Bob Sledding 2026

Mikaela Shiffrin has had one of the weirdest Slalom careers.  She holds the all-time record for most World Cup wins (108) by anyone, male or female, and won Gold Medals in her first two Olympics – but since that win in 2018 and her last 8 Olympic races has not even medaled.  I’m a big admirer or hers, and it has only a smart part to do with her skill.  After all, significant a talent as she is, she hasn’t gotten an Olympic medal for the past three Games.  It’s because she’s one of the most open, honest, thoughtful athlete I’ve seen in any sport when interviewed.  Even when she’s had a terrible race (let alone after a long series of bad Olympic races), she hasn’t hid from questions, but stood before the cameras and taken full responsibility for what she did wrong.  And tends to do it with a shake of the head, like these things happen.  Very disappointed, to be sure, but never coming across despondent, knowing that she’s done so well in the past and expects to ahead.  Today was her last chance to get a medal at these Games – and she had a great first run.  Going seventh, she posted a time that far outpaced anyone, leading by almost a full second.  (And sitting in the leader’s chair, when the camera cut to her, there was no swaggering but she gave an almost-shy “go figure” shrug and a smiling thumbs-up.)  And she not only held her first round lead, but held that .82 second lead.  In the Slalom, though, you have two runs, and both times are combined.

In the second round, with Shiffrin skiing last, the early leaders weren’t putting up times that she would be unable to beat – if she had a normal run.  But the slalom loses a lot of great skiers (Shiffrin no exception).  In fact, the final two skiers before her – the two top contenders for the Gold Medal – both went down.  The first, literally breaking her pole against a gate, and the other – right before Shiffrin – missed the very first gate.  But Shiffrin was great in her race, and rather than take it easy even doubled her lead.  And won her third Gold Medal – the most ever by an American skier.  And now both the youngest (at 18) and oldest (at 30) women's skier to win Olympic Gold Medals.

They held the Women’s Cross-Country Team Sprint, which is the very same relay event that Jessie Diggins and Keegan Randall won in the famous “Here Comes Diggins!!!  Here Comes Diggins!!!” finish, for the first-ever Gold Medal for the U.S.  Diggins competed in what will be her last Olympic race before retiring.  As I’ve noted, Diggins injured herself in her first race of these Games, crashing and bruising her ribs, though she was still able to get a Bronze Medal in the 10K race.  Her bruise is largely healed now, though, and she teamed up with Julie Kern.  The team qualified for the finals.  No medal this time around, but the U.S. team took fifth place.

​Johannes Klaebo of Norway did what was expected, but was nonetheless remarkable.  He won his fifth Olympic Gold Medal of these Games -- which tied him with American Eric Heiden for the most Gold Medals in a single Olympics -- and his 10th Gold overall, the most ever in the Winter Olympics.  The event was the Men's Team Sprint, which is just under a mile.  How unexpected was this?  Beyond it being Klaebo (who still has another event to go), Norway was the two-time defending Olympic champion and won four consecutive World Champions in the event.  The final event that Klaebo will be competing in will be the 50K Mass Start, a race that's about 30 miles. So, he's ranging from a sprint to a marathon!  What was not expected, however, was that the U.S. team of Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden got the Silver Medal, with a big come-from-behind third leg by Ogden, coming back from 12th place to second.  Schumacher had a great last leg, as well, pushing the great Klaebo, finishing just 1.4 seconds behind.  (Though Klaebo coasted the last 30 yards.)

The U.S Men's hockey team was barely leading Sweden 1-0, until it got tied with only 90 seconds to go when Sweden tied the game.  It went into overtime, when the U.S. won and advanced.  For that matter, Canada had to go into overtime as well to advance.

It turns out that a new Olympic sport is going to be introduced on Thursday.  It’s based on an existing sport and will be a sort of condensed version.  The sport is ski mountaineering, which is known as SKiMo.  It combines going up mountain terrain and then skiing down.  The Sprint Event, which is a much shorter version, is what will be added tomorrow.  As the description I read goes, each race comprises “an uphill trek on skis with ‘skins’ underneath that grip the snow, a walk upstairs on foot with the skis stowed in a backpack, known as ‘boot-packing’, and finally a ski down to the finish line, which may include jumps or rolls built into the snow.”  Each heat lasts around three minutes.  For my taste, it sounds great, an ideal Olympic sport for me.  I wish it didn’t include “jumps or roll”, but I’ll wait until I see how that’s handled since, for all I know, it’ll fit in perfectly.

While thinking about Amber Glenn’s short program in figure skating yesterday, only doing a “double” rather than a “triple” and losing seven points, what I wondered – knowing nothing about the actual logistics of the discipline – was:  if a skater knows they just missed a required element and knows that they would lose seven points and their chance of a Gold Medal, and perhaps even any medal – why can’t they try the same move later in the program, instead of doing something that gets them from Point A to Point B but isn’t worth any points?  I have to assume there’s a reason, but if it’s anything other than “It’s not allowed,” then I’d think you’d have absolutely nothing to lose by not trying it, no matter how difficult, since otherwise, you’re off the podium.  At the very least, I’d love to hear an expert analyst explain what it’s not done.

More to come…