Canadian cheating controversy clouds curling
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Welcome to your daily review and preview of this year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics. My name is John Cherwa and I’m your tour director for the Games as the U.S. throws a big goose egg when it comes to medals on Sunday. Meanwhile, our friends to the North seem to be in need of a timeout after cheating allegations.
No doubt the U.S. has been coming up short at some of these Olympic events. Two solid golds from figure skater Ilia Malinin and snowboarder Chloe Kim went to the trash after both failed to make the top of the medal stand. Kim at least got a silver while Malinin finished eighth in the event he was supposed to dominate.
On Sunday, the U.S. did what seems inconceivable — didn’t win one medal of any color.
There is seemingly no way the U.S. can catch Norway in gold medals. The U.S. hasn’t been on top with golds since, well, 1932, the only time the U.S. has won the gold total. In fact, on Saturday, FanDuel listed Norway at -1500 for winning the most golds and the U.S at +270. That means to win $100 on Norway, you have to put up $1,500. Or, if you bet $100 on the U.S., you could win $270. This wagering opportunity wasn’t available online on Sunday afternoon, meaning it may be so lopsided it was taken off the board.
One inadvisable way to close the gap is to cheat, or at least let people think you are cheating.
With that ham-handed segue, we turn our eyes to the north and our onetime buddies, Canada, which is accused of cheating at curling.
The Canadian team, first the men and then the women, have been accused of double touching the stone during the initial release. That would be illegal. For the hundreds of millions unfamiliar with curling rules, you can touch the handle of the stone as much as you want until it hits the “hog-line,” or release line. But not after it. You are never allowed to touch the non-handle part of the stone during a shot.
So it goes back to Friday when the Swedes set up a camera on the line that appeared to show Canadian curler Marc Kennedy double touching the stone, which would remove it from play in that end. It ended with an expletive-filled shouting match between Kennedy and Oskar Eriksson of Sweden.
Then on Saturday night, Canada’s women’s team was accused of double touching by match officials in their match with Switzerland.
Pretty much everyone involved denies any wrongdoing.
Let’s not forget the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, where staff of the Canadian women’s soccer team used drones to spy on an opponent’s closed training.
Let’s contemplate if their national anthem, which is way better than ours, becomes more of a “Oh, no, Canada?”
Elsewhere on Sunday
—It will take something special for the U.S. to get a medal in the pairs figure skating. After the short program, it’s Germany, Georgia (the other one) and Canada on the medal stand. Ellie Kim and Dany O’Sullivan of the U.S. are seventh.
—The U.S. men’s hockey team finished pool play undefeated, beating Germany, 5-1.
—Erin Jackson of the U.S. was unable to defend her gold in 2022 and finished fifth in the women’s 500 in speed skating. The Netherlands took gold and silver.
—Italy wins the women’s super G skiing. Mikaela Shiffren, who won this event in 2018, finished 11th for the U.S.
—Italy picks up another gold, this time in the women’s biathlon 10km Pursuit. Deedra Irwin of the U.S. was 35th. In the men’s 12km Pursuit, it was Sweden which took the gold. Campbell Wright of the U.S. was eighth.
—Winter Olympics powerhouse Norway won the cross-country men’s 4 X 7.5km relay. The U.S. was sixth.
—The U.S. had a strong curling day, with the men (now 3-2) beating Sweden, 8-5, and Norway, 10-8. The women (4-1) beat China, 6-5.
—Canada (yes, them) won the freestyle skiing dual moguls competition. The U.S. was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
—Britain got its first gold of the day when it won the snowboard mixed team event. The U.S. teams lost in the quarterfinals and were 14th and 15th.
—Skeleton competition finished up with Britain winning the mixed team and the U.S. seventh.
—It was Norway in first and second in the women’s ski jumping normal hill. The U.S. finished in the last three spots of 30 jumpers.
Best Thing to Watch on TV today
No getting up before the sun today as we have a diverse offering of good watches for Monday. You can start with the U.S. women’s hockey team playing Sweden in the semifinals. Puck drop about 7:40 a.m. PST. Then, at 12:10 p.m. PST you can catch Canada and Switzerland in the other semifinal. Around 11:00 a.m. PST, the pairs free skate starts, but the U.S. pair of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea are seventh so don’t wait for the end. Finally, at around 12:06 p.m. PST is the start of the fourth and final run of the women’s monobob. The third run starts at 10 a.m. The U.S. is strong with Elana Mayers Taylor, silver winner in Beijing, in second and Kallie Humphries, the gold winner in Beijing, in third. Kaysha Love is in fifth all after two runs. Of course, a German is first.
Favorite photo of the day
Times photographer Robert Gauthier is at the Winter Olympics. Each day, Times newsletter editor Houston Mitchell will select a favorite photo from the many Gauthier has taken.
Monday’s full Olympic TV and streaming schedule
Monday’s live TV and streaming broadcasts for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics unless noted (subject to change). All events stream live on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com with a streaming or cable login. All times Pacific. 🏅 — medal event for live broadcasts.
MULTIPLE SPORTS
8 p.m. — “Primetime in Milan” (delay): Figure skating, skiing, bobsled, short track speedskating and more. | NBC
ALPINE SKIING
1 a.m. — Men’s slalom, Run 1 | USA
4:20 a.m. — 🏅Men’s slalom, Run 2 | Peacock
4:30 a.m. — 🏅Men’s slalom, Run 2 (in progress) | USA
11:45 a.m. — Men’s slalom (re-air) | NBC
BOBSLED
1 a.m. — Two-man bobsled, Run 1 | Peacock
2:55 a.m. — Two-man bobsled, Run 2 | Peacock
4 a.m. — Two-man bobsled, runs 1 and 2 (delay) | USA
10 a.m. — Women’s monobob, Run 3 | NBC
12:05 p.m. — 🏅Women’s monobob, final run | Peacock
12:30 p.m. — 🏅Women’s monobob, final run (in progress) | NBC
CURLING
Women (round robin)
12:05 a.m. — China vs. Canada | Peacock
12:05 a.m. — Denmark vs. Britain | Peacock
12:05 a.m. — Sweden vs. Switzerland | Peacock
Men (round robin)
5:05 a.m. — Czechia vs. Canada | Peacock
5:05 a.m. — Britain vs. Norway | Peacock
5:05 a.m. — Italy vs. China | Peacock
5:05 a.m. — Sweden vs. Germany | Peacock
Women (round robin)
7:15 a.m. — China vs. Canada (delay) | USA
Men (round robin)
8:30 a.m. — Britain vs. Norway (delay) | USA
Women round robin
10:05 a.m. — U.S. vs. Italy | Peacock
10:05 a.m. — Japan vs. Canada | Peacock
10:05 a.m. — South Korea vs. China | Peacock
10:05 a.m. — Switzerland vs. Britain | Peacock
FIGURE SKATING
8:30 a.m. — Pairs free skate, warmup | Peacock
10:45 a.m. — Pairs free skate, Part 1 | USA
12:55 p.m. — 🏅Pairs free skate, Part 2 | NBC
FREESTYLE SKIING
10:30 a.m. — 🏅Women’s big air, final | NBC
HOCKEY
Women’s semifinals
7:40 a.m. — U.S. vs. Sweden | NBC
12:10 p.m. — Canada vs. Switzerland | Peacock
1:15 p.m. — Canada vs. Switzerland (in progress) | USA
SHORT TRACK SPEEDSKATING
2 a.m. — 🏅Women’s 1,000 meters final and more | Peacock
3:55 a.m. — Women’s 1,000 meters, final (delay) | USA
9:45 a.m. — Women’s 1,000 meters final and more (delay) | USA
SKI JUMPING
9 a.m. — 🏅Men’s super team, large hill | Peacock
SNOWBOARDING
1:30 a.m. — Women’s slopestyle, qualifying | Peacock
1:50 a.m. — Women’s slopestyle, qualifying (in progress) | USA
5 a.m. — Men’s slopestyle, qualifying | Peacock
5:30 a.m. — Men’s slopestyle, qualifying (in progress) | USA
7 a.m. — Women’s slopestyle, qualifying (delay) | NBC
In case you missed it ...
Check out the following Milan-Cortina Olympics dispatches from the L.A. Times team on the ground in Italy:
U.S. men’s hockey rolls past Germany, closes Winter Olympics group play unbeaten
Mikaela Shiffrin finishes outside top 10 in giant slalom as her Olympic woes continue
Jordan Stolz sets records, snaps Americans’ skid at Winter Olympics
Airbags, blue lines and good underwear: 6 features of Olympic skiing you should know
2026 Winter Olympics Day 9 live updates: Record broken for most gold medals
Until next time...
That concludes today’s Sports Report Olympic Edition newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email newsletter editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here and select the Sports Report.
