_0.png?w=1280)
Olympic 2026 Results, Winners and Top Scores from Thursday's Qualifying Events
Ice hockey and snowboarding got underway at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Thursday.
The women's ice hockey group stage opened with three commanding victories by the United States, Sweden and Italy.
The men's big air qualification took place in snowboarding. That will be one of the first events to hand out medals on Saturday. Twelve men qualified for the final from the 30-man qualifying field.
Mixed doubles curling continued on Thursday with two wins from the United States. It's still early in the group stage, but the Americans appear to have a shot at a medal.
Mixed Doubles Curling
1 of 3
Mixed Doubles Round Robin
Great Britain 10, Estonia 5
Sweden 7, Czechia 4
United States 8, Norway 6
Italy 8, Korea 4
United States 7, Switzerland 4
Canada 6, Norway 3
Canada 7, Italy 2
Switzerland 8, Korea 5
Estonia 7, Sweden 5
Great Britain 8, Czechia 7
The United States pair of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin won both of their matches on Thursday to move to 2-0 in the mixed doubles competition.
The United States is one of three countries still undefeated after four sets of matches. Great Britain and Canada both sit at 3-0.
The American pair will take on Canada and Czechia on Friday morning. A win over Canada would provide a huge boost to Team USA's quest to make the semifinals.
Switzerland, Sweden and Italy are right behind the leading trio with one loss each. The top four teams qualify for the semifinals.
Women's Ice Hockey
2 of 3
Sweden 4, Germany 1
Italy 4, France 1
United States 5, Czechia 1
The United States women's hockey team started its time in Milan with a win over Czechia.
The Americans own the early edge in Group A, which features co-gold medal favorite Canada.
Canada did not play its scheduled game on Thursday due to an illness within the Finland squad.
All five teams from Group A will advance to the knockout round. The group-stage games still matter for seeding.
Down in Group B, Sweden and Italy picked up 4-1 victories to earn the early edge at the top of the standings.
The final three knockout-round participants will be determined by order of finish in Group B.
Men's Snowboarding Big Air
3 of 3
Qualifying Results
1 Hiroto Ogiwara (Japan) - 178.50
2. Ian Matteoli (Italy) - 174.50
3. Kira Kimura (Japan) - 173.25
4. Yiming Su (China) - 172.75
5. Taiga Hasegawa (Japan) - 172.25
6. Francis Jobin (Canada) - 170.75
7. Lyon Farrell (New Zealand) - 170.00
8. Rocco Jamieson (New Zealand) - 168.25
9. Oliver Martin (United States) - 167.50
10. Ryoma Kimata (Japan) - 164.75
11. Dane Menzies (New Zealand) - 164.00
12. Valentino Guseli (Australia) - 163.00
Hiroto Ogiwara produced the best qualifying score in the men's snowboarding big air event.
The Japanese athlete put in two jumps that scored over 88 points. The combined score from the two best jumps was used to determine the 12 finalists for the medal round.
Japan has four finalists in total, three of which qualified in the top five positions.
2022 gold medalist Yiming Su qualified in fourth place. He is the only medalist from Beijing competing in Saturday's big air final.
Only one of the four Americans who competed on Thursday landed a spot in the final. Oliver Martin will try to become the second-ever medalist from Team USA in the men's big air event that was introduced in 2018.
A home gold medalist is in the cards as well. Ian Matteoli produced a 93.25 score on his first jump. He has the potential to challenge Su and the Japanese contingent in the medal rounds.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
