Even before the final pairing of the women’s 3,000m speed skating had finished, two-year-old Tommaso was being hurried towards the middle of the track, where his mother had just broken the Olympic record and was on the verge of winning gold on her 35th birthday. When the final pairing of Joy Beune and Isabelle Weidemann had failed to beat Francesca Lollobrigida’s phenomenal time, the Italian sprinted through the bowels of the stadium to fetch her son.

Still basking in the glow of an excellent opening ceremony and the thrill of two medalists in the men’s downhill skiing earlier in the day, the hosts celebrated a new star. Lollobrigida, the silver medalist from Beijing in 2022, struck gold for the first time in her fourth Olympics. She brought the house down at the Milano Ice Park as she crossed the line in a time of 54.28sec, knocking two and a half seconds off Irene Schouten’s record from 2022.

There were cheers every time one of the splits of the following skaters was red – slower than the Italian – with the fancied duo of Norway’s Ragne Wiklund (silver) and the Netherlands’ Marijke Groenewoud falling short. Beune and Weidemann did not even come close and Lollobrigida was in tears before they crossed the line. “This medal means a lot, but also a demonstration – the fact of not giving up, to start a family, to become a mother and to come back to race,” said Lollobrigida. Valerie Maltais of Canada picked up bronze.

Day one of competition had, until then, belonged to Franjo von Allmen, the last Swiss skier standing on the podium of the men’s downhill event after an assault by an Italian team roared on by the home crowd in Bormio. At one point during the first medal event of the Games, Switzerland held the top three spots after Von Allmen took a stunning seven-tenths of a second off the fastest time set by the favourite for gold, Marco Odermatt, who ended with nothing.

Odermatt and Alexis Monney were pushed off the podium by Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris of the host nation. Italy had won just three medals in the men’s downhill since 1948 and added two more on a poignant day for the team. After winning silver, Franzoni remembered his close friend and teammate Matteo Franzoso, who died last year aged 25 in a training accident in Chile. “The energy I’ve drawn from what happened is immense,” he said. “I’m proud to be Matteo’s friend. I know he’s watching me.” For Paris, it was a first Olympic medal in his fifth Games at the age of 36.

“It feels like a movie,” said Von Allmen, the reigning world downhill champion. His story is one of guts, of needing to crowdfund aged 17 to keep skiing after the death of his father, and of working on construction sites to make ends meet. Even he did not expect to go so fast: “I knew it was a good run but to be seven-tenths ahead of Marco, I was surprised.” As for the 2022 giant slalom gold medalist, Odermatt, his wait for an Olympic medal in the downhill goes on. “This obviously hurts,” he said.

Away from the sporting action, the IOC insisted there is “no outbreak” of norovirus at the Games after five women’s ice hockey players tested positive – Finland had their first game postponed as a result but were thumped 5-0 by the USA on Saturday – and Great Britain will not be able to use their skeleton helmets after the court of arbitration for sport upheld the ban against them.

Heated rivalries: Sweden’s skiers stick it to Norway

The Norway v Sweden rivalry spans most of the Winter Olympic programme but nowhere is it more pronounced than cross-country skiing. Before these Games, Norway had won 52 golds across the men’s and women’s disciplines, with Sweden their closest challengers on 32. In the women’s 10km+10km skiathlon on Saturday, Sweden landed the first blow of 2026 by taking gold and silver in Tesero.

After the USA’s Jessie Duggins was pegged back by an early crash, the Swedish pair of Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson broke away from Norway’s Astrid Øyre Slind when the skiers transitioned from classic to freestyle technique halfway round. Karlsson eventually left Andersson behind to take gold while Slind was caught by her compatriot Heidi Weng who, aged 34, won her first Olympic medal since bronze at Sochi 2014. Your move, Norway.

How it stands

The 2026 emoji medal table is here and the hosts are among those leading the way after day one.

1 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 1 🥈 1 🥉 1 – Total: 3
1 🇯🇵 Japan 🥇 1 🥈 1 🥉 1 – Total: 3
1 🇳🇴 Norway 🥇 1 🥈 1 🥉 1 – Total: 3
4 🇸🇪 Sweden 🥇 1 🥈 1 🥉 0 – Total: 2
5 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🥇 1 🥈 0 🥉 0 – Total: 1
6 🇸🇮 Slovenia 🥇 0 🥈 1 🥉 0 – Total: 1
7 🇨🇦 Canada 🥇 0 🥈 0 🥉 1 – Total: 1
7 🇨🇳 China 🥇 0 🥈 0 🥉 1 – Total: 1

Picture of the day

Further reading from the Guardian

• Bangers and smash: Von Allmen wins first gold of Winter Olympics to fulfil butcher’s dream

• Great Britain’s skeleton team banned from wearing new helmets at Winter Olympics

• Early crash disrupts US favourite Jessie Diggins in race for skiathlon gold

• ‘My ACL is 100% gone’: Lindsey Vonn’s improbable comeback at 41 is just another risk

• Winter Olympics organisers refuse to deny Mariah Carey lip-synced in opening ceremony

• Milan Cortina Winter Olympics 2026: day one – in pictures

• ‘It made me cry’: your favourite moments from past Winter Olympics

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.

• Curling – 10.05am, 14.35pm, 19.05pm: The mixed doubles round robin nears its conclusion with Great Britain in action against Switzerland and Italy.

• Alpine skiing – 11.30am🥇: All eyes are on the women’s downhill event as 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn bids for glory despite a ruptured ACL.

• Cross-country skiing – 12.30pm🥇: The men’s 10km+10km skiathlon takes places as Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo begins his extraordinary pursuit of six golds this Olympics.

• Biathlon – 2.05pm🥇: Norway set out to defend their 2022 title in the 4x6km mixed relay with two male and two female athletes on each team.

• Snowboard – 8.00am to 2.36pm🥇: The men’s and women’s parallel giant slalom events start early in the morning and finish with the afternoon finals.

• Speed skating – 4pm🥇: Skaters go out in pairs in the men’s 5,000m with one shot at setting the fastest time and claiming gold.

• Ice hockey – 4.40pm, 9.10pm: France face Sweden in the afternoon and Czech Republic v Finland is the late game in the women’s group stages.

• Luge – 5pm, 6.34pm🥇: Germany’s Max Langenhan leads the way after the first two runs of the men’s singles, with medals being handed out after run four.

• Figure skating – 7.30pm, 8.45pm, 9.55pm🥇: The team event concludes with the free skating categories – pairs, women’s singles and, lastly, men’s singles.

The last word

Lando Norris, you can come and try curling up in Scotland at the NCA anytime. There’s loads of great coaches up there. We can get you on ice and you don’t need to do baby curling, you can do actual curling” – Team GB’s Jen Dodds encourages the Formula One world champion to up his curling game after McLaren shared a video on social media of him trying a table-top version. Great Britain beat Canada and USA on Saturday to keep up their 100% record in the mixed doubles event.

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