Breezy Johnson and Ilia Malinin star for US at Milan Cortina Olympics as Lindsey Vonn crashes

MILAN (AP) — The crash. The gasps. The helicopter.

Lindsey Vonn's frightening fall in the women's downhill at the Milan Cortina Olympics couldn't help but overshadow U.S. teammate Breezy Johnson’s feat — winning her country's first gold medal at these Games.

Johnson’s victory Sunday in Cortina wasn't the Olympic comeback story everyone expected, as the focus was on Vonn going for gold despite a torn ACL. Even as Johnson sat in the leader’s box on the verge of securing her first Olympic gold medal, her emotions swung from anticipation to anguish when Vonn went down.

“It was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life,” Johnson said.

Still, the 30-year-old Johnson became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill — Vonn won it in 2010 — and it came after her own injury concerns as well as a 14-month ban for violating “whereabouts” rules when it comes to testing for doping.

Sometimes, she said, “you just have to keep going because that’s the only option.”

No delays this time.

The U.S. defended its team figure skating gold medal by edging Japan on Sunday.

Ilia Malinin beat rival Shun Sato in a head-to-head showdown to break a deadlock in the final session of the competition. The U.S. ended up with 69 points while Japan finished with 68.

Malinin, nicknamed the “Quad God,” landed five quadruple jumps and scored 200.03 points for his free skate. Sato followed him with three quads in his program, but he could only manage 194.86 points, leaving the Japanese with a second straight silver medal in the team event.

Four years ago, the Americans — and Japanese — were denied a medal ceremony in Beijing because of a lengthy investigation into Russian doping, which kept them from receiving their medals until the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

Must be the home cooking.

Host nation Italy won six medals Sunday — five bronze and one silver — the most Italy has ever won in a single day at the Winter Olympics.

The Italy team delivered the silver medal in the mixed relay biathlon race.

Downhill skier Sofia Goggia won Italy's first bronze medal of the day, followed by Lucia Dalmasso's third place in snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom. Riccardo Lorello claimed bronze in the men’s speedskating 5,000 meters.

Dominik Fischnaller took bronze in men’s singles luge before Italy rallied for third place in the figure skating team event.

That followed Italy's Day 1 total of three medals, led by speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida's gold in the 3,000 meters.

Five charter planes carrying NHL players — including Canada’s Sidney Crosby — arrived in Milan on Sunday morning from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. This is the first Olympics with NHL players since the Sochi Games in 2014.

Sweden was the first of the teams comprised of almost exclusively NHL players to take the ice for practice at Milano Santagiulia Arena, followed by the U.S., Czechia, Canada and Finland.

The 12-team men's tournament starts Wednesday. The U.S. and Canada are the heavy favorites, and both teams begin their campaigns Thursday. The Americans face Latvia. Canada plays Czechia.

Finland is the defending champion, but Canada has won each of the past two Olympics with NHL players.

No surprise that a Czech racer won snowboarding's parallel giant slalom Sunday in Livigno. The shocker was that it wasn't Ester Ledecka.

Ledecka, who was trying to become the first snowboarder to win gold medals at three straight Olympics, lost her quarterfinal race by 0.06 seconds to Austria’s Sabine Payer.

The gold medal went to Ledecka's teammate, 22-year-old Zuzana Maderova. It was her first victory in a major event. Payer took the silver medal. Italy's Lucia Dalmasso won bronze.

Ledecka hadn’t lost a PGS World Cup race in almost two years.

There's plenty of interest here in the Super Bowl, even if the game kicks off Monday at 12:30 a.m. in Italy. A couple of sports pubs in Milan said on Sunday that they're fully booked and will turn away walk-ups. The New England Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, California.

A few days before competing in Sunday's women's downhill, American skier Jacqueline Wiles noted that she's a “big, big fan” of the Seahawks. A native of Portland, Oregon, Wiles finished tied for fourth on Sunday, just missing out on a bronze medal.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Czechia's Ester Ledecka warms up during the women's snowboarding parallel giant slalom finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Riccardo Lorello of Italy reacts after winning the bronze medal on the men's 5,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A rescue helicopter arrives after United States' Lindsey Vonn crashed during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Ilia Malinin of the United States competes during the figure skating men's team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Breezy Johnson of the United States reacts in the finish area of the alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott, Keystone via AP)

PARIS (AP) — Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé starred with two goals and an assist as Paris Saint-Germain crushed bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

The win restored defending champion PSG's two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat.

“We wanted to send a message that we're back,” Dembélé said after PSG's biggest winning margin against Marseille.

“It was almost perfect,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “It's an important day for our fans because we made history, 5-0 never happened before.”

Despite PSG's attacking flair, Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi's choices will be scrutinized following a truly dismal performance from his side lacking composure and fight. Marseille was eliminated from the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat against Club Brugge less than two weeks ago.

“Once again, I say sorry to the fans,” De Zerbi said. “I'm not in the players' heads. I thought we had prepared well for this game but clearly not. We need to understand why we played this way in Bruges and here.”

Top scorer Mason Greenwood, fellow forward Amine Gouiri and new signing Ethan Nwaneri were anonymous in attack, with veteran Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench.

De Zerbi dropped goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli after a couple of poor performances and replaced him with Jeffrey de Lange, who was out of sorts, albeit not helped by his defense.

De Lange was easily beaten when Dembélé side-footed in a cross from left back Nuno Mendes in the 12th minute following a quick break launched by Désiré Doué.

However, PSG could have been down to 10 players before then. Midfielder Vitinha caught defender Leonardo Balerdi's ankle with a late tackle but escaped with a yellow card.

Having denied Bradley Barcola with a fine low save, De Lange was beaten again in the 37th when Dembélé profited from a glaring error from Balerdi.

He let the ball through his legs on PSG's right flank, allowing Dembélé to attack the penalty area, dribble past him and find the roof of the net.

“We can't accept this, we don't come here to play like this,” said Balerdi, who did not mention his own performance. “We were not good enough and you could see it. Against such a team you pay for it.”

Marseille's weak defense cracked in 10 second-half minutes, with Facundo Medina scoring an own-goal over the head of De Lange, and Dembélé setting up Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for a clinical volley before Lee Kang-in slotted home the fifth.

Marseille's 1-0 win over PSG in September will seem like a distant memory.

PSG fans were in the spotlight after last season's match at Parc des Princes was marred by homophobic and racist chanting, with a warning to “stop discriminatory chants” posted on the giant screen.

There were brief discriminatory chants about Marseille at the start of the game and referee Willy Delajod stopped play for about one minute around the 70th, at which point a message was posted on the big screen.

Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn got away with a blunder in a 0-0 draw at Nice in the French Riviera derby.

Köhn stopped the ball going out for a corner but slid and mis-kicked it to attacking midfielder Sofiane Diop on the edge of the penalty area in the 72nd minute. Diop’s curling shot was going in until defender Thilo Kehrer acrobatically heeled the ball away.

Folarin Balogun hit the crossbar for Monaco in the third minute.

Veteran striker Ciro Immobile drew a blank on his league debut for Paris FC in a 0-0 draw at Auxerre.

During the 2019-20 season he finished as the “Capocannoniere” (top scorer) in the Italian league with 36 goals for Lazio and has scored 304 goals overall at club level.

Immobile played forward Jonathan Ikoné clean through during the second half, but Ikoné's shot was saved.

Angers moved up to ninth after beating Toulouse 1-0 thanks to a brilliant lob from defender Lilian Raolisoa from nearly 40 meters out in the 89th.

Le Havre moved up to 13th after winning 2-1 at home to Strasbourg.

Lens beat Rennes 3-1 on Saturday.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

PSG fans light flare prior to the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille in Paris, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, center, celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille in Paris, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PSG's Ousmane Dembele celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille in Paris, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PSG's Ousmane Dembele, top left, celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille in Paris, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PSG's Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille in Paris, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)