In this section, you’ll find a wealth of original information gleaned throughout the day, live from the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina: behind the scenes, little sayings, details that slip under the radar… In short, everything that makes the Olympic event come alive as closely as possible, beyond the results.
🇵🇱 Kacper Tomasiak has won big with his medal
At the age of 19, Kacper Tomasiak saw his life change when he won silver on the small hill on Monday. Not only have his achievements and reputation suddenly taken on a whole new dimension, but the Pole is also going to make a substantial financial contribution. His country is one of the most generous in Europe for its Olympic medallists. While Sweden and Norway offer no bonuses, he will receive €142,000 on his return to his homeland. A third of which will be in cryptocurrencies. “Each medal also comes with prizes in kind, ranging from travel vouchers to jewellery” worth around €500, adds deputy sports minister Piotr Borys. He could also benefit from an annuity over two years, said to be worth tens of thousands of euros.
Kacper Tomasiak will also inherit a car, donated by the Polish Olympic Committee. He has also secured an Olympic pension of €1,200 per month for life, which will be paid to him at the end of his career (from the age of 40). At the end of the year, he could even benefit froma two-bedroom flat in Warsaw’s City of Champions. At the 2024 Olympics, only one athlete won gold; the silver medallists also received the keys to a flat, which will be completed at the end of the year, as Business Insider points out. Finally, her coach is also entitled to a bonus of €36,000, paid by the Polish state.
The impressive operation for the 41st richest country in the world (in purchasing power parity per capita according to the World Bank) is not so costly, however. Poland only won one medal at Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022…. in ski jumping.
🇨🇭 Gregor Deschwanden to get tattoo after unlikely podium finish
Bronze medallist in the small jump on Monday, 2.7 points ahead of France’s Valentin Foubert, Swiss jumper Gregor Deschwanden had a hard time making the most of his performance. Frankly, I don’t know what happened today,” he told Ski Actu. I’ve tried so many times to win a medal. I have to say I wasn’t expecting it today after such a great season. In 18 individual competitions this season, he had only managed three top 10 finishes (always 10th).
So he decided to mark the occasion: “I’m going to get a tattoo to immortalise this moment. After that, I don’t yet know what and where on my body. I’m already going to try and find an artist, because I’m not one.
🇸🇪 The King of Sweden in the stands for the women’s classic sprint hat-trick
Stockholm 1912 (athletics, men’s triple jump), Saint-Moritz 1948 (cross-country skiing, men’s 18km classic) and now Milan/Cortina 2026 (cross-country skiing, women’s classic sprint): on Tuesday, Sweden achieved the third treble in its history at the Olympic Games. In Tesero (Italy), Linn Svahn dominated the final ahead of Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist.
It was a performance greeted in the stands by King Charles XVI Gustave. The man who has held this honorary title since 1973 had “never seen anything like it”. And with good reason: he was not even two years old when Sweden last won the title. Oscillating between sitting and standing positions according to Aftonbladet , which followed him, the 79-year-old sovereign expressed his delight at this result to the tabloid: “They’re all as talented as each other. I try to follow as much as I can on TV from home, but being there is something else!”
It was a presence that Maja Dahlqvist appreciated: “We told him that he had chosen the right day to be here, and that it was better to be here than at the biathlon [first Swede to finish seventh] ! We were happy to be able to compete in front of him. We felt a bit more pressure, but it was positive.
For the Swedes in Scandinavia, the men’s final was marred by a technical incident. Viewers watching the event on SVT Play (the equivalent of France TV‘s digital platform) saw the broadcast interrupted by a black screen and the following message: “The programme cannot be played. Our technicians are working to resolve the problem”. This inspired a quip from Norwegian bronze medallist Erik Valnes toAftonbladet : “It’s a symbol for the Swedish men’s team at the moment. It’s sad that there were no Swedes in the final, and that the screen went black.”
⌛ On probation, the handset prepares to open its programme
Three events to save its skin. For its 25th Olympic Games, Nordic combined is on borrowed time and must prove to the IOC that it deserves to remain in the Olympic Games. To be on the programme in 2030, the sport will have to attract bigger crowds(tickets were still on sale on Tuesday), increase its audience and also prove its universality, given that only four countries (Germany, Austria, Japan and Norway) have won all the medals at the last three editions. And this despite the fact that women have still not been invited to the event.
On the eve of the first format (small jump gundersen), the final training session was held in the rain. It was dominated by Finland’s Illka Herola, whose victory would be welcomed by the IOC. He finished 2nd in the first two jumps, before taking the lead in the third. Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves also stood out with three top 5 finishes. Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger did not take part in the session, as he was resting after suffering knee pains the day before. 2026NK4177RLT2
- Games Diary #5: Dorothea Wierer gives her support to Rebecca Passler, “a wonderful person”.
- Games Diary #4: Zlatan Ibrahimovic salutes the skiathlon queen
- Games Diary #3: American cross-country skiers’ new secret to success
- Games Diary #2: The Russian cross-country skier receives encouragement from Petter Northug Jr.
- Games Diary #1: the surprising reason why Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo changed hotel rooms
