Milano Cortina 2026: Near misses on Day 3

Milano Cortina 2026 09 Feb 26

Near misses categorised Day 3 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Kirsty Muir and Mia Brookes both finished fourth in their finals, while Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat will play for bronze in the mixed doubles curling after a semi-final defeat to Sweden.

Elsewhere, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson sit fourth in the ice dance standings ahead of Wednesday’s finale.

Brookes gambles it all

Mia Brookes was in her first Olympic final and needed a huge final run to earn a medal in the women's snowboarding big air final.

She decided to attempt a trick - the backside 1620 - she has never landed on snow, and had no regrets when she was just unable to nail the landing.

Brookes finished fourth with a score of 159.50 and will go again in the women's slopestyle qualification next Monday.

"I could have done a 14 and come fourth or third, but I also could have done the 16, which I did, and landed it and won," she said. "I would rather be in fourth with a 16 rather than fourth and a 14.

"I’ve never tried it before on snow but it’s the Olympics. I gave it everything I could and more but there was just a bit too much power.

“To land that would have been so special. Only one woman has ever done it before and I want to be making history."

Muir leaves everything out there

Kirsty Muir did not quite share Brookes' elation as she chalked up her own fourth place, this time in the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle event.

The 21-year-old finished just 0.41 points behind Canada's Megan Oldham to miss out on a first Olympic medal.

She too has another chance at getting on the podium as she goes in the big air qualification on 14 February.

"I'm obviously a bit sad," she said. "I'm not disappointed but it's just a tough place.

"I had a few difficulties in the first two runs and I got a bit annoyed at myself after my second.

"I think with [the third run] I knew that I wanted to leave it all out there which is why I went with a different grab, so it was tough when it wasn't working out for me. I'm proud that I still put one down."

Dodds and Mouat vow to come out firing

Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat were left with questions as they lost 9-3 to Sweden in the mixed doubles semi-final.

The pair had entered the knockout stages with eight wins from nine, including over their last-four opponents.

But errors at key times gave Sweden a decisive victory and set up a bronze-medal match with the hosts Italy tomorrow.

"We’ve had such a good week, and it was quite exciting for us to go into this game feeling the way we were feeling,” Dodds said.

“But to come out and not even play close to the way we wanted to is hard to put into words really.

“They were the better team today. We don’t want this to affect our chances of a medal, so we’ll speak about the things that need to be spoken about and corrected and we’ll come out firing."

Two ice dance pairs through

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, and Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez made it safely through to the free dance of the ice dance competition.

Both were safely inside the top 20 pairs in the event, with Bekker and Hernandez impressing on Olympic debut with a season's best score of 72.46 to end in 16th.

Fear and Gibson secured fourth place with a score of 85.47 to book their place.

Bekker said: "That was our goal coming into this, we obviously wanted to have that great Olympic experience, but we had that in our mind.

"We do want to go to the free dance and be able share that, and I feel very relieved and very satisfied in our job that we did today."

Smeding makes history

Ellia Smeding delivered a stunning performance in the women's speed skating 1000m, claiming 11th.

It is the best finish by a Team GB woman in the event, and also the quickest time a woman has ever produced at the Olympics.

Smeding will also compete in the women's 1500m, which takes place on Friday 20 February.

Tags