Italy pulls off a stunner in Olympic men's speedskating team pursuit, earns first gold since 2006

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — The Italian men's speedskating team is back on top in team's pursuit.

Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti beat U.S. world record-holders Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran by 4 1/2 seconds to win the men’s team pursuit gold medal in speedskating on Tuesday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Buoyed by raucous cheering from the home crowd at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium, the Italian men finished in 3 minutes, 39.20 seconds to give their country its first Olympic title in this event since the 2006 Turin Games.

The United States started the final well and led for the early stages. But the Italians charged ahead over the closing laps, extending their advantage. When it ended, Ghiotto, Giovannini and Malfatti raised their arms and pumped their fists. On the opposite side of the track, silver medalists Dawson, Lehman and Cepuran leaned over, hands on knees.

Canada collected its second consecutive Winter Games title in women’s team pursuit when Ivanie Blondin, Valerie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann — the same athletes who won gold four years ago in Beijing — finished in 2:55.81, nearly a full second ahead of runner-up Netherlands.

The Olympic final for women’s snowboarding slopestyle was scrubbed off Tuesday’s schedule due to a heavy snowstorm in Livigno.

The slopestyle final was scheduled to start at 1 p.m. local time, but organizers said it was called off. A new date for the final has not been announced.

It delays New Zealander Zoi Sadowski-Synnott’s attempt at a repeat. She qualified first on Sunday — an opening round that was moved up a day because of the storms rolling in.

France went from last place on the first leg to being first on the final lap to secure the country’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s biathlon relay.

World Cup champion Eric Perrot, skiing the final leg for France, missed two shots in his last standing shooting bout and was only seven seconds ahead of Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen as they headed out to ski tracks packed with fresh snow.

Perrot stayed ahead of Christiansen and took his team of Fabien Claude, Emilien Jacquelin and Quentin Fillon Maillet across the line first, in a time of one hour, 19 minutes and 55.2 seconds.

Sweden was able to hang on for the bronze.

Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro won his second Nordic combined gold medal in a week, taking the large hill ski jump and 10-kilometer ski race. Johannes Lamparter of Austria earned his second silver in Italy and Ilkka Herola of Finland won bronze.

The event begins with a single ski jump in the morning, where distance and style points are calculated to create a time advantage for the best jumper. The rest of the field starts the cross-country ski race behind the leader according to the ranking from their jump.

Oftebro, who finished atop the podium in the normal hill competition event last week, started 22 seconds behind in fifth place. Herola started 32 seconds back in seventh place.

U.S. team skier Annika Malacinski attended the Nordic combined at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Tuesday to cheer for her younger brother Niklas. She came to protest, too.

Nordic combined — ski jumping and cross-country in one — remains the only Winter Olympic sport that does not include women, even though women compete on the World Cup circuit and at world championships.

“It’s heartbreaking, it really is,” Annika told The Associated Press while wrapped in a long pink and white coat, before taking her seat in the stands.

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

France's Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Emilien Jacquelin and Fabien Claude pose with the gold medal for the men's 4x7.5-kilometer relay biathlon race at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Anterselva, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Jens Luraas Oftebro, of Norway, crosses the finish line, ahead of Johannes Lamparter, of Austria, to win the gold medal in the nordic combined individual Gundersen large hill/10km at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Team Canada with Ivanie Blondin, center and white armband, Valerie Maltais, right and red armband, and Isabelle Weidemann, left and yellow armband, celebrate winning the gold medal in the final of the women's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Team Italy's Michele Malfatti celebrates winning the gold medal in the final of the men's team pursuit speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery is briefly reopening takeover talks with Skydance-owned Paramount to hear the company's “best and final” offer, while the Hollywood giant continues to back the studio and streaming deal it struck with Netflix.

In a Tuesday regulatory filing, Warner said it had received a waiver from Netflix to reopen talks with Paramount for the next seven days, or until Monday. Warner said this will allow the companies to discuss unresolved “deficiencies” and “clarify certain terms” of Paramount's latest bid.

But in the meantime, Warner's board is still recommending shareholders support of its proposed merger with Netflix. A special meeting is now scheduled for Friday, March 20 to hold a vote on that deal.

In a statement, Netflix said it was confident that its proposed transaction “provides superior value and certainty” — but recognized “the ongoing distraction for WBD stockholders and the broader entertainment industry caused by PSKY’s antics.” The streaming giant noted it had granted Warner a seven-day waiver to “finally resolve this matter.”

Warner's leadership similarly reiterated its support for the Netflix deal. Paramount did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment Tuesday.

In December, Netflix agreed to buy Warner’s studio and streaming business for $72 billion, now in an all-cash transaction that would cover its legacy TV and movie production arms, as well as HBO Max. Including debt, the enterprise value of the deal is about $83 billion, or $27.75 per share, and would be finalized after Warner completes a previously-announced separation of its cable operations.

Meanwhile, unlike Netflix, Paramount wants to acquire Warner’s entire company — including networks like CNN and Discovery — and went straight to shareholders with an all-cash, $77.9 billion hostile offer just days after the Netflix deal was announced in December.

The enterprise value of Paramount's bid currently stands around $108 billion including debt, or $30 per share. But Warner disclosed Tuesday that a Paramount representative separately informed the company it would up its offer to $31 per share “pending engagement.”

Analysts at Raymond James said they had “long believed” Paramount was willing to raise its offer “and now it seems we are finally moving in that direction.” If Paramount were to up its price to $32 or $33 per share, they noted it would be “increasingly difficult to argue the Netflix agreement is superior," although Netflix could then move to match the bid.

“Netflix is still in the driver’s seat, but now having to make its case,” the analysts added in a Tuesday research note.

Paramount has made more attempts to sweeten its offer recently. Last week, the company said it would pay Warner shareholders an added “ticking fee” if its deal doesn’t go through by the end of the year — amounting to 25 cents per share, or a total of $650 million, for every quarter after Dec. 31. Paramount also pledged to fund Warner’s proposed $2.8 billion breakup payout to Netflix under its merger agreement.

The company has been scrambling to solidify more shareholder support. Paramount previously extended the deadline for tender offer three times. According to company disclosures, more than 42.3 million Warner shares had been “validly tendered and not withdrawn” from its hostile bid as of the start of last week, down from over 168.5 million Warner shares Jan. 21 — still a small fraction of Warner's 2.48 billion shares outstanding in series A common stock.

But also last week, one activist investor, Ancora Holdings, publicly expressed opposition to Warner's proposed merger with Netflix. And beyond its tender offer, Paramount has also moved to solicit proxies in opposition of the Netflix deal.

What, if anything, changes after the next seven days of talks has yet to be seen. Paramount, Warner and Netflix have spent the last couple of months in a heated back and forth over who has a stronger deal on the table.

The prospect of a Warner sale to either company has raised tremendous antitrust concerns from lawmakers worldwide, who are calling on regulators to carefully scrutinize a merger of this size.

The U.S. Department of Justice has already initiated its reviews, and other countries may also scrutinize either deal. Both Paramount and Netflix have said they received securities clearance from German authorities last month.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery rose more than 2% in Tuesday morning trading. Paramount Skydance climbed nearly 6%, while Netflix's stock fell slightly.

FILE - The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)