Winter Olympics Live Updates: Curling Opens Competition
While the official opening ceremony of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics is not scheduled until Friday, competition quietly began on Wednesday with the first official events of the Games.
Mixed doubles curling opened the Olympic program with four round-robin matches, marking the first medals pathway of the Games. Elsewhere, alpine skiers and men’s luge athletes took part in training sessions as venues across northern Italy transitioned from preparation to competition mode.
Organizers said the staggered start allows early events to progress while final preparations continue ahead of the ceremony that will formally welcome athletes and delegations from around the world.
Curling Sets the Tone
Curling provided the first competitive moments of the Milan-Cortina Games, with four mixed doubles matches played to open the round-robin stage of the tournament.
The results were as follows:
Sweden defeated South Korea 10–3
Great Britain edged Norway 8–6
Canada beat Czechia 10–5
Switzerland defeated Estonia 9–7 in an extra end
Mixed doubles curling is known for its fast pace and vocal communication, with teammates constantly calling sweeping instructions to control the stone’s speed and direction. That dynamic was on full display as Switzerland’s Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann guided her team through a tight contest.
Schwaller-Huerlimann and her husband and teammate Yannick Schwaller secured their victory in an extra end, celebrating afterward with their young son, who joined them on the ice holding a curling broom. Schwaller-Huerlimann competed in world championships while pregnant last year.
Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat claimed the nation’s first win of the Games with their narrow victory over Norway, while Canada delivered a decisive performance against Czechia to open its campaign.
With four matches completed, curling became the first sport to put official results on the board at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Opening Ceremony Still to Come
Despite early competition, the Games will not officially open until Friday night, when the opening ceremony is held.
Organizers have kept details largely under wraps, though the ceremony is expected to highlight Italy’s history, alpine culture, and the dual-host nature of the Games across Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Athletes competing early in curling and other events will still participate in the Parade of Nations.
The ceremony will mark the formal start of the Games and signal the beginning of a packed schedule of medal events across snow and ice disciplines.
Snow Forces Alpine Training Delay
Weather also played a role on the opening day. Organizers canceled the first scheduled downhill training session for alpine skiing due to heavy snowfall.
While snow is essential for winter sports, the volume that fell Wednesday and overnight left course crews without enough time to properly prepare the downhill track for athletes reaching speeds of up to 80 miles per hour.
American skier Lindsey Vonn, who plans to race Sunday while managing a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, will now have to wait until Friday to complete at least one required training run before competition.
Russian Hackers Target Olympic-Linked Sites
Italian officials also confirmed several cyberattacks tied to a pro-Russia hacking group targeting Olympic-related infrastructure.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the hacker group NoName launched low-level distributed denial-of-service attacks against websites connected to the Games, including a four-star hotel in Cortina. The group reportedly claimed responsibility on a Telegram channel, saying the attacks were in retaliation for Italy’s support of Ukraine.
The U.S. Justice Department has previously identified NoName as a Russian state-sponsored hacking group. DDoS attacks typically overwhelm websites with traffic, temporarily knocking services offline without causing permanent damage.
Russia has been barred from Olympic participation due to doping violations and its invasion of Ukraine, and cybersecurity experts have long warned of heightened digital threats surrounding major international sporting events.
Early Signals of a Complex Games
With competition already underway, weather disrupting schedules, and cyber concerns emerging, the Milan-Cortina Olympics are showing signs of the logistical and security challenges that often accompany global sporting events.
For now, curling has delivered the first results, the opening ceremony looms, and organizers continue balancing preparation with the realities of hosting the world’s biggest winter sports stage.
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