loena hendrickx keeps Olympic medal chase alive with composed short program in Milan-Cortina
Loena Hendrickx steadied her Olympic campaign on Feb. 17, 2026 (ET) with a composed short program at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, booking a place in the women's free skate and keeping Belgium in contention for a high finish. After a season with fitness questions, Hendrickx delivered a technically solid, musically timed routine that reassured supporters and set up a decisive free skate later in the event.
Technical poise under pressure — what she did on the ice
Hendrickx skated a concise, focused short program that prioritized clean basics and timing. She completed her jump elements without the wobble that had hampered parts of the season and showed good edge quality on spins and step sequences. Judges noted a balance between technique and presentation; that blend countered a strict panel on jump levels and was enough to place her among the qualifiers for the free skate.
The run-through highlighted several concrete improvements: steadier landings, crisper edges in her transitions, and tighter spin positions. Those gains are particularly important given the earlier months when Hendrickx managed training ramps and a cautious competitive build-up. This short program marks a clear checkpoint in that recovery process — proof that her training adjustments have translated into cleaner competition performances when it matters most.
Strategy and stakes heading into the free skate
Advancing to the free skate keeps Belgium represented in the latter stages of the women's competition and raises expectations for national supporters. The coaching team now faces a familiar Olympic calculus: push for maximum technical difficulty to gain base value or opt for slightly trimmed content to increase the chance of a clean, high-quality performance.
The free skate window rewards stamina and consistency, so tactical tweaks to element layout and pacing are expected. A successful approach could be either landing more difficult jumps to climb the leaderboard or prioritizing execution to move up if rivals falter. Whichever route is chosen, execution under intense Olympic pressure will determine whether Hendrickx converts this short-program momentum into a substantially higher final placement.
Context and atmosphere from Milan-Cortina
The mood around the rink reflected the wider visual sweep of the Games: image galleries from day 13 captured the range of winter sports and the event’s atmosphere, while earlier photo roundups from Day 11 highlighted standout Olympic moments across disciplines. Those collections helped frame the competition’s physical and emotional intensity — and in several frames, athletes like Hendrickx were shown delivering the focused, composed performances that define a successful Olympic outing.
With the women's free skate scheduled later in the Olympic timetable, Hendrickx has a few days to refine pacing and element choices. If she can reproduce the poise of her short program over the longer routine, she could reward the boldness of sticking to a measured return-to-form strategy and push Belgium into the conversation for a podium result. Either way, today’s performance reaffirmed her resilience and capacity to compete at the highest level when it matters most.
