Boy, am I ever embarrassed. Several days ago on this website, I was all Ski mountaineering is the hot new thing at the Milan Cortina Games! and You're gonna love skimo! and Skimo! Skimo! Skimo! (That last one is a direct quote.) I was rambling on about bootpacking and hyping up Jon Kistler's Instagram (now up to 1,476 followers!) and basically making myself into a ski mountaineering influencer.
The sport-adjacent drama has been the real story of this year's Winter Olympics in Milan. Despite RTE's lacklustre Winter Olympics coverage, I have become completely enthralled in it. Not only by the sport but also for all the off-piste, behind-the-scenes, sport-adjacent drama. And by jove, there has been a cornucopia of it this year, from cheating confessions and allegations, to 'penisgate'.
A massive international outcry following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a war that will enter its fifth year two days after the closing ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Games, forced most major international sports bodies to ban all Russian athletes from competition. The IOC has allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete in Italy as individual neutral athletes, which means they cannot compete on teams nor wear their national team colors or flag.
But there's also the matter of making sure one's equipment is up to snuff - and, beginning with this year's Winter Olympics, that means not having any PFAS, or "forever chemicals," in the mix. What happens if a competitor does turn out to have such chemicals in their equipment? They'll find themselves disqualified. As GearJunkie's Mary Andino reports, three skiiers have been disqualified so far due to their use of fluorocarbon wax, also known as "fluoro wax."
The Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler rejoined her team at the Winter Olympics on Monday after a successful appeal against a suspension handed out before the Milano Cortina Games for an alleged doping violation. Passler began training in the bright sunshine at the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena on Monday afternoon, firing off shots in bunches of five on the range as her coaches watched intently.
Officials have also promised to repair any of the medals that were awarded in the opening three days of competition in Milano Cortina, after identifying on Monday that the issue stemmed from the medal's cord, which is fitted with a breakaway mechanism required by law. The system is designed to release automatically if pulled with force, preventing the wearer from being choked.
Handle with care. That's the message from gold medalist Breezy Johnson at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics after she and other athletes found their medals broke within hours. United States' Breezy Johnson shows her gold medal in the alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Team USA's Amber Glenn celebrates with her gold medal after the figure skating team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
I think anything that is distracting from these Games is sad, right? But we've learned over the many years ... there's always been something that has taken the lead, leading up to the Games," Coventry said. "Whether it has been Zika, COVID, there has always been something.