed second in the women’s sprint and won the team sprint for Sweden together with Maja Dahlqvist. Both were in the Swedish team that won silver in the women’s relay.

Pau Gasol unanimously voted on to IOC board

The International Olympic Committee just loves Pau Gasol.

The NBA great and three-time Olympic medallist with Spain got a vote of 80-0 from his IOC member colleagues Sunday to confirm joining its executive board through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Gasol will represent athletes on the influential 15-member board for the next 2 1/2 years. It shapes as a challenging lead-in to the next Summer Games.

His IOC membership as an athlete-elected delegate expires after L.A., but the Olympic body finds ways to keep favoured sons and daughters inside the family.

Gasol’s starting to have an aura of possible future president about him.

Sweden is taking on Switzerland for gold in women’s curling

Appropriately dressed Sweden fans are streaming into Cortina’s historic curling arena, which was built for the 1956 Cortina Games.

In bobsled, Germany is seeking a 4-man medal sweep

Germany is poised for another bobsled medal sweep.

Johannes Lochner, Francesco Friedrich and Adam Ammour hold the 1-2-3 spots with one run left in Sunday’s four-man race. Germany has the only two Olympic sweeps in bobsled history — the two-man races in 2022 and 2026.

If it sweeps four-man, Germany would finish these Games with nine bobsled medals. The U.S. won the other three.

This could be the third time only two nations have medalled in Olympic bobsled.

The U.S. (2 medals) and Germany (1) were the medal-winning nations in 1928, while East Germany (4) and Switzerland (2) were the only ones in 1980.

A record-setting Winter Olympics: 6 golds and 15 medals for the US in women’s events set marks

The U.S. women’s hockey team had just won Olympic gold, and veteran forward Kendall Coyne Schofield summed the moment up perfectly.

“We did it!” she exclaimed.

Plenty of American women — more than ever at a Winter Olympics — had the same sentiment at these Milan Cortina Games.

When it came to winning medals, they indeed did it. And in record numbers, too.

American women — not even counting mixed events — went into Saturday, the next-to-last day of these Olympics, with six golds and 15 medals overall. The previous U.S. winter women’s-only marks: five golds (done in 1992, 2002 and 2018) and 13 medals (done in 2014 and 2022).

“Our team is so strong,” Milan Cortina women’s slalom gold medallist and Alpine legend Mikaela Shiffrin said. “We have so many incredible athletes and teammates and friends, and everybody just showed up with so much courage and heart here. And I’m so proud to be part of this American team.”

What to watch on Day 16 at Milan Cortina Games: US-Canada hockey final and three other gold medals

The final day of the Milan Cortina Olympics ends with one of its most anticipated events, when the United States and Canada face off for the gold medal in men’s hockey.

There are also medals to be awarded in cross-country skiing, curling and bobsled before the closing ceremony Sunday night.

Here are some other things to watch for:

U.S. and Canada meet for men’s hockey gold. The last U.S. men’s team to win it all at the Olympics was the “Miracle on Ice” team in Lake Placid. New York, in 1980. The only other gold was 1960.

American cross-country skiing star Jessie Diggins will be hoping for a medal in what will be her last race in the Olympics. But she will have a tough battle against a stellar Swedish team.

After beating top-ranked Canada in the semifinals, Sweden will face Switzerland in the final of the women’s curling.

Germany’s Johannes Lochner is the leader midway through the four-man bobsled race and he’s well on his way to ending his career with double Olympic gold.

___AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics