Jordan Stolz of the U.S. took a silver medal in the men's 1500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) –U.S. speedskater Jordan Stolz’s late push wasn’t enough.

The American star settled for silver in the 1,500 meters, missing a chance to secure a third gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.

China’s Ning Zhongyan won Thursday’s race in an Olympic-record time of 1 minute, 41.98 seconds. The 21-year-old Stolz, who won gold medals in the 500 and 1,000 at these Games, crossed 0.77 seconds later.

As Stolz glided by, hands on his knees, Ning raised his country’s flag aloft with both hands and started a victory lap.

Stolz, a Wisconsin native, will participate in the mass start on Saturday.

Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis, who won the 1,500 at the past two Olympics, took bronze.

Gu advances to halfpipe final

Defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu shook off a fall during her opening run to advance to Saturday’s final in freeski halfpipe. The 22-year-old Gu was born in the United States and competes for China.

She clipped the lip of the halfpipe on the third trick of her first run, knocking her left ski off and sending her skittering to the bottom of the course.

That set up a pressure-packed second attempt that run earned 86.50 points, good enough to place fifth among the 12 skiers who advanced to the final.

US and Canada reach women’s curling semifinals

The United States and Canada advanced to the women’s curling semifinals.

The Americans, skipped by Tabitha Peterson, beat Switzerland 7-6 in a match that went to an extra end. The teams will square off again in Friday’s semifinals.

Peterson threw the decisive rock and her teammates swept it into position, just a hair closer to the button than the Swiss’ nearest stone.

Canada beat South Korea 10-7 and will play Sweden on Friday.

Canada men to play for gold in curling

After a rocky two weeks of Olympic curling that included accusations of cheating and a profanity-laced rant, the Canadian men will play for the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.

Canada beat Norway 5-4 in Thursday night’s semifinals after losing to the Norwegians earlier in the day.

The Canadians were the subject of a controversy that got attention far beyond the ice when several players were accused of double-touching the rock, a rules violation.

Canada’s opponent in Saturday’s gold medal game will be Britain, which stunned Switzerland 8-5. The Swiss were undefeated entering the semifinals.

Norway will play Switzerland for the bronze medal Friday.

Canadian freeskier stretchered off halfpipe

LIVIGNO, Italy — Two-time Olympic medalist Cassie Sharpe was stretchered off the halfpipe after the Canadian freeskier crashed during qualifying at the Milan Cortina Games on Thursday night.

The 33-year-old Sharpe slammed hard on her left side after landing a jump off-balance and slid face-down to the bottom of the halfpipe.

After being attended to by medical staff for several minutes, Sharpe waved while being pulled away on the stretcher.

The Canadian team said she was being taken to a medical center for evaluation.

She fell on the latter of her two qualifying runs. Her first-run score was the third best of qualifying, giving her one of the 12 spots in Saturday’s final.

Sharpe won the gold medal in halfpipe at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and took silver four years later in Beijing.