Stars could align for USA and Canada in ice hockey, while hosts Italy are getting their downhill hopes up
All eyes are on the, ah, essentials of the Norwegian men’s ski jump team as they try to recover from one of the great botched crotch stitch switch scandals of 2025. Two of their gold medal-winning athletes from Beijing 2022, including the defending Olympic champion on the long hill, were banned for three months after a whistleblower published a video of their coach tampering with the (strictly regulated) crotch stitching on their jumpsuits at the Nordic world championships last year, in an attempt to make them more aerodynamic by adding padding. Groin-gate led to a national debate about ethics in sport and a complete overhaul of the rules. We’re told doctors are now using “3D measurements” to carefully scrutinise all competing athletes before competition.
After a 12-year holdout, the National Hockey League has finally agreed to let its players participate in the Olympics again, which means the ice hockey tournament at Milano Cortina is going to be a proper test of the world’s best for the first time since Sochi in 2014. Russia have been banned from the competition, but given the current state of relations between Canada and the US there’s still going to be plenty of geopolitical needle. The opening match between the two during the Four Nations last year started with three fights in the first nine seconds, and any game between them in the knockout rounds is going to be the single hottest ticket of the Olympics. Elbows up.
