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Curling fans, rejoice! It is only fitting that the one sport played every single day of the Winter Olympics is the one that opens proceedings at Milano Cortina. Dubbed “chess on ice”, curling may not have the brute force of ice hockey or the airtime of snowboarding, but it is a huge test in precision, patience and handling pressure.
Enter mixed doubles, which has its own subplot straight out of a romcom, with husband-and-wife pairings representing Norway, Canada and Switzerland. Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten came up against familiar foes on Wednesday, having edged Great Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat in a semi-final thriller at Beijing 2022, sealing victory with the last stone.
In the much-lower stakes rematch, Dodds and Mouat saw out a 8-6 victory to give Team GB a winning start to their Olympics. The Scottish pair looked unfazed by the early challenge of Nedregotten and Skaslien. Team GB led 4–3 at the break, were pegged back shortly after, but then seized the initiative in the sixth end when Dodds produced a superb shot to win three points.
“It was a very back-and-forth game,” said Dodds. “It took us a minute to figure out one side of the ice was curling more than the other. We took the other side and had a lot better control, that’s when we took that step up in performance and controlled the game from there.”
Norway narrowed the gap using the power play, but Mouat and Dodds responded in kind in the final end to seal victory. The result sets them up well for Thursday’s match against Estonia, who fell to a 9-7 defeat after an extra end against Switzerland in their curling debut at the Games.
Four minutes into play, all four games came to a halt owing to a power outage at the Olympic Ice Stadium in Cortina, which was built for the 1956 Games. Officials briefly paused the matches after the lights dimmed and flickered but the lights came back on shortly after. “I didn’t mind the lights going off,” joked Mouat. “It was a bit of a boogie, a rave … it was like a nightclub.”
Canada’s husband-and-wife pairing Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant enjoyed a smoother outing than the Norwegians, defeating the Czech Republic’s Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabicovsky 10–5. The Canadians surged into control early and Peterman’s precise draw for two in the fourth extended the advantage to 7–3 before the Czechs conceded after seven ends.
Isabella and Rasmus Wranå, Sweden’s sibling duo, opened their campaign with a win over South Korea’s Kim Seon-yeong and Jeong Yeong-seok, though the match ended in unusual fashion. Sweden sealed the result by stealing four points before another stolen point in the sixth made it 10–3. Officials then brought the game to an early close, mistakenly believing seven ends had been completed despite South Korea seemingly hoping to continue for extra ice time.
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s hopes of winning multiple skeleton medals have been hit by a potential helmet ban just days before the start of competition.
The British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (BBSA) has lodged an appeal with the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) against a decision by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) to outlaw the team’s new helmets.
The BBSA is challenging the IBSF’s ruling that the helmets, which feature aerodynamic ridges, are not compliant with the sport’s existing regulations. Cas is set to hold a hearing on Thursday, just over a week before the men’s competition is due to start.
Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt of Team GB have dominated skeleton all season, winning all seven of the World Cup races, making them strong favourites to win gold and silver in Milan. Team GB have won seven skeleton medals since the sport returned to the Winter Olympic programme in 2002.
Heated Rivalries: fierce debate over ICE
ICE agents deployed at Milano Cortina will not conduct any policing on Italian streets, Italy’s interior minister told parliament on Wednesday, dismissing political outrage over their presence as baseless. “ICE does not and will never be able to carry out operational police activities on our national territory,” Matteo Piantedosi said. The outrage over their presence, which included the Milan mayor, Giuseppe Sala, warning they were not welcome in the city, was “completely unfounded”, he added.
Piantedosi said it was standard for countries to send security officials to the Olympics, with Italy having sent them to Paris for the 2024 Games.
Italian politicians from opposition parties had criticised the presence of ICE agents but Piantedosi said Italy had drawn up a massive security plan for the opening ceremony, dispatching 6,000 police officers, ranging from bomb squads and canine anti-sabotage teams to alpine units and anti-terror operatives. “We will not deviate one centimetre from the course we have taken to ensure safety and public order at this major event, which will further strengthen Italy’s international credibility,” he said.
Picture of the day
Further reading from the Guardian
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Welcome to new cold war as world descends on Italy amid global political chaos
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Skinning, boot-packing and downhill skiing: welcome to skimo
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Cool Runnings 2.0: Jamaica’s bobsleigh crew want their own Hollywood ending
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From Bradbury to Bright: five of Australia’s best Winter Olympic moments
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From the archive: 1956 had glamour, records broken and no protests
Full schedule | Results | Medal table
What to look out for today
Times are all in local time in Milan and Cortina. For Sydney it is +10 hours, for London it is -1 hour, for New York it is -6 hours and San Francisco it is -9 hours.
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Curling – 10.05am, 2.35pm and 7.05pm: more mixed doubles match-ups across three sessions, with the reigning gold medallists, Italy, in action against Canada.
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Ice hockey – 12.10pm, 4.40pm and 9.10pm: the women’s preliminary round matches begin with the five-time gold medallists Canada facing Finland in the day’s final game.
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Snowboarding (big air) – 7.30pm, 8.15pm and 9pm: three runs of the men’s qualification 1 take place.
The last word
It was an out-of-body experience to be asked, and I am just so incredibly excited and honoured. It means so much to me, but also it is this beautiful unity with the whole of Team GB across the villages. I hope to not drop the flag and to do everyone proud – Lilah Fear on being one of Team GB’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony. The ice dancer will be joined by the bobsleigh pilot Brad Hall.
Hit reply or email OlympicBriefing@theguardian.com to get in touch.
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