Sports

Océane Michelon, of France, celebrates winning gold in the women's 12.5-kilometer mass start biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Saturday, February 21, 2026. MOSA'AB ELSHAMY / AP In the final biathlon event of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, France's Océane Michelon overcame a missed target in the final shooting stage in the 12.5-kilometer mass start race to take gold. In heavy snow and low visibility, Michelon left the range in fourth place but moved ahead on the ski trails to complete the five laps in 37 minutes, 18.1 seconds. Michelon's teammate, Julia Simon, also moved up in the final 2.5 kilometers, crossing the finish line 6.6 seconds back and securing the silver medal. Czech biathlete Tereza Vobornikova ha...

The 2026 edition of the Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, was filled with outstanding performances.

When the first notes of Verdi's La Forza del Destino opera rang out on February 2, part of a pre-Opening Ceremony event held beneath the gilding and elaborate woodwork of La Scala theater in Milan, Cyril Linette and Edgar Grospiron put on a stoic show of solidarity. Linette, the director general of the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games organizing committee, known as COJOP, responsible for developing the 2030 Games to be held in the French Alps, and Grospiron, its president, insisted behind the scenes that the trust between them had not been broken. But this, in fact, was where the real theater began. Just as in the opera by the Italian master, tragic fate soon took hold. Barely a week after the event, and as the grand celebration of winter sports was in full swing in Milan-Cortina, ...

View of the Apollonio-Socrepes cable car, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, February 2, 2026. LISI NIESNER/REUTERS Separated from the rest of Italy by high mountain peaks, Livigno is a small slice of paradise just a stone's throw from Switzerland. To reach this town, perched at 1,800 meters along a small river, travelers must cross the Foscagno Pass, which peaks at 2,291 meters. "When the whole world has seen our landscapes on TV, there will be a tidal wave," said Luca Moretti, director of the local tourist office, on the eve of the Milan Cortina Olympic Games, which conclude on Sunday, February 22. The tourism professional hoped to take advantage of this new fame by "choosing visitors who are in line with the spirit of the place. But without tipping over into overtourism," he ...

During the ice hockey match between Canada and USA at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, on February 22, 2026 - / AFP The United States beat Canada 2-1 to win men's ice hockey gold at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, February 22, the last medal up for grabs at the Milan-Cortina Games. Jack Hughes scored the winning goal in overtime to hand the US men their first Olympic triumph since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" win over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid. The tone for the high-stakes games was set early on when the Americans were booed when they came out for the warm-up by a crowd that appeared to be two-thirds Canadian. But chants of "USA, USA" soon rang out and they got louder when Matt Boldy gave the Americans a 1-0 lead in the firs...

France's full-back Thomas Ramos passes the ball during the Six Nations match between France and Italy at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, northern France, on February 22, 2026. FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP France remained on course for the Six Nations title after a scrappy 33-8 win against Italy on Sunday, February 22. ,Fabien Galthié's side is favored to win back-to-back titles and is the only team to have won all three matches. France grabbed five tries for a bonus point and has 19 tries so far, having managed a tournament-record 30 last year. Jet-heeled left winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey, lock Emmanuel Meafou and makeshift flyhalf Thomas Ramos scored first-half tries at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, two of them set up by star scrumha...

Antoine Kombouaré in Nantes, France, on May 17, 2025. DAMIEN MEYER / AFP Ligue 1 club Paris FC confirmed the sacking of coach Stéphane Gilli on Sunday, February 22, and announced the appointment of former Paris Saint-Germain boss Antoine Kombouaré as his replacement. The club secured promotion to the French top flight for the first time since 1979 under Gilli last season. But a run of poor form has left them just six points above the relegation play-off place and they conceded a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw at Toulouse on Saturday. "Stéphane Gilli will remain in the memory of all those who love this club, the one that helped us return to Ligue 1, almost half a century after leaving it," said PFC president Pierre Ferracci. ...

Ukraine's Paralympic Committee President Valerii Sushkevych speaks to journalists after arriving at Warsaw Chopin Airport, Poland, with team members on March 15, 2022. JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP Ukraine's Paralympic athletes will skip the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Paralympic Winter Games next month in protest at the International Paralympic Committee's decision to allow Russian athletes to compete under their national flag, Ukraine's National Paralympic Committee said. "The Ukrainian Paralympic team and the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine are boycotting the opening ceremony of the 14th Winter Paralympic Games and demand that the Ukrainian flag not be used at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics-2026!," the committee said in...

Real Madrid's French forward #10 Kylian Mbappe at the match between SL Benfica and Real Madrid CF at Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, February 17, 2026. PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP Paris Saint-Germain have decided against appealing a French labor court ruling that forced them to pay their former forward Kylian Mbappé up to €61 million in unpaid wages and bonuses, the club told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday, February 20. PSG, who had been ordered in December to pay the Real Madrid star within a month even if they decided to appeal, said they had decided to close the long-running legal battle. "In the interest of responsibility and in order to put a definitive end to a procedure which has lasted too long, the club has chosen ...

Alex Ferreira of the United States wins the gold for the Men's Freeski Halfpipe Final, Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, Livigno Snow Park, Livigno, Italy, on February 20, 2026. GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS US freestyle skier Alex Ferreira won gold on Friday, February 20, to complete his set of Olympic medals, soaring to victory in a men's halfpipe final littered with errors. Ferreira, who already had a silver and bronze in his collection, posted a winning score of 93.75 after a sublime effort on his third and final run of the competition under the lights in Livigno. He dislodged Henry Sildaru from top spot, but the Estonian's silver was still his country's first medal of the Milan-Cortina Games. Canada's Brendan Mackay took bronze ...