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Good afternoon!

This intro is dedicated to the athletes defying Father Time.

At these Winter Olympics, the record for the oldest individual gold medallist has been broken twice.

In the opening week, Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl won gold in men’s snowboard parallel giant slalom at the age of 40.

This week, that record was broken as 41-year-old American Elana Meyers Taylor won gold in the women’s monobob (bobsleigh) event.

Milano Cortina ‘26: Medal tally

Country

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

1. NOR 🇳🇴

14

8

9

31

2. ITA 🇮🇹

9

4

11

24

3. USA 🇺🇸

6

10

5

21

4. NED 🇳🇱

6

6

1

13

12. AUS 🇦🇺

3

1

1

5

21. NZL 🇳🇿

0

1

1

2

Milano Cortina ‘26: Tonight’s top moments

Wednesday 18 February (all times in AEDT)

7:45pm, Cross-Country Skiing: Team Sprint Free Qualification 🇦🇺
Australia’s Phoebe Cridland and Rosie Fordham will take to the snow in the women's event at 7:45, with Lars Young Vik and Hugo Hinckfuss to follow in the men’s qualification at 8:15pm (AEDT). In this event, the two skiers each complete a 1.5km lap, with the fastest teams advancing to the finals later in the evening.

8pm, Alpine Skiing: Women's Slalom Run 1 🇦🇺
Two Australians at their first Olympics will compete in the first run of the women's slalom: Madison Hoffman and Phoebe Heaydon. The slalom is the tightest and twistiest of the alpine skiing disciplines, with athletes navigating close-set gates across two runs. Combined times from both runs determine qualification for the final.

8pm, Freestyle Skiing: Women's Aerials Qualification 1 🇦🇺
Four Aussies will compete in the first round of women's aerials qualification: Danielle Scott, Abbey Willcox, Airleigh Frigo, and Sidney Stephens. Scott, a four-time medallist at the world championships, is still chasing her first Olympic medal. The final will follow at 11pm (AEDT).

Thursday 19 February (all times in AEDT)

12:30am, Snowboard: Women's Snowboard Slopestyle Final 🏅 🇦🇺
Aussie Ally Hickman will compete in the women's snowboard slopestyle final. Reigning Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand topped qualification and is looking to defend her title, but faces stiff competition from Japan's Kokomo Murase, who leads the World Cup standings and won Big Air gold earlier in these Games. Each competitor gets three runs, with their best score counting toward the final result.

12:45am, Biathlon: Women's 4 x 6km Relay 🏅
National teams of four women will compete in the relay, with each athlete skiing 6km and stopping twice to shoot at targets. Sweden are the reigning Olympic champions in this event. No Aussie team in this final.

7am, Short Track Speed Skating: Women's 3000m Relay (Final A) 🏅
The women's 3000m relay final will crown the Olympic champions after the Netherlands won this event four years ago. Teams of four skaters race tactically, with any team member able to take the lead at any point by touching their teammate. No Aussie team in this final.

7:32am, Short Track Speed Skating: Men's 500m (Final A) 🏅
The men's 500m final will determine the medals in short track's shortest distance event. Four skaters race head-to-head in this explosive sprint around the 111.12m oval track. Hungary’s Shaoang Liu won gold in this event in 2022. 

Milano Cortina ‘26: The headlines

In case you missed it…

❄️ Heavy snowfall in Livigno forced the postponement of the men’s and women’s aerials qualification overnight, impacting Australia’s young aerial squad. Up to 20cm of fresh snow created unsafe conditions, with poor visibility and blocked access roads. The women, including four-time Olympian Danielle Scott, will now compete tonight with the men to follow Thursday as Australia regroups.

Workers clear excess snow in Livigno (Getty)

⛷️ Norway’s Tormod Frostad completed a stunning Olympic turnaround, winning gold in the men’s freeski big air four years after finishing last in the final in Beijing. The 23-year-old scored 195.5 in Livigno with three standout jumps, narrowly beating American medal favourite Mac Forehand’s score of 193.25. Frostad said: "In Beijing, I was really young and kind of confused about where I wanted to go. I fell extremely in love with skiing and also competing. So I was just working since then to get to this moment."

Frostad soars to gold (Getty)

🏟️ Six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will compete under their national flags at the Winter Paralympics after the International Paralympic Committee lifted its suspension. The 10 athletes received invitations across Para-alpine, Para cross-country, and Para snowboard. These invitations are granted to individual athletes who have not been able to qualify through the normal pathways ”due to extraordinary circumstances”. It will be the first time the Russian flag will appear at a Paralympics since Sochi 2014. The Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics will begin on 6 March. 

Russian flags will fly at the Paralympics (Getty)

Today’s long read…

Explainer: the multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the NRL’s Manly Sea Eagles

Lafo Titmuss (left), and Paul Titmuss, parents of Keith Titmuss, speak to the media at the Coroner's Court of New South Wales in Sydney in 2024 (Getty)

The family of former Manly Sea Eagles player Keith Titmuss has launched a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the rugby club. 

They allege his death after a 2020 pre-season training session was the result of failures in Manly’s duty of care. The case follows legal action last year by former Manly prop Lloyd Perrett, who alleged an “outlandish training regime” in 2017 left him unconscious and ended his NRL career.

Here’s what to know.

What happened

Titmuss joined the Sea Eagles system as a 14-year-old, rising through the club's junior pathway and winning awards. He was selected for a full pre-season with the first grade side in 2020. The club described him as “a humble young man who didn’t seek attention.”

On 23 November 2020, Titmuss collapsed after a two-and-a-half hour training session, and later died in hospital. Paramedics took his temperature three times because they could not believe it was 42°C.

A 2024 coronial inquest diagnosed the 20-year-old with exertional heat illness that progressed to organ failure. 

The coroner also noted he had showed signs of distress, including moving “erratically”, before collapsing. While no criminal liability was found at the time, the inquest identified gaps in Manly’s training oversight, emergency response, and heat-risk management. 

A separate post-mortem examination by the Sporting Brain Bank later revealed Titmuss had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), making him the youngest Australian sportsperson diagnosed with the concussion-related brain disease.

Titmuss’s mother, Lafo, told the ABC: “We have lodged a claim, and we are seeking justice… It should never have happened in the first place, after Lloyd Perrett went down”.

What’s next

The case will proceed through the NSW Supreme Court, where the family is seeking damages for negligence. A directions hearing has been set down for next month.

The Manly Sea Eagles have yet to comment on the claim.

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi

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Anything but Milano Cortina ‘26

🏏 Australia is out of the Men’s T20 World Cup with a game still to play after Zimbabwe’s clash with Ireland in Sri Lanka was rained out. That result, which saw both teams awarded a point, moved Zimbabwe to five points. Australia is stranded on two points and unable to qualify for the Super Eight, regardless of Friday’s match against Oman. It is Australia’s first group-stage World Cup exit in T20 or ODI cricket since 2009.

Australia will not advance to the next stage at the T20 World Cup (Getty)

⚽️ Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior has accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racial abuse him during a Champions League game. The incident prompted a 10-minute stoppage time as Real Madrid players considered walking off. Vinícius told the referee Prestianni called him a “monkey”. Benfica denied racist intent, while Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold labelled the incident “a disgrace to football.”

Vinícius Júnior talks to the referee (Getty)

🏀 The Perth Lynx booked their place in the WNBL26 Championship Series with an 81-75 win over reigning premiers Bendigo Spirit, sealing the semi-final 2-0. Han Xu starred with 25 points and 14 rebounds, while Anneli Maley added 22 points and 14 rebounds. Izzy Borlase led Bendigo with 23 points, but Perth held firm to seal their third Grand Final appearance since 2022. Perth will play the winners of the series between Townsville Fire and Southside Flyers, with the Fire taking a 1-0 series lead into tonight’s Game Two.

Perth’s Han Xu drives towards the basket (Getty)

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Looking forward…(All times are AEST)

T20 World Cup

Who: South Africa v UAE
Time: Now!

Who: Pakistan v Namibia
Time: 8.30pm

Who: India v Netherlands
Time: 12.30am

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

WNBL (Semi-Finals)

Who: Townsville Fire v Southside Flyers
Time: 7pm 

Where to watch: 9Now, ESPN (via Kayo, Foxtel, Disney+)

NBL

Who: Tasmania v Illawarra Hawks
Time: 7:30pm 

Where to watch: ESPN (via Kayo, Foxtel, Disney+)

Asian Champions League

Who: Melbourne City v Gangwon FC
Time: 9pm 

Where to watch: Paramount+

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