5 issues to know from Saturday on the Winter Games – National

MILAN – From Canada’s first medal to a gap win in girls’s hockey, listed below are 5 issues to know from Saturday, Feb. 7 on the 2026 Milan Cortina Games:

VETERAN VALÉRIE

Valérie Maltais gained her first nationwide title in 2009, and has loved a extremely embellished profession as each a short-track and ling-track speedskater since. On Saturday, the 35-year-old from La Baie, Que., reached one other profession milestone along with her first-ever particular person medal, and Canada’s first medal on the Milan Cortina Olympics. Skating in a pairing with eventual gold medallist Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy, Maltais put down a time of three minutes 56.93 seconds that saved her on the rostrum even with two pairs of skaters to go. Maltais has a gold and a silver in workforce occasions from earlier Olympics.

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CANADA BLANKS SWITZERLAND

Canada bested Switzerland 4-0 win in girls’s hockey preliminary play Saturday, because the Canadians started their push to assert a second consecutive gold medal. Sarah Fillier, Natalie Spooner and Julia Gosling scored power-play targets and Darryl Watts struck even energy for the defending champions, whereas defender Claire Thompson had a pair of assists. Saturday’s recreation on the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena got here after the whole Swiss workforce spent Friday night time in isolation and skipped the opening ceremony after a participant examined constructive for norovirus, however was later cleared to play.

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DEBUTING WITH A PERSONAL BEST

Canada is heading into the determine skating workforce occasion finals after Toronto’s Stephen Gogolev completed third within the males’s brief program in his Olympic debut. The 21-year-old marked his efficiency with a personal-best rating of 92.99. Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha later took the ice within the free dance, scoring 120.90 to land them third place. Canada stays in fourth place general with 35 factors because it enters the ultimate skates, trailing the United States (44), Japan (39) and Italy (37).

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TRICOLOR TRIUMPH

The hosts had a profitable Day 1 on the Games, led by Lollobrigida’s win within the girls’s 3,000-metre speedskating race. Skating in a blistering pairing with Maltais, Lollobrigida gained in an Olympic-record time of three:54.28 on her thirty fifth birthday. Earlier, Giovanni Franzoni took silver within the males’s downhill forward of Italian teammate Dominik Paris for bronze. Paris, 36, gained his first Olympic medal in his fifth Games.

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IMPRESSIVE DEBUT

The first medal of the Milan Cortina Games went to Swiss skier Franjo von Allmen, who raced to victory within the males’s downhill. Von Allmen powered by the difficult Stelvio course in Bormio in 1:51.61 to win in his Olympic debut. It was a disappointing day for Canadian racers, with James (Jack) Crawford the highest Canadian in ninth.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Feb. 7, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press