Jon

Pluses of these games

Best ever Medal haul in a favourable timezone and more than one gold for the first time in a games

Our Skeleton success, specially as Matt Weston is from my home town and there are clearly signs of a bright future in the sport with Stoecker and Tarbit having potential to improve

A first Gold on Snow which was important for that team after early exits in the singles

Zoe Atkin matching her sisters 2018 medal achievement. Shame it wasn’t Gold or Silver but cant be picky her.

Andrew Musgrave raising the bar in Cross Country Skiing. And in Joe Davies there is a ready made replacement if he chooses not to return. Also Anna Pryce looks promising


 
Disappointments

Curling. Not in a bad way as it was gripping from start to finish but the pain of Mouat being edged out twice was painful and also a shame our women were too slow out the blocks. But enjoyed it all the same

Kirsty Muir and Mia Brookes falling short when they were highly fancied. But both have time to put this right and Im sure they will.

Missing out on a first Ice Dance Medal in 32 years. I hope Fear and Gibson stay at the top and come back for another try in 2030  

Poor showing in the Bobsleigh and with Brad Hall going to be nearly 40 next time and no obvious replacement bit concerned about the future of this sport

David Ryding not going out with a top 10 slalom finish in his final race. But cant blame him with the weather on that event causing chaos for everyone

Also a bit surprised Reece Bell (Womens Slalom) and Cornelius Kersten (Speed Skating) didn’t get selected. Particularly the latter who recently won a world championship medal and alongside his partner they could have pushed each other a bit higher. Im guessing his absence was injury related.


 
So overall I did enjoy this Olympics and good to see us having our best ever games in a favourable timezone to see it. Yes it could have been so much better with so many others missing out but I see this as holding something in reserve for the next time when hopefully we will raise the bar again in another favourable timezone.

All  Final!! 

guaranteed 2 medals on day 1!
 
It's double bronze after Tristan Lumineau made it through to the semifinals of the men's epee. He fell 15-10 to 12th seed  Fedor Khaperskiy who went on to take the title. 
 
Amelie Tsang came so close to getting to the gold medal match having pulled it back to 14-14. 7th seed  Ludovica Franzoni just edged it 15-14. 

European Juniors update
 
I didn't have this on my bingo card, but Tristan Lumineau was the top qualifier from the pool stage winning all of his bouts for the lost of just 12 points.  Cador Beautyman won 4 out of his 6 bouts and advances in a tie for 42nd place. Cheney Zhu performed very well considering he was the lowest ranked fencer in the event. He won 3 out of 6 bouts and advances in a tie for 61st place. Unfortunately, Fin Bennet is eliminated, having only won 2 of his opening 6 bouts resulting in him being ranked in 97th place. 

Good news is that here in  coverage of the Games got excellent viewing figures, by modern standards.  Makes me wonder if the BBC will be kicking themselves for neglecting this years' other big event, at least with us, the Commonwealth Games.
 
BBC should spare us the tears in their Winter Olympics cheerleading

2026 Week 6 (09-15 Feb) Results:
 
 
Aquatics - Artistic Swimming:
World Aquatics Artistic Swimming 2026 World Cup I (13-15 Feb):
Ranjuo Tamblin took home treble gold from Medellin  winning both the Men's Solo Technical before teaming up with Isabelle Thorpe to take the wins in both the Mixed Duet Technical and Mixed Duet Free. 
 
 
Athletics:
UK Athletics Indoor Championships (14-15 Feb):
I won't post the results here as plenty of our Olympic contenders skipped the event. If I get time I might take a look at the results and post them in the athletics thread. 
 
Badminton:
2026 European Men's & Women's Team Championships (11-15 Feb):
 men came through their group in second place behind  after sweeping past  5-0 before sneaking past  3-2. For some reason which doesn't make huge amount of sense, the semi finals just repeated the group match between the top two rather than being a cross group match. So  had to face  again. Having lost the group match 5-0,  lost the semi 3-1. 
 
 
Cycling - Road:
Figueira Champions Classic (14-Feb) - It was a 10th place finish for Thomas Gloag. Sean Flynn was in 47th; Max Poole was in 56th and Harrison Wood down in 83rd. 
 
Classic De Almeria (15 Feb) - Lewis Askey was the top finishing Brit in 31st, ahead of Joshua Giddings in 47th, Fred Wright in 96th and Louis Sutton in 107th. 
 
 
Equestrian - Dressage:
FEI Dressage World Cup: Neumunster (12-15 Feb) - Annabell Pidgley scored 70.696 to finish 7th in the Grand Prix. She withdrew before the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music. 
 
 
Fencing:
FIE Epee Junior World Cup (Individual & Team) (13-14 Feb) - There wereno Brits competing in the women's event in Hangzhou  and only 2 men will compete in Vrsac  Sameer Sunder-Rajan was a creditable 32nd with David Mina down in 165th. 
 
 
Field Hockey:
FIH Pro League (09-10 Feb) - Both the  men and women had another two matches in the Pro League this week. The men's team got two wins with a 4-3 penalty shoot out win over  followed by a 4-2 regulation win over  in Valencia. The women's team  recorded a 2-0 win over  after losing 1-3 to  in Yunfu.
 
After 8 matches,  men sit in 5th place in the table, 7 points behind leaders . Likewise, the women also sit in 5th but are 14 points behind leaders .
 
 
Golf:
Ladies European Tour: PIF Saudi Ladies International (11-14 Feb) - Charley Hull shot a final round 65 (-7) to seal the title in Riyadh, finishing on -19. Mimi Rhodes was in a tie for 6th on -16. Esme Hamilton's -10 was good enough for tie of 25th whilst Gabriella Cowley was +5 to finish down in 64th.
 
Hannah Darling, Cara Gainer (-1), Hannah Screen (-1), Charlotte Laffar (Par), Lydia Hall (Par), Darcey Harry (+2), Chloe Williams (+2), Alice Hewson (+2), Hannah Darling (+6), Bronte Law (+8), Annabell Fuller (+10) and Hannah Burke (+10) all missed the cut. 
 
 
PGA: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (12-15 Feb) -  Colin Morikawa took the title with -22. Tommy Fleetwood's -20 put him in a tie for 4th.  Matt Fitzpatrick was in a tie for 14th on -17. Harry Hall's -14 put him in a tie for 24th. Both Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre scored -11 and were in a tie for 37th.  Marco Penge was well down the field in a tie for 64th, whilst Aaron Rai was +1 in tie for 73rd. 
 
 
Judo:
2026 Ljubljana European Open (14-15 Feb):  There are 19 Brits listed to compete in the  capital. 
Men's -60Kg: Charlie Ayre lost in the first round.
Men's -66Kg: Neil MacDonald got through to the round of 16 before losing to top seed  Julien Frascadore.
Men's -73Kg: Harry Le Mare and Thomas Jackson both lost in the first round whilst Finlay Allan exited in the round of 32.
Men's -81Kg: Eryk Neumann and Rory Tyrrell were both first round casualties. 
Men's -90Kg: Jared Sey reached the round of 16 whilst Corey O'Neal-Narcis exited the competition in the round of 32
Men's +100Kg: Daniel Ede lost his first bout
Women's -48Kg: Summer Shaw had another first round exit.
Women's -52Kg: Caitlin Barber lost in the first round.
Women's -57Kg: Tomi Imrie and Madeleine Birri both lost their first fight.  Ammi Takahashi would ultimately finish in 5th place after going into repechage as runner up of her pool.
Women's -70Kg: Rachel Hawkes lost in the first round.
Women's -78Kg: Performance of the week belongs to Shelley Ludford who took top step on the podium. 
Women's +78Kg: Sarah Adlington returned to ranking level international competition for the first time since the 2023 Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam. Her return was shortlived as she lost in the first round. 
 
 
Shooting:
European Junior Championships 10m (09-15-Feb): 12 athletes have been announced in the  team to compete in Burgas :
Pistol: Lucinda Evans was the top finishing Brit in the Women's 10m Air Pistol in 46th, just ahead of Lucy Banner in 48th and Matilda Baker in 51st. Isobel MacTaggart was 58th.
 
The stand out performance was Sash Mikhailov's 12th place finish in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. The rest of the Brits didn't have a great tournament. Isaac Baxter was in 80th (and last place). Hamish McDonald didn't fare much better in 79th with Ayush Chauhan in 72nd.
Rifle: Sophie Page was 78th in the 10m Air Rifle with Jess Tomalin in 89th and Libby Hart in 92nd. In the men's 10m Air Rifle Oliver McCabe was DNF.
 
 
Squash:
Texas Open (12-16 Feb): 3rd seed Marwan ElShorbagy  got to the semi-finals before falling to top seed  Diego Elias 1-11 11-6 1-11 1-11.
 
5th seed Mohamed ElShorbagy had a bye in the first round but would ultimately lose his opening match.
 
Nick Wall and Nathan Lake both made it through their first-round match before losing in the second round. 
 
Sam Todd was an early casualty, losing in the first round to  Gregoire Marche. 
 
3rd seed Georgina Kennedy who, made it to the semi-finals before losing to 2nd seed  Olivia Weaver 5-11 3-11 4-11.
 
6th seed Georgia Adderley got to the quarterfinals before losing out to the top seed and eventual champion  Nour ElSherbini 5-11 1-11 3-11. 
 
Lucy Beecroft, Torrie Malik, Lucy Turmel and Grace Gear all made it through their first-round matches but couldn't get beyond the 2nd round.  
 
 
Table Tennis:
WTT Star Contender - Chennai (10-15 Feb) - Anna Hursey had a bye in the first round and advanced to the round of 16 with a 3-1 victory over  Sarah De Nutte. In the last 16 Hursey was up against top seed  Satsuki Odo and put up decent fight before losing 11-8 9-11 4-11 1-11. 
 
 
Tennis:
WTA1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open (09-15 Feb):  Emma Raducanu made a positive start in her match against  Camila Osorio taking the first set 6-2 but it went downhill from there. After losing the 2nd set 6-4, she eventually retired while trailing 2-0. Sonay Kartal got through qualifying and put up spirited performance against  Magda Linette before losing 4-6 6-3 3-6 in the first round.
 
ATP500 Dallas Open 2026 (09-15 Feb) - Jack Pinnington Jones is had a dream run in Dallas, reaching the quarter finals where he ran out of steam against  Marin Cilic losing 1-6 4-6. 
 
ATP500 ABN Amro Open 2026 (09-15 Feb) - Jack Draper was due to compete this week but withdrew before the event started. Cameron Norrie was the 6th seed and dispatched  Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 6-1 in the 1st round but fell to  qualifier Chris O'Connell in the round of 16 in a 6-7 4-6 defeat.

I dislike that Canadian team so much. Arrogant behavior. They have destroyed the sport. No else. 

Day off to a good start - Brad Hall has managed to split the German bob teams, currently in third!

OH MY GOD! HOW HAVE THE WOMEN WON THAT GAME?
 
Rebecca Morrison with a SUBLIME last shot. GBR somehow still cling on to a chance of the semis. I'd accepted defeat after the 7th end lol

What a shot by  Morrison on her last 
 
 steal 2, and take the win 8-7 over  

Italy-England is about to start
Whatever happens, Italy has already won by being here

Is it just me, or has one of our group gone VERY quiet since we started winning medals? 

The Scots made me glum in the rugby but Muir has put a smile on my face (TBF the skeleton already cheered me up)

9:5   

World Curling Official Verdict: 
 
 are a gang of lying cheating bastards who have ruined our beautiful sport.
 
 
Rule violations clarification following men’s session four in Cortina
 
Following the situations arising from the Sweden versus Canada game in men’s session four on Friday (13 February) evening, several issues require clarification.
 
Use of Video Replay
World Curling does not currently use video replay to re-umpire game decisions. Decisions made during a game are final.
 
Delivery Violations
Game Umpires are situated at the end of each sheet and physically cannot see every delivery infraction. However, when they are made aware of delivery issues, game umpires are positioned to observe the delivery for three ends. During this period of observation in the Friday evening game, there were no violations recorded.
 
When delivering a stone, before the hog line players can retouch the handle as many times as they wish. However, touching the handle after the hog line is not allowed and will result in a the stone being removed from play as per Rule R.5 (e) that states: “A stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line at the delivery end. If the player fails to do so, the stone is immediately removed from play by the delivering team.”
 
During forward motion, touching the granite of the stone is not allowed. This will result in the stone being removed from play.
 
As per rule R.5 (d) “The curling stone must be delivered using the handle of the stone.” Violation of this rule, will result in the stone being removed from play.
 
 
 
 
https://worldcurling.org/2026/02/statement-rules-violations/

First British male solo Gold since 1980, incredibly.  

Just look at what it means to him 

Much better second run for the big names,with  Matt Weston reasserting himself on top!

Tabitha Stoecker has gone 1-2-1-2 in the four Skeleton training runs so far (and Amelia Coltman 3-6-7-3) - pretty promising stuff.

A frustrating day. 4th for Muir, 4th for Brookes and Jen & Bruce saving their worst game for the one that mattered the most. 
 
Let’s hope tomorrow is kinder 

Curling: Yes
Freestyle Skiing: Yes
Skeleton: 5
Snowboard: Yes
Speed Skating: No
 
What a thrilling lineup to shift the misery of another damp flipping Monday  

NOT EVEN MEDAL FOR LEDECKA! HUGE UPSET!

Great to see a successor, but I think that Davies will go on to be a regular medallist.

Honestly, I have some doubts about the officiating, but that might be because I’m pro-Swiss. It honestly feels like they’re much more lenient with the Canadians — it’s a completely different judging standard. @hckošicewdyt?

Quidditch mode.