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Milan Cortina: What to watch today in the Winter Olympics as Jordan Stolz eyes another gold medal (2/14)

February 14, 2026 · Yahoo Sport

The Winter Games have begun in Italy. From the rink to the slopes, a new generation of stars has emerged to chase gold. We’ll keep you connected to all of the thrilling moments and top stories as we track the medal race each day of the Games.

Team USA didn't add a medal to its count of 14 on Friday, but it's hoping there will be lots of love to go around on Valentine's Day when the Americans will take their latest shot at the podium.

Here are the top five things to watch on Saturday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics:

The Americans' 5-1 victory over Latvia in the teams' opening match of group play was far closer than the score suggests — at least initially. It was 1-1 midway through the second period, and then Colorado Avalanche center Brock Nelson lit the lamp and took off the lid, jumpstarting a string of goals that put the Latvian's successful first-period challenges in the rear-view mirror. Nelson starred on the U.S.' fourth line. He finished with two goals and could have two more, had one not been disallowed because of goalie interference and had another of his shots not ringed off the pipe. Next up in Group C for Team USA is a Denmark squad that dropped its group-play opener to Germany 3-1. Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, who made his NHL debut with the Seattle Kraken earlier this season, scored the Danes' lone goal in that matchup. Without current NHL blueliners, the Danish are in for a tall task defending a loaded American offense.

Jordan Stolz is the future of U.S. speedskating. He's also the man of the moment. The 21-year-old Kewaskum, Wisconsin, native won gold in the first of his four events at this year's Games, taking first place in the 1,000 meters with a time of 1:06.28 that broke a 24-year-old Olympic record. Now he'll be taking part in the 500 meters. He's once again the favorite, but he's not necessarily a lock for gold. While he's responsible for five track records in the distance around the world, and came within less than a tenth of a second of the event's world-record time (33.61) in 2024, he'll face stiff competition from the Netherlands' Jenning de Boo and Poland's Damian Żurek, the latter of whom beat Stolz in the 500 in Germany during a World Cup event in late January. If Stolz wins gold Saturday, his Olympic journey, inspired by Apolo Anton Ohno, will continue to be compared to that of another Wisconsinite, Eric Heiden, who piled up five gold medals at the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980.

U.S. curling had something to celebrate on Friday, as the American women defeated Canada for the first time since women's curling was introduced to the Olympics in 1998. Team USA is now 2-1 in round-robin competition, with its lone loss coming against Sweden. Cory Thiesse is enjoying quite the Olympics. She's part of the women's team and already has a silver medal from mixed doubles competition. She and her teammates will face off against 0-2 Japan on Saturday.

While the American men had beaten Canada before — notably in the 2018 Olympic final — they dropped to 1-2 in this year's round-robin action with a loss to the Canadians on Friday. The U.S. men's team consists of four 20-somethings and alternate Rich Ruohonen, a 54-year-old personal injury lawyer. After subbing in during Team USA's loss to Switzerland on Thursday, Ruohonen became the oldest American to ever compete at a Winter Olympics. He and his crew will take on 2-1 Germany on Saturday.

By the way, have you been wondering how those Olympic curling stones are made? Here's the answer.

Dual moguls has arrived at the Olympics. Skiers will go head-to-head on parallel moguls courses and, as usual, will be judged on their form, air and time. Americans cleaned up in this season's only World Cup dual moguls event, with Jaelin Kauf, Liz Lemley and Tess Johnson finishing first, second and third, respectively. The U.S.' Olivia Giaccio was fourth. Lemley and Kauf went 1-2 in the traditional moguls event earlier this week. Kauf won five of her seven World Cup dual moguls events last season. Of course, Australia's Jakara Anthony will be eager to give the U.S. skiers a run for their money, particularly after her disappointing moguls final.

This year's Olympics began with more controversy surrounding ski jumping, a sport that has a track record of cheating. Ski jumpers were alleged to have injected their penises with hyaluronic acid in an attempt to get bigger suits that would help increase the length of their jumps, and World Anti-Doping Agency president Witold Bańka said he'd investigate. That sparked conversation about a slew of events that are decided by the smallest of measurements. One of those events is the men's large hill, and its final is on tap. While Norway has won the most gold medals in Olympic ski jumping history, a Slovenian could finish first on Saturday. Domen Prevc is the favorite to win gold despite placing sixth in the individual normal hill event. But he and his sister, Nika, helped Slovenia earn a title in mixed team normal hill earlier this week. Domen will go for gold again on Saturday, this time with hopes of attaining the honor in an individual event.

Giant slalom

  • 4 a.m.: Men’s run 1 (USA Network)

  • 7:20 a.m.: Men’s run 2 (NBC coverage begins at 7:30 a.m.)🏅

7.5 kilometer sprint

  • 8:45 a.m.: Women's final (NBC)🏅

Relay

  • 6 a.m.: Women’s final (USA Network)🏅

Women's round-robin

  • 3:05 a.m.: Great Britain vs. Canada (airs at 7:30 a.m. on USA Network), Italy vs. China (airs at 8:30 a.m. on CNBC), Switzerland vs. Japan

  • 1:05 p.m.: Canada vs. Switzerland, Japan vs. USA (airs at 5:30 p.m. on CNBC), South Korea vs. Denmark, Italy vs. Sweden (airs at 8 p.m. on CNBC)

Men's round-robin

  • 8:05 a.m.: Czechia-Great Britain, Sweden-China, Switzerland-Canada, Germany-USA (airs at 1 p.m. on USA Network)

Dual moguls

  • 4:30 a.m.: Women’s finals (USA Network coverage begins at 4:40 a.m.)🏅

Big air

  • 1:30 p.m.: Women's qualifying

Men's pool play

  • 6:10 a.m.: Sweden-Slovakia, Germany-Latvia

  • 10:40 a.m.: Finland-Italy (USA Network)

  • 3:10 p.m.: USA-Denmark (USA Network)

Women's quarterfinals

  • 10:40 a.m.: Teams TBD (CNBC)

  • 3:10 p.m.: Teams TBD (CNBC)

  • 2:15 p.m.: Women’s 1000m qualifying, women’s 3000m relay semifinals, men’s 1500m final 🏅

  • 12 p.m.: Women's runs 3, 4 (NBC will air run 3 live; runs 3 and 4 will air on USA Network at 5:30 p.m.)🏅

Large hill

11:30 a.m.: Men’s final (airs at 1 p.m. on USA Network)🏅

Team pursuit

  • 4 a.m.: Women’s qualifying (USA Network)

500 meters

  • 11 a.m.: Men's final (NBC)🏅

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