By CIARAN FOREMAN, SPORTS REPORTER

Published: 06:58 EST, 21 February 2026 | Updated: 07:24 EST, 21 February 2026

Bobsleigh pilot Jakob Mandlbauer had to be helped off the track by medics and his team-mates on a stretcher after a big crash in the Winter Olympics.

The Austrian, 27, was competing in the second heat of the four-man final on Saturday when the sled veered on its side and was unable to stop.

Mandlbauer and his team-mates Daniel Bertschler, Sebastian Mitterer and Daiyehan Nichols-Bardi attemped to duck their heads inside the sled as it hurtled round the track.

When it finally stopped near the finish line, officials rushed to the sled – sparking concern among onlookers in Cortina and those watching from home. 

Bertschler, Mitterer, and Daiyehan were able to get out but Mandlbauer remained down as he received additional treatment before being rushed to hospital.

Austrin outlet Krone reported that Mandlbauer is conscious and was able to move his arms, body and head, though he is being assessed for neck pain at hospital.

Bobsleigh driver Jakob Mandlbauer was taken to hospital after a crash in the Winter Olympics

The Austrian’s team-mates were able to get out of the sled but he received extra treatment

Volunteers were pictured attempting to repair the areas of the track where the crash occurred

Two-time Olympic bobsledder John Jackson said on the BBC after the incident: ‘As a sliding community, we all want to see each other safe and healthy and being able to laugh and joke at the top of the track. 

‘Nobody likes to see athletes crashing and you know things aren’t right because the medics are taking a little bit longer to take them off the track.’

Bertschler, Mitterer, and Daiyehan are reported to have received extra treatment at the event.

Olympics volunteers were pictured attempting to repair the track, which was left with huge marks from the crash.

Once Mandlbauer was removed and the track was cleared, the action was able to get underway once again.

By OLIVER SALT, US ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Published: 18:14 EST, 16 February 2026 | Updated: 01:15 EST, 17 February 2026

Lindsey Vonn’s sister insists the Olympic icon is ‘super strong’ despite her gruesome leg break after battling through a ‘rough’ week in hospital.

Vonn, 41, underwent four surgeries in Italy after fracturing her complex tibia in a horror skiing crash at the Winter Olympics.

The serious damage suffered to her leg requires multiple procedures, while one specialist has warned that some similar injuries even require amputation.

Following her older sister’s fourth op on Saturday, and release from hospital on Sunday, Karin Kildow has told TMZ Sports that she is now taking it ‘one day at a time.’

‘It’s been a rough one, been in the hospital a lot,’ Kildow, 37, admitted. ‘Just one day at a time. She’s super strong, but there’s a lot of surgeries and things. We’re working on getting her back to the U.S.’

On Monday night, Vonn confirmed she had returned home and paid tribute to hospital staff in Europe. ‘[I] haven’t stood on my feet in over a week… been in a hospital bed immobile since my race,’ she posted on social media. 

Lindsey Vonn’s sister insists the Olympic icon is ‘super strong’ despite her gruesome leg break

The 41-year-old Vonn has undergone four surgeries after a horror crash at the Winter Olympics

‘And although I’m not yet able to stand, being back on home soil feels amazing… huge thank you to everyone in Italy for taking good care of me.’ 

Critics on social media have questioned Vonn’s decision to compete in the women’s downhill race on the day after suffering a torn ACL in the lead-up to it.

But Karin says the family are not paying any attention to the negativity online.

‘You know what? Everyone’s gonna have their thing to say, I think… but she’s strong and she did it,’ she concluded.

Earlier on Monday, Vonn shared a behind-the-scenes video from hospital on Instagram, which shows her undergoing exercises, having her hair washed and being fed dinner while stepping up her recovery.

She also included the caption: ‘Thankful for friends, family, my team and all the medical staff that are getting me back to myself…. I’m slowly coming back to life, back to basics and the simple things in life that mean the most. Smile. Laugh. Love.

‘My sister @kar_inthegarage made this video and it instantly made me cry and made my heart full. Love you guys’.

Vonn lost control last Sunday over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air.

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She shared a behind-the-scenes video of the recovery process in hospital on Monday

The skiing legend suffered a broken left leg after she crashed in the women’s downhill race 

She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter.

Last week, a defiant Vonn also suggested that she will one day ski again despite fears that she could lose her left leg.

In an emotional post, the iconic skier added that she had no regrets about competing in the downhill event – she had torn her ACL in her left knee days before the crash, something she insists had no influence over what happened – and remarkably vowed to ski again one day in the future.

While she surely meant it in a recreational sense rather than trying once again to compete at the highest level, she said: ‘Please, don’t feel sad. The ride was worth the fall. When I close my eyes at night I don’t have regrets and the love I have for skiing remains.

‘I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will.’

US figure skater Maxim Naumov may not have won a medal but he made his late parents proud on Friday night as he competed on the Winter Olympic stage. 

The 24-year-old lost his parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, last year when they were among the 67 people killed after American Airlines Flight 5342 crashed into a military helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport and fell into the dark depths of the Potomac River.

Over a year on from their deaths, Naumov finished his Winter Games debut with an emotional free skate Friday night. 

It wasn’t a perfect program. Far from it. Naumov fell twice on quad salchows and was uneven throughout. But the point total wasn’t the point.

Naumov finished 20th overall with a total score of 223.36, combining the short program and free skate, but he insisted that he was proud of his performance following the emotional challenges of the past year. 

‘To be honest, I just feel proud,’ Naumov said afterward. ‘I feel proud of the journey that it took to get to this point. That is what I look toward right now. What it took to get here has been indescribable, inwards, getting up every day when I didn’t want to and pushing through the difficult times and the uncertainty of it all. I’m able to have some perspective on that. And I’ve had a lot of perspective in lots of areas in my life this year and skating is no different.

US figure skater Maxim Naumov finished 20th in the Winter Olympic men’s single skating 

The 24-year-old fell twice throughout his free skate program, finishing with a score of 223.36

‘So yes,’ Naumov said, ‘there were some mistakes today, but man, I’m just happy and proud to be standing here today and getting through all the difficulty of this year and still standing on my feet and continuing to push onward.’

Just as he did after his short program, Naumov clutched a photo of his late parents as he awaited his score. After it was announced, he kissed the photo which showed him at three years old on the ice with his parents.

Naumov had finished fourth at the national championships in Wichita, Kansas, last January before heading home to the Boston area, while his parents – world pairs champions-turned-coaches – stayed behind to participate in a youth development camp.

Their plane was carrying more than two dozen members of the tight-knit figure skating community when it crashed.

Vadim and Evgenia were crowned pairs world champions in ice skating in 1994 and were the people who introduced Naumov to the sport, remaining a key influence over his career up until their death.

He wanted to fulfill a dream that he shared with his parents by making it to the Olympics; they were fifth at the 1992 Albertville Games and fourth at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. 

After January’s championships, Naumov said of his grieving process: ‘Once a week I try to have that space with them, in whatever capacity that might be.

Naumov clutched and kissed a photo of his late parents as he awaited his score

Naumov said that he was proud of his performance following the year’s emotional challenges

‘It could be a photo, talking to someone about them. It could be anything. It’s been therapeutic in a way.’

To this day, Naumov wears around his neck a gold chain with a cross, which he received on his baptism day. On his finger is a white gold ring with a single diamond, which his father once wore on his pinkie and passed down to him several years ago. 

‘I mean, there’s parts of life that are difficult, you know? But I think within those difficult times and moments of like, talking about this story, it’s still such a privilege to share,’ he said back in January. 

‘My intention is to share it as much as possible, because not only do my parents deserve all the praise and recognition and the fact that I wouldn’t be here without them, but also to inspire other athletes, or people in general, to know that there is a way. No matter what, there is a way.’ 

Naumov’s US teammate, Ilia Malinin, who had been the favorite for the gold, also missed out on medalling after suffering a collapse in the free skate, which saw him tumble out of podium contention into eighth.  

Matt Weston dominated the rest of the field to win a superb skeleton gold at the Winter Olympics to end Team GB’s long wait for a medal in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Weston converted his overnight lead into glory at the Cortina Sliding Centre, beating his rivals by the second biggest margin at an Olympics to become the first individual male athlete to take gold for Britain at the Winter Games since Robin Cousins in 1980.

The 28-year-old double world champion arrived at these Games as the strong favourite and delivered emphatically with an overall time of 3:43.33 to clinch Team GB’s first medal of the event in Italy.

Weston kissed and embraced fiancée Alex Howard-Jones, who travelled to Cortina along with his family to support the Team GB star, after the medal ceremony.

‘It means everything,’ Weston told BBC Sport. ‘It means a hell of a lot to me personally, I have worked so hard for this.

‘Everyone back at home, my fiancee, my family, my friends, everyone that has sacrificed for me to be here. I have missed funerals, birthdays, everything for this moment and it feels amazing.

Matt Weston dominated the skeleton event, beating his rivals by a huge margin to take gold

Weston, 28, kissed and embraced fiancée Alex Howard-Jones after the race 

Weston is the first Team GB athlete to win a medal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics

The 28-year-old appeared emotional as he celebrated a dominant victory on Friday night

Weston blew the rest of the field out of the water, winning gold by a huge margin of 0.88sec

‘Even if you’re not part of my close circle, if you play the National Lottery you’re supporting me as well so thank you so much. Hopefully I did you proud.

‘I literally can’t describe it. I’ve been fortunate enough to win World Championships, European Championships and other things as well and this blows them all out of the water. I can’t describe the feeling. I almost feel numb.’ 

His fiancée said: ‘It feels amazing to be honest. I’d told you that he’d get a gold and he did. We couldn’t be prouder.’

Dad Tom Weston added: ‘He’s definitely that good. I knew he’d be very close, at least second. Absolutely proud of him.’ 

Double Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold, a pundit in the BBC studio, broke down in tears while discussing Weston’s superb victory. 

Weston came into the second day of the men’s event with a healthy 0.30 lead over the rest of the field, after clocking 56.21 on run one before improving to 55.88 in his second. 

He extended his advantage to 0.39 following his third run of 55.63 and ended 0.88 ahead of Axel Jungk of Germany, who took silver, while Jungk’s compatriot and Beijing 2022 champion Christopher Grotheer claimed bronze.

Weston’s triumph comes after days of agonising heartbreak for Team GB, who were backed with £25million worth of funding for this Olympic cycle.

Weston celebrated with his fiancée and his family, who were in Cortina to support the star

The star shared an emotional hug with Howard-Jones, and parents Alison and Tom

Weston stood atop the podium on a chilly Cortina night as he made history in dominant style

The British star on the podium along with silver medallist Axel Jungk (left) and bronze medallist Christopher Grotheer

Weston dropped to the track at the Cortina Sliding Centre after his superb victory

Freestyle skier Kirsty Muir, snowboarder Mia Brookes, and curlers Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds had all finished fourth in their respective events, before ice dancers Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson also blew a chance to win a medal. 

But Weston had no such problems as he became just the 13th British athlete to ever win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Team-mate Marcus Wyatt finished ninth.

The build-up to the event for Weston and Wyatt had been dominated by a row over the British team’s helmets, which were ruled illegal. 

The British pair instead reverted to the helmets they used to dominate the 2025-26 World Cup season – Weston won five of seven races and Wyatt the other two. 

The skeleton competition itself was overshadowed by the controversial disqualification of Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was sensationally thrown out of the event for trying to wear a helmet depicting athletes killed in the war with Russia.

Heraskevych appealed the decision but the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday rejected his claim. 

Weston is engaged to Howard-Jones, chief operating officer and founding member of pltfrm search, a specialised executive search firm based in London.

The pair are set to get married in July and both share a ten-year-old cocker spaniel named Logan.

The Team GB star is the first man to ever win the men’s Olympic skeleton title

Weston with his gold medal at the ceremony after his win in the men’s skeleton event

Weston started his sporting career in a completely different field. Born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, he used to take part in competitive taekwondo.

He won gold and silver medals at the European Cup in 2012 and silver and bronze medals at the International Taekwondo Federation World Cup in 2014.

However, he retired from the sport at just 17 years old due to a fracture in his back.

Instead, he focused his attention on rugby representing Kent, Sevenoaks RFC and Saracens Academy College.

He was eventually introduced to skeleton in 2017 by his weightlifting coach Chris Dear through the British Skeleton Discover Your Gold talent identification scheme.

To prepare for the sport he completed a training period with the Royal Marines to test his physical and mental fitness.

He made his competitive debut in 2019 at the Europa Cup in Winterberg, Germany and nearly quit the sport after placing 15th, before winning a silver medal in Igls, Austria, and a bronze in Altenberg, Germany.

In 2021, he won a gold for Great Britain at the men’s World Cup – the first win in the sport for almost 14 years.

After competing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and with a new coach, he won the European title in 2023 and a week later became world champion, before retaining his title in 2025.

By ISABEL BALDWIN, US ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Published: 18:25 EST, 11 February 2026 | Updated: 22:58 EST, 11 February 2026

NBC was forced to issue an apology after accidentally referring to Swedish athlete Elis Lundholm with the wrong pronouns during its coverage of the Winter Olympics. 

The 23-year-old skier, who was born as a woman but identifies as male, was competing in the moguls even in the women’s freestyle division in Milan-Cortina.

During Lundholm’s run, the Olympic international feed, which was broadcast on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock, referred to the athlete as ‘she’ multiple times. 

‘Getting off course here though…oh she just skids out of that gate,’ the commentary of Lundholm’s run said. ‘She’s going to hop up and go around to make sure she does not DNF as she continues down the line here.’ 

NBC quickly removed the footage from the platforms and its social media channels, apologizing for the error. 

‘NBC Sports takes this matter seriously,’ NBC said, via Outsports. ‘Today we streamed an international feed with non-NBCUniversal commentators who misgendered Olympian Elis Lundholm. We apologize to Elis and our viewers, and we have removed the replay of that feed.’

NBC was forced to issue an apology after misgendering Swedish athlete Elis Lundholm

The skier, who was born as a woman but identifies as male, was competing in the moguls

Lundholm’s participation is allowed under the current International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines, making him the only openly trans athlete competing at this year’s Games.

But after making a mistake on the snowy slopes of Livigno, Lundholm finished 29th with a score of just 12.05 on Tuesday.

However, the trans Swede still had the chance to qualify for the final round again on Wednesday morning due to the nuances of the qualification moguls.

While the top 10 scored athletes on Tuesday receive an automatic bye, the remaining skiers will take part in a second round the following morning. Those who made the top 10 will then join the existing finalists, with the chance of winning a medal on Wednesday afternoon. 

But it wasn’t to be for Lundholm, who finished 25th overall following the second qualification round and missed out on the chance of competing for a medal.

Lundholm has previously spoken out about his comfort at competing in female-only divisions.

‘I’ve always been treated well,’ he told Swedish TV channel SVT previously.

‘I came out and identified as a man. But I compete against women because they have the same qualifications as me. And that’s okay with everyone.’ 

The Swede, a transgender man, is the first trans competitor at the Winter Olympics

His participation for the women’s team is in line with the IOC’s 2021 ‘Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations’.

Those guidelines allow trans athletes to compete in the Olympics after being cleared by their own national sports federations.

Before he took to the slopes, Lundholm also addressed criticism surrounding his participation.

‘Of course it’s something I thought about,’ he said. ‘You can hear the voices out there. But then I do my thing, and I don’t give a damn.’

Lindsey Vonn’s horror crash in the women’s downhill ski event at the Winter Olympics was caused when she caught a gate with her right side, one photograph has shown. 

The former Olympic champion, 41, has been left in intensive care following the incident on Sunday, although it is understood that she was transferred there for the sake of extra privacy, rather than any greater medical necessity. The US team have also stated the 2010 gold medallist is ‘stable’.

Vonn had been competing in Cortina following a six-year hiatus from the sport and only nine days on from rupturing the ACL in her left knee in a training run crash ahead of the Games.

But Vonn was just 13 seconds into her run and had rounded the second corner when she appeared to lose control.

The 41-year-old sped over a hill and careered into one of the plastic markers on the side of the track before hitting the ground. Her right leg appeared to hit the ground first, as a cloud of powder engulfed the American. Vonn then tumbled forwards again, appearing to smash her shoulder into the ground, before coming to a halt on the slope. 

The Cortina crowd fell silent as medical crews arrived to attend to Vonn, who was later airlifted off the mountain. 

One photo has shown the key detail behind Lindsey Vonn’s horror crash at the Winter Olympics

As Vonn sped down the mountain, she caught a ski gate with her right side before she fell

Distressing scenes then erupted, with Vonn, whose skis had not detached from her boots, seen wincing in pain as she lay on her back in the snow. The American was also heard crying out in agony as the medics placed her onto a stretcher. 

And, a photo from AP, moments before Vonn’s crash, shows the skier careering into the ski gate while she was in the air and speeding down the mountain. 

Her right arm appeared to be on the wrong side of the gate and the force of her body could be seen in how the ski gate had been knocked, with it seemingly snapping.

Vonn went tumbling seconds after colliding into the gate, with her body rotating 180 degrees before her heavy crash.  

Organisers then began to play background music over the skier’s cries as she was lifted onto a stretcher.

An update provided by the US Ski and Snowboard Team on X later explained that Vonn had sustained an injury but was in a stable condition, before she then had surgery on a left-leg fracture. 

‘Update: Lindsey Vonn sustained an injury, but is in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians,’ a spokesperson had said.

The 41-year-old had defied the impossible by coming back to compete after rupturing her ACL prior to the Games and had completed multiple training runs in the build-up to Sunday’s event. 

While concerns have arisen over whether the 2010 Olympic champion was taking a risk in entering the competition – having undergone a reconstruction in her right knee back in 2024 and rupturing her ACL before the tournament – Vonn had made the decision to compete in Sunday’s downhill final. 

Vonn was airlifted to hospital after her crash, with it revealed that she had broken her leg

Vonn, a former Olympic champion, was competing in Cortina following a six-year hiatus from the sport

She had posted a time that was 1.39 seconds off the fastest run during a training session on Friday. 

The American, who has won 84 World Cups across multiple alpine skiing events during her glittering career, would improve on that on Saturday, posting a time of one minute and 38 seconds, which was 37 seconds shy of team-mate Breezy Johnson, who went on to claim gold on Sunday. 

As Vonn left the gates on Sunday, her coach was heard shouting, ‘keep charging, keep pushing’.  

The downhill event was subsequently suspended, with other competitors removing their skis at the top of the slope as they waited for Vonn to be evacuated.

BBC pundit and former alpine skier Chemmy Alcott was distressed by the scenes unfolding in Cortina d’Ampezzo. 

‘I feel guilty that I am this emotional,’ Alcott said to the BBC. ‘I just never believed it would end in a clump at the side of the piste, not moving. What we saw was that the top of the piste is really hard for a fit athlete; she just had her right knee. It is brutal, think about her family, her team and herself.

‘We have to be realistic. The risk was really high, the risk she takes when she falls will double that, her body will not be able to take that. There is clapping and there is hope that she would be okay but they have put up some background music because it is uncomfortable.’ 

By PADRAIC FLANAGAN

Published: 19:20 EST, 7 February 2026 | Updated: 21:15 EST, 7 February 2026

Her quest for Olympic glory has seen Kirsty Muir hit new heights on the frozen slopes of the Italian Alps.

But it is the depths to which she plunged in preparation for the Winter Games that Britain’s newest ski ace credits for her performances.

The 21-year-old from Aberdeen’s aerial skills ensured she qualified in third place for Monday’s final in the women’s ski slopestyle competition at Livigno Snow Park.

She was able to stay cool on the slopes in Italy after surviving a test of nerve while training at Delphy Pool near Bodmin in Cornwall last year, when she dived to a depth of 56ft and held her breath until her lips turned blue in the freezing darkness.

‘It was to put ourselves in a high-pressure situation and see how we reacted, how we managed ourselves and told our minds to chill out in this high-stress situation,’ the ski star revealed a few weeks before the Olympics began.

‘We started off just breathing on the ground, then we moved into a static tub and that’s where I held my breath for three minutes in the end,’ Muir said. 

‘Then we moved into a quarry, went down a rope and ended up 17 metres down. It’s pitch black, you can’t see anything, and you start overthinking – that’s when you’ve really got to centre yourself and calm down.

‘It’s helped a lot with my skiing because I realise now that I perform a lot better when I am calmer.’

Kirsty Muir trained for the Winter Olympics by diving to a depth of 56ft and holding her breath until her lips turned blue

Pictured: Skier Kirsty Muir, one of the British stars of this year’s Winter Olympics after hitting the top three in each of her qualifying runs on Saturday to reach the final

Muir hit the top three in each of her qualifying runs on Saturday to reach the final behind Switzerland’s defending champion Mathilde Gremaud and Chinese superstar Eileen Gu. 

‘I feel like my heart was maybe racing just a little bit more than usual,’ Muir said after the qualifiers. 

‘After I put my first run down, I felt a bit of a relief and felt like I could just be a bit smoother in myself. 

‘Just knowing I can do it when I’m feeling a little bit nervous, when I’m feeling a little bit of pressure, knowing that I can trust myself and put it down.’

Muir, who is competing at her second Olympics, will be hoping to celebrate after the final with her BMX rider boyfriend Matt Harris, 26, from Cambridgeshire – who starred in the first series of The Traitors.