Prior toFriday's Opening Ceremony, the second day of action at the2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympicswas a good one for Team USA as thewomen's ice hockeyandmixed doubles curlingteams won their debuts. Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn showed fans that she intends to pursue a fourth Olympic medal despite a knee injury. However, Finland's women's ice hockey squad had its start delayed due toa norovirus outbreakamong the players.
Here are the top stories of the day:
U.S. women's ice hockey dominates Czechia in opener
Hailey Scamurra scored twice while three of her teammates also added goals inTeam USA's 5-1 victoryover Czechia. Both teams opened group play with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubioin attendanceat Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.
TWO GOALS IN 83 SECONDS. The USA makes it 3-0 thanks to Joy Dunne and Hayley Scamurra!📺 USA & Peacockpic.twitter.com/pZjgx3PGAu
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics)February 5, 2026
The game was essentially put out of reach early in the second period. Already holding a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal in the first period from Alex Carpenter, Joy Dunne and Scamurra each scored goals within 83 seconds. Tessa Janecke earned the assists on both scores. Hilary Knight added another goal late in the period to give the U.S. a 4-1 lead.
Czechia scored its lone goal when Barbora Jurickova left the penalty box and received a pass for a breakaway to cut the deficit to 3-1. But Knight answered shortly thereafter.
The U.S. will next face Finland on Saturday in Group A play with face-off scheduled for 10:40 a.m. ET. That is, if Finland ishealthy enough to compete. (See below.)
U.S. defeats Norway and Switzerland in mixed doubles curling
Team USA took the ice in mixed doubles curling on Thursday, one day after eight other countries made their debut.
Facing defending silver medalist Norway, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin took an early 1-0 lead before the Norwegians rallied with three points in the second end of the match. The two teams then battled back and forth, with the U.S. tying the score during the third end before Norway took a two-point lead after the fourth.
Norway held a 6-4 lead going into the seventh end before Team USA tied the score at 6. In the final end, the U.S. took a two-point lead and Norway's final shot fell short, giving Thiesse and Dropkin the 8-6 victory.
Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin pick up the FIRST WIN for Team USA in mixed doubles curling at the#WinterOlympics! 🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/LQe0OZNe0T
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics)February 5, 2026
The U.S. later faced Switzerland in a match that carried far less drama. The Swiss did take a 2-1 lead in the second end, but Team USA rallied to gain two points in the third end when Thiesse knocked away Switzerland's stone. The U.S. increased its lead to 5-2 after the fourth end and employed a defensive strategy through the rest of the match, knocking Switzerland's stones out of the way and creating pressure to make perfect shots. Ultimately, the Swiss couldn't hit the mark and Team USA won 7-4.
Up next for Thiesse and Dropkin is Canada and the Czech Republic on Friday.
Lindsey Vonn 'not giving up' Alpine downhill, despite torn ACL
Any doubts that Lindsey Vonn would attack the opportunity to medal in the women's downhill despitesuffering a torn ACL in her left kneeduring a training run were likely silencedby a video posted by the three-time Olympic medalist to social mediaon Thursday.
Vonn showed footage of her doing barbell squats, agility drills, side lunges and box jumps while wearing a brace on her injured left knee. If she can handle that work, she can seemingly handle the rigors of the Alpine downhill skiing course, something thatdoctors have stated is very possible.
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"I'm not giving up, working as hard as I can to make it happen!" Vonn wrote in a caption with the video. "Thank you to my team and everyone for your incredible support. Keep believing."
Vonn still has to complete a training run to qualify for the starting field in Sunday's downhill event. Weather has created an obstacle with heavy snow canceling Thursday's exercise. But opportunities could still be available Friday and Saturday, weather permitting.
Finland women's ice hockey postpones opener due to norovirus outbreak
Elsewhere in women's ice hockey group play, Finland and Canada had their opening match postponeddue to a norovirus outbreakamong the Finnish team. After four sick players forced the team to cancel its Wednesday training session, 14 members of the team were ill on Thursday. Possible exposure to the virus warranted several playersbeing placed into quarantine.
Finland Head Coach Tero Lehtera says his players aren't healthy enough to play."There's a chance that if they would play then it would influence Team Canada and their health as well. I couldn't risk my players."@CBCOlympics#Olympicspic.twitter.com/oODteEpUit
— Claire Hanna (@clahanna)February 5, 2026
With only 10 available players for Finland and a risk of passing the virus to Canada's team, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee decided to postpone the game with Canada until Feb. 12.
As mentioned above, Finland is scheduled to play the U.S. on Saturday, but it's not yet known whether enough Finnish players will be out of quarantine for the team to play.
Team USA medals
Highlight of the day
U.S. snowboarders Red Gerard and Jake Canter looked ready to compete for medals in the Big Air event, each landing backside 1800 jumps during qualifying rounds on Thursday. A backside 1800 involves five full 360-degree horizontal rotations, spinning in a backside direction.
Red Gerard lands a backside 1800 to move up the leaderboard at Big Air qualification. 👏pic.twitter.com/deUhercHG7
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics)February 5, 2026
One more thing
Leading up to Friday's Opening Ceremony, the Olympic torch is making its way through Milan. Three-time snowboarding gold medalist Shaun White was among the athletes to carry the torch on Thursday.
The legend@shaunwhiteis back for the Olympic Torch Relay in Milan…and then off to Livigno!❄️🏂🔥#MilanoCortina2026#TorchRelay2026#Olympics#Olimpiadi#ShaunWhitepic.twitter.com/PGoSV70BjP
— Milano Cortina 2026 (@milanocortina26)February 5, 2026
White will next travel to Livigno to watch the snowboarding competition, which begins Saturday with the men's Big Air final.
