LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Move over Torvill and Dean. Britain has a great, new Winter Olympics pairing.
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won the first gold medal on snow in the island country's 102-year history at the Winter Games after crossing the line in front Sunday in the wild sport of mixed snowboardcross.
This “Cold Gold” also gave Britain multiple titles at the same Games for the first time — and the news kept getting better. Later in the day, Matt Weston won his second gold in three days in skeleton, this time in the sport's mixed event.
Britain's most famous Winter athletes to this point: possibly Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the ice-dancing due who captivated the world by skating to “Bolero” and captured a gold medal in 1984 and bronze in 1994.
Now, Britain has “Bankes and Nightingale.” How will they celebrate?
“Sadly, I like to drink a bit too much, so there might be quite a big celebration,” Nightingale said.
In mixed snowboardcross, the first set of riders go down the mountain four-wide, while the second set waits at the top of the hill in something resembling a relay race. Whichever team crosses the line first in the four-team final gets gold.
There are three rounds of elimination racing. Fittingly, the British came into the final as the underdog — seeded 13th out of the 16 teams that qualified.
There were no real signs this was coming. Bankes finished 13th in the women's event and Nightingale 26th in the men's event last week. But everything came together on a sunny day in Livigno that will be part of history back in the skiers' hometowns in England, which typically only sees smatterings of snow about 14 days a year.
“We regrouped as a team and saw our families,” Bankes said. “That was super important for us to be able to come out today and perform. My coach said, ‘Go out there and have fun, keep the smile on your face.'”
They smiled all the way to the end of “God Save the King” — the first time the British national anthem has played during a medals ceremony at a ski, snowboard or biathlon course at the Olympics.
Mixed snowboardcross came into the Olympics four years ago, and America's Lindsey Jacobellis teamed with Nick Baumgartner to win gold a few days after Jacobellis broke through with her first title in the women's event.
Now another breakthrough. Between snowboardcross and the Weston wins, Britain now has 16 gold medals over its century-plus of Winter Games history.
“It’s unbelievable," Nightingale said. "GB on a whole is doing great on the snowboard side. ... We want to keep it going and inspire little kids to do it as well, and maybe one day they can get a gold medal.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Gold medalists Britain's Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale celebrate after the mixed team snowboard cross finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Gold medalists Britain's Charlotte Bankes reacts as she holds her medal after winning the mixed team snowboard cross finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Gold medalists Britain's Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale react on the podium after winning the mixed team snowboard cross finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
MILAN (AP) — Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Canada are rolling into the knockout round at the Olympics as the best team in the tournament.
They may have put the top seed out of the Americans' reach.
Crosby and McDavid each had a goal and two assists in a clinical, businesslike 10-2 dismantling of France on Sunday. Canada finished round robin play unbeaten, outscoring opponents by 17 goals over three games.
“We did what we came to do," said McDavid, who leads all scorers in Milan. "We came to win a hockey game and continue to get better.”
The blowout also included Tom Wilson fighting the player who delivered a forearm to Nathan MacKinnon's face a couple of minutes earlier. MacKinnon returned and Wilson was ejected, since fighting is a game misconduct under international rules, but the already popular teammate earned even more respect inside Canada's locker room.
“He’s going to stick up for his guys,” forward Sam Bennett said. “He’s a leader on this team and he’s a guy that’s going to protect our guys and do whatever it takes for our team.”
The U.S. would need to beat Germany by 10 or more goals on Sunday night to overtake Canada for the No. 1 seed. A win of any kind short of that would put the U.S. second and on a crash course to face seventh-seeded Sweden in the quarterfinals, and an unexpected regulation loss would shake up the already surprising standings.
Sweden is quite the formidable opponent, though Canada showed in the preliminary round that it has the skill, size and finishing ability to skate any other team in Milan out of the building. McDavid has nine points in his first nine periods to lead all scorers at his first Olympics, and Crosby has been great at 38 in his third looking to go 3 for 3 in gold medals.
“Sid’s playing great,” McDavid said. “Everybody’s playing really, really well. The team’s playing well. We’re in a good place right now.”
Macklin Celebrini, Canada's youngest player at 19, scored on a penalty shot and on the power play against France to give him four goals in three games. Wilson, picked by coach Jon Cooper to ride shotgun on the top line on McDavid's right wing, also had a goal, an assist and some big hits.
Mark Stone scored short-handed with 3.4 seconds left in the first period and had two assists. Brandon Hagel had Canada's ninth goal in the third before Celebrini scored the 10th.
Canada outshot France 46-13, making life as easy as possible on goaltender Jordan Binnington, who might want the second goal back but should still be in net Wednesday in the quarterfinals, likely against Czechia or Germany.
Rallying around the absence of injured winger Kevin Fiala, Switzerland beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime to give itself an easy path to the quarterfinals.
Winning the preliminary round finale means captain Roman Josi's team will almost certainly face France or also winless host Italy in the qualification playoffs Tuesday.
“We knew it was a big game,” said Josi, the Nashville Predators defenseman who scored Switzerland's first goal by banking the puck off Radko Gudas' left skate and in. "Obviously a lot of up and downs in that third period but found a way. It was a huge win against a really good team.”
Former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan scored the overtime winner. In 172 NHL regular-season and playoff games, he had just six goals and ranked this one top three in his career.
“I was first thinking about passing, but (Czechia's Radek Simek) gave me a little bit too much room,” Kukan said. “The shot from there is always dangerous.”
Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils and Pius Suter of the St. Louis Blues also scored for Switzerland, and 38-year-old national team goaltender Leonardo Genoni stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced.
Fiala, the Los Angeles Kings' second-leading scorer, had surgery to repair what the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation only called a lower left leg injury. He sent his teammates a video message from his hospital bed, and coach Patrick Fischer hopes Fiala is back at the athletes' village Monday.
“He’s still with us,” said Nico Hischer, who captains the Devils in the NHL. "We’ll play for him. And obviously you hate to see injury like that. He’s one of our best players, so it’s obviously a tough loss for us. But we know he’s still engaged with us, and he’ll cheer us on.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Czechia's Tomas Hertl (48) is challenged by Switzerland's Damien Riat (9) during a preliminary round match of men's ice hockey between Switzerland and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Switzerland players celebrate their victory after a preliminary round match of men's ice hockey between Switzerland and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Canada's Macklin Celebrini (17) scores on a penalty shot in the second period against France's goalkeeper Julian Junca (33) during a preliminary round game of men's ice hockey between Canada and France at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Canada's Macklin Celebrini (17) scores a goal on a penalty shot in the second period against France's goalkeeper Julian Junca (33) during a preliminary round game of men's ice hockey between Canada and France at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Canada's Mark Stone (61) celebrates after scoring a goal against France's goalkeeper Julian Junca (33) and France's Jules Boscq (27) in the first period during a preliminary round game of men's ice hockey between Canada and France at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
