Thrills, spills and chills – welcome to the 2026 Winter Olympics

UPDATED
DAY 16
Australian medallists Danielle Scott and Cooper Woods have proudly flown the flag for the nation as Italy said a warm “ciao” to the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The Italians farewelled the world’s best athletes in style at the Closing Ceremony of the Milano Cortina Games in the historic city of Verona on Monday morning AEST.

Australia’s flag-bearers were given the honour from among the six athletes who made Australian sporting history these Games in our best ever performance at the Winter Olympics. Seasoned aerialist Scott won the silver medal at her fourth Olympics, while Woods snatched the gold medal and global headlines in the men’s moguls.

Jakara Anthony recovered from her shock loss in the women’s moguls to win gold in the dual moguls contest, while snowboarder Josie Baff gave Australia its third gold. Another silver went to Scotty James, making him the first Australian in history to win three individual medals, while Matt Graham’s bronze in the gruelling men’s dual moguls was a thriller.

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DARING TO DREAM ON DEBUT
Australia’s final medal hope Melbourne schoolgirl Indra Brown came into the Milano-Cortina Games with only four World Cup outings, three of them ending with her on the podium.

And after qualifying third for the 12-competitor final, the teenager could dare to dream.

Brown started cautiously, posting a score of 56.50 on her opening run to be in sixth spot before ramping it up on her second and third runs.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough, with the 16-year-old finishing fifth with an impressive 87.

But what an incredible achievement nonetheless, pulling out the only 1080 of the competition, with gold medallist Eileen Gu racing over to congratulate the Aussie teen on her incredible display.

“You did so well”, Gu could be heard saying as she embraced Brown.

Initially hoping to make her Olympics debut at the French Alps in 2030, Brown qualified for Italy after winning gold, silver and bronze medals in her first three World Cup appearances and backed it up with a silver in superpipe at last month’s X Games.

So while her Games debut didn’t end in a medal, Brown did the nation and herself enormously proud.

“Just really proud of how I was able to improve each run and put it down there when it counted. Really proud of myself,” Brown told Channel 9.

“I’m really stoked to be able to put (the 1080) down, that was the best run I’ve ever landed in competition. I’m just really proud and stoked.”

As for her embrace with Gu, that was equally special.

“It was a really special moment to have someone I idolise give me a hug after I land my third run at the Olympics,” she said.

The final day belonged to Gu, who showed why she is the most decorated freestyle skiing athlete in the world, despite being only 22 years of age, with an incredible 94.75 in her final run to improve on her already stunning 94 from her second run to take gold.

Gu’s Chinese compatriot Li Fanghui (93) finished second to claim the silver, while Zoe Atkins took the bronze with a 92.50.

Gu’s gold medal adds to her impressive haul at the 2026 Olympics, after winning two silver medals in slopestyle and big air and now has six Olympic medals.

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DAY 13
Amid a crowded field of contenders, a rogue dog making his unscheduled Olympic debut might just take the gold medal for maddest moment of the Milano Cortina Games. The hound even earned himself the biggest cheer from the delighted crowd as he crossed the finish line behind the humans.

Olympic medal hopefuls were coming onto the final straight in the women’s team cross country qualifiers in Tesero on Wednesday.

Suddenly a large, wolf-like dog appeared on the track, investigating a trackside camera before taking off after two skiers.

The excited canine followed the Croatia and Greece racers as they crossed the line, energetically greeting the competitors before walking away.

The action occurred in front of a packed grandstand, full of people who were delighted to see the adorable dog make an appearance.

Top qualifiers Jonna Sundling of Sweden and Astrid Oyre Slind of Norway were both playful when asked about the invader.

The Sun quoted first-place Sundling referring to the canine as “cute” while her competitor joked: “A dog is my least problem, a Swede is my biggest”.

Last-place finisher Konstantina Charalampido of Greece saw the animal as a silver lining in her otherwise unhappy heat.

“Luckily, he was very well-behaved,” she told The Sun. “He followed the camera on the finishing straight, was cute, and thankfully didn’t disrupt the race.

“It was funny. He made me forget about the race, because it wasn’t good. Thanks to him, I’m famous now, so I have to thank him.”

But others were more concerned about how the dog got on the track in the first place, with skiing expert Fredrik Aukland claiming on NRK that the dog’s involvement in the race “could have been a disaster” – a sentiment echoed by Croatian athlete Tena Hadzic in other news reports.

Hadzic was one of two skiers the dog followed over the finish line and thought she was hallucinating from race fatigue. She also initially mistook the large dog for a wolf.

The owner of the harmless hound later came forward, revealing her furry friend was named Nazgul, after the ringwraiths in Lord of the Rings, and had escaped from home earlier that day.

The dog’s owner told Norwegian outlet VG that the two-year-old Czech wolfhound “just disappeared, ran away from home”.

“He is a very kind dog,” she said. “Very stubborn, very sweet and very social. He always seeks contact with people. He doesn’t hurt people.”

The original version of this article originally appeared in The Sun and this edited version is reproduced with permission.

DAY 12
Danielle Scott has delivered another proud podium moment for Australia, wiping away tears after winning silver in the women’s aerials finals on Wednesday night.

The 35-year-old landed a trick she hadn’t pulled off in three years, just missing the gold medal but claiming her first Olympic medal at her fourth Winter Games.

The emotions of her medal-winning performance overcame Scott during the medal presentations.

Scott led after the first round of the final, with a career-best score of 117.19. That whopper run meant Scott was the last jumper in the final and she pulled off a “full full full” when it mattered most.

Scott executed the triple twisting triple somersault with superb style but just grazed the snow with her hands on landing, scoring 102.17 points and narrowly beaten by China’s Xu Mengtao’s 112.9. China’s Shao Qi claimed the bronze.

Xu’s victory means she retains her title as Olympic champion, after winning the same event in Beijing in 2022.

Scott had tears of joy in her eyes as she rushed over to hug her supporters. Her second-place finish comes 24 years to the day since Australian Chef de Mission Alisa Camplin won gold in the same event in Salt Lake City and Camplin was seen jumping for joy as Scott’s medal was confirmed and was one of the first to embrace Scott.

Scott’s husband Clark Denning was full of praise.

“It’s pretty damn hard,” he said. “That’s over 15 years of training, blood, sweat and tears going into this, and it’s just incredible to see it pay off. She’s incredible, and I’m just super proud.”

Our female aerialists made sure there was plenty of green and gold in the air. Abbey Willcox finished in 10th place, jumping with a glove to acknowledge Australian great Laura Peel, who withdrew with a knee injury suffered in training earlier this month. Peel’s late replacement Sidney Stephens, from Western Australia, successfully landed her two jumps, despite only having a handful of practice jumps in the past month, to finish 15th and Ashleigh Frigo was 22nd.

Scott shared her mixed emotions when speaking after the ceremony, revealing she had asked members of her family not to make the journey to Livigno.

“I was in a really difficult place and I told all my family and friends that they couldn’t come,” she said. “They’d booked their tickets and it was really heartbreaking to say that, because I just was feeling the pressure and I just needed to focus on myself, so I’m grateful that Clark’s here, but he’s the only one that was allowed, so thank you to everyone at home for not coming.”

As reported by Code Sports, Scott said she opened up to her family about her wishes after struggling to execute jumps during the World Cup in Canada in January.

“I was not jumping the way I needed to, so, I was heartbroken to say that to them, but you know what, this (the medal) is for them and I’m grateful they believed in me,” she said.

Scott’s medal is the sixth for Australia at this year’s Games, Australia’s most successful Winter Olympics campaign in history.

TWO-WOMAN BOBSLEIGH TO COME
Meanwhile in the bobsleigh, serious medal contender Bree Walker, aka “Bobsled Bree,” was right in the hunt after her fourth heat in the monobob, but finished eighth after struggling to adjust to the course conditions.

Walker admitted to feeling “pretty heartbroken and pretty shattered” after the monobob, but immediately turned her disappointment to determination.

“When I crossed the line, I said, ‘All right, that’s done, on to two-man’,” Walker said in an AOC press release.

The two-woman bobsleigh begins on Friday, with Walker and teammate Kiara Reddingius teaming up for their second straight Games together. Let’s go, Australia!

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DAY 11
Milano Cortino has been pretty crazy so far and now it’s weather keeping things wild. The world’s top aerial skiers have to reset after a heavy snowstorm saw their qualifying event postponed for 24 hours.

New South Wales girl and two-time world champion Danielle Scott, 35, is part of a national contingent including Brisbane’s Abbey Willcox, 29, Victoria’s Airleigh Frigo, 26, and the late replacement 23-year-old Sidney Stephens, from Margaret River in Western Australia, who will all now compete in the qualifying rounds on Wednesday night (AEST).

Both aerials and the snowboard slopestyle competition – featuring Australia’s 16-year-old finalist Ally Hickman, were cancelled on Tuesday for 24 hours after the Italian Alps valley was blanketed in snowy, windy conditions.

More than 40cm of snow fell in one day, and volunteers and aerials officials spent Monday night clearing the course, but after two delays at the aerials course, officials decided the conditions were too dangerous to proceed.

While visibility improved later in the day, Olympic officials couldn’t proceed because of medical restrictions. The heavy snow had closed the one road leading into Livigno, meaning ambulances couldn’t get in. Emergency access is mandatory for a competition to proceed and the low visibility had also ruled out using a helicopter.

Officials were looking at holding the women’s aerial qualifying round, followed by the finals competition, all on a single day on Wednesday. The men’s aerials would then be delayed until Thursday.

Australian aerials coach Renee McElduff said the Australian team had prepared for such delays during various scenario-planning exercises at the Brisbane water jump back in Australia.

“The athletes think we are nuts,’’ said Ms McElduff, explaining the coaches might schedule then cancel a mock competition, or have wind hold for 20 minutes while the athletes have to sit then warm up again.

“We throw whatever we can at them because we don’t know what’s going to be thrown at us when we get out here,” she said.

Ms McElduff said Scott was the most versatile member of the Australian team and was ready for any situation, while the others were experiencing their first Olympics.

“Danielle’s technical jumping is second to none, so she can execute on the double or the triple and it doesn’t matter what is needed. She’s ready to go.”

But the situation was a bit more difficult for latecomer Stephens, who was called up on Monday after Laura Peel couldn’t ski during a medical test.

“This is something we trained for, but it’s a little bit more challenging for Sidney, who had the late call up (to replace Peel) and has only had seven jumps on the double ramp in the past month,” Ms McElduff said. “But she is taking it like a champion and she’s resilient and she will put on the best show she can.’’

Meanwhile, Hickman was having to refocus as well, with the slopestyle course ruled out of play early in the day, simply because of the man hours required to clear the long course.

The snow has slowed the course down, making it more difficult for the women to jump onto the high rails at the beginning of the run.

DAY 10
Danielle Scott has stared down the aerials ramp thousands of times, and will draw on her four-time Games experience during Tuesday night’s qualifying event.

Weather forecasters have said the Olympic site at Livigno is due a heavy dump of snow just before the competition, which means all of the testing and training on Saturday and Sunday may be buried under vastly changed conditions.

If the forecasters are correct, the aerials course may be slower and heavier than the compacted, icy snow the skiers have been training on.

But Australia’s best aerial competitor, following the late knee injury to teammate and rival Laura Peel, likes such challenges – Scott doesn’t even mind a difficult takeoff.

Quite possibly the world’s best aerialist in doubles, Scott’s body form in the air is exemplary*, so if the rest of the field has to dial down their big tricks, she may soar – and might even pull out the triple twisting triple somersault.

“No one at the Olympics does their hardest trick,’’ she said. “I think it’s more about strategy (than nerves). And it could come down to that in Livigno.

“If I am in a position where I need to do a triple, then of course I will do one.’’

Scott has had more than her fair share of disappointment at previous Olympics. She has made the aerials finals at Sochi, PyeongChang and Beijing, but on each occasion has been well out of the medals.

Yet she goes into the Milano Cortina event after winning a gold and a bronze at the World Cup events in Lake Placid last month and being the Crystal Globe winner for two seasons. So she goes into Milano Cortina in strong form.

Flying four to five storeys high into the air, flipping and twisting, then having to land perfectly on the snow is not for the faint-hearted. It is a sport that is particularly cruel on ACLs*. Peel did hers in training earlier this month and has been ruled out of the Games. That loss was keenly felt, not just in the individual competition, but in the teams event where Scott, Peel and male jumper Reilly Flanagan were flagged for a possible medal.

Scott, a former gymnast, said that when she stands at the top she tries not to think about injuries.

“You really want to narrow your focus into everything you’ve been working on,’’ she said.

“So we do hundreds and hundreds of jumps. And there might be specific cues that your coach has told you to think about. So, I think it’s nothing particular each time.

“It’s probably more just in the moment and what you need to be conscious of, whether it’s the wind, what your coach is saying. Yeah, just that open awareness.’’

Being an athlete is part of Scott’s identity. She started in the sport 20 years ago while growing up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and now lives at the NSW surfing hotspot Boomerang Beach – and she loves the feeling of flying through the air and challenging herself.

“It’s just something that I know I can’t do forever,” she said. “So, I want to do it as long as I can. And, yeah, I think just being an athlete is my identity.”

But don’t talk about retirement to Scott, who is 35.

“I feel like the younger generation puts so much spotlight on what your age is. And I don’t know why, if that’s the way they deal with social media. So, it’s funny when they talk about it. Because I only feel like I’m 20. Age is only a number. It doesn’t matter to me.’’

Yet Scott’s longevity* in the sport does count. Experience is everything in dealing with the rapidly changing conditions, wind direction, speed on the snow, takeoff and coping with the pressures of Olympic competition.

She said: “That’s the thing in our sport, it’s all about experience. And as much as my body has taken a lot of impact over the years, that experience is very valuable.”

Scott said soaring so high was “awesome” and she found progressing from the smaller single jump to a double and then to the big triple jump was addictive.

“You just chase that feeling more and more and you want to go higher, you want to go faster; it’s a pretty cool feeling,’’ she said.

DAY 9
Australia’s medal rush continued at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, after a smashing performance by Matt Graham to win the bronze in the men’s dual moguls on Sunday.

Australia has won five medals in the last four days of competition. Hundreds of Australian friends, fans and family are now celebrating in style in the mountain village of Livigno in the Italian Alps, where the freestyle and snowboard events have been held.

Graham’s effort extends the best performance by an Australian team at the Winter Olympics, after wins by Josie Baff in the snowboard cross, Cooper Woods in the men’s moguls, and Jakara Anthony’s redemptive* gold in Saturday’s dual moguls. Scotty James also picked up a silver medal to add to his previous Olympic silver and bronze, in the snowboard half-pipe.

The bronze medal was particularly fitting for 31 year old Graham, from Bondi NSW, who has been the mainstay* of the Australian moguls program for a decade and can leave the sport on a high. His wife Jessica and baby daughter Ada were in the crowd watching.

Graham was earlier outclassed in the round of four by number two seed Ikuma Horishima, of Japan, who had only got through skiing backwards in an earlier round.

While watching that hectic contest, the men’s Olympic champion Cooper Woods said Graham exemplified* “leadership, courage and strength’’.

Graham then had to face another Japanese opponent, Takuya Shimakawa, in the “small final” race for third place.

Teammate Jackson Murphy said the culture of intense support within the moguls team was behind the Milano Cortina success.

Headed by coach Pete McNiel, a stickler for technical perfection, the supportive environment through the highs and lows, such as Anthony’s devastation in the women’s individual event, has been rewarded here.

Australia had four skiers progress to the top 16 of the dual moguls – a head to head contest – but three of them drew the blue line, which seemed a slightly more challenging side.

Amid the chaos on the course, both Harvey, of Noosa and George Murphy of Manly were outscored and couldn’t progress through. Even Woods also skied off the course midway down the tough midsection in the round 16 and did not advance.

With the rest of week two still to come, with top World Cup performers Danielle Scott in the women’s aerials, Bree Walker in the mono bob and 16-year-old Indra Brown in the ski half-pipe, it is already the best performance by an Australian team at the Winter Olympics.

At the time of writing, Australia was vying for a top ten position on the medal tally, alongside Japan and Switzerland.

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WE'RE FEELING THE LOVE, ACTUALLY, FOR SCOTTY JAMES AND TEAM AUSTRALIA – WATCH THE VIDEO

Don’t miss Olympic silver medallist Scotty James’ viral feel-good video. James reprised* Hugh Grant’s famous dance moves in the iconic* romantic comedy Love, Actually. Shimmying through a chalet in socks to the Pointer Sisters’ toe-tapping tune Jump, James’ video is guaranteed to warm the hearts and tickle the funny bone of every Australian. GO YOU AUSSIES!

POLL

GLOSSARY

• exemplary: commendable praiseworthy, noteworthy, laudable, a fine example
• ACL: the anterior cruciate ligament is a crucial piece of tissue inside the knee joint that keeps it firmly fixed, connecting the femur (upper leg bone) to the tibia (lower leg bone)
• longevity: living or lasting for a long time
• redemptive: an act that saves, reclaims or redeems someone or something
• mainstay: the most important part of something, providing support for everyone or everything else
• exemplified: was, gave or represented a typical example of something

EXTRA READING

Winter Olympics: week 1 highlights

Aussies to shine at Winter Games

Bluey for Brisbane Games mascot?

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which Australian aerialist won the silver medal at her fourth Winter Olympics?
2. How many medals has Australia won so far at these Winter Olympics?
3. How does that result compare with Australia’s previous Winter Olympics results overall?
4. What was behind the Australian moguls team’s extraordinary success, according to moguls skier Jackson Murphy?
5. Australia’s first gold medallist at these Games, moguls skier Cooper Woods, said Matt Graham exemplified what positive qualities?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY
DAY 16 UPDATE

DAY 13 UPDATE

DAY 12 UPDATE

DAY 11 UPDATE

DAY 10 UPDATE

DAY 9 UPDATE

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Which sport?
Choose a favourite Winter Olympics sport. Create a poster. The purpose of the poster is to help other kids understand the rules of the sport, why it will be fantastic to watch and to make them fans. Use your research skills to help you.

Time: allow at least 45 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
Reading about the athletes in the story, choose the one whose story so far most inspires you. Write sentences explaining your choice, using information from the article.

Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES #2
1. Winter Olympic Google Doodle
Google Doodle is Google’s playful twist on its logo, often featuring animations, games, or illustrations that celebrate holidays, events, anniversaries and notable figures. It adds a touch of creativity and surprise to the Google homepage, inviting users to engage with the search engine in a fun and interactive way.

This is an example of a Google Doodle used during the Winter Olympics:

Create your own Google Doodle that celebrates one of the many sports or results of the Winter Olympic Games.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: Visual Arts, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
There have been some bad injuries in the Winter Olympics thus far.

Do you think dangerous sports should remain in the Olympics? State your reasons.

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES #3
1. Olympic Values
Choose a story that includes one of the following themes at the Winter Olympics:

• Perseverance
• Injury comeback
• Team success
• Fair play
• One of your own

Work with a classmate to decipher what value is shown, and how you might see this same value displayed at school.

Create a poster depicting this value and how you’ve seen it in the Olympics and at your school.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: Visual Arts, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
When it comes to the medal tally, which countries are most successful?

Research the results and analyse the reasons why this may be the case:

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Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Mathematics, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Walking in their shoes
The Winter Olympians that have headed over to Italy have been training tirelessly to represent Australia. Imagine how they must feel as their dreams of competing in the Olympics come true. It’s time to walk in their shoes and imagine what they must be thinking and feeling. Write a descriptive piece recounting your experiences. You may like to include: training in your chosen sport; being selected for the Olympic team; travelling to an exciting destination; life in the Olympic Village and the moments before, during and after your event.