Day 2: What Team Canada did at Milano Cortina 2026 

Team Canada may not have added to its medal count on Day 2 at Milano Cortina 2026, but there were still plenty of inspiring performances. 

Let’s take a look at what happened. 

Figure Skating

Canada finished fifth overall in the team event with a total of 54 points. The United States won gold with 69 points, Japan took silver with 68 points, and the Italians claimed bronze on home ice with 60 points. 

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud started the final day of the team event with a strong pairs free skate. They scored 134.42, which left them less than a point out of fourth place. Madeline Schizas rebounded very well from a fall on her opening triple lutz to score 125.00 points in the women’s free skate. The event concluded with the men’s free skate. Stephen Gogolev finished fourth after scoring 171.93 points for his program that included two clean quad salchows. 

Snowboard 

Arnaud Gaudet was the top Canadian in the parallel giant slalom events, advancing to the men’s quarterfinals before being eliminated by Bulgaria’s Tervel Zamfirov, the eventual bronze medallist, by a heartbreaking margin of just three-one hundredths (0.03) of a second. That ranked Arnaud sixth overall in the event. Ben Heldman did not advance from the qualification round, finishing 26th in his Olympic debut. 

Both Canadians in the women’s PGS made it to the ⅛ finals. In her first Olympic Games, Aurélie Moisan ended up in 12th place overall, followed by Kaylie Buck in 14th. 

It was also qualification day for the women’s big air. Sadly, neither Laurie Blouin nor Juliette Pelchat will advance to the 12-person final. Blouin’s best two tricks totalled 150.25 points for 14th place. In her Olympic debut, Pelchat scored 148.00 for 16th place. 

Cross-Country Skiing

Xavier McKeever was the top Canadian in the men’s 20km skiathlon, finishing 13th in 47:22.3. This is technically a new Olympic event, as the men previously competed in a 30km skiathlon. In 18th place after the first 10km in classical technique, McKeever moved up the strandings during the 10km freestyle leg. The 22-year-old is a second generation Olympian, following in the footsteps of his parents Robin McKeever and Milaine Thériault. 

READ: Cross-country skier Xavier McKeever adds to family legacy with “surreal” Olympic debut

Antoine Cyr finished 25th, two spots ahead of Max Hollmann. Rémi Drolet placed 42nd in a field of 74 skiers. 

Curling

Canada’s medal hopes in mixed doubles came to an end when Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant lost both of their games on Day 2. 

They started the day with a 7-6 defeat at the hands of Sweden and then fell 9-5 to South Korea. 

READ: Peterman & Gallant mixed doubles curling Olympic medal hopes end in disappointment

Biathlon

In the first biathlon event of these Games, Canada finished 17th in the mixed relay. The quartet of Adam Runnalls, Jasper Fleming, Pascale Paradis, and Nadia Moser posted a time of 1:08:37.1. It marked the Olympic debuts for Fleming, Paradis, and Moser. 

Runnalls had Canada in ninth place after his opening leg at the Anterselva Biathlon Arena, partly due to his clean shooting. 

“This is my favourite place in the world to compete, so it feels good right now,” said Runnalls. “The adrenaline kicked in this morning and helped me out. I think I did a decent job preparing and getting my mind right.”

Fleming, the youngest member of the team at just 20 years old, had some difficulty in the range and needed to ski a 150m penalty loop when he used up all his spare bullets. Paradis and Moser both had to use all of their spares to hit their 10 targets. 

Alpine Skiing

The women’s downhill was marred by the hard crash that American star Lindsey Vonn had near the top of the course, leading her to be airlifted off the slope. Seven skiers later, Canada’s Valérie Grenier was in the start gate. But just as she was about to go, she had some problems with her pole. She quickly tried to fix things, but she missed the official window to leave the gate. Despite skiing down the entire course, she ended up being disqualified. 

“The conditions were perfect. I’m not saying I would have medaled, but I was ready to give it my best today. I just had bad luck at the start,” said Grenier.  

Cassidy Gray finished 26th in her first Olympic downhill. Both Canadian women will compete in the team combined, a new Olympic event, in two days. 

Long Track Speed Skating

In his third Olympic Games, 39-year-old Ted-Jan Bloemen placed 13th in the men’s 5000m with his time of 6:17.97. The event was highlighted by an Olympic record time of 6:03.95 set by gold medallist Sander Eitrim of Norway.

READ: Bloemen unable to return to 5000m Olympic podium but proud of fight he put in