MILAN — This was not the plan for Erin Jackson at the 2026 Winter Olympics

With a chance to defend her Olympic title in the women’s 500 meters, Jackson instead finished fifth on Sunday, Feb. 15 at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium with a time of 37.32 seconds.

Dutch star Femke Kok won gold with a time of 36.49 seconds, an Olympic record. Fellow Dutch star Jutta Leerdam took silver (37.15 seconds). Japan’s Miho Takagi won bronze (37.27 seconds).

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Jackson and Kok were paired together and skated in the 15th and final slot. Kok holds the world record in the 500 with a time of 36.09, and now holds the Olympic record in the 500 meters. She won silver in the 1,000 here at the Milano Cortina Winter Games.

Jackson has not won the 500 during the 2025-26 season and has struggled with back problems.

At the 2022 Games in Beijing, Jackson became the first Black woman to win a medal in an individual event at the Winter Olympics. It set her up for golds in back-to-back Winter Olympics.

Earlier this week, Jackson posted her second-best time ever in the 1,000 meters while finishing sixth. The performance appeared to boost her confidence heading into the 500, but she fell short of her goal.

This story will be updated with more information.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Federica Brignone is the embodiment of what the Olympics are about. Supposed to be about, anyway.

A crash 10 months ago during the Italian nationals left her with a shattered left leg. She had multiple broken bones, a torn ACL and a dislocated kneecap. The question wasn’t whether Brignone would ski again but whether she’d be able to walk again.

Even now, she still isn’t 100% healed – she put herself at maybe 80% before the 2026 Milano Cortino Games began – and pain is a constant companion.

Yet, she was so determined to ski at a home Olympics she endured multiple surgeries and months of agonizing rehab. Pushed through the doubts about whether this was worth it.

And now? Brignone will leave these Games as a two-time Olympic champion, her gold medals a reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and what is possible when we commit ourselves fully.

“If I was coming here to make gold medals, I would go home with no medals,” Brignone said after winning the giant slalom on Sunday, Feb. 15, three days after she won gold in the super-G.

“I came here and, already, it was a miracle to be here,” she said. “Not the gold medal. I didn’t care. I had medals, I had World Cups, I had everything that I wanted, even more, in my life. I came here just to enjoy and try my best and be grateful to be here, at a home Olympics.

“This is why I think I won.”

Sports has often acted as our great healer, and Lord knows we need that right now. The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics had the potential to be that, a salve for the world’s collective psyche in much the same way the Paris Games were a reset from the isolation and fear of the COVID pandemic.

So far, though, these Olympics have only offered reminders of our divides.

American athletes are being told to shut up and ski (or skate or slide), as if wanting our country to live up to its promised ideals is somehow a betrayal of the uniform they wear. Russia’s war on Ukraine remains front and center because of the controversy surrounding a Ukrainian athlete’s attempt to honor the dead.

Curling, normally the most congenial of sports, is embroiled in a cheating scandal. A three-time medalist from Norway has become the poster boy for toxic relationships.

Brignone’s performance here harkens back to the original intent of the Olympics. Not only did she accomplish the impossible, she’s showing you can reach the top without leaving claw marks on the people you pass along the way.

“I cannot rave about her enough,” American Paula Moltzan said. “She’s the kindest, most genuine athlete on tour. She’s kind to everyone. She’s friendly to everyone. And this comeback, to have two gold medals at home – hands down, she’s clearly the best skier in the world right now.”

When Brignone skied into the finish area, she put her hands to her helmet and shook her head in shock. Sweden’s Sara Hector and Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund, who until that point had been sharing first place, rushed out to meet Brignone, dropping to the snow and bowing to her as the crowd roared.

It was a beautiful display of sportsmanship, the kind of moment that shows why the Olympics matter. Even with their crass commercialism, scandals and moral equivalency.

“She’s one of the strongest girls mentally I’ve ever met. And also so sympathetic and very nice,” Hector said.

“I really think she deserved this gold medal,” Hector added. “To see her get that was also a very cool moment here in Cortina.”

And beyond.

Brignone is brutally honest about the toll of her crash. Her left leg will never be like it once was. She does not know if she’ll be able to play tennis again. If you gave her the choice between her two Olympic gold medals and the crash never happening, she’d take the latter without hesitation.

But she cannot rewrite history.

“It happened,” Brignone said, “you have to accept it.”

You do not, however, have to give in. You keep fighting. You keep working. You keep hoping.

‘My mantra was tomorrow is better for sure,’ Brignone said.

That is the power of the Olympics, the reminder of that.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

MILAN — U.S. goalkeeper Aerin Frankel is known as the ‘Green Monster,’ nicknamed after the iconic left field wall at Fenway Park because she’s just as solid in front of the net for the U.S women’s national hockey team.

But her nickname could also apply to her love of romaine lettuce.

Frankel is such a big fan of Caesar salads that she has an entire Instagram account dedicated to the leafy greens. She’s been posting photos and reviews on @painbyromaine since May 2024, but her passion project has landed in the limelight at the 2026 Winter Olympics as the U.S. women are set to play Sweden in the semifinals Monday.

Frankel said her Caesar salad account initially ‘started off as a joke’ after a friend suggested she document her loved of mixed greens since Frankel was ‘always ordering one for the table or to share,’ she said.

‘A few years back, I made this account (because) one of my friends has an espresso martini account where she rates espresso martinis,’ Frankel said. ‘She was like, ‘You should really do the same for Caesar salads. You eat them so much.”

Frankel has tried Ceasar salads all over the world, from Nova Scotia to Greece and New York City, so consider her a connoisseur. She said Mortadella Head has the best salad in Boston, where she resides as the starting goalkeeper of the PWHL’s Boston Fleet, while Sugo in Toronto holds the title for the best she’s ever had.

Frankel has already tried several Caesar salads in Milan so far, with her first review of the 2026 Winter Games dropping Saturday. She rated Mugs & Co. Cozy Cafe & Bakery a 7.8 out of 10, adding Italy has ‘seriously high quality meat & cheese here.’ One ingredient she’s getting used to — Italian Caesar dressing.

‘I would say that Caesar dressing is very different (in Italy) than I expected, so not knocking it, but it’s just not of that classic Caesar,’ Frankel said.

The American goalkeeper has only conceded one goal in three starts at the 2026 Winter Olympics, yet her incognito Caesar salad account has generated just as many headlines. She called the response ‘a bit shocking,’ but ‘kind of funny.’

Frankel added, ‘Honestly, it’s something that I do for fun in my free time, so I’m glad people are enjoying it.

She’s not the only Olympic athlete showcasing their love of a particular food. American figure skater Andrew Torgashev was dubbed ‘The Pizza King’ after eating pizza for 53 days in a row. He lists himself as a ‘Pizza Ambassador’ in his Instagram bio.

Follow Cydney Henderson on X at @CydHenderson

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Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is free – at least from the confines of a state prison.

Velasquez, 43, was released on parole Sunday after nearly 11 months in Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, Calif. It’s unclear what the stipulations of his release are. The San Jose (Calif.) Mercury-News was among the outlets to report his release, which had been expected for Sunday.

In February 2025, Velasquez was sentenced to five years in prison with 1,283 days time served after he pleaded no contest to a litany of charges including attempted murder. Velasquez had been out on bail, under ankle monitoring since November 2022. Prior to that, he’d served a little under nine months behind bars.

Parole marks the near-end of years-long criminal legal battle for Velasquez, who was arrested after he pursued and shot at a car carrying Harry Goularte, a man accused of molesting Velasquez’s young son at a daycare. Velasquez chased Goularte and Goularte’s family while shooting a hand gun. A bullet from Velasquez struck Goularte’s stepfather Paul Bender, causing nonfatal injury.

Goularte is still undergoing court proceedings for a felony charge of lewd acts with a minor. He is out on bail, has pleaded not guilty, and is awaiting trial. There are also ongoing civil lawsuits in each direction.

Velasquez has since apologized for his actions, saying he is at peace and wishes no harm to anyone – even Goularte.

MILAN — Figure skating is more than halfway done at the 2026 Winter Olympics, with the pairs next to take the ice in Milano Cortina.

The U.S. will have two teams competing on Sunday, Feb. 15, with team gold medalists Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, as well as Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan. While Team USA boasts top contenders in nearly every figure skating discipline, it’s not necessarily the strongest in pairs. Team USA hasn’t won a medal in pairs since 1988, and while that doesn’t appear it will be broken in 2026, there has been plenty of figure skating surprises throughout the Games, and more could be in store.

See the 2026 Medal Count Here

Olympic figure skating start time

The pairs’ short program begins at 1:30 p.m. ET.

How to watch Olympics figure skating today

The pairs’ event will air on USA Network at 1:30 p.m. ET. It will then air on NBC beginning at 3 p.m. ET. The entire event will stream on Peacock.

PHOENIX — One was a 36-year-old career journeyman infielder from Venezuela who hadn’t produced a hit in more than a month.

The other a 26-year-old reliever with his fourth team in 11 months who wasn’t even on the playoff roster the first three rounds.

Who would have imagined that in a clubhouse full of All-Stars and future Hall of Famers, Miguel Rojas and Will Klein would be honest-to-goodness Los Angeles Dodgers World Series heroes, still basking three months later from the most glorious moments of their careers?

Rojas, who hit perhaps the most unlikely home run in World Series history, will not only forever be remembered in Dodgers lore for not that ninth-inning Game 7 homer, but also saving the game with a spectacular defensive play in the bottom of the frame.

“I’ve watched that moment over and over so many times, but it’s still hard to believe it happened,’ Rojas tells USA TODAY Sports. “It’s just overwhelming. I’ve always wanted to have a moment in my career where I feel valuable, especially on the offensive side. And then when you do something like that, you know it’s going to be remembered for a long time.

“Probably forever.’

Klein was working out in Arizona and wasn’t even on the Dodgers’ postseason roster until Alex Vesia left the team before the World Series to be with his wife after the loss of their newborn daughter. He was summoned in the 15th inning of Game 3, and then pitched four shutout innings in the 6-5, 18-inning victory.

“It’s still crazy to think about,’ Klein says. “I mean, I was hearing from people I went to high school with and old teams. There were people I went to middle school and high school with that didn’t even know I was playing baseball. They saw me on TV, and started sending me random stuff.’

‘No one expected’ Miguel Rojas home run

The Dodgers were down to their last two outs, trailing the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3, in the ninth inning of Game 7. Rojas, who hadn’t had a hit in an entire month, stepped to the plate facing Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman. Rojas worked the count to 3-and-2 when Hoffman tried to fool him with a slider. Rojas belted it over the left field wall and the screaming crowd at the Rogers Centre went dead silent.

The only sound you heard was the Dodger bench and scattered fans screaming in euphoria with Rojas barely able to feel his feet trotting around the bases.

“No one expected Miguel Rojas to hit that home run,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says. “No one.’

Still, it looked like it might be all forgotten when the Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. The Dodgers pulled the infield in, and Daulton Varsho hit a bouncer to the right side of Rojas. He snared the ball, but then slipped, and had his momentum carrying him towards second base. Rojas set, and fired home just in the nick of time to nail Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the plate and prevent the winning run.

Two innings later – and after Yoshinobu Yamamto’s 2 ⅔ shutout innings in relief on no days’ rest – the Dodgers were back-to-back World Series champions with Yamamoto winning the World Series MVP.

With the Dodgers all gathering for the first time since their World Series parade, everyone still is talking about Rojas and Klein’s heroics.

“(Rojas) is one of the best teammates I ever had, and just one of the best people in baseball,’ says third baseman Max Muncy, who delivered an eighth-inning homer in Game 7 then made his own big defensive play. “So, for something like that to happen to him, after all of the work he out in and the mentality he had about certain situations, it was so well deserved.

“It was like how the game was rewarding him for how he handled his role last year.’

Rojas, who didn’t even play the first five games of the World Series, and was informed only a text message from manager Dave Roberts that he was starting Game 6 in Toronto, never complained about his role. Sure, he wanted to play more, but once Mookie Betts shifted from right field to shortstop, he did everything possible to help Betts improve so dramatically defensively that Betts became a Gold Glove finalist.

And in one glorious moment, it was Rojas who went from an understudy to an Academy Award winning performance, getting congratulatory messages from the likes of Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, and the scout who signed him out of Venezuela.

“That’s why I felt so great after it happened, not just because I hit a home run that tied the game,’ Rojas says, “but seeing the reaction of the people that I really care about. It was so cool. And everybody in the media had something good to say about me.

“The biggest compliment for me is that a guy like me, in front of the whole team, Doc [Roberts] told them that the game honors me because I did things the right way. I’ll remember those words forever. That makes me feel like after the 20 years that I’ve been in professional baseball, I’ve been doing something good.’

Rojas, who plans to retire after the season and stay with the Dodgers in player development with hopes one day of being a manager, still has strangers stopping him and thanking him for his home run. He has had more autograph requests during the winter than he’s had in his entire life.

Yet, the question no one asks is which play meant to  him, the game-tying home run or the game-saving play in the bottom of the ninth inning that forced the game into extra innings.

“The home run is going to be something that people will remember forever because you’re two outs away from being done,’ Rojas says. “But the play, I mean that’s the hardest play I ever made because it’s do-or-die to not only win the game but lose your season. If I don’t make the play, the home run and everything is kind of our of the window.

“So, it’s really tough to put it into context because if I don’t hit the home run, I don’t make the play, and then if I don’t make the play, the homer doesn’t count. I’m just so proud I was able to come through when it counted.’

Will Klein: ‘No one knows who I am’

Klein was working out at the Dodgers’ spring-training complex in Phoenix when he got the emergency call to join the team in Toronto. Klein, who had spent most of the season pitching in Triple-A, threw a grueling 72 pitches across four innings in Game 3, the most he had thrown since he was at Eastern Illinois, and became an overnight hero.

He was congratulated by legendary Dodger Sandy Koufax, who shook his hand after the game.

“I didn’t think most people,’ Klein says, “even knew who I was.’

So now that he’s a World Series hero, do people recognize him now wherever he goes?

“I heard people say that everybody would know me now,’ Klein says, “but it hasn’t really changed. My wife and I went to Disneyland and Universal Studios, and maybe like two people recognized me. We’ll walk around Pasadena and LA, and no one knows who I am.’

Besides, Klein says laughing, it’s not like he’s Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza of Indiana University. Klein, born and raised in Indiana, is a diehard Hoosiers fan and says he may have celebrated the school’s football national championship harder than he did the Dodgers’ World Series win.

“I mean, to be the losingest team ever in college football history before that, and then win it all,’ Klein says, “it’s something I’ll remember forever. I remember going to games when Wisconsin would beat us like 82 to 20, and losing to teams like North Texas and Ball State, so it’s been a long ride.

“I can’t even imagine how many kids are going to be born in Indiana now named Fernando.’

While Rojas will be retiring after the 2026 season, Klein is hoping his World Series performance will kick-start his career. Hey, if you can throw four shutout innings in a World Series game, you’re sure not going to be fazed by a regular season relief appearance against the San Francisco Giants.

“It’s easy to look at it like that,’ Klein says, “but that doesn’t mean I’m going to automatically pitch well this year. I’ve still got to go out and put the work in each day, and use that confidence. But I can’t get lazy and think, ‘Oh, I’m going to be great just because I did that in one game of the World Series.”

It’s the same with the Dodgers, Roberts says. They had a bullseye on their back then, and they’ll have it now.

The Dodgers can’t simply throw $400 million worth of talent on the field each night and expect to automatically win. They have to move forward and focus on 2026 if they have a chance to make history, but still, no matter what transpires, those memories of that glorious 2025 World Series will live forever.

“Man, when I think about it,’ Roberts says, “it still blows my mind. Who would ever have thought that Miggy would hit that home run? Who could have ever thought that Will Klein was going to throw four scoreless innings in a World Series?

“But you have to have stuff like that go right for you.’

No matter who steps up as the hero.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

It was a battle of the Grays in Unrivaled 1-on-1 championship on Saturday night at Sephora Arena in Miami.

Rose BC’s Chelsea Gray fought back to defeat Mist BC’s Allisha Gray in the best two-out-of-three-games format. Chelsea won $200,000 as champion. Allisha Gray earned $50,000 as runner-up and Phantom BC’s Kelsey Plum and Phantom BC’s Aliyah Boston nabbed $25,000 each as semifinalists.

“Exhausted,” Chelsea said postgame. “Grateful. Humbled. Excited. Everything, man. I said it out there, a lot of people didn’t pick me to be sitting here talking to y’all. Keep on, you know, surprising people, I love it.”

Allisha won the first game, 7-0, before Chelsea came back to take the second game, 8-3. Allisha fought to a 6-0 lead in the final game before Chelsea went on a run to take the 7-6 victory and the big pay day. Chelsea is four-time WNBA champion, winning her first with the Los Angeles Sparks before three, including last season, with the Las Vegas Aces.

In the semifinals, Chelsea Gray fought back from a 8-0 deficit to Kelsey Plum and won, 12-8. Allisha Gray beat Aliyah Boston, 12-10.

LIVIGNO, Italy – All’s well that ends well. Indeed, snowboarding’s Red Gerard is still alive in his pursuit of a second Olympic gold medal in the men’s slopestyle.

But as for the ordeal he’d just endured? ‘It was awful,’ he said.

Out of 12 riders to advance out of the 30-man qualifying field on Feb. 15 at Livigno Snow Park, Gerard finished 11th. Despite two relatively clean runs without an obvious stumble, his high score on the second (70.00) put him squarely on the bubble with more than 20 riders to go after him.

Two of those riders – Mons Rosland of Norway (69.63) and Eli Bouchard of Canada (69.51) – received scores just shy of 70. Others got close, too.

Yet Gerard, just barely, held a strong enough position to qualify for the Olympic men’s slopestyle finals Feb. 18.

‘Slopestyle is in this point right now where there’s 30 riders in here, and all 30 of those riders can win the contest,’ Gerard said. ‘It’s just such a heavy game. So you’re sitting there just nervous as all heck.’

Of the 12 finalists, three were Americans. Jake Canter posted a score of 70.53 early in the competition and had it hold up until the end. He finished 10th, just ahead of Gerard.

Meanwhile, Ollie Martin (78.30), the 17-year-old who just missed a medal in the big air competition earlier in these Games, placed a solid sixth in slopestyle qualifying.

‘It was definitely good motivation to keep doing better and hopefully get on this podium,” Martin said. ‘… I definitely like slopestyle more. It just feels safer. You’re able to have a run going. It’s more creative. You’re about to show your personality more with the course.”

Event organizers moved up the men’s and women’s slopestyle qualifications a day for fears of poor weather on Feb. 16, which caused an adjustment in plans for the competitors.

Canter’s girlfriend had just arrived, he said, and was ‘cruising around town just thinking I had another practice’ day when he got a text informing him otherwise.

‘It was a gift and a curse,” he said. ‘I didn’t have enough time to really think about it or overthink. But at the same time, didn’t prepare the way I wanted to.”

Gerard said he didn’t find out about the change until about 6 p.m. the night before.

‘We had ideas (of a schedule change) after practice at 2,” Gerard said, ‘but they did do a good job. They told us weather was coming in, and I think they made the right call. I don’t know. From my weather forecast, it looks like the next two, three days are going to be pretty hairy.’

Gerard won gold in slopestyle in Pyeongchang in 2018 and has been critical of the format that lumps together competitors in big air and slopestyle.

After this latest qualifying in Livigno, he bristled a bit about the slopestyle judging and said he’ll be going back to look at his run as well as others in preparation for the final.

‘Definitely re-look at probably the top section of the course, the rails,’ he said, “and try to probably go look at other peoples’ runs on what they liked and stuff. Just kind of do a little bit more homework.”