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 — The NHL Hall of Famer Chris Pronger deserves the first word today: “We’ll have to see how things come together, and which of these teams can really peak at the right time. Because it can flip fast,” the two-time Olympic gold medalist said in an exclusive guest column.
Applies to the whole Games again and again, doesn’t it? Expect that to continue as we hurtle through the last week:
⛸️ Women’s figure skating is here
🩼 Lindsey Vonn in U.S.
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.
Blade Angels: American trio looks to reclaim gold
We’ve received a few emails from you expressing you’re ravenous for more figure skating coverage — “rabid” was the word one of you used. Well, your time has come!
Hours before competition started here at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, Americans Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu were getting loose in practice on the ice. (Yes, there were some triples, and Glenn especially focused on her jumps.)
The competition is now underway, and they skate toward the end of it. Liu is the first of the Americans to go, taking the ice at about 4:20 p.m. ET. Isabeau Levito is right after Liu, and Glenn is the penultimate skater of the night.
Their women’s individual figure skating competition is arguably the main event of the Winter Olympics. (Arguably is an important qualifier here — we know you have your preferences and that this debate varies widely by country, by year, by circumstance and of course, by fanhood.) The winner will automatically become one of the faces of the Games worldwide.
Enter the “Blade Angels,” the American trio of Glenn, Liu and Levito. They are aiming to put an American on the podium for the first time since 2006, when Sasha Cohen won silver. If one of them wins gold, it’ll be the first for the Americans since Sarah Hughes won in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
Here’s a bit about them:
The group’s nickname was their pick, by the way. Among the names that didn’t make the cut, according to Olympics.com: “Powerpuff Girls” and “Babes of Glory.”
In other figure skating news, Ilia Malinin has made clear that he plans to get back out on the ice soon, starting with an exhibition gala that is a figure skating closer for each Olympics. As Marcus Thompson II writes, it’s a fitting start of a comeback for someone who intends on being one of the greats.
And Brittany Ghiroli talked with the coach who you’ve seen in so many kiss and cry shots, who has 13 national jackets for the 16 athletes he coaches across these competitions. His plans after the Games? To go to a beach in Miami with his son and just lay low for a while.
We agree wholeheartedly.
Around the Games
⛷️ Zak Keefer and Charlotte Harpur teamed up for a fascinating look at Eileen Gu, who is by far the most popular athlete in Livigno in terms of demands from media and fans. Everything surrounding her — the decision to represent China instead of the United States, her profile in freeski, her celebrity — has come at a cost, they write. “I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever,” Gu said.
🤕 Lindsey Vonn is back in the United States, but says she hasn’t stood on her own feet in over a week.
🚨 In our Red Light newsletter, Sean McIndoe explores the chances of dual U.S.-Canada finals in both men’s and women’s hockey.
🔫 The sleeper hit of these Olympics has been biathlon. Come spend an afternoon with us in this wild sport.
🙏 The New York Times spoke to nearly two dozen parents of Olympic athletes, and while pride and joy are felt watching their children compete in these extreme sports, the overarching emotion is something more like fear.
Reminder: All of The Athletic’s Olympics coverage is free to read in our app.
📸 On the Scene
Xavier Laine / Getty Images
This moment of Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan celebrating after winning gold in pairs is really much more understandable if you’ve seen the detail of figure skating seemingly pulled straight from reality television: Those placed 1 through 3 at any given moment are seated rinkside, with cameras pointed at them capturing all their reactions to the action, mistakes and all.
There are outward displays of support, of course, and hugging when skaters come off once they’re finished. But there are also clear, even if small, moments that you don’t see on TV, like celebrations of mistakes, little chatter assessing what they’re seeing and mental math of technical and execution scores. It’s clearly instinctual — how could you not get caught up during one of the biggest moments of your life, especially if you’re sitting front and center?
Miura and Kihara were on a roller coaster up to this point. A costly drop during their short program on Sunday left them both clearly stunned on the ice. So they came back with a heater of a free skate to run away with the title.
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia were also under the reaction microscope, and looked genuinely surprised to win silver over Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany.
Planning Ahead: What to watch Wednesday
📺 There will be nine medals in play Wednesday. Here are some of them:
- Snowboarding, men’s and women’s slopestyle
- Cross-country skiing, men’s and women’s team sprint free
- Alpine skiing, women’s slalom
And here’s a peek at the medal race with 78 events down and 38 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.
📫 Enjoy The Athletic’s daily Olympics updates? Check out our other newsletters, too.