MILAN \u2014 Canada claimed its long-awaited first gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics, as the men’s hockey team delivered a lopsided win and pairs skaters edged a promising start on Day 9 of the Games.<\/p>\n
Mikael Kingsbury reminded the world why he’s the most decorated freestyle skier in history on Sunday as he topped the podium for Canada in the men’s dual moguls event.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
It was a day of yet more firsts in a career full of them: Canada’s first gold medal of the Games, and the first-ever gold medal in men’s dual moguls, which made its Olympic debut.<\/p>\n
It was also a day of lasts for the 33-year-old from Deux-Montagnes, Que., who confirmed he was skiing in his final Games.<\/p>\n
“I gave everything, I had no regrets. I didn’t feel too nervous. I trusted my plan, I trusted the work that I put in with my team and just went for it. I’m really happy with the outcome,” he said.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
“It wasn’t easy today. We had good conditions, but the piste (path) was not easy. But I just trusted my years of experience and the work of my team. I gave it my all, everything I had in my body, to go for this medal.”<\/p>\n
Kingsbury defeated Japan’s Ikuma Horishima 31-4 in the final round of the event.<\/p>\n
He has settled for silver in the individual event earlier in the Games after losing a tiebreaker.<\/p>\n
Kingsbury is one of the sport’s all-time greats, with 100 career World Cup wins. His Olympic medal tally rose Sunday to two gold and three silver.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
“It’s the cherry on top of five Olympic starts and five medals. I got to win it in 2018 (in Pyeongchang, South Korea) in singles, and I got to win it (today) in duals. It’s tough to find the words,” he said.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s men\u2019s hockey team finished a perfect 3-0 in the preliminary round with a 10-2 win over France. Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Mark Stone each had a goal and two assists.<\/p>\n
Macklin Celebrini scored twice, while Jordan Binnington made 11 saves as Canada secured the top seed heading into the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Crosby\u2019s goal was his 15th career Olympic point, moving him past Jarome Iginla as Canada\u2019s all-time Olympic scoring leader.<\/p>\n
“We did what we came to do,” McDavid said of a game that lacked emotion until France’s Pierre Crinon drilled Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon without the puck behind France’s net in the third period. “We came to win a hockey game and continue to get better.”<\/p>\n
Canada forward Tom Wilson, who took exception to the hit, duked it out with Crinon. Both players were given fighting majors and ejected.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
“That’s a big part of what we’re all about,” Canadian head coach Jon Cooper said. “These guys go through a wall for each other. It’s fun to watch.”<\/p>\n
In figure skating, Canadian champions Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud finished third in the pairs short program. Pereira, of Milton, Ont., and Michaud, of Trenton, Ont., produced a season\u2019s best 74.60 \u2014 shattering their previous mark of 70.66.<\/p>\n
The pair also outscored defending Olympic champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China, who finished with a score of 72.66.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
“It’s pretty crazy. They were amazing and they still are amazing. We’ve passed them in practices and watched them this season,” Michaud said after the event. “They are the Olympic champions for a reason and they’re still special, so it means a lot to us.<\/p>\n
“We’ve taken a lot of things from them. It’s an extra confidence boost for us.”<\/p>\n
Former world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps also hit the ice for the pairs short program following their withdrawal from the team event after Stellato-Dudek sustained a training injury on Jan. 30. But a costly fall meant the duo finished the event in 14th place heading into the free skate on Monday.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
In curling, Canada’s men’s team defeated China 6-3. Canada now has a 4-1 record, tied for second place with Great Britain and behind the undefeated Switzerland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason why we played so good tonight is because we had a really great team meeting and debrief last night about how we can improve,” team skip Brad Jacobs said.<\/p>\n
Canada is set to face Czechia (0-5) on Monday.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Canadian freestyle skier Dylan Deschamps qualified for the men’s big air finals. Deschamps, of Quebec City, is ranked ninth after qualifying with a total score of 175.50.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
The final takes place Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, \u00c9liot Grondin and Audrey McManiman competed in mixed team snowboard cross, but did not advance after finishing fourth in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
“So I came out today, did my best, going with the mindset that today is a bonus day \u2013 anything can happen in a team race,” said Grondin, who won silver in the men’s competition on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m proud of my riding and everything I put into it today.”<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
There was good news Sunday morning for Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, who qualified in third place for the slopestyle final after a serious fall in training sidelined him from big air.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old from Regina was cleared to compete Thursday after his Feb. 4 big air crash left him with a concussion, pelvic bone bruising and strained abdominal muscles. He won bronze medals in each of his three previous trips to the games.<\/p>\n
“I had confidence from our team doctor that I\u2019d be done (after) all those tests. I\u2019d passed everything so I could ride with full intensity,” he said. “And I did, and I was ready today, and I rose to the occasion.”<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Cameron Spalding, a 20-year-old from Havelock, Ont., also advanced to the final, qualifying fifth with a second-run score of 78.76 after falling on his first run.<\/p>\n
In ski jumping, Calgary’s Abigail Strate finished 11th in the women’s large hill competition.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old scored 106.9 points on her first jump, then earned 136.7 on her final attempt, giving her a combined score of 243.6.<\/p>\n
Strate said challenging wind conditions impacted her result.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
\u201cThird in the trial round boosted my confidence. I felt good going into the competition round, but I had no chance with the wind conditions,\u201d said Strate. \u201cI got really bad luck. I got in the air and there was no opportunity to fly far. I\u2019m a little disappointed that was taken away from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sport’s Olympic debut saw Norway claim gold and silver with Anna Odine Str\u00f8m scoring 284.8, followed by Eirin Maria Kvandal’s 282.7.<\/p>\n
Slovenia’s Nika Prevc won bronze with a score of 271.5.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Strate was a medal hopeful in the event after she won five of her six World Cup medals this season in large hill, including a gold on Jan. 1 in Germany.<\/p>\n
Norway remained atop the medal standings with 12 gold medals. Italy is in second with eight, while the U.S., the Netherlands, and Sweden are tied for third with five.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 Canada claimed its long-awaited first gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics, as the men’s hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[19,155,4571,5,818,1268,55792,501,517,55756,768,280,55793],"class_list":{"0":"post-459790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-connor-mcdavid","10":"tag-gold-medal","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-hockey-team","13":"tag-jordan-binnington","14":"tag-kingsbury","15":"tag-macklin-celebrini","16":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","17":"tag-pierre-crinon","18":"tag-sidney-crosby","19":"tag-tom-wilson","20":"tag-trennt-michaud"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116080812920141491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}