Today’s Winter Olympics Predictions: 7 medal events and the men’s Ice Hockey semi-finals (20 February)
General overview
When are the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics taking place? The Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is taking take place between 6th February, 2026 and 22nd February 2026, although some preliminary events in sports such as Curling and Ice Hockey have already got underway.
Where are the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics taking place? The Opening Ceremony for the games will be held at San Siro in Milan with the Closing Ceremony being held at the Verona Arena in Verona. There are events taking place across Lombardy and the north west of Italy with Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Alps hosting a lot of skiing events.
How to watch the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics: In the UK, the BBC and TNT Sports are the main broadcasters. In USA, NBCUniversal and Versant are the main broadcasters for the games.
What’s on today (20 February) at the Winter Olympics?
Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid line up for a strong Canadian side in the men’s Ice Hockey semi-finals, while seven other medal events take place on Friday.
Medal events
Biathlon: Men’s mass start | 1.15pm (UK)
The Biathlon continues on Friday with the men’s mass start event and it is expected to be dominated by France and Norway again with Eric Perrot remaining the slight favourite.
Prediction: Eric Perrot (FRA) to win
Freestyle Skiing: Women’s ski cross | 12.15pm (UK)
There are some really good skiers set to be in contention in the women’s ski cross but the heavy favourite for the first of three Freestyle Skiing medal events on Friday remains Sandra Naeslund.
Prediction: Sandra Naeslund (NOR) to win
Freestyle Skiing: Men’s aerials | 1.30pm (UK)
The second of the Freestyle Skiing medal events comes in the men’s aerials and that is set to be dominated by the Chinese with Guangpu Qi, Jiaxu Sun, Tianmi Li and Xindi Wang in the battle for gold.
Prediction: CHN clean sweep
Freestyle Skiing: Men’s halfpipe | 7.28pm (UK)
Aspen-born Alex Ferreira should be a real threat for Team USA in the men’s halfpipe but the heavy favourite for the final Freestyle Skiing medal event remains Finley Melville Ives.
Prediction: Finley Melville Ives (NZL) to win
Short Track: Men’s 5000m relay | 8.30pm (UK)
Hosts Italy will want to finish the games with a flourish and they should be in contention for a Short Track medal here but it remains the case that Canada are heavy favourites for gold in the men’s 5000m relay.
Prediction: CAN to win
Short Track: Women’s 1500m | 9.07pm (UK)
This does appear to be quite an open contest but there is one standout favourite and that is three-time Olympic gold medallist Xandra Velzeboer, who won the 3000m relay in Beijing and the 500m as well as the 1000m earlier on in these games.
Prediction: Xandra Velzeboer (NED) to win
Speed Skating: Women’s 1500m | 3.30pm (UK)
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Miho Takagi is the favourite to win the women’s 1500m in the Speed Skating, albeit there is again a strong Dutch contingent with the likes of Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong and Femke Kok.
Prediction: Femke Kok (NED) to win
Other events
Bobsleigh: Two-woman final heats 1 and 2 | 5pm – 6.50pm (UK)
In the always entertaining and exciting Bobsleigh, the two-woman final begins with the first couple of heats before the medals are decided on Friday evening.
Curling: Men’s bronze medal match & women’s semi-finals | 1.05pm - 6.05pm (UK)
The lengthy Curling event is reaching its end with the men’s bronze medal match taking place on Friday on the same day that the women’s semi-finals also take place.
Ice Hockey: Men’s semi-finals | 3.40pm – 8.10pm (UK)
The Ice Hockey has reached its end in the women’s tournament and now the men’s event hits the semi-final stage as the star-studded Canada take on Finland, while Team USA face Slovakia.
