Day 6 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics was one to remember, turning out to be Team Canada’s best showing of these Games, so far.
To start the day, Mikaël Kingsbury missed out on Canada’s first gold medal of these Olympics by the barest of margins in freestyle skiing men’s moguls. Éliot Grondin captured a silver medal for Canada in men’s snowboard cross after entering the event as the favourite.
Thursday was also a big day for Canadian hockey. Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and the rest of the men’s hockey team finally opened their Olympic tournament and defeated Czechia. And the women’s team bounced back from their 5-0 shellacking at the hands of the U.S. with their own 5-0 win against Finland.
Beyond Kingsbury’s and Grondin’s silvers, Courtney Sarault also won a bronze in the women’s 500-metre short track speed skating event.
Lastly, Rachel Homan and the Canadian women’s curling team started off their Olympic campaign in a positive manner, defeating Denmark 10-4.
Canada’s men’s hockey team routs Czechia to open Olympic hockey tournament
Nathan MacKinnon #29 of Team Canada celebrates his goal with Connor McDavid #97 in the third period against Team Czechia. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
(Gregory Shamus via Getty Images)
Connor McDavid racked up three assists as the Canadian men’s hockey team powered past Czechia 5-0 to open its 2026 Winter Olympic hockey tournament Thursday.
Five different Canadians scored for Canada: Macklin Celebrini, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon and Nick Suzuki.
Canadian starting goalie Jordan Binnington made 26 saves to record the shutout.
Of all the goals Canada scored, MacKinnon’s power-play marker in the third period that made it 4-0 stood out the most. It featured a tic-tac-toe connection between Canada’s star-studded centre trio of Sidney Crosby to McDavid and then to MacKinnon for the finish.
Those three players share six Hart trophies.
Canada next plays Switzerland, who shutout France 4-0 Thursday, on Friday at 3:10 p.m. EST/12:10 p.m. PST.
For more, including highlights and reaction, read here from Yahoo Canada.
Women’s hockey team bounces back from terrible USA loss with big win over Finland
Emily Clark of Canada celebrates scoring their fifth goal with teammates REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
(REUTERS / Reuters)
Emily Clark scored twice as the Canadian women’s hockey team rolled over Finland 5-0.
Jennifer Gardiner, Daryl Watts and Kristin O’Neill also scored for a Canadian side that was in need of a bounce-back performance after an historically bad 5-0 defeat at the hands of the United States Tuesday.
Ann-Renée Desbiens recorded 17 saves in the shutout for Canada.
The win secured second place in Group A for Canada and they will now face Germany in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 10:40 a.m. EST/7:40 a.m. PST.
As TSN’s Claire Hanna reported, Captain Marie-Philip Poulin remained out dealing with the lower-body injury she suffered on Monday. According to Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan, it seems like she’s on the mend and a couple extra days of rest could make all the difference.
Thursday’s game against Finland was a long time coming. This was supposed to be Canada’s Olympic opener a week ago on Feb. 5, but because of a bout of norovirus that ripped through the Finnish team, it was postponed to Feb. 12.
Mikaël Kingsbury misses gold in men’s moguls due to tie-breaker
Mikael Kingsbury of Team Canada reacts as he competes in Men’s Freestyle Skiing Moguls Final 2 on day six. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
(David Ramos via Getty Images)
Mikaël Kingsbury missed out on a gold medal in heartbreaking fashion, forced to settle for silver in freestyle skiing men’s moguls instead due to a tie-breaker.
Kingsbury and Australia’s Cooper Woods finished tied with a score of 83.71, but Woods took home the gold medal because his turns score of 48.4 was higher than Kingsbury’s 47.7.
Japan’s Ikuma Horishima won bronze.
The silver is Kingsbury’s fourth medal in his fourth different Olympic Games. He’s now won silvers at the 2014, 2022 and 2026 Olympics. He also won gold in 2018.
Canada’s Julien Viel finished sixth with a score of 79.78.
Éliot Grondin captures Canada’s second silver of the day
Eliot Grondin of Team Canada poses wearing the national flag of Canada during the medal ceremony for the Men’s Snowboard Cross on day six. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
(Hannah Peters via Getty Images)
Éliot Grondin captured a silver medal for Canada in men’s snowboard cross. The Sainte-Marie, Que., native was sandwiched between Austrians Alessandro Hämmerle and Jakob Dusek on the podium.
Grondin entered the event as the favourite to win it having won the 2025 world championships. Unfortunately, in an eerily similar way to what happened four years ago at the Beijing Winter Olympics, he was edged out by Hämmerle and denied a gold medal that seemed within his grasp.
During the 2022 Games, Grondin lost the gold medal to Hämmerle in a photo finish.
Courtney Sarault captures short-track bronze in women’s 500, heartbreak for William Dandjinou in men’s 1000
Milan, Italy – February 12: Courtney Sarault of Canada competing on the Short Track Speed Skating Women’s 500m Quarterfinals on day six of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Milano Speed Skating Stadium on February 12, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Henk Jan Dijks/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
(DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Courtney Sarault won a bronze medal in the women’s 500-metre short track speed skating event Thursday at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The 25-year-old claimed the medal clocking in at 42.427. Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer won the gold medal in 41.609, while Italy’s Arianna Fontana captured silver in a time of 42.294.
Canada’s Kim Boutin finished in fifth place.
The bronze is Sarault’s second of the 2026 Olympics after she helped Canada win a silver in the mixed 2,000-metre relay earlier in the Games.
During the semifinals of the 500-metre event on Thursday, Velzeboer recorded a new world record time of 41.399.
The men’s 1,000-metre short-track event took place shortly after the women’s 500 metres with 24-year-old William Dandjinou looking to win his first Olympic gold medal.
Unfortunately for him, he was unable to hold on to his lead in the last lap of his race and, heartbreakingly, finished just off the podium in fourth.
Dutchman Jens van ‘t Wout won gold, China’s Sun Long captured silver and the bronze went to Rim Jong-un of South Korea.
Rachel Homan off to a strong start to Olympic campaign
Sarah Wilkes, Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew of Team Canada compete during the Women’s Round Robin match against Team Denmark on day six. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
(Al Bello via Getty Images)
Rachel Homan’s Canadian rink began their 2026 Olympic women’s curling tournament in fine form, needing just seven ends to defeat Denmark, 10-4, on Thursday.
Tied at 3-3 after four ends, Homan executed a four-point steal in the fifth that entirely shifted the momentum of the match in Canada’s way.
This tournament is Homan’s third Olympic appearance and second time with Canada’s women’s team.
Despite a decorated résumé, Homan has never medalled at an Olympic Games.
Canada next plays the United States on Friday at 8:05 a.m. EST/5:05 a.m. PST.
Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych barred from competing in Olympic skeleton over banned helmet
Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych takes part in the skeleton men’s training session at Cortina Sliding Centre. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP via Getty Images)
(TIZIANA FABI via Getty Images)
Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was barred from competing in Thursday’s competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
He wasn’t allowed to compete after he refused an IOC plea to have him switch helmets from one that honours more than 20 of his country’s athletes and coaches killed in Ukraine’s war with Russia.
According to the Associated Press, Heraskevych “received written word Thursday from the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, which said his decision to wear the helmet was ‘inconsistent with the Olympic Charter and Guidelines on Athlete Expression.’”
The decision to bar Heraskevych from competing came roughly 45 minutes before the start of the competition.
He knew refusing to switch helmets could endanger his Olympics, but still believes he isn’t violating any such rules.
“I believe, deeply, the IBSF and IOC understand that I’m not violating any rules,” Heraskevych told AP. “Also, I would say (it’s) painful that it really looks like discrimination because many athletes already were expressing themselves. … They didn’t face the same things. So, suddenly, just the Ukrainian athlete in this Olympic Games will be disqualified for the helmet.”
Shortly after the decision was made to disallow Heraskevych from competing, Ulla Zirne, a Latvian luger who competed at the 2014 and 2022 Winter Olympics made a post on social media expressing how “ashamed” she was for once believing in the Olympic system.
The men’s skeleton event got started on Thursday with the first two heats. It will conclude Friday. Canada’s Josip Brusić sits in 24th place in the competition.
More Team Canada news on Day 6
Women’s Super-G alpine skiing: Neither Valérie Grenier nor Cassidy Gray were able to finish in their women’s Super-G event at the 2026 Winter Olympics Thursday. Italy’s Federica Brignone won gold, France’s Romane Miradoli earned silver and Cornelia Hütter of Austria took the bronze.
Women’s 10 KM interval start free cross-country skiing: Alison Mackie was the top Canadian finisher in the women’s 10-kilometre interval start free cross-country skiing race Thursday at the 2026 Winter Olympics. She finished in eighth place. Liliane Gagnon, Sonjaa Schmidt and Katherine Stewart-Jones finished the race 17th, 34th and 47th, respectively. The event was won by Sweden’s Frida Karlsson. Her fellow Swede Ebba Andersson took silver, while the United States’ Jessie Diggins claimed bronze.
Women’s 5000 M speed skating: Canada’s Isabelle Weidemann finished fifth in the women’s 5,000-metre speed skating event Thursday at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Fellow Canadian Laura Hall ended her race in ninth place. Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida won the gold medal, the silver went to Merel Conijn of the Netherlands and Norway’s Ragne Wiklund captured the bronze.
Women’s halfpipe snowboard: Elizabeth Hosking had a rough time in the women’s snowboard halfpipe final, finishing in 11th place. South Korea’s Choi Ga-on won the gold medal, Chloe Kim of the United States took the silver and Mitsuki Ono of Japan claimed the bronze.