Olympics Edition — Day 7: Love is in the air
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Leveling The Playing Field
Happy Galentine’s Day!
Heart-shaped treats and Olympic action (controversy not withstanding) — what more could you ask for?
- There’ll be no newsletter on Monday as our team is off for Family Day, but we’ll see you right back here with more from Milano Cortina on Tuesday. Until then, here’s the latest, plus what to watch this long weekend. Claim dibs on the remote now.
🥇 | 🥈 | 🥉 | Total | |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 8 | 2 | 6 | 16 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 6 | 3 | 8 | 17 |
| 🇺🇲 USA | 4 | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada (15th) | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
🥈🏂 Canadian snowboarder Éliot Grondin finished just 0.03 seconds shy of gold, crossing the line milliseconds behind Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle in yesterday’s thrilling snowboard cross finale — a nearly exact replica of the 2022 photo finish.
🥉💨⛸️ Short track speedskater Courtney Sarault earned women’s 500m bronze yesterday, using a strong final lap to capture her second medal of the games. Fellow Canadian Kim Boutin finished fifth, while Florence Brunelle was sixth after winning the B Final.
- On the men’s side, William Dandjinou led for much of yesterday’s 1000m final, but a slip paired with a late surge from his foes meant the 24-year-old missed the podium. Expect Dandjinou to dress for revenge for tomorrow’s 2:15 p.m. ET 1500m.
🥈🏂 American snowboarding icon Chloe Kim was denied a threepeat in the women’s halfpipe after a spectacular final run from 17-year-old South Korean Choi Ga-on unseated Kim from the top spot. What can we say, Choi learned from the best.
- 🇨🇦 As for Canadian Elizabeth Hosking, the challenging weather conditions were detrimental. The 24-year-old fell on all three of her runs, injuring her shoulder on her final attempt.
- Fingers crossed for better weather when the men hit the halfpipe today at 1:30 p.m. ET because Australian veteran Scotty James has a date with destiny.
🏒 Now that’s how you get your mojo back: The Canadian women’s hockey team dismantled Finland 5–0 in their final preliminary game yesterday, setting up tomorrow’s 10:40 a.m. ET quarter-final showdown against Germany.
- The star-studded men’s team was equally dominant in their opener, crushing Czechia 5–0 with five different players lighting the lamp. The red and white (with a hopefully healthy Josh Morrissey) are back in action today at 3:10 p.m. ET against Switzerland.
🎿 Canadian cross-country skier Alison Mackie finished eighth in the women’s 10km yesterday, Canada’s best-ever finish in the grueling event. Not bad for an Olympic debut.
🥌 Canada stayed undefeated in men’s curling after Brad Jacobs’ rink topped their American foes 6–3 overnight. Rachel Homan will look to replicate that showing on the women’s side when her team takes on Team USA today at 8:05 a.m. ET.
🇺🇦 Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified yesterday for wearing a helmet deemed “too political” by the International Olympic Committee. Heraskevych’s helmet commemorates Ukrainian athletes and coaches who died because of Russia’s invasion, many of whom were his friends. He’s since filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
🏳️⚧️ Swedish freestyle skier Elis Lundholm is the first-ever transgender Winter Olympian after competing in the women’s mogul event on Wednesday. Consider the ceiling smashed.
❤️🩹 Beloved Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris is starting to feel like himself again after a scary crash sidelined him for last week’s Big Air competition. As it stands, McMorris is on track to participate in slopestyle qualifying on February 16th. Eh-xcellent.
TOGETHER WITH RBC Training Ground
✨ Let’s talk about Kelsey Mitchell, a sports chameleon, part-time comedian, and RBC Training Ground alum. Now suiting up for Canada at Milano Cortina, Mitchell’s a woman of many talents:
🥇 She’s a quick study: A former soccer player, Mitchell tried cycling after attending RBC Training Ground in 2017, becoming a world record holder and Olympic champ within four years.
❄️ She likes to go fast, like really fast: After mastering the velodrome, this speed demon converted to bobsleigh, qualifying for her first Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina — yet another example of raw potential meeting opportunity at RBC Training Ground.
🦵 She has the best nickname in the game: They call her “quadzilla” because, well, she has legs of absolute steel. A résumé featuring soccer, cycling, and bobsleigh will do that.
Now, Mitchell’s part of the exclusive club of Canadian athletes who’ve competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, with RBC jumpstarting her career in the fast lane.
In partnership with RBC Training Ground, we’re spotlighting RBC Olympians and RBC Training Ground alumni during the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.Men’s figure skating
⛸️ Defying gravity
The GIST: Today’s the day — 21-year-old American Ilia Malinin, who leads the men’s individual figure skating competition following Tuesday’s short program, will skate for gold. Much has been made of the self-proclaimed Quad God’s promise, so let’s explore why many folks believe the rising star could become the greatest figure skater of all time.
👀 What sets Malinin apart?: Figure skating is a sport of precision and audacity. Similar to legendary Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, Malinin’s routines often have a higher degree of difficulty compared to his competitors because he can perform skills that others simply cannot.
- Case in point? During December’s Grand Prix Final, he completed seven quad jumps (more on those later) in a single program. And then there’s his signature backflip, a move that was banned in figure skating until 2024.
- That said, Malinin’s debut Olympics haven’t been picture-perfect. He finished second in the team event short program, a shock considering he was the heavy favorite, but found redemption in his long program to clinch Team USA the gold.
😵💫 Let’s talk about the quadruple axel: The quad axel — a jump that features four and a half rotations — is the most difficult skill in figure skating. It’s so hard that only one person has ever landed it in competition, and that’s Malinin.
- The Quad God notably has yet to perform the skill in Milan. Will he pull it out of his bag of tricks today? Find out when he goes for gold, and looks to write another chapter in his growing legend, today at 1 p.m. ET.
TOGETHER WITH Snyder's of Hanover
🥨 Pretzels make the party
❣️ Hosting pals for Galentine’s Day? We have your snack situation figured out. It’s easy to find Snyder’s of Hanover® Pretzel Pieces just about anywhere you shop, with bold flavours like:
- 🍯 Honey Mustard & Onion
- 🧀 Cheddar Cheese
- 🔥 and of course, Hot Buffalo Wing
From IGA to Loblaws to Instacart, you’ll be snacking on crunchy pretzels that push the limits of flavour in no time. Find Snyder’s of Hanover® at the grocer nearest you.
Event | ⏰ | 👀 |
| 🏒 Women’s hockey quarter-finals | Tomorrow at 10:40 a.m. | 🇨🇦 Canada vs. 🇩🇪 Germany |
| 🥇⛷️ Freestyle skiing men’s dual moguls | Sunday at 5:46 a.m. | 🇨🇦 Mikaël Kingsbury, Julien Viel |
| ⛸️ Pairs skating short program | Sunday at 1:45 p.m. | 🇨🇦 Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps |
💍 Put a ring and a medal on it
Love is in the air at Milano Cortina, where two Team USA HABs (husbands and boyfriends, the male equivalent of the popular acronym WAG) garnered attention as they celebrated with their Olympian partners.
- Alpine skier Breezy Johnson added some hardware to her gold medal when her boyfriend, Connor, proposed at the base of the slope after one of her events. Even Taylor Swift herself was saying, “Aww.”
- Then Cleveland Browns defensive end and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett traded his pads for a very big camera to support his girlfriend, aforementioned Team USA snowboarder Chloe Kim, as she took silver in the halfpipe. Now, that’s amore.
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