Team USA didn’t win any new medals on Day 9 of the 2026 Winter Olympics, but several important team wins keep Team USA adding to its medal tally in the coming days. Some American stars also missed the podium on Sunday.
Here are five of the day’s top stories:
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U.S. curling beats China
The round-robin tournament is far from over, but the U.S. women’s curling team pulled off a thrilling comeback victory over China on Sunday.
The four-man team of Tabitha Peterson, Cory Tiese, Tara Peterson and Taylor Anderson-Hyde rallied from a 4-1 hole after the fifth inning to beat China 6-5. The last two games also resulted in two points.
In the ninth inning, Wang Rui tried to dislodge a stone from the American team, but failed, eventually tying the score. As the Chinese team built a complete wall around the button, Tabitha somehow kept Wang Zhizhi out through traffic. Wang then left her final stone behind the house, unable to get enough of a push, allowing the U.S. to get the stone closest to the center, stealing the final point and taking away the game.
The U.S. team currently has a record of 4 wins and 1 loss, ranking second behind Sweden. The U.S. will face Italy next Monday.
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While it didn’t directly impact Team USA, the curling cheating scandal continued Sunday. After the Canadian women’s curling team and the British men’s curling team were both eliminated, the World Curling Association made adjustments to the officiating settings for the remaining games.
Mikaela Shiffrin is even more disappointed
Mikaela Shiffrin’s road to the Olympics continues. After failing to medal in six races in Beijing (2022), Shiffrin started her Milan Cortina race last week with a disappointing slalom result in the team combined event. Her effort knocked her and teammate Breezy Johnson off the podium, with Johnson taking first on the downhill portion to move them into gold medal position.
Shiffrin finished on the podium again on Sunday, finishing 11th in the giant slalom. She was seventh after the first of two rounds and dropped four spots after the second.
Italy’s Federica Brignone won her second Olympic gold medal in the event (super-G).
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Meanwhile, Shiffrin kept a positive attitude on social media after the game.
Giant slalom is not Shiffrin’s strong suit. But her podium finish comes one race away from a second straight Olympics without a medal.
Shiffrin is widely regarded as the greatest female alpine skier in the history of the sport, having set an unparalleled World Cup record. Her Olympic legacy includes two gold medals and a silver medal from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
But she has now competed in eight consecutive Olympics without finishing on the podium. She has one more chance at these Olympics. She will compete in her major on Wednesday and is expected to win gold in the slalom.
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Beijing gold medalist Erin Jackson takes the podium
Four years ago, Erin Jackson became the fastest woman in the world when she won the 500-meter speed skating gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
She has since ceded the title to Dutch skater Femke Kok, who set a new world record in the event in November. Coker won Olympic gold on Sunday in an Olympic-record time of 36.49 seconds, a full 0.66 seconds ahead of her Dutch teammate and silver medalist Jutta Leerdam.
Meanwhile, Jackson took the podium. Japan’s Miho Takagi won the bronze medal with a time of 37.27, 0.05 seconds ahead of fifth place Jackson’s 37.32 seconds. Italian Serena Pergher finished fourth (37.30).
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Cork and Jackson went head-to-head with the world record holder and reigning Olympic champion.
Jackson seemed to get off to a better start when shooting. But Cork extended his lead in the backstretch at the first turn. When Cork entered the inside lane on the final turn, she took control.
Jackson’s podium performance was disappointing, but her remarkable Olympic legacy is solid. Jackson won gold in Beijing, becoming the first black woman to win an individual medal in any event at the Winter Olympics. She transitioned to the sport relatively late from her career as an inline skater.
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Men’s hockey beats Germany
The U.S. men’s hockey team conducted business against Germany on Sunday night. The United States easily won 5-1 after going scoreless in the first quarter until the final seconds. Zach Werenski put the U.S. on top with 8.7 seconds left.
While the Americans haven’t lost yet, they haven’t impressed, either. They are likely to face stiffer competition in the quarter-finals, where they will meet in a knockout tie between Sweden and Latvia.
Canada, meanwhile, outscored its three group-stage opponents 20-3 — more than Canada has been a gold medal favorite at this Olympics so far.
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Two U.S. teams enter top 10 in figure skating
It might not have been the best start, but after the first day of pairs figure skating in Milan, the two American pairs were already in place.
Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam kicked off Sunday’s short program with a season-best score of 71.87. This moves the pair, who already won gold in the team event, to seventh in the standings. Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan were not far behind, with an opening score of 71.06, ranking ninth.
The German pair of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took the lead in the short program with 80.01 points, nearly 5 points ahead of the second-place team.
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After Monday’s free skate, either U.S. team will likely need a big push to get on the podium. The U.S. also hasn’t won a dual medal since 1988. While things could have been better, the United States is not out of the woods yet.
Team USA still has 17 medals
Highlight of the day
The Big Two are chaotic.
Japan’s Ikuma Horishima missed his final jump in Sunday’s men’s round of 16 and bounced back across the finish line. But he still won.
In the video below, Horishima is skiing on the right side and begins to lose control of his run after the first of two jumps. But he didn’t miss a gate and recovered in time to hit the ramp a second time.
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He fell on the jump but kept his momentum going downhill and slid backwards to the finish line, crossing in front of American Nick Page.
As it turned out, he didn’t need to pass first, as Page missed the gate on a rough run of his own and was disqualified. As soon as Horijima completed a legal run, he was declared the winner.
It all adds up to a wild ending. Horishima won all the way to the gold medal match, where she lost to Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury and ended up with the silver medal.
One more thing: silver ties
Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund and Sweden’s Sara Hector each won a silver medal on Sunday, creating a rare tie for the lead. (Michael Capelle/Photo Alliance via Getty Images)
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
Thea Louise Strjenesund and Sara Hector achieved a rare result in the women’s giant slalom on Sunday. They released the results at the same time and shared a silver medal.
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Norway’s Stejnesund and Sweden’s Hector finished Sunday’s giant slalom with exactly the same times. The two were completely in sync. This gave them each a silver medal behind Italy’s Federica Brignone.
While sharing an Olympic medal isn’t always greeted with enthusiasm, the pair seemed very excited about their results.
“We will definitely win together,” Hector said via Reuters. “As they say, it feels better when it’s shared.”
