Milano Cortina 2026 Day 10 Recap: Gold, Drama and a Bittersweet Day for Australia

Milano Cortina 2026 Day 10: Drama, History and Heartbreak in the Alps

Day 10 at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy was one of those days where you genuinely couldn't look away. From a 41-year-old mum finally winning the Olympic gold that had eluded her for two decades, to Norway's slalom leader inexplicably skiing off the course into the forest, it was a full day of sport. Here's the rundown.

Bree Walker Falls Short in the Monobob

This one stings a bit. Australia's Bree Walker arrived in Cortina as a genuine medal contender — World Cup silver medallist this season, three wins on the circuit, and a bronze in the test event on this very track last year. On paper, she had every reason for confidence.

The track had other ideas. Some errors in the tricky upper section of her very first run effectively ended her medal chances before the competition had really started. She improved across the four heats — finishing 11th after run one and climbing to seventh overall heading into the final day — but couldn't quite claw her way back to the podium. "The issues that I was having was on the corners that mattered the most, which is really heartbreaking," Walker said after the event.

It's a tough one to swallow. World Cup form doesn't always translate at the Olympics, and this track clearly wasn't playing nice with anyone who wasn't perfectly dialled in.

Elana Meyers Taylor Finally Gets Her Gold

The story of the monobob final was American veteran Elana Meyers Taylor, who at 41 years old — and in her fifth Olympics — finally claimed the one piece of Olympic hardware she didn't have. Going into the final run, Germany's Laura Nolte held a lead across the first three heats and looked set to take it. Then Nolte made an uncharacteristic error in the top section, losing speed at the worst possible moment.

Meyers Taylor's final run of 59.51 seconds clinched it by just 0.04 of a second. She fell to her knees at the finish. Hard to not feel something watching that, honestly. Her teammate Kaillie Humphries — also in her 40s — rounded out an extraordinary American podium by taking bronze.

Slalom Chaos on the Stelvio

The men's slalom served up one of the more dramatic moments of the entire Games. Norway's Atle Lie McGrath posted the fastest first run by a fair margin through blizzard conditions on the Stelvio course, and was the overwhelming favourite heading into the second run. He straddled a gate midway down, skied clean off the course, and then sat in the snow at the edge of the forest for several minutes before being escorted back down on a police Ski-Doo. Not the afternoon he had in mind.

The beneficiary was Switzerland's Loïc Meillard, who was already carrying a silver and a bronze from these Games. He added gold to the collection with a combined time of 1:53.61. Austria's Fabio Gstrein took silver and Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen salvaged a bronze. It's worth noting that Meillard is now both Olympic and world slalom champion — he won the world title in Saalbach last year. Switzerland's men have been utterly dominant in alpine skiing at these Games.

Dutch Short Track Continues to Roll

The Netherlands kept piling up short track gold with Xandra Velzeboer winning the women's 1000m final in a frantic, high-contact race. It's her second individual gold of these Games, having already won the 500m. The Dutch have now claimed every individual short track gold medal on offer at Milano Cortina 2026. That's a remarkable run of form. Australia's Brennan Corey missed out in the men's 500m heats, which was disappointing but not entirely surprising given the depth in that event.

Megan Oldham Wins Big Air — Eileen Gu Takes Silver

Canada's Megan Oldham took gold in the women's freestyle skiing big air, a well-deserved result after posting the top qualifying score. China's Eileen Gu, the defending champion, had a strong opening run with a 90.00 but struggled in the second and had to settle for silver. Italy's Flora Tabanelli, just 18 years old, produced an enormous final run — including a 1620 — to claim bronze for the host nation. It was a genuinely strong field, with the women pushing the difficulty of tricks further than ever.

Hockey: USA and Canada Set for the Final

In the women's ice hockey semifinals, the USA shut out Sweden 5–0 to book their spot in the gold medal game. Canada then edged Switzerland 2–1 in a tighter affair, with captain Marie-Philip Poulin scoring twice in the second period. Poulin now has 20 career Olympic goals — the most in women's Olympic history. The Canada versus USA final is set for Thursday, which should be genuinely box-office viewing.

Austria Claims Ski Jumping Super Team Gold

The newly introduced men's super team ski jumping event wrapped up the ski jumping program at these Games, with Austria claiming gold ahead of Poland and Norway. The final round was cancelled due to deteriorating weather conditions, with results determined from round two scores.

Figure Skating Pairs

Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara recovered from a difficult short program to win pairs figure skating gold, with Georgia taking silver and Germany bronze. Australia's Hektor Giotopoulos Moore and Anastasiia Golubeva competed in their Olympic pairs debut — a solid experience for a young team still developing at this level.

Day 11 Ahead

Eyes now turn to Day 11, with Ali Hickman going in the women's snowboard slopestyle final — a legitimate chance for another Australian medal — and freestyle skiing aerials qualifications also getting underway. With Australia already having its best-ever Winter Olympics on the medal tally, there's still plenty to play for.