Dennis

No that's fair. I also prefer Kok and Takagi over her

Tomorrow the women's 1.000m: Start list on olympics.com This is a very difficult distance to predict (especially places 4-18) with a clear top 3 based on the season so far followed by an extremely long list of outsiders who could medal if one of the top 3 slip up. Jutta Leerdam Femke Kok Miho Takagi Brittany Bowe Béatrice Lamarche Rio Yamada Han Mei Yukino Yoshida Lee Na-Hyun Nadezhda Morozova Yin Qi Nikola Zdráhalová Kim Min-Sun Ellia Smeding Erin Jackson Elizaveta Golubeva Suzanne Schulting Karolina Bosiek Isabelle van Elst Natalia Czerwonka Kaitlyn McGregor Anna Ostlender Vanessa Herzog Tian Ruining Fran Vanhoutte Kristina Silaeva Jeannine Rosner Maybritt Vigl Rose Laliberté-Roy Carolina Hiller-Donnelly

Czechia doesn't have a long-track ice rink, but still win medals. When are the Slovakians coming through?

Fairly okay prediction. Three positive surprises: Lorello: didn't think he would finish on the podium, benefitting from some favorites not showing what they were capable of earlier in the season. Kongshaug: did expect him to purely skate this as a warm-up for the 1.500m, but he went all in and finished in front of some very strong names. He looks ready for the 1.500m and the team pursuit. Van de Bunt: solid showing for him. Let's see if he can keep this up on the 10.000m. And three negative surprises: Bloemen: seems to have started too quickly, but based on the season so far, I expected better Farthofer: started the season so strong, has such a strong personal record, but had hist worst showing of the season. He's still young, so hopefully he learns from this. Petzold: also the worst showing of the season here in Milano. Looked poorly from the start, so I hope he's not sick or something.

It will be very difficult, but a medal is realistic

Well done to Eitrem! Nice podium with Jílek and Lorello! Ghiotto just missing out, but the 10km still coming up.

Lorello is leading at the break with a 6:09.22, though that's pretty much where he should be given the rest of this early field. Seriously impressed Liu Hanbin even showed up. After that injury, I figured he was done for the season, so just seeing him finish is nice. Now we’ll see if the guys from France and Czechia can actually handle the pressure. The real show starts in pair 9 though. Let's see if Eitrem can actually back up that insane world record from two weeks ago.

Fencing powerhouse strikes again!

Draw for the 5.000m Men (tomorrow 16:00 local time) is out: https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/results/ssk/st/m/5000m-------------/fnl-/000100--/race-result After Lollobrigida’s incredible performance today, it’s honestly getting hard to bet against the Italians on home ice. That said, I still think Ghiotto’s real shot at Gold is the 10km, leaving the 5km wide open for some "untraditional" countries. It’s truly bizarre to look at a start list and realize that a Czech teenager and a Frenchman are the heavy medal favorites, while the Dutch, who used to own this distance, can barely be called outsiders anymore. If you had told me a few years ago that this would be the state of the 5000m, I wouldn’t have believed it. My prediction for tomorrow: Sander Eitrem - The heavy favorite after shattering the World Record this season with a historic 5:58.52. Timothy Loubineaud - A massive challenger who briefly held the World Record himself earlier this season with a 6:00.23. Metoděj Jílek - A serious gold medal contender, but I’m worried this is the first time he’ll truly feel the weight of expectations from his home country after his breakout results. Casey Dawson - A podium regular this year who is a strong contender for the top five. Ted-Jan Bloemen - The veteran master of the long distances who always finds an extra gear on the big stage. Davide Ghiotto - Facing massive home-crowd pressure in Milan to keep up with the younger generation. Chris Huizinga - Currently looks like the strongest hope for the Dutch guard. Alexander Farthofer - A rising talent who has successfully pushed his way into the top tier this season. Riccardo Lorello - Another Italian hope looking to capitalize on the home-ice advantage. Gabriel Groß - A solid mid-pack contender who has delivered reliable results throughout the winter. Fridtjof Petzold - Has shown steady improvement and is now occasionally a fixture in the top half of the field. Marcel Bosker - Started the season incredibly strong at the Dutch Championships, but hasn't reached that level since. Michele Malfatti - A home favorite who has been hovering just outside the lead group all season. Bart Swings - His legendary engine remains world-class, but his main focus is on the mass start. Felix Maly - A consistent performer who provides a solid benchmark for the field. Sigurd Henriksen - Part of the deep Norwegian squad with the potential to surprise if others slip up. Stijn van de Bunt - A massive breakout talent, but the Olympic depth makes moving up a huge challenge. Shomu Sasaki - A promising young skater gaining valuable experience on the world stage. Liu Hanbin - Honestly surprised to see him on the start list after that tough injury. It will be a victory just to finish. Peder Kongshaug - Finished dead last in his only A-group appearance this season and hasn't raced a competitive 5k in months. He's a 1500m specialist who might lack the form for this distance right now.

Removing Sáblíková from my prediction, I can at least say I predicted the top 8 correctly, just in a completely different order. Francesca Lollobrigida: Predicted 7th -> Final Rank 1. Massive Miss: A legendary home-ice win on her 35th birthday. Ragne Wiklund: Predicted 1st -> Final Rank 2. Close: Held on for silver but couldn't match Lollobrigida's pace. Valerie Maltais: Predicted 4th -> Final Rank 3. Podium Miss: Correctly identified her as a major threat to the favorites, but she secured the Bronze. Joy Beune: Predicted 2nd -> Final Rank 4. Major Miss: The reigning World Champion faded in the final laps and missed a medal entirely. Sandrine Tas: Predicted 8th -> Final Rank 7. Close enough: A very accurate read on her consistent form this season. Josie Hofmann: Predicted 14th -> Final Rank 14. Perfect: Perfect prediction on her exact placement. My only one Jeannine Rosner: Predicted 9th -> Final Rank 19. Major Miss: Correct assessment that the Olympics came a bit too early in her career, though The track was clearly incredibly fast today. It just goes to show that on Olympic ice, current momentum and home-crowd energy can override even the most consistent season results.

Yes, it's her dad's aunt.

What. A. Race. I predicted Francesca Lollobrigida would finish 7th because she "wasn't in shape." Well, she just proved me - and the rest of the world - completely wrong. On her 35th birthday, on home ice, she didn't just win, she destroyed the field with a 3:54.28! That is the stuff legends are made of!

Gold for Lollobrigida

Lollobrigida?! Where does this come from?!

After the first half: bit disappointed by Rosner, I expected more from her as the junior world record holder but she's still very young, whereas I'm a little surprised by Golubeva who skated one of her stronger 3.000 meters in recent seasons. Tas has a legit chance of making the podium now