Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games - Olympic Day 1 (Milan)

February 7

Last night, we were just getting to sleep when our 2 AM "wake up" period occurred so it was a long time before we actually got to sleep. Experts say that you adapt to about 1 hr. of time difference per day. If this is so, we should start to feel normal just about when we switch from Milano to Cortino!

After barely making it to breakfast in time, Steve spent the late morning and early afternoon blogging while Beth read one of the six books that she brought to read on this trip. Then it was time to head back to the Rho area, this time for women's 3000 meter long-track speed skating. 

Despite being a few cards short of a full deck, Steve knew it was going to be a good day when at the first metro stop, a group of four people in blue snowsuits got on the train and one immediately came up and asked if he would like to trade pins. He was wearing a China team pin but instead showed Steve a couple of pins that he would like to trade. Steve did not immediately recognize the NOC logo and asked what it was. He replied "Kazakhstan". It was only then that Steve noticed that the blue outfits had Qazaqstan (which is how the people in that nation spell it) on them. Of course Steve would be happy to trade! The Kazak selected a Valentine's Day pin from Salt Lake City 2002. This made Steve smile because Valentine's Day always occurs during the Winter Olympics and he is always sure to have at least one on his vest at all times!

Speed skating is the Dutch national sport, so it was no surprise when we got to our seats and saw this:

Dutch people wear orange because their royal family is from the House of Orange. By the time the event started, we guessed that perhaps half of the stands were full of orange-clad Dutchmen (and a good percentage of those not wearing orange might have been Dutch also). There was about an hour before the event started and there was a brass band performing that looked familiar:

When the introduction named them as the Royal Kleintje Pils, we weren't surprised. This is the same band that we have seen at every Winter Olympics we've attended since Nagano in 1998 (their bio says that they were also in Calgary in 1988 but we didn't take note of them there). We do remember them trying to teach the Japanese how to do the wave (you haven't lived until you see a man carrying a tuba running along trying to start the wave)!

Today's event is the 3000-meter race which covers 12.5 laps of the 400-meter track. Racers go two at a time and have to cross-over from inside to outside lane several times so that both skaters skate the same distance. American Greta Myers:

skated in the first pair and was making her Olympic debut. She was not supposed to be in this race, but yesterday, world record holder Martina Sablikova from Czechia had to withdraw due to an illness. This was a serious bummer to us because Sablikova, age 38, had only come back this year to try to win another Olympic medal (and likely say her professional good-byes) and this was her best event. But this is great for Greta. This might be a good place to point out that probably 95% of all of the Olympic athletes never win anything. Going to the Olympics after years of hard work is the reward, so while Greta did not win her pairing and finished last, she was thrilled to be able to compete on the world's biggest stage.

The 3000 meter is a long enough race that there is a significant amount of strategy. Racers have to decide whether to go out fast and try to hang on at the end or start slowly and try to increase their speed gradually during the whole race. Each skater has at least one coach on the backstretch giving them split times to help the skaters judge their effort level. There is also a big advantage to being able to grab a short boost by drafting behind the other skater during the cross-over from inside to outside lane:

There is a lot of technology that goes into getting the images for broadcasting the event. We counted four types. There are the now common cameras on cables and a special camera on a high-speed track around the outside of the oval (also commonly used in track and field - see upper left of the second picture):

But there were two types we were previously unaware of. The first is a robot that covers the inside of the oval in each corner and the second is a small drone that follows some distance behind the pair toward the end of the race:

After the first five pairs, there is a break to resurface the ice so that the later skaters (who should be the fastest) aren't disadvantaged. Then it was time for the medal contenders to skate. In honor of Steve's trade with the Kazaks, we have a picture of their best skater, Nadezhda Morozova:

She set a personal best time of 4:01.200 minutes in the 7th pair. Next up was Valerie Maltais from Canada and Francesca Lollobrigida from Italy:

Both of these racers were probably considered slightly past their primes, Francesca's 35th birthday is today (and is coming off the birth of her first child in May 2023) and Valerie is a few months older. If the Francesca's name sounds vaguely familiar, it should (if you are over the age of 60!). The famous actress Gina Lollobrigida is her great aunt. We have watched all of the long-track world cup races this year on TV so it was not a surprise when Francesca roared out of the start (she is a go fast and hold on kind of skater). Here she is drafting on Maltais:

Usually, Francesca burns out at the end of the race but today was one of those rare times when an athlete produces an effort that they don't even know that they are capable of. She finished in a time of 3:54.28, nearly 7 seconds ahead of Morozova.  The Italian fans went crazy! Even more incredible, that time was Francesca's personal fastest time ever and a new Olympic record on what is probably considered a very slow ice surface (at least compared to the high-altitude ovals in Calgary and Salt Lake City where most records are set). The Dutch fans, always great sports, recognized a great performance when they saw one and were on their feet as well. The Dutch fans also knew that they had two skaters, both ranked top five in the world, in the last two pairs. As Francesca sat in the warmup area with her head in her hands, first Marijke Groenewoud from the Netherlands and Ragne Wiklund from Norway and then Isabelle Weidemann from Canada and reigning world champion Joy Beune from the Netherlands tried to catch her and failed. The final results were Francesca Lollobrigida, gold, Ragne Wiklund, silver, and Valerie Maltais, bronze. After the victory, Francesca looked like she could hardly believe what had happened:

The Dutch fans on the metro going back to the hotel were a little down, but they have many more events in both long-track and short-track in which their athletes are considered the favorites for medals. We grab a quick dinner at a local Greek place down the street and go back to the hotel in the hope of finally getting a decent night's sleep.

Tomorrow, we have women's ice hockey. Enjoy!