Lead: On Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, Associated Press photographers captured striking moments across multiple venues at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, from Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo to Tesero, Livigno, Predazzo and Anterselva. The Day 4 gallery documents practice sessions, podium celebrations and in-competition highlights across disciplines including snowboarding, short track, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, alpine combined, skeleton and biathlon. Images show gold-medal celebrations, dramatic finishes and training intensity that together map the early arc of the Games’ competitive story.
Key Takeaways
- Photos were taken on Feb. 10, 2026, across venues in Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Tesero, Livigno, Predazzo and Anterselva, documenting Day 4 of the Games.
- Team Italy celebrated gold in the mixed relay short track in Milan, with Arianna Fontana pictured during the team’s victory moment.
- Sweden captured gold in mixed doubles curling in Cortina d’Ampezzo; Rasmus and Isabella Wranaa are shown celebrating their win over the USA.
- Cross-country sprint finals in Tesero produced podium scenes: Linn Svahn (gold), Jonna Sundling (silver), Maja Dahlqvist (bronze), and the men’s sprint saw Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (gold) with Ben Ogden (silver) and Oskar Opstad Vike (bronze).
- Action and training shots include Ryusei Yamada of Japan (halfpipe practice, Livigno), Ilia Malinin of the U.S. (men’s figure skating short program, Milan) and Amedeo Bagnis of Italy (skeleton training, Cortina).
- Photos also highlight women’s ice hockey (Japan vs. Sweden) in Milan, men’s freestyle slopestyle (Birk Ruud, Livigno) and biathlon (Sondre Slettemark, Anterselva).
- Photographers documented both competitive drama—tight finishes and podium flips—and quieter moments of preparation, underscoring the range of Olympic storytelling on Day 4.
Background
The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games are hosted across multiple towns in northern Italy, with events staged in Lombardy and the Dolomites to spread venues and involve regional communities. The AP Day 4 gallery reflects that geographic spread: Milan hosted indoor events such as short track, figure skating and ice hockey, while mountain venues like Cortina d’Ampezzo, Tesero, Livigno, Predazzo and Anterselva held skiing, ski jumping, freestyle and biathlon competitions. That multi-site footprint is a deliberate organizing choice intended to combine urban infrastructure and alpine terrain.
Photographic coverage is a core part of Olympics reporting because images condense moments—victories, defeats and training—into a single frame that readers can immediately interpret. Past Games have shown that photo galleries often define public memory of an event; decisive images (podium embraces, dramatic mid-air maneuvers, emotional reactions) become shorthand for the competition day. AP’s team assigned photographers to each venue to ensure coverage across disciplines and national teams.
Main Event
Across Day 4, AP photographers captured a sequence of competitive highlights. In Tesero, cross-country sprints produced both intense racing and podium drama: Sweden’s Linn Svahn claimed the women’s sprint classic title, while the men’s sprint saw Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo take gold with the U.S.’ Ben Ogden and Norway’s Oskar Opstad Vike also on the podium. Photographs from the finish line and medal ceremony convey both exhaustion and elation.
In Milan, the short track and figure skating sessions delivered kinetic images: Team Italy’s mixed relay short track victory featured Arianna Fontana celebrating with teammates, while Ilia Malinin’s short program included a high-flying element captured mid-air. Ice hockey action between Japan and Sweden produced goaltending and line-play shots that illustrate the sport’s speed and physicality.
Mountain venues emphasized airborne and downhill spectacle. Livigno showed snowboard halfpipe practice with Japan’s Ryusei Yamada and slopestyle competition with Norway’s Birk Ruud; Cortina hosted team alpine combined slalom segments and skeleton training sessions, including Italy’s Amedeo Bagnis. Predazzo offered ski jumping visuals from the mixed team event that highlighted flight and form against alpine backdrops.
Analysis & Implications
Photographs on Day 4 do more than record results; they shape narratives about national performance and athlete momentum. Sweden’s strong showing in cross-country sprint events, visualized through multiple finish-line and podium images, supports a narrative of depth in their distance program. Similarly, Team Italy’s short track gold—captured in celebratory frames—reinforces the host nation’s ability to deliver memorable moments on home ice.
Visual storytelling matters for how audiences engage with the Games in real time and afterward. Images of training sessions and near-misses provide context that statistics alone cannot: a single mid-air capture or a celebration shot conveys technique, risk and emotion. For national federations and sponsors, those images are also content assets that can amplify athlete profiles and attract attention beyond live broadcast audiences.
At a strategic level, the gallery underscores the logistical complexity of a dispersed Games model. Covering simultaneous events across several towns requires coordination among photo editors, transport planners and local authorities. The breadth of imagery demonstrates that multi-venue staging can succeed editorially—if media organizations commit resources to distributed coverage.
Comparison & Data
| Venue | Representative Highlights |
|---|---|
| Milan | Short track mixed relay gold (Italy), figure skating short program, women’s ice hockey |
| Tesero | Cross-country sprint finals; multiple podiums (women’s and men’s) |
| Cortina d’Ampezzo | Alpine combined slalom portions, skeleton training, mixed doubles curling finals |
| Livigno | Snowboard halfpipe practice, freestyle slopestyle final |
| Predazzo / Anterselva | Ski jumping mixed team, biathlon 20-km individual |
The table maps where the gallery’s most visually distinct moments occurred; it is intended to help readers follow the Games’ multi-location rhythm. Visual emphasis aligns closely with medal-deciding competitions and high-risk disciplines that typically yield striking still images.
Reactions & Quotes
“A celebration on the ice after Team Italy’s mixed-relay gold captured the electric home crowd reaction.”
AP Photo caption
“A mid-air figure skating moment froze the technical risk and athleticism of the short program in a single frame.”
AP Photo caption
“Podium scenes in Tesero highlighted the emotional sweep of cross-country sprint finals, from relief to jubilation.”
AP Photo caption
Unconfirmed
- Any short verbal reactions attributed to athletes in image captions were not independently verified by on-record interviews in the photo gallery itself.
- Specific equipment details (skate or ski models) visible in images were not confirmed with manufacturers or teams and should not be treated as official endorsements.
Bottom Line
The Day 4 AP photo gallery from Feb. 10, 2026, offers a cross-section of the Milan Cortina Games—competitive drama, training intensity and podium emotion across seven venues. Images from events such as the mixed relay short track, cross-country sprints and freestyle competitions will likely endure as visual touchstones for these early days of the Olympics.
For readers and stakeholders, the gallery demonstrates how dispersed venues create a rich, geographically varied Games narrative. Photographic coverage like this shapes real-time understanding and long-term memories of the 2026 Winter Olympics; follow-up reporting and official results should be consulted for complete performance and statistical records.
Sources
- AP News photo gallery — Milan Cortina Day 4 (media/photo gallery)