Milano Cortina 2026 Day 9 Recap: Klaebo Makes History, Matt Graham Wins Bronze and Bree Walker Eyes a Medal

Milano Cortina 2026 Day 9: Klaebo Makes History, Graham Wins Bronze and Walker Gets Her Campaign Underway

Day 9 at Milano Cortina was stacked. Nine gold medals were decided across a massive day of competition, featuring a genuine piece of sporting history, a brilliant Australian bronze, heartbreak in the snowboard cross, and the start of Bree Walker's much-anticipated monobob campaign. Here's how it all played out.

Klæbo Becomes the Greatest Winter Olympian of All Time

If you only watch one thing from Day 9, make it the finish of the men's cross-country 4x7.5km relay. Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo anchored his team to gold, and in doing so, became the first athlete in history to win nine Winter Olympic gold medals. The 29-year-old now sits alone at the top of the all-time Winter Games gold medal tally, having surpassed Norwegian legends Bjørn Dæhlie, Marit Bjørgen and Ole Einar Bjørndalen.

Norway finished 22.2 seconds clear of France in silver, with Italy taking bronze in front of their home crowd. Klæbo barely needed to break a sweat on the anchor leg — the race was effectively over before he hit the final climb. He still has the team sprint and the 50km to come at these Games, meaning this record could extend further before the closing ceremony.

Matt Graham Claims Bronze in the Dual Moguls — Australia's Fifth Medal

This one had everything. The men's dual moguls was making its Olympic debut on Day 9, and Australia's Matt Graham — the four-time Olympian and flag bearer for these Games — was right in the thick of it. After coming fifth in the individual moguls earlier in the week, Graham came back fired up and put together the run he needed when it counted.

He beat Japan's Takuya Shimakawa 20-15 in the bronze medal matchup to claim Australia's fifth medal of the Games. It's a remarkable achievement for a bloke who has fought through a fractured neck, broken collarbone, broken ribs and lung contusions over the course of his career. His wife and young daughter Ada were at the finish to celebrate, making it a fairly emotional scene.

Canada's Mikael Kingsbury took gold in his farewell Olympic performance — the greatest moguls skier in history going out on top. Japan's Horishima Ikuma won silver. All three medallists are fathers, which the commentators rather enjoyably dubbed the "dad podium."

Cooper Woods, Jackson Harvey and George Murphy — Australia's other moguls representatives — couldn't convert from the earlier rounds, with Woods bowing out in the round of 16 after a difficult run. Hard to be too down on that, given what Australia's moguls program has delivered across these Games.

Brignone Does It Again — Italy Goes Berserk

If you thought Federica Brignone's Super-G gold earlier in the Games was emotional, the women's giant slalom took it to another level entirely. The 35-year-old Italian, who suffered a serious leg injury less than a year ago that required multiple surgeries, produced a composed and clinical second run to claim her second gold of these Games by 0.62 seconds over Sweden's Sara Hector.

The crowd at Tofane absolutely lost it. Brignone is now Italy's most successful Alpine skier at a single Winter Games, and only the second woman in history to win the giant slalom at back-to-back Games — actually, she becomes the first to win it after previous champion Hector couldn't repeat. The comeback story is genuinely hard to overstate.

Mixed Snowboard Cross: Australia Just Misses, GB Claims Gold

Josie Baff had already won gold in the women's individual snowboard cross earlier in the Games, and she and Adam Lambert arrived at the mixed team final as genuine medal contenders. It didn't go their way. Lambert came unstuck on a corner and collected a 4.16-second penalty after making contact with another rider, effectively ending their shot at the podium before Baff even got on course. She rode brilliantly in the big final but couldn't close a gap that large.

Great Britain's Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale took gold, with Italy's Michela Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva winning silver and France claiming bronze. A tough watch for Australian fans, but Baff has already got her individual gold — this one stings less as a result.

Biathlon Double: Sweden and Italy Share the Spoils

The men's 12.5km pursuit went to Sweden's Martin Ponsiluoma, who capitalised on a costly late miss from France's Émilien Jacquelin — who had been leading comfortably — to take gold in a race that turned on its head in the final standing stage.

The women's 10km pursuit was another standout moment for the host nation. Italy's Lisa Vittozzi, starting fifth, shot a perfect 20-from-20 on the range and ran down Norwegian leader Maren Kirkeeide — who dropped three penalties at the final shooting stage — to win Italy's first-ever Olympic biathlon gold. The crowd in Anterselva was predictably loud.

Women's 500m Speed Skating: Dutch Record Breaker

The Netherlands continued its extraordinary Games on the ice, with Femke Kok taking gold in the women's 500m in a new Olympic record of 36.49 seconds. She finished well clear of compatriot Jutta Leerdam in silver and Japan's Takagi Miho in bronze. The Dutch are having a spectacular Games across all speed disciplines.

Skeleton Makes History — Great Britain's Matt Weston Wins Double Gold

The mixed team skeleton event made its Olympic debut on Day 9, and Britain's Matt Weston — already the individual men's champion at these Games — teamed with Tabitha Stoecker to win gold. Weston's anchor leg was the decisive factor, posting the fastest men's time to deliver Britain's first-ever double gold at a single Winter Olympics. Two German pairs rounded out the podium in silver and bronze.

Women's Large Hill Ski Jumping: Strøm Completes the Double

Norway's Anna Odine Strøm won the inaugural women's large hill ski jumping event with a massive second-round jump of 132 metres, leapfrogging first-round leader Eirin Maria Kvandal to take gold. Strøm had already won the normal hill event at these Games, making her the first woman to complete the normal hill and large hill double at a Winter Olympics. Slovenia's Nika Prevc won silver for her third medal of the Games.

Bree Walker's Monobob Campaign Gets Underway

Australia's Bree Walker — World Cup silver medallist this season and a genuine podium threat — started her monobob campaign on Day 9 with two runs that put her in seventh position overall, sitting 11th after the first run before improving on the second. There were some errors in the tricky upper section that cost time, but she came back cleaner on run two and finished just two hundredths off the pace of the leader at that point.

Germany's Laura Nolte led after the opening two heats, which was no surprise given her dominant World Cup season. Walker's runs showed enough to suggest she had the speed, but the margin for error on this track is slim. Runs three and four on Day 10 would determine whether she could translate World Cup form to Olympic hardware.

Snowboard and Freestyle Slopestyle: Australians in Qualifying

The women's snowboard slopestyle qualifications got underway with Tess Coady, Mila Feldkamp-Stalker and 16-year-old Alli Hickman all representing Australia. Hickman, in her Olympic debut, rode with genuine style and progression to qualify sixth — a strong result for someone experiencing the Olympic stage for the first time. Coady and Feldkamp-Stalker unfortunately missed the cut.

In the men's slopestyle qualifications, New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott topped qualifying with an 88.08 to put the field on notice for the final.

Day 10 Ahead

All eyes turn to Bree Walker's final two monobob runs, Brennan Corey in the men's 500m short track heats, and Alli Hickman in the women's snowboard slopestyle final — where she'll go as a genuine dark horse. Australia is already having its best-ever Winter Games. There's more to come.