He’s back.

In an Olympic tradition quite unlike any other, Pita Taufatofua of Tonga will once again carry his country’s flag during the opening ceremony for the Milano Cortina Winter Games. And you can bet he won’t be wearing a shirt again either.

This will be the fourth time Taufatofua has had the honor of being Tonga’s flag-bearer at the Olympics. A cross-country skiier in the winter and competitor in taekwondo and canoeing in the summer, he first gained international fame at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro for his unique native attire during the parade of nations.

Two years later at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, he braved the below-freezing temperatures during the opening ceremony wearing nothing but sandals and a taʻovala (a Tongan mat wrapped around the waist). He also carried his nation’s flag at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games

The flag-bearers for each country were officially announced on Tuesday, Feb. 3, with Taufatofua as one of five highlighted by the Olympic Games’ official Instagram account.

The opening ceremony for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games will take place on Friday, Feb. 6, starting at 2 p.m. ET. It will be broadcast live on NBC and Peacock, with a prime-time replay at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Local officials in Los Angeles are calling on Casey Wasserman to resign as LA2028 Olympics chief for communicating with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

New files released related to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein showed flirtatious emails between Wasserman and Maxwell as early as 2003. Wasserman has denied having a personal or business relationship with Epstein.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach LA28 officials for comment. Wasserman on Sunday, Feb. 1, apologized for his association with Maxwell, saying their relationship came before her or Epstein’s crimes were revealed.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, State Senator Lena Gonzalez and a trio of city council members were among those who called for Wasserman to resign, according to the report on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

‘Having him represent us on the world stage distracts focus from our athletes and the enormous effort needed to prepare for 2028,’ Hahn told the L.A. Times.

The U.S. Justice Department has released millions of documents that show Epstein’s connections to prominent figures across politics, entertainment and business.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and died by suicide that year in a Manhattan jail cell.

With the curtain raising on the Milano Cortina Winter Games this week, IOC President Kirsty Coventry said on Sunday that the Olympics had ‘nothing further to add.’

‘Anything that is distracting from these Games is sad,’ said Coventry, who last March became the first woman IOC chief, one of the most powerful positions in global sport.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Milan; Editing by David Holmes)

Malzahn is famously remembered for Auburn’s magical 2013 season, which included ‘The Prayer’ and ‘Kick Six’ plays.
His 2013 Auburn team narrowly lost the BCS national championship to Florida State in the final seconds.
Malzahn was an offensive innovator known for his hurry-up, no-huddle scheme that revolutionized college football.

These opportunities are so rare, so fleeting, the enormity of the loss is sometimes never felt until the end. 

Until you’ve decided you’ve had enough, and 35 seasons of coaching football and doing everything to chase that championship dream is finally, almost mercifully, out of reach. 

Gus Malzahn retired Tuesday, walked away from his job as offensive coordinator at Florida State and officially ended almost four decades of doing the only thing he ever wanted to do.

“I’m excited to spend more time with my family, and focus on the next chapter of my life,” Malzahn said in a statement.

But it’s that one chapter, the magical season of 2013 as coach at Auburn, that will never, ever be forgotten. The one season, and the one near-miss at championship glory.

The Prayer at Jordan-Hare. Kick Six. The once in a lifetime trip to The Grandaddy of Them All. 

And finally, The Drive from Jameis Winston and Florida State in the waning seconds of the Bowl Championship Series national championship game to end what would’ve been the most unthinkable national championship run since Auburn pulled off the dang thing three years earlier — with Malzahn as offensive coordinator.

A play away — Winston’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds remaining — from Malzahn joining the exclusive national championship club.

Who knows where Malzahn and Kristi, his bride of 38 years, will finally settle down after his nomadic, Hall of Fame-worthy career. Maybe in Florida or Alabama, maybe back home in Arkansas. 

But that one season at Auburn, when everything that could go right did, won’t be far from his mind. A season when he took a defensive back-turned-quarterback (Nick Marshall), an undervalued running back (Tre Mason), and an afterthought wide receiver (Sammie Coates), and turned the SEC sideways with his hurry-up, no-huddle offense.

How Auburn went from 3-9 in 2012, to one play from winning it all in 2013. 

How do you forget fourth-and-18, and down one with 36 seconds to play against bitter rival Georgia? Marshall launched the Hail Mary heave into the chilly November night on The Plains, and it was tipped by a Georgia defender and plopped directly into the hands of wide receiver Ricardo Lewis ― who ran it in from the 10.

How do you forget Alabama coach Nick Saban — fresh off back-to-back national championships at Alabama and needing only a win over Auburn to likely play for a third — screaming at officials and demanding that one second be placed back on the clock because Tide running back T.J. Yeldon got out of bounds before regulation expired?

So the officials convened and, of course, did what King Nick said, and the next thing you know, Saban is trotting out his kicker to try a 56-yard field goal. Malzahn called timeout to ice the kicker, and then decided to send defensive back Chris Davis to the end zone. 

You know, just in case the kick was short and Davis could take a one in a million shot at the greatest play in the modern era of college football. 

Fair or not, that season is what Malzahn will be remembered for. The SEC championship in 2013 that followed the Kick Six, and the near miss in the Rose Bowl. 

But his career was so much more than that. 

The national title in 2010 as the Auburn offensive coordinator, when he got an uber-talented project of a quarterback ready to play week after week, and Cam Newton put Auburn on his shoulders and won it all. 

The hurry-up, no-huddle offense, the scheme that revolutionized the game in the mid-2000s and had everyone trying to replicate it. It got so good, it gave SEC defenses so many problems, Saban actually complained to the league that it was a health risk. 

Imagine that. Saban couldn’t figure out how to consistently stop it, so he concocted the health excuse. There couldn’t have been a bigger tip of the cap.

Especially when Saban later used a similar no-huddle offense to build his greatest championship teams.  

Through the years at Tulsa and Arkansas State, at Auburn and Central Florida and finally one season at FSU, Malzahn’s career-long calling card never wavered. Run the ball, throw off play action. 

He just executed it differently than everyone else. 

That’s more important than a national title, anyway. 

MILAN — Three-time U.S. figure skating champion Amber Glenn, the most prominent LGBTQ female athlete in her sport, criticized the Trump administration during a pre-Olympic news conference with fellow U.S. skaters Wednesday morning at the 2026 Winter Games.

“It’s been a hard time for the (LGBTQ) community overall in this administration,” she said. “It isn’t the first time that we’ve had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights. And now especially, it’s not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities, and I think that we are able to support each other in a way that we didn’t have to before, and because of that, it’s made us a lot stronger.”

Glenn, 26, said she will not shy away from talking about these issues during the Olympics. 

“I hope I can use my platform and my voice throughout these Games to try and encourage people to stay strong in these hard times. I know that a lot of people say you’re just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics, but politics affect us all. It is something that I will not just be quiet about because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives. So of course, there are things that I disagree with, but as a community, we are strong and we support each other, and brighter days are ahead of us.”

Glenn, a native of Plano, Texas, came out as pansexual in a December 2019 interview with the Dallas Voice.

The 2026 college softball season is finally here.

When the games begin Thursday, Feb. 5, all eyes will turn to the reigning national champion Texas Longhorns as they look head back to the Women’s College World Series and repeat under head coach Mike White. Winning back-to-back titles, however, is hard. Texas will be circled on every opponents’ calendar with each wanting a title of their own.

Will Texas Tech get back to college softball’s biggest stage and redeem itself with a title? Will head coach Patty Gasso and Oklahoma softball add to its eight-title dynasty? Or will another program knock off Texas and win it all?

Here are USA TODAY’s 2026 college softball preseason power rankings:

10. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Head coach: Rhonda Revelle

2025 regular-season record: 43-15

Postseason finish: Lost in NCAA Tournament Super Regionals to Tennessee

Led by senior pitcher Jordy Frahm, Nebraska is returning six players from its 2025 roster that achieved its best record since 2006 and eighth top 10 finish in program history. The Cornhuskers added seven players including freshman pitcher Alexis Jensen, a two-time Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year. Nebraska will look to make another NCAA Tournament run.

Head coach Rhonda Revelle is tempering expectations and won’t project a ceiling for her team. ‘It’s not that we don’t have aspirations of being a really good softball team. We’re already a really good softball team,’ Revelle said. ‘Again, I think that just projects too far into the future, but my ceiling for this team is that they max out.’

9. Oregon Ducks

Head coach: Melyssa Lombardi

2025 regular-season record: 54-10

Postseason finish: Lost in WCWS double-elimination bracket play to Oklahoma

For the first time since 2018, the Ducks made it to the Women’s College World Series. Oregon tied a record for the second-most victories in program history with 54. However, getting back to that stage and winning a championship might be difficult.

Despite a solid offseason, where Oregon added several players, including Texas A&M utility Amari Harper, Cal utility Elon Butler and Notre Dame infielder Addison Amaral, the Ducks didn’t add a single left-handed pitcher to the roster. It’s something that could be noteworthy as the season presses on and the stakes get higher.

8. UCLA Bruins

Head coach: Kelly Inouye-Perez

2025 regular-season record: 55-13

Postseason finish: Lost in WCWS double-elimination bracket play to Tennessee

Inouye-Perez is entering her 20th season with the Bruins and has won two titles (2010, 2019) during her tenure. The Bruins best finish since 2019 was fourth place in the College World Series. That could change in 2026.UCLA is returning nine players from its 2025 roster including its All-American senior trio: pitcher Taylor Tinsley, utility Megan Grant and infielder Jordan Woolery. Tinsley’s 6.63 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranked fourth in the nation last season, and her 0.95 WHIP was good for eleventh. Grant and Woolery’s combined 167 runs batted in and 49 home runs were second in the nation among all duos.

7. Florida Gators

Head coach: Tim Walton

2025 regular-season record: 48-17

Postseason finish: Lost in WCWS double-elimination bracket play to Tennessee

Walton is seeking his third national championship with Florida, and first since the program went back-to-back in 2014 and 2015. ‘We’re never going to change. You know what the end goal is, and that’s to compete for a national championship,’ Walton said ahead of the season. ‘And if we’re not talking national championships, you’re probably not talking to me as the coach, it’s just who I am.’

Despite losing All-Americans Kendra Falby, Reagan Walsh and Korbe Otis, the Gators return 10 players from their 2025 roster. Among the returners under Walton is sophomore outfielder Taylor Shumaker, who led the team in home runs (22), RBI (86), runs (72), slugging percentage (.808) and total bases (164). Shumaker ranked seventh or better nationally in RBIs, runs and total bases production.

6. Arkansas Razorbacks

Head coach: Courtney Deifel

2025 regular-season record: 44-14

Postseason finish: Lost in NCAA Tournament Super Regionals to Ole Miss

The Razorbacks made their eighth-consecutive NCAA Tournament and fourth super regional appearance last season under head coach Courtney Diefel. Arkansas is returning seven players but will be without first baseman Bri Ellis, the 2025 Softball America Player of the Year. She played all 58 games for the Razorbacks, batting .440 with 26 home runs, 72 RBIs, 146 total bases and 68 runs scored.

“I do not think we are asking one player to do it, but we added two [transfers] who are incredible, and we added another year to the rest of the lineup,” Deifel said. “The big thing is we are filling her power numbers, filling her on-base. The thing I question is filling her leadership and personality; those are the things that are not considered when I get asked those questions.’

5. Florida State

Head coach: Lonni Alameda

2025 regular-season record: 49-12

Postseason finish: Lost in NCAA Tournament Super Regionals to Texas Tech

Florida State might have the biggest offseason change of any program in the country. It does not have a single transfer on its roster for 2026. What’s more, the program is bringing in nine freshmen. Head coach Lonnu Alameda will likely lean on outfielder Kennedy Harp and infielders Jaysoni Beachum and Isa Torres to help the roster make another NCAA Tournament run.

The Florida State trio combined to hit .384 for 19 home runs and 139 RBIs last season. Additionally, Harp and Torres hit .424 combined, the second-best batting average among returning duos in college softball.

4. Oklahoma Sooners

Head coach: Patty Gasso

2025 regular-season record: 52-9

Postseason finish: Lost in WCWS double-elimination bracket play to Texas Tech

Perhaps no program has been as dominant as Patty Gasso and Oklahoma over the last decade. Gasso has six championships in the last 10 seasons, including four consecutive trophies from 2021 to 2024. When the 2026 season begins, the Sooners will push for their ninth WCWS title under Gasso.

While Oklahoma won’t have ace pitcher Sam Landry and first baseman Cydney Sanders in the fold this year, it returns much of the core from its 2025 season including utility Ella Parker, outfielder Kasidi Pickering and infielder Gabbie Garcia. Parker (.423), Pickering (.392) and Garcia (.351) led the Sooners in batting average. Garcia also led Oklahoma in home runs (20) and RBIs (58).

3. Tennessee Lady Volunteers

Head coach: Karen Weekly

2025 regular-season record: 47-17

Postseason finish: Lost in WCWS double-elimination bracket play to Texas

Tennessee will look different this season without third baseman Taylor Pannell, who transferred to Texas Tech, infielder McKenna Gibson and Sophia Nugent. However, the Lady Volunteers are returning 14 players from their WCWS team.

Tennessee is led by two-time SEC Pitcher of the Year Karlyn Pickens, who set a record last season for the fastest pitch in college softball history. Head coach Karen Weekly’s roster also includes six freshmen, headlined by catcher Ella Morrison, who Tennessee hopes will be its starting catcher. ‘She’s got an arm. She makes all the throws,’ Weekly said. ‘She’s learning to run the field well. But like with any freshman, a lot of things we’re doing and we’re asking of them, they’ve never done before. But she doesn’t shy away from that; she embraces all the coaching.’

2. Texas Longhorns

Head coach: Mike White

2025 regular-season record: 56-12

Postseason finish: Won the national championship

With 10 returning players from its championship roster, Texas will look to repeat. However, it could prove to be much harder, given the Longhorns’ challenging schedule. Texas will play 36 teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year, including 20 matchups against programs that made it to the super regionals. Third baseman Mia Scott, who led the team in batting average (.446), is now playing professionally.

Ace pitcher Teagan Kavan and catcher Reese Atwood do return. Last season, Kavan had a 28-5 record with a 2.16 ERA and 230 strikeouts. She also allowed no earned runs in nearly 32 innings during the WCWS. Atwood was named the NFCA Catcher of the Year after leading the Longhorns in home runs (21), RBIs (89), slugging percentage (.822) and walks (41).

1. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Head coach: Gerry Glasco

2025 regular season record: 54-14

Postseason finish: National championship runner-up

Texas Tech has seven new players on their roster and plenty of talent to help win it all. Head coach Gerry Glasco’s newcomers include All-Americans Mia Williams (Florida), Taylor Pannell (Tennessee) and Jasmyn Burns (Ohio State). Kaitlyn Terry (UCLA), Lagi Quiroga (Cal) and Jackie Lis and Desirae Spearman (Southern Illinois) also joined the Red Raiders. Terry is another ace pitcher to pair with superstar Nijaree Canady, and Spearman could provide critical depth behind Canady as well.

MILAN — It’s the one thing that can make or break a figure skater: The skates.

As the U.S. figure skating team chases multiple gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, none of it can be possible if the skates aren’t perfect. Issues with skates can easily derail or throw off the best athletes in the sport.

It’s common for figure skaters to get new skates once a season, and those new skates need to be broken in. They can wind up being too loose or too tight. Or simply, they can just not feel right. Think of it like a NASCAR driver and pit crew deciding when to change tires: They have to do it, it’s just a matter of when.

“Breaking in new skates is something that every skater has to go through at some time in their career,” U.S. figure skater Ilia Malinin said Wednesday. “For me specifically, it’s not always a fun time.”

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Skates have caused notable problems before. Famously, Michelle Kwan suffered a stress fracture in her toe in 1997 because of a change. Recently, Jason Brown pulled out of the 2025 U.S. Championships and his season was messed up because he was still adjusting to equipment changes. In November at Skate America, champion Alysa Liu said she didn’t feel like she skated well just because she tied her skates too tight.

“I was like, that’s so annoying. Because, why did I do that? That’s so easily avoidable,” she said after the event. “It’s totally OK. But that’s why I was just like, silly mistake.”

Before the 2026 U.S. Championships, Malinin decided to change skates, a necessary inconvenience given the timing of the switch. He admitted before the competition he was still getting used to the new skates, but the process was going well. Despite cruising to a fourth straight US title, he played it safe by lowering the amount of quad jumps in his free skate to three. Although it wasn’t a big concern because of his talent, Malinin explained the breaking in process ahead of his first Olympics.

“It brings a lot of issues and problems where you have to know where it aligns on the blade, or how the boots move themselves, and if it’s comfortable for you, or if you just need to get used to it,” Malinin said. “There’s a lot of different characteristics and aspects that go into this.”

Even with the unfun part of the process, Malinin feels like he’s gotten accustomed to the skates at the right time. 

“I feel good,’ he said. ‘They started cooperating with me a few days ago, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how they’ll do under pressure.’

Malinin’s confidence in his skates will be put to the test when he competes in the men’s short program for the team event on Saturday, Feb. 7. After that, Malinin, his team and U.S. Figure Skating will assess his participation in the men’s free skate portion of the team event on Feb. 8, being mindful that the men’s individual event begins on Feb. 10 and wraps on Feb. 13.

Anheuser-Busch is back.

Between 1999 and 2008, the company owned America’s biggest advertising stage. With Bud Light and Budweiser at the forefront, the brand didn’t just compete in the Super Bowl — they dominated it, winning the top spot in the USA TODAY Ad Meter ratings 10 years in a row.

“They knew what the game was for and they craved great work,” said Mark Gross, co-founder and co-CCO of Highdive Advertising, who worked on an array of Anheuser-Busch Super Bowl ads during the 1990s and 2000s. “They wanted to be No. 1 on the USA TODAY (Ad) Meter.”

Ad Meter: Rate best and worst commercials this year!

The Clydesdales. The frogs. The “Whassup” guys. Dogs fetching Bud Light. Year after year, the beer giant’s ads captured America’s hearts, laughs, and votes.

Then the dynasty cracked.

After winning the 2015 USA TODAY Ad Meter ratings, the Anheuser-Busch family entered a long drought, and eight other brands claimed the top spot over the next nine years.

That changed last year, however, when Budweiser’s “First Delivery” ad featuring the Clydesdales beat out Lay’s and Michelob Ultra for the No. 1 position.

That victory feels like a comeback. But digging into the data presents something else: The company didn’t return to the old world. It won in a new one where dominance is harder to sustain and Super Bowl ad competition has never been fiercer.

The dynasty years

At its peak, the Bud empire was inescapable.

In 2003, Anheuser-Busch alone ran 12 Super Bowl commercials, a figure that accounted for 21% of all Ad Meter-tracked ads during that year’s big game. Six of those 12 finished in Ad Meter’s top 10. The company’s strategy was simple: flood the zone.

“They really wanted to own the Super Bowl and make sure they won the big game,” Gross said.

In total, Budweiser and Bud Light combined to claim exactly half of the top 10 spots during the decade-long dynasty of the late ‘90s and early aughts.

Between 2015 and 2024, by contrast, no more than one Anheuser-Busch brand broke the top 10 each year. And in total for the decade following the 2015 win, the Bud family held just 8% of the top 10 positions.

What changed? One potential factor: The economics of Super Bowl advertising, and with them, the entire competitive landscape.

The $8 million bet

In 1989, the first year Ad Meter ran, a 30-second Super Bowl spot cost $675,500. By 2024, advertisers were paying $7 million. And this year, the total has crept even higher to $8 million per ad, with reports showing it’s now reached $10 million.

That’s a nearly 12-fold increase, and one that far outstrips inflation. If Super Bowl ad prices had kept pace with the consumer price index, a 30-second spot would have cost about $1.8 million today, not $8 million. Advertisers are paying a 300%-plus premium for the privilege of the Super Bowl’s massive audience.

“It’s really a scarcity play,” said Swapnil Patel, co-president of media agency Attention Arc and who has experience buying Super Bowl ads for clients. “You can charge a premium for something that is very rare.”

“You’re not buying it for the impressions,” he added. “You’re buying it for the possibility to have some cultural orchestration.”

That cost explosion has fundamentally changed advertiser behavior.

“Spots have just gotten very expensive,” Gross said. “Nowadays you’re seeing a lot of A-list celebrities — it’s almost par for the course,” he added, pointing to celebrity fees plus production and media costs as a reason why many brands now stick to a single spot.  

In 2003, when Anheuser-Busch ran 12 ads at $2.2 million each, its total Super Bowl ad spend was about $26 million. Running that same 12-ad campaign in 2026 would cost nearly $100 million — a sum that’s difficult to justify for even the world’s largest beer company.

The result means that brands have largely abandoned a “flood the zone” approach for a “one perfect ad” strategy.

That pressure can backfire when advertisers try to do too much at once. “It’s like the game of golf,” Gross said. “The harder you swing, the worse the swing.”

The crowded stage

The shift shows clearly in the data.

In 2003, 34 brands advertised during the Super Bowl, and 59% of them ran just one commercial. In 2025, 56 different brands ran Super Bowl ad spots (a 70% increase) and 96% ran a single ad.

And a “single ad” is rarely just one asset anymore. Patel said brands now treat the game as a “mini-plan” spanning the lead-up and aftermath.

“If you wait to the game to launch, you get the element of surprise, but you have no awareness built. That’s where the teaser buys play into this… because you’re trying to amortize the value across multiple days.”

The maximum ads by any single brand in a given year tells the story in miniature: the 12 Anheuser-Busch ran in 2003 was down to two by one brand in 2025 (the NFL and Homes.com were the only brands to run a pair of commercials last year).

Even Budweiser’s recent presence has been modest by historical standards. Since 2020, Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser, and Bud Light have collectively run two ads per Super Bowl, a far cry from the dozen spot blitzes that graced airwaves during the early 2000’s.

New winners, new playbook

The diversity of recent Ad Meter winners underscores the new reality. From 2016 to 2024, the top spot went to Hyundai, Kia, Amazon, the NFL, Jeep, Rocket Mortgage (twice), The Farmer’s Dog, and State Farm — eight different brands in nine years.

Car brands were some of the first to break the beer domination as Hyundai’s win in 2016 was followed by Kia in 2017 before Jeep took No. 1 in 2020. The automotive onslaught was a hallmark of the 2010s; for instance, 39% of all Super Bowl ads in 2011 were for automotive brands.

The diversification has continued into the 2020s with brands that had little in terms of Super Bowl ad pedigree.

Rocket Mortgage won in 2021 and 2022 despite having only released one prior Super Bowl ad (in 2018). Then, The Farmer’s Dog, a pet food delivery service, won in 2023 with an emotional ad that followed a dog through its owner’s life milestones. It was the company’s first, and so far, only Super Bowl ad.

Most recently, State Farm won in 2024 after releasing its maiden Super Bowl ad in 2021.

“You have to be very conscious of telling a story that really integrates your brand into the story and make sure that’s the focal point,” said Gross, whose agency was the creative force behind Rocket Mortgage’s and State Farm’s winning spots. “I think we did that with State Farm. I think Farmer’s Dog did that.”

The new normal

Budweiser’s 2025 victory is worth celebrating for the brand. After nearly a decade of watching other companies claim the crown, the Clydesdales were champions again.

But the brand will be hard-pressed to kickstart another dynasty. In an era of $8 million ad spots and 50-plus brands vying for attention, the Super Bowl advertising crown is now truly up for grabs every year.

As Patel put it, there’s still no other moment where brands can “scream from a mountaintop” the way they can on Super Bowl Sunday — but in a crowded field, “the expected is not enough.”

In the end, the beer dynasty has given way to democracy. And when it comes to rating this year’s Super Bowl commercials, that might make for a more interesting game within the game.   

MILAN — U.S. Figure Skating has a dilemma, and it stems from one of the sport’s current truths: Ilia Malinin is just too good. 

Malinin, the 21-year-old “Quad God,” is the heavy favorite to win the men’s individual gold medal next week at the 2026 Winter Olympics. But first comes the team competition Friday through Sunday, which the United States also can win — especially if Malinin skates both the short and long programs in the men’s category. 

However, if Malinin skates both parts of the team competition, he will be pushing his body for one event when he really should be focusing on another: the all-important men’s individual competition that begins Tuesday, Feb. 10, with the short program and ends Friday, Feb. 13, with the long program. 

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He and his coaches and the team around him would prefer he skate just the short program in the team event Saturday night, then not have to come back for the men’s long program — which will start at 10 p.m. local time Sunday night — and instead watch either Andrew Torgashev or Max Naumov take over. But Torgashev and Naumov have not performed well on the world stage and have nowhere near the experience Malinin has as the two-time world champion and four-time national champion. 

The current plan, according to people with knowledge of the situation, is for Malinin to skate the men’s short program in the team event, at which time U.S. officials will assess the Americans’ medal position to decide if Malinin is needed in the long program. It’s possible he could “water down” his long program from his historic seven quadruple jumps to “only” three, as he did at the U.S. championships in January, but either way, he would be in the heat of competition with the crucial men’s individual event right around the corner.

Speaking on USA TODAY Sports’ ‘Milan Magic’ podcast, 1988 Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano believes Malinin should not skate both team events. 

“It’s too much responsibility,” Boitano said. “I hope that Ilia doesn’t choose (both) or they don’t try to put pressure on him to do it. I really don’t want him to have to do the short and the long. He’s dependable, he’ll do a great job, he will make the best of it, but at the same time, they have to start trusting these younger skaters. They have made the Olympic team. These guys are playing in the big ball park and you have to start relying on them.” 

As this mini-drama plays out around him, Malinin is going about his business in Milan, practicing for whatever comes his way.

“I always use this approach for any competition or any event I go to,” he said in January. “What I will do is just not worry about putting so much pressure on myself, ‘Oh, I have to win the gold medal, I have to prove everyone wrong, I have to be the one who is liked by everyone.’ 

“Just being in the sport has really taught me how putting yourself first is actually a better way and I would say a more healthy way of progressing.”

In every social media post, Malinin appears to be embracing this moment with his own special brand of joy and bravado, confidently accepting the pressure that comes from the tremendous expectations placed on him at these Olympics. Yes, he is the self-named “Quad God,” but he knows nothing is guaranteed.

“I don’t want to tell people that I’m untouchable,” he said. ‘I want to do the opposite. I want people to relate to me even though, yes, I’m doing all these crazy things on the ice and defying physics in some ways. But I still want them to see that all of us skaters, we’re still human beings, we still have normal parts of our lives, we’re still very similar to anyone who’s watching in the crowd. We have emotions, we go through a lot of good things, a lot of bad things in life. 

‘So it’s definitely just another way that I want to express to people, saying, ‘We’re human. We’re not perfect.’” 

The Los Angeles Clippers have traded 11-time All-Star and one-time league MVP James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for two-time All-Star Darius Garland and a 2026 second-round pick, according to multiple reports.

ESPN was the first to report the trade.

This represents the fifth time in his career that Harden has been traded.

Harden was having one of his best offensive seasons in recent years, averaging 25.4 points a game for a Clippers team that had won 17 of its last 22 games after a 6-21 start to the season. That run had thrust the Clippers into ninth place in the Western Conference.

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, sit fifth in the Eastern Conference. Garland has been in and out of Cleveland’s lineup during an injury-riddled 2025-26 season dealing with foot and ankle injuries.

The well-traveled Harden joins his sixth team in a 17-year NBA career. A first-round pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009, Harden was traded after three seasons to the Houston Rockets, where he won the MVP award during the 2017-18 season. In 2021, Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets after requesting to be moved. In Brooklyn, Harden joined Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but the star-studded team could not advance past the conference semifinals. In February 2022, Harden was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers, for whom he played in 79 games before being traded to the Clippers.

Harden was not in the lineup for the Clippers’ game Monday night against the 76ers for personal reasons.

The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. ET.