Team Canada ultimately made its mark on Day 1 across multiple sports. (Credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images, Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)
The first full-day of competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is in the books. Valérie Maltais was the biggest story of the day, as she claimed bronze in the women’s 3000-metre speed skating event, marking Team Canada’s first medal of these Olympics.
Additionally, Canada’s figure skating team positioned itself to land on the podium in the team figure skating event and Canada’s women’s hockey team opened up its Olympic gold-medal defence with a win over Switzerland.
It wasn’t all good news, though, as it was a rough day for Canada’s downhill skiers, with no one coming down the mountain in a position better than ninth. Canada struggled in mixed doubles curling as well, losing to both Estonia and Great Britain and being left with something special to accomplish on Sunday.
Valérie Maltais wins Canada’s first medal of the 2026 Olympics, capturing bronze in women’s 3,000-metre speed skating
Valerie Maltais of Canada in action. REUTERS/Yves Herman
(REUTERS / Reuters)
Valérie Maltais of La Baie, Que., is Canada’s first Olympic hero of the 2026 Games.
The 35-year-old captured bronze in the women’s 3,000-metre speed skating event in a time of 3:56.93, to win Canada’s first medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
This is Maltais’ second career Olympic medal in her fifth Games. She previously won gold in 2022 in the team pursuit competition as part of Team Canada. She made her Olympic debut at the 2010 Vancouver Games, competing in short-track speed skating. After the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, she switched over to long track.
Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida won gold in an Olympic record time of 3:54.28 in front of a raucous home crowd. Ragne Wiklund of Norway won silver, edging out Maltais in a time of 3:56.54.
Ottawa, Ont., native Isabelle Weidemann, who won gold alongside Maltais in the team pursuit competition in Beijing four years ago, finished fifth with a time of 3:59.24.
Canada’s figure skating team within striking distance of a medal
Stephen Gogolev of Canada performs his routine during the Figure Skating, Team Event, Men’s Single Skating – Short Program routine at the Milano Ice Skating Arena. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
(Tim Clayton via Getty Images)
Canada’s figure skating team is in prime position to land on the podium in the team skate event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Thanks to strong performances from the ice dance duo of Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha and a dazzling Olympic debut from 21-year-old Stephen Gogolev, the Canadians are currently in fourth place with 35 points. They find themselves just two points back of third-place Italy and only four behind second place Japan.
Gogolev put up a season-best score of 92.99 in the men’s short program leg of the team event, powering Canada to the top-five finish it needed to reach the final.
Afterwards, Lajoie and Lagha also delivered a season-best performance score of 120.90 in the ice dance free dance to keep Canada right in the thick of it.
Canada enters the last three events of the team event in hot pursuit of Italy and Japan for a podium spot. The United States has separated itself from the pack with 44 points.
The final is broken up into four different events that only the top five teams compete in. It began with Saturday’s ice dance free dance. The last three events — pairs’ free program, women’s free program and men’s free program — will all go on Sunday to determine who wins the medals.
Canada’s women’s hockey team open Olympic gold-medal defence with shutout vs. Switzerland
Daryl Watts of Canada celebrates scoring their fourth goal against Switzerland with Claire Thompson of Canada and Sarah Nurse of Canada REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
(REUTERS / Reuters)
Four different skaters scored as Canada’s women’s hockey team begun its Olympic gold-medal defence with a 4-0 shutout against Switzerland Saturday.
Natalie Spooner earned the game-winning goal with a power-play marker a little over seven minutes into the second period. Sarah Fillier, Daryl Watts and Julia Gosling each scored in the third period — all on the power-play — to help secure a six-save shutout for goalie Emerance Maschmeyer.
Canada outshot Switzerland 55-6 and was generally dominant in all facets of the game except when it came to finishing plays off. Swiss goalie Saskia Maurer was sensational, making a number of tough saves while under duress all game long. However, with the kind of sustained offensive pressure the Canadians were putting on from puck drop, it was surprising to see how long it took for the dam to finally burst like it did in the third.
There was initial fear that this game wouldn’t be played. Switzerland was isolating in Milan on Friday after one player was diagnosed with norovirus. It’s the same stomach illness that ran through Finland’s team and forced a postponement between them and Canada on Feb. 5.
A Swiss medical official said that there would be no issues with Switzerland playing the game, however, clearing the way for Team Canada to finally take the ice.
Canada’s postponed match with Finland is scheduled for Feb. 12.
The team next plays Monday, Feb. 9, against Czechia.
Canada’s mixed doubles curling team’s Olympic tournament already on the line
Brett Gallant of Canada in action with Jocelyn Peterman of Canada against Bruce Mouat of Britain and Jennifer Dodds of Britain REUTERS/Issei Kato
(REUTERS / Reuters)
Canada’s mixed doubles curling team of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant are already in trouble.
The Canadian pair opened their day with a 7-5 loss to the Great Britain duo of Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat and then proceeded to drop an 8-6 decision to Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill, seeing their record fall to 3-3.
The Olympic mixed curling event started on Feb. 4, a couple days before the official start of the Games.
Peterman and Gallant will have their work cut out for them to ensure a playoff berth. Of the 10 teams competing, only the top four reach the playoff after a nine-game round robin. Canada is currently tied with Switzerland for fifth place.
The Canadians will next face the fourth-place Swedish tandem of Isabella and Rasmus Wranå at 8:35 a.m. EST/5:35 a.m. PST on Sunday.
More Team Canada news on Day 1
In the women’s slopestyle event, Canadians Megan Oldham and Naomi Urness qualified for the final, finishing with the seventh and eighth-best scores, respectively. The final will take place on Day 3, Monday, Feb. 3 at 6:30 a.m. EST/3:30 p.m. PST. Fellow Canadians Sky Clarke and Elena Gaskell were unable to qualify for the final.
Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen won the first gold medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics, winning the men’s downhill in a time of 1:51.61. A pair of Italians, Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris, rounded out the podium. Four Canadians, James Crawford, Cameron Alexander, Jeffrey Read and Brodie Seger, competed in the event, finishing ninth, 14th, 25th and 28th, respectively. A total of 36 skiiers competed in the event.
Four Canadians participated in the women’s 20 KM skiathlon cross-country skiing event. Alison Mackie, who finished 22nd, Jasmine Drolet (38th), Katherine Stewart-Jones (45th) and Amelia Wells (50th). A couple of Swedes, Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson, took home gold and silver, while Norway’s Heidi Weng won bronze.
Evan McEachran, the lone Canadian in the men’s slopestyle freestyle skiing event, failed to qualify for the final, recording a score of 57.85. Norwegians Birk Ruud and Tormod Frostad led the competition after qualifying with scores of 81.75 and 79.96.
In the women’s normal hill ski jumping event, Canada’s Abigail Strate and Nicole Maurer finished in 11th and 19th place, respectively. The podium saw Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm take gold, Nika Prevc of Slovenia win silver and Japan’s Nozomi Maruyama capture bronze.
Canadian Francis Jobin finished seventh in the men’s snowboard big air event. Japanese stars Kira Kimura and Ryoma Kimata took home the gold and silver, while China’s Su Yiming was able to secure the bronze.
Three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medallist Meryeta O’Dine was unfortunately forced to withdraw from Olympic competition due to injury. The snowboard-cross athlete fell during a training session, fracturing her ankle. The 28-year-old is a native of Prince George, B.C. She won a pair of bronze medals in women’s snowboard cross and the mixed team snowboard cross events at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. “I’m heartbroken,” O’Dine said in a statement. “But I am proud of the work I put in this year to get here.