While the opening ceremony isn't until Friday, the first event of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics takes place today. Curling kicked off the competitive action with four mixed doubles matches, while there were training runs for the alpine skiers and training in the men's luge this evening.

Thursday evening’s mixed doubles round-robin session saw some exciting and dramatic results. Defending Olympic champions Italy went down to their first defeat, at the hands of Canada; Estonia recorded their first ever Olympic with victory over Sweden;

Eight countries took the ice during round-robin play, including two medal winners from the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. Silver medalists Norway took on Great Britain, while Sweden, which took home the mixed doubles bronze in 2022, faced off against South Korea. The two other matches featured Canada vs. the Czech Republic, and Estonia vs. Switzerland.

Americans who top the podium at the Milan Cortina Games will be in line for a $37,500 bonus. Their competitors could collect as much as $800,000.

Women accounted for 45% of all competitors at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, up from 41% at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games in South Korea. Women currently make up 45% of the Milano Cortina 2026 senior leadership and 55% of the volunteer applications were from women.

A brief power issue paused opening curling matches and luge training sessions Wednesday at the Winter Olympics in Italy.