Good point! I had totally forgot about that. And back in 2022 we still had national threads instead of clubs, so we have surely had a huge increase of replies in club's threads comparing to the old national threads (and the Canadian club was the most active one by far).
Nice to see the forum is in a good shape and let's now focus on summer sports with the LA28 qualifications starting very soon
So, time for a recap! Hopefully there's still someone in this thread.
First of all, these Olympics were spectacular from the very beginning. Ever since the opening ceremony kicked things off, I felt something big was happening. Such a global event and a celebration of sports couldn't have been set in a better location this year. It's great to have the winter edition in Europe once again. Wonderful sceneries and great venues just fueled the atmosphere. I really enjoyed switching from one event to another, admiring the landscapes, just like every other Olympics.
The mascots were amazing. They're so adorable. I'm not really an avid collector of Olympic memorabilia, but I feel like I have to get my hands on one of these plushies. Not saying the last mascot was bad, but these stoats are perfect in every sense. The opening sequence rocks, the tune has been stuck in my head for days, it's really catchy. It gives off this dramatic vibe while still keeping a classy coating.
Interesting medal table this year! Norway showed up once again. Honestly, Klæbo, you're mad. I'm pretty sure the guy would place in the top ten of the leaderboard if he competed by himself, absolute legend. Both the United States and France recorded their best ever campaigns, very impressive. Some other countries locked in as well, unfortunately, some did not.
That brings me to a more subjective review.
What do we have here? It's not really pleasant to look at, but that's something we all expected. The last Summer Olympics were supposed to be successful, we had plenty of medal hopes before the start. That one was a disappointing campaign. This time, it wasn't that surprising.
Just as expected, not a lot to be cheerful about. However, I always try to pick something positive. Even these Olympics brought us some successful and memorable stories. There's definitely stuff to go through:
Alpine skiing: This is one of the memorable stories. Petra's comeback is already a victory on its own. It's even more symbolic when you realise the slopes of the Italian Alps marked her return to competitive skiing. Not a disappointing finish from her at all, she even improved her result in the second slalom run.
Biathlon: Now this is the sport I'm closely following during the entire year. Well, to say it was disappointing is an understatement. No individual finish in the top twenty is a disaster. No matter how we look at it, it's a failure, especially after all the promising things we've heard during the last few races, building up to the main part of the season. I'm not saying I expected medals, but the results are horrific from every angle. Paula not being able to shoot with less than three misses just sums up the hopelessness of Slovak biathlon in Antholz this year. The women's relay also didn't live up to the expectations. Disappointing.
Figure skating: Adam Hagara is the first male competitor to reach the final round since Nagano. Very impressive. Despite not improving afterwards, it's a great debut for him. His time will definitely come, it will be interesting to watch him skate in four years from now.
Ice hockey: Now this is where it gets interesting. Again, there wasn't much to expect from us at the Olympics this year compared to the past, but I definitely did not expect hockey to be our best shot at a medal. And what a ride it was! No matter how easy our path to the semifinal was compared to other teams, we rightfully earned it down to the last detail. Damn, winning a group with Sweden and Finland at the best tournament in twelve years feels like a dream. Absolutely surreal. If only we could change the outcome of the last weekend, it was disappointing, although definitely not as painful as Vancouver was, @hckošice definitely remembers that one better than me. In all seriousness, I'm glad we didn't disappoint, fourth place is a pleasant shock, something no one in Slovakia or outside the country predicted to happen. I suppose we know how to move the puck, we don't suck as much as we used to.
Ski jumping: This is what I'm looking forward to. I know pretty much nothing about this sport outside of the basics, but Hektor Kapustík looks so promising. He's already reached several milestones of Slovak ski jumping in the last couple of months. I'm very excited to see what the future brings, he's definitely got the potential. I can picture myself watching him being a serious medal contender in a few years, the kid has wings.
Ski mountaineering: I don't know, this whole sport was very anti-climatic. Not sure if it's because of the events happening almost at the end, the execution being pretty disappointing, or our athletes being unlucky, that's a Slovak classic. Just as I thought, we could have had a serious medal contender in the women's event if it wasn't for snow getting in the way. Stuff happens.
Other sports didn't really stand out.
There should be a big warning sign coming out of these Olympics for Slovakia. The brightest of our hopes did not come from a working state-sponsored system of support. They had to rely on their families and self-sacrifice plenty of times. There's not much support for young talents, nepotism and corruption are prioritised instead. I know that's something happening not only in Slovakia. Many countries suffer because of this, but it's still not something to be proud of.
To end with something more positive, our hockey future is so bright and I'm really excited to watch these young guys improving as time goes by. We've had the youngest squad on average, many of those players are eligible for multiple Olympic tournaments, including the World Championships we're hosting in three years. If these players are already the core of the team in their early twenties, we can only imagine how much glory they can bring in a few years. Finally, it looks like Slovak hockey is not getting worse. Let's keep it that way.
2026 PGA Tour Genesis Invitational - California
Results (February 19-22, 2026)
Signature Event (69.74 points)
Men's:
1. Jacob Bridgeman
2. Kurt Kitayama
2. Rory McIlroy
4. Adam Scott
5. Aldrich Potgieter
6. Jake Knapp
7. Collin Morikawa
7. Cameron Young
7. Tommy Fleetwood
7. Ryan Fox
7. Xander Schauffele
12. Lee Min-woo
12. Scottie Scheffler
12. Jordan Spieth
12. Alex Noren
16. Sam Stevens
16. Pierceson Coody
16. Akshay Bhatia
16. Marco Penge
20. Ludvig Aberg
20. Robert MacIntyre
22. Harris English
22. Sahith Theegala
24. Shane Lowry
24. Matt McCarty
24. Matt Fitzpatrick
24. Max Greyserman
*Provisional Standings to the FedEx Cup Playoffs (only top 20):
1. Jacob Bridgeman / 1.069p
2. Chris Gotterup / 1.066p
3. Scottie Scheffler / 1.043p
4. Collin Morikawa / 882p
5. Jake Knapp / 680p
6. Hideki Matsuyama / 592p
7. Ryan Gerard / 590p
8. Kim Si-woo / 537p
9. Lee Min-woo / 522p
10. Justin Rose / 520p
11. Tommy Fleetwood / 489p
12. Rory McIlroy / 460p
13. Pierceson Coody / 459p
14. Ryo Hisatsune / 451p
15. Akshay Bhatia / 444p
16. Kurt Kitayama / 435p
17. Sepp Straka / 432p
18. Adam Scott / 396p
19. Aldrich Potgieter / 308p
20. Matt McCarty / 283p
* The FedEx Cup Playoffs are a series of 3 final events of the season where the top 70 players with the most points during the year qualify to compete for the 2026 PGA Tour championship.
Results
2026 PGA Tour AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - California
Results (February 12-15, 2026)
Signature Event (71.31 points)
Men's:
1. Collin Morikawa
2. Lee Min-woo
2. Sepp Straka
4. Scottie Scheffler
4. Tommy Fleetwood
6. Sam Burns
6. Akshay Bhatia
8. Ryo Hisatsune
8. Shane Lowry
8. Nico Echavarria
8. Jake Knapp
8. Jacob Bridgeman
8. Hideki Matsuyama
14. Rory McIlroy
14. Patrick Cantlay
14. Matt Fitzpatrick
14. Tom Hoge
18. Tony Finau
19. Russell Henley
19. Alex Smalley
19. Brian Harman
19. Rickie Fowler
19. Xander Schauffele
24. Harry Hall
24. Jason Day
24. Nick Taylor
24. Ryan Fox
24. Harris English
Results