Day 1: What to watch with Team Canada at Milano Cortina 2026
Let the Games begin!
It’s officially Day 1 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Want to know which Team Canada athletes are in action and what medal events are happening? Read on so you don’t miss a moment.
Alpine Skiing
The men’s downhill kicks off the alpine skiing events at 5:30 a.m. ET. Racing for Canada in Bormio will be Jack Crawford, Cameron Alexander, Brodie Seger, and Jeffrey Read.
Crawford posted the fastest time in the third and final training run on Friday at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio. The Canadians have enjoyed past success at this venue. Crawford was second in a FIS World Cup event in December 2022. Alexander finished third in World Cup downhills there in 2023 and 2024.
Cross-Country Skiing
The first cross-country skiing event is the women’s 20km skiathlon, featuring Jasmine Drolet, Alison Mackie, Katherine Stewart-Jones, and Amelia Wells for Canada. They’ll ski 10km in classic technique and then 10km in free technique.That event starts at 7:00 a.m. ET.
This is a new distance at the Olympic Games, having previously been a 15km event (7.5km in each technique) for women. They now race over the same distance as the men.
Curling
It’s a two-game day for Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant in mixed doubles. They’ll get going at 4:05 a.m. ET against Team GB and then come back at 1:05 p.m. ET for a meeting with Estonia.
The Canadians enter the day with a 3-1 record. Great Britain tops the standings at 5-0 while Estonia is 1-3.
READ: Peterman & Gallant respond to challenge of facing Olympic champions and their home fans
Figure Skating
The team event continues with the men’s short program at 1:45 p.m. ET, which will include Canada’s Stephen Gogolev. After that, we’ll know the top five countries that will advance to compete in the free skates, which begin with the free dance at 4:05 p.m. ET.
READ: Team Canada in top five after first day of Olympic figure skating team event
Canada was in fifth place after the first day of competition in the team event.
Freestyle Skiing
It’s qualification day for ski slopestyle. The women will be on the course first at 4:30 a.m. ET, including Canadians Megan Oldham, Naomi Urness, Elena Gaskell, and Skye Clarke.
The men will follow at 8:00 a.m. ET, including Canadian Evan McEachran.
Everyone will do two runs with only the best one counting. The top 12 in each event advance to the finals.
Hockey
Team Canada will play its first game of the women’s hockey tournament, taking on Switzerland at 3:10 p.m. ET. The Canadians were to have opened against Finland on Thursday, but that match was postponed after multiple players on the Finnish team were quarantined following a norovirus outbreak.
READ: Team Canada’s women’s hockey opener will have to wait
Ski Jumping
The women will be up first with the individual normal hill. Three Canadians are entered: Abigail Strate, Nicole Maurer, and Natalie Eilers.
The first round goes at 12:45 p.m. ET, followed by the final round at 1:57 p.m. ET. The top 30 from the first round advance to the final round.
Strate has been enjoying a career year on the FIS World Cup circuit, reaching six podiums, including her first career victory.
Snowboard
It’s the final of the men’s big air at 1:30 p.m ET. Francis Jobin is the only Canadian who advanced from the qualification round. His two best runs landed him in sixth place. Eli Bouchard missed out on being in the final 12 by two spots, a margin of just 1.75 points.
Each snowboarder will do three runs in the final with their best two scores added together for the final rankings.
Speed Skating – Long Track
The first event at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium is the women’s 3000m at 10:00 a.m. ET. Racing for Canada will be Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais, and Laura Hall. Weidemann won bronze in this event at Beijing 2022.
Hall is in the first pairing, Maltais in the eighth pairing, and Weidemann in the 10th and final pairing.