2026 Winter Olympics Freestyle Skiing: What to watch Saturday in Milan Cortina
The 2026 winter olympics freestyle skiing schedule features a packed Saturday as the Winter Games are wrapping up in Italy. The Milan Cortina Olympics have been flying by faster than Jordan Stolz, and the American speedskating icon will be on display once more Saturday.
Stolz and the mass start
After gold-medal performances in the 500 meters and 1, 000 meters, the 21-year-old Jordan Stolz had an opportunity to become the first athlete in 46 years to complete speedskating’s sprint treble at an Olympics. The Wisconsinite took silver Thursday in the 1, 500, an event he's mostly dominated. China’s Ning Zhongyan set the Olympic record with a time of 1: 41. 98, and, despite beating Norway's Peder Kongshaug, Stolz finished a sizable 0. 77 seconds behind Zhongyan's blistering mark. Stolz's final event in this year's Games is the mass start; he's one of a handful of Americans who have a shot at earning some hardware to kick off the weekend, and earlier in the Olympics he said that winning that chaotic race would be just "a bonus. "
2026 Winter Olympics Freestyle Skiing lineup
Eileen Gu's latest controversial Olympic run will continue on Saturday when she takes part in the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final. It's her third and final event of this year's Games. The American-born Gu notably represents China, where her mother was born. At 22 years old, she's already a five-time Olympic medalist. While she's yet to win gold in these Games, she's immensely proud of the silvers she earned in the big air and slopestyle events. She's got one more shot to stand atop a podium in Italy, and that's in the halfpipe, one of two events she won in Beijing four years ago.
Curling: U. S. women vs Canada
After making the Olympic playoffs for the first time since 2002, the U. S. women's curling team fell short in semifinal action against Switzerland on Friday. Switzerland avenged its loss to the Americans in the round-robin finale, in large part thanks to Alina Pätz, who was practically perfect and fueled a 7-4 victory that was closer than the score suggests. Switzerland will face Sweden in the gold-medal game on Sunday. But, first, on Saturday, the U. S. will square off against Canada with the bronze medal on the line. The Americans have never medaled in women's curling, which was added to the Olympics in 1998. In Salt Lake City 24 years ago, they lost to Canada in a bronze-medal game. The U. S. is hoping to flip the script this time around. In round-robin play, the American women notched their first-ever Olympic win over a Canadian team that previously had their number.
Eileen Gu in halfpipe
Gu will be up against 11 other freestyle skiers, including Team USA's Svea Irving and Kate Gray, who placed eighth and 12th, respectively, in qualifying on Thursday. Irving, the granddaughter of illustrious American author John Irving, was fifth at the 2025 World Championships. Great Britain's Zoe Atkin led all — unclear in the provided context.
Mass start rules and contenders
The mass start made its Olympics debut in 2018. It's the only long-track race where every skater starts together. The first three racers to cross the finish line of the 16-lap final win gold, silver and bronze. The full track is at the disposal of the skaters, who jockey for positioning strategically. The race typically goes down to the wire, often with unpredictable finishes. Belgium's Bart Swings is once again a gold-medal contender. He won the event in Beijing four years ago, and he took silver in PyeongChang.
Across the program, milestones and storylines are converging: Stolz chasing a rare sprint treble, the U. S. women seeking a first Olympic curling medal, and Eileen Gu aiming to cap a busy Games in the halfpipe. The schedule is tight and the results will help close out the Milan Cortina Olympics in Italy.
