The GIST

Team USA is the heavy favorite heading into Milano Cortina Olympics gold medal game

It’s all hockey, all the time with the Team USA women’s gold medal game against Canada set for today at 1:10 p.m. ET while the boys recover from yesterday’s taxing quarter-final (QF) dub. Channel your inner Herb Brooks — great moments are born from great opportunity, after all.

February 19, 2026

Olympic, Paralympic brands dazzle in front of record global audience at Milano Cortina 2026

🏅

Americans dig the Winter Olympics. Last week, the first five days of the Winter Olympics wrapped with 26.5M viewers across NBC platforms, a 93% increase over a comparable period at Beijing 2022. This has been followed with record-breaking global audiences fueled by digital and social growth: Social engagement has doubled since Beijing 2022, with Olympic digital platforms surpassing 100M users.

February 19, 2026

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin aims to end eight-year medal drought

⛷️🏅

American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin, the winningest Alpine skier of all time, hasn’t won an Olympic medal since 2018 — and her final chance to reach the podium at these Games is in today’s 7:30 a.m. ET slalom. Drop right in on today’s story as her Olympic journey continues.

February 18, 2026

Norway’s dominating the Milano Cortina Olympics — but why?

🏅

You’ve probably seen the viral clips of Norwegian skier Johannes Høsflot Klaebo dominating the competition, but did you notice Norway is also running away with the medal count at the Milano Cortina Olympics? The small country with a population of just 5.6M has already racked up a Games–leading 28 medals, and 12 of them are gold. “Winning” the Winter Games is nothing new for the Norwegians, who also boast the all-time Winter Olympic medals record. Let’s discuss the secrets to their success.

February 17, 2026

Parity SVP Alana Casner explains why brands adore athlete moms

Let’s be clear: Advertisers do portray mothers across advertising, more so than women without children. But the standard portrayal features mothers as caretakers engrossed in domestic tasks and has changed little since the 1950s.

February 14, 2026

Everything you need to know about NBA All-Star Weekend

🏀

The fun tips off with tonight’s Rising Stars game, the NBA’s annual showcase of the best young talent...well, most of it. Twenty-one rookies and second-year players were drafted onto three teams coached by league legends Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Carmelo Anthony. The fourth team features G League players and is helmed by former NBAer Austin Rivers.

February 13, 2026

The weight of expectation: Ilia Malinin goes for gold in today’s men’s free skate

🏅⛸️

Today’s the day — 21-year-old American Ilia Malinin, who leads the men’s individual figure skating competition following Tuesday’s short program, will skate for gold. Much has been made of the self-proclaimed Quad God’s promise, so let’s explore why many folks believe the rising star could become the greatest figure skater of all time.

February 13, 2026

Sports Business

Athletes, celebrities, and executives illustrate brand opportunity at Winter Olympics

February 12, 2026

The Winter Olympics are underway and seem to be trekking in the footsteps of Paris 2024, a.k.a. the “Social Media Olympics.” Once again, we’re seeing trends play out in real time as athletes and celebrity fans play an increased role in driving brand engagement. We’re breaking down the top headlines out of Milano Cortina this week.

Read Full Story

The GIST of It Podcast

Ep #531

Why Norway is dominating the Milano Cortina Olympics

February 17, 2026

Listen on Apple Music Listen on Spotify

Why Norway is dominating the Milano Cortina Olympics

Norway has the secret sauce for Olympic success.

We’re more than halfway through the Milano Cortina Olympics, and Norway is once again leading the medal count with just 80 athletes competing — an astonishing success rate. What makes the Norwegians so darn good at the Winter Olympics? Today’s episode of The GIST of It aims to find out as co-hosts Lauren Tuiskula and Alessandra Puccio dig into why the Scandinavian country of just 5.6M people absolutely dominates the snow.