Games Briefing 🏅 | This is The Athletic’s daily newsletter for the Milan Cortina Olympics. Sign up here to receive the Games Briefing directly in your inbox.
MILAN — Buonasera from Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, where I’m sitting among a crew of nine Athletic journalists watching a consequential quarterfinal round in the men’s hockey tournament. Will the Canadians and the Americans advance to the semifinals? We know Slovakia is through, and we’ll see about the others by the end of tonight.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
🥇 Mikaela Shiffrin’s gold
🏒 Hilary Knight’s farewell
🌐 Sololympians
To stay on top of everything throughout Italy, 📲 stick with our ongoing live coverage and 📅 customize your schedule by day and by sport, tailored to your time zone.
Challengers: U.S. vs. Sweden quarterfinals
Yep, and it’s highly difficult for both of them but a highly entertaining prospect for us fans. Both of these teams have serious aspirations for gold, and their matchup at this point in the tournament feels like a gold-worthy game rather than a mid-tournament eliminator.
Still, think of it like a great Elite Eight matchup in an NCAA Tournament, the kind that justifies labeling that portion of the bracket as the group of death or some other hard mode nickname.
“(Wednesday) could be our last day,” U.S. defenseman Quinn Hughes said. “So we’ve got to be prepared. Playing a really good team.”
Here’s how our forecast sees the full field following Slovakia’s win over Germany, but before Canada and the Czech Republic took the ice (the times shown below are local 🇮🇹, Canada-Czech Republic is currently underway):
Follow our live coverage of Canada-Czech Republic here, and U.S.-Sweden here.
And here’s how to watch the USA-Sweden game, and we do recommend you watch just because plans have often not gone as expected all around these Olympics.
Around the Games
⛷️ Today was enormous for Mikaela Shiffrin, the skiing great who simply has not had good Olympic results lately. She had two nearly flawless runs to win the slalom gold, and her first run was so ridiculous that it probably would have been apt to just award her the medal then and there — she was nearly a second up on the rest of the field.
🏒 American Hilary Knight is in her fifth and final Olympics. Which means that the U.S.-Canada women’s hockey final is going to be her last game. That has her teammates and others reflecting on her importance in the sport: “Women’s hockey is where it’s at because of her. To be able to end with a gold medal for her, I think that’s the legacy we all want to leave for her,” American forward Hayley Scamurra said.
1️⃣ What do Bolivia, Nigeria and Venezuela have in common? They are each represented by one athlete at these Winter Olympics. And they say there’s a special bond that happens among athletes from countries with small delegations.
🏳️ Should Eileen Gu compete for China or the United States? JD Vance, the American vice president who was here for the first few days of the Games, says she fits the qualities of someone who should compete for Team USA.
🇨🇳 China is on the board with gold, in snowboard slopestyle. Congrats, Su Yiming. And Xu Mengtao quickly followed in aerials.
🧠 A social psychologist who studies the psychology of performing under pressure tells us that at times, the human nervous system confronts challenges it was never designed to face. She uses that to help explain the science of what Olympic athletes, like Ilia Malinin, are facing.
🤏 The New York Times looks at what happens when competitions are so, so close.
Reminder: All of The Athletic’s Olympics coverage is free to read in our app.
📸 On the Scene
Zack Pierce / The Athletic
The calm after the storm — aka, Shiffrin’s gold-medal moment — at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Planning Ahead: What to watch Thursday
📺 There will be seven gold medals in play Thursday. Here are some of them:
Ski mountaineering, men’s and women’s sprint
Ice hockey, women’s bronze (Switzerland-Sweden) and gold (U.S.-Canada)
Speedskating, men’s 1,500-meter race
Figure skating, women’s free skate
And here’s a peek at the medal race with 87 events down and 29 remaining:
Thank you for reading and following our coverage. You can reach us at ogarcia@theathletic.com and zpierce@theathletic.com with any questions or feedback.
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