Welcome to new cold war as world descends on Italy amid global political chaos

Organisers are hoping for a celebration of winter sport at Milano Cortina 2026 but tensions will not be far from the surface

A short stroll from where the grandees of the International Olympic Committee are staying in Milan sits the Museum of Illusions – a place devoted to magic and misdirection. Mirrors distort. Perspectives shift. And nothing is quite what it seems. It is an apposite metaphor for these Winter Olympics, which officially open in Italy on Friday.

Over the following 16 days, the world will be enraptured by the dazzle and spin of these Games: downhill skiers bombing down mountains at 95mph, snowboarders twirling like gyroscopes, the balletic grace of the world’s best skaters. But in Milano Cortina a fresh cold war is also brewing amid global political chaos.

Published: February 4, 2026, 9:41 pm

Hilary Knight, Team USA’s north star, chases one more Olympic hockey gold

The five-time Olympian leads a young US team into Milan after nearly two decades at the vanguard of women’s hockey’s rise and transformation

For nearly two decades, Hilary Knight has been the heartbeat of USA women’s ice hockey – the constant through gold-medal ecstasy and silver-medal heartbreaks, coaching changes, domestic league collapses and the sport’s long, uneven push toward professional stability. Now, at 36, she’s arrived in Milan chasing one more Olympic gold before bringing down the curtain on one of the most influential careers the game has known.

The Olympic women’s hockey tournament opens on Thursday with the United States bringing one of their youngest and fastest teams in years – and their longest-tenured player in the captain’s sweater. Only 11 players return from the team that won silver in Beijing four years ago. Seven are still in college. Many developed inside a professional structure that did not exist for most of Knight’s career, shaped by the emergence of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the broader surge in investment across women’s sports.

Published: February 5, 2026, 7:00 am

From Evil Empire to Super Bowl underdogs: is it OK to like the Patriots now?

Under Tom Brady and Bill Belichick New England were ruthless winners. But new head coach Mike Vrabel has transformed the narrative around the team

There used to be a simple rule: Anybody but the New England Patriots.

From 2001 through 2019, the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick dynasty totaled six Super Bowl titles, 13 conference championship appearances and 17 divisional crowns. They were the Evil Empire, constant contenders in a league designed for parity. It didn’t matter who you were; the Patriots were the final boss.

Published: February 4, 2026, 10:00 am

The Pup Cup: thousands of dogs compete in the Westminster Dog Show – in pictures

Penny, a doberman pinscher, won best in show at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York

Published: February 4, 2026, 5:18 pm

Anthony Davis reportedly heads to Wizards in eight-player megatrade

• Davis played sporadically after arriving in Luka Doncic trade

• Eight-player swap comes ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline

The Dallas Mavericks are sending 10-time All-Star forward Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards in an eight-player trade, ESPN reported Wednesday.

The Mavericks will receive Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham and Marvin Bagley III plus two first-round draft picks and three second-round selections, per the report.

Published: February 4, 2026, 7:35 pm

Lindsey Vonn forced to wait as first women’s Winter Olympics downhill training cancelled

• US skiing icon must wait to test injured knee

• Coach confident skier will be competitive at Games

Lindsey Vonn has been forced to wait for her chance to test her injured knee after heavy snowfall led to the cancellation of the first women’s downhill training at the Winter Olympics.

The American skiing icon was due to take part in Thursday morning’s training session in Cortina d’Ampezzo as she attempts to compete at the 2026 Games with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.

Published: February 4, 2026, 6:06 pm

Mauricio Pochettino’s odd jab at Tim Weah misread the player and the moment | Leander Schaerlaeckens

The USMNT manager said players should stay out of conversations that don’t deal with soccer

Last week, Mauricio Pochettino began a World Cup year with an unforced error.

At the tail-end of a virtual press conference that covered a wide range of ongoing USMNT business, the 53-year-old Argentine – who has made himself commendably available to the American soccer press – was asked about recent comments by Tim Weah.

Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book on the United States men’s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out on 12 May. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

Published: February 4, 2026, 2:29 pm

Ten athletes from Team USA to watch at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics

With the Winter Olympics set to begin in proper on Friday, here’s a look at 10 Americans worth keeping an eye on

Mikaela Shiffrin has surpassed Vonn’s record haul of World Cup wins and staked her claim as the GOAT. But Vonn has a solid claim to be the best ever in the speed events (downhill, super-G), and she has been racing exclusively in those disciplines since returning from retirement, surging to the top of the World Cup downhill standings at age 41. She has a score to settle with the sport’s biggest stage – her lifetime total of three Olympic medals (one gold) would probably be higher if not for a horror crash in practice in 2006 and injuries that either limited or outright excluded her from other Games. After some selection drama in the team combined event in last year’s world championships, it seems inconceivable that Vonn and Shiffrin, both of whom have had some misfortune in the Olympics, would not be paired up to form Alpine skiing’s equivalent of the 1992 basketball Dream Team. Vonn was in a nasty crash last weekend but it seems that she will be fit to take part in Italy.

Published: February 4, 2026, 11:00 am

New York City’s real animal welfare crisis isn’t the Westminster Dog Show | Lauren Caulk

As Westminster week once again put dog breeding under the spotlight, Peta’s messaging remains as incisive as ever. But its moral clarity fades when the conversation shifts to cats

Every February, the Westminster Dog Show arrives in New York City trailing equal parts pageantry, nostalgia and protest. The dogs come to be judged. The owners and handlers come to uphold breed standards. And, almost as reliably as the movie references and the best-in-show ribbon, Peta arrives ready to dominate the conversation.

If there is one certainty about the Super Bowl of canines, it’s that the protest will share the stage with the pageantry. Westminster is an annual collision of tradition, spectacle and dissent, and Peta has become exceptionally good at owning that moment. This year was no different. Two enormous billboards screamed down from across the street of the Javits Center, where breed judging unfolded on Monday and Tuesday ahead of the prime-time sessions at Madison Square Garden. One read: Flat-faced dogs struggle to breathe. NEVER buy them. Another: You can get a nose job. They can’t. DON’T buy breathing-impaired breeds.

Published: February 4, 2026, 3:45 pm

Newcastle’s Saudi vision is shrouded in bleak suspicion and unfulfilled promises | Jonathan Liew

Vivid dreamscape sold to fans in 2021 is yet to materialise amid layers upon layers of bureaucracy, economics and geopolitics

Layer two: Nick Woltemade, signed for £69m in the hot madness of summer, has stopped scoring. Anthony Elanga, a £55m winger, has struggled for game time and goals. Malick Thiaw, a £35m centre-half bought from Milan, keeps making basic errors. Last summer’s transfer window, conducted without a sporting director and with an outgoing chief executive, looks increasingly like a disaster. The football seems a little slower and less urgent these days, St James’ Park a little quieter and more anxious. Eddie Howe is basically holding this thing together with hugs and smiles.

Layer three: turns out Alexander Isak lighted the exit path so that others might follow. Sandro Tonali’s agent decided to make a little mischief on transfer deadline day, putting Arsenal on alert. Perhaps Tonali will be the next painful transfer saga, perhaps Bruno Guimarães or Lewis Hall or Tino Livramento. The sporting director, Ross Wilson, is still getting his feet under the table. The chief executive, David Hopkinson, reckons Newcastle can be the best team in the world by 2030. They sit 11th in the Premier League. No signings arrived in January.

Published: February 5, 2026, 8:00 am

Pep Guardiola questions rule that will keep Marc Guéhi out of Carabao Cup final

• Cup rules state new signings must arrive before semi-final first leg

• City will ask EFL to clarify rule: ‘Hopefully they can change it’

Pep Guardiola has questioned the rule which means Marc Guéhi cannot play in the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal in March, though the Manchester City manager has said the club will ask the Football League to reconsider.

City reached the Wembley showpiece after Wednesday’s 3-1 semi-final second-leg win against Newcastle, which gave them a 5-1 aggregate victory after the 2-0 result in the first leg on 13 January.

Published: February 4, 2026, 11:47 pm

Scottish Premiership roundup: Rangers close gap to Hearts at top by thrashing Kilmarnock

• Hibs’ late show stuns Dundee United; Falkirk win again

• Aberdeen v Celtic and Dundee v Motherwell postponed

Rangers closed the gap on the Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts to three points with a 5-1 win against Kilmarnock but it took time to subdue the 10-man visitors at Ibrox.

Hearts lost 1-0 at St Mirren on Tuesday night to open the door, while Celtic’s game at Aberdeen on Wednesday night was postponed.

Published: February 4, 2026, 10:32 pm

Andy Carroll denies breaching non-molestation order related to ex-wife

• Carroll allegedly repeatedly called Billi Mucklow last March

• Former England striker to next appear in court in March

The former England footballer Andy Carroll has denied breaching a non-molestation order by allegedly repeatedly calling his former wife. Carroll, a former striker for Premier League sides Newcastle and Liverpool, indicated a not guilty plea to the charge at Chelmsford magistrates court on Wednesday.

Carroll is charged with breaching the order made by the family court at Chelmsford justice centre by allegedly repeatedly calling in March last year Billi Mucklow, who has featured on the reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex.

Published: February 4, 2026, 4:21 pm

Transfer window verdict: how every Women’s Super League club fared

After impressive work by Manchester United and Liverpool and disappointment for Chelsea, we assess every team’s business

With the contracts of so many senior players expiring in June, Arsenal’s focus was on preparing for the summer when they are expected to go through a major rebuild. Therefore their quiet window was no surprise, but they will be relatively pleased to have brought in a star of the future, Smilla Holmberg, at right-back and to have fulfilled their need for a backup goalkeeper, with Barbora Votíkova’s deadline-day loan. Much more significant, though, is the positive progress they are understood to have made in their attempt to sign Georgia Stanway on a free at the end of the season, and big decisions such as not seeking to extend Katie McCabe’s stay, as they prepare to refresh the team.

Published: February 4, 2026, 1:00 pm

Everton sack Brian Sørensen with club languishing near bottom of WSL table

• Dane leaves after almost four years as manager

• Form at Goodison Park has been poor this season

Everton have sacked women’s team manager Brian Sørensen with the club ninth in the Women’s Super League. The club claimed their first home victory of the season on Sunday to move four points clear of relegation danger but it has not been enough to keep the 45-year-old Dane, who has been in charge since 2022, in his role.

The club’s chief executive, Angus Kinnear, said: “Sunday’s first win of the season at Goodison Park was important, but it has become evident that a change of direction is necessary to ensure the progression on the pitch we are all striving for.”

Published: February 4, 2026, 10:30 am

‘Focus on football’: Guardiola criticised by Manchester Jewish group over Palestine comments

• JRC unhappy with City manager’s ‘controversial views’

• Guardiola referred on Tuesday to ‘genocide in Palestine’

The Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has been urged to be “more careful with his future language” by representatives of the city’s Jewish community, after he spoke out about Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Guardiola gave a speech in support of Palestinian children at a charity event in his home city of Barcelona last week, and on Tuesday he told journalists at a press conference how the suffering of innocent people caught up in conflict, including the one in the Middle East, “hurts” him, and leaves him feeling compelled to speak out.

Published: February 4, 2026, 7:17 pm

Celebrating the most remarkable almost-one-club players in football | The Knowledge

Plus: footballers’ weddings on live television, the most successful fictional teams, and more

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Ian Muir played 95% of his games for Tranmere,” writes Robert Abushal. “One-club players aside, who’s the closest to 100% without being 100%?”

One-club men and women are among football’s more celebrated groups, the players who dedicated their entire career to one particular cause. Athletic Club give out the One Club Man and One Club Woman awards each year; the list of recipients include Paolo Maldini, Matthew Le Tissier and Malin Moström.

We haven’t included non-league teams, which rules out Paul Scholes (three games for Royton) and Le Tissier (Eastleigh) among others. We’ve also excluded Hamburg legend Uwe Seeler, whose one appearance for Cork Celtic was in a sponsored event.

Data on appearances for individual players can vary from source to source, particularly for older players. We made a judgment call in each case, so the figures may only be 99.82% correct. But that’s appropriate for this question, right? Right?

Published: February 4, 2026, 8:00 am

Lando Norris driven to defend F1 title but says he has ‘different mentality to Max’

• ‘My motivation to win is exactly the same,’ says champion

• McLaren driver admires rival Verstappen’s killer instinct

Lando Norris insists he enters the new Formula One season highly motivated to retain the world championship he won for the first time last year. The McLaren driver believes his maiden triumph has only given him greater confidence in his ability to defend the title.

Norris won the championship after an intense competition that went to the wire. After a three-way fight with his teammate, Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Norris sealed the title by just two points at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Published: February 5, 2026, 7:00 am

Manchester City 3-1 Newcastle United (agg 5-1): Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg – as it happened

City booked a place in the final against Arsenal after roaring into an early lead

1 min: Trippier’s first act of the evening is a fine block of O’Reilly’s shot, the City man having drifted in from the left.

Newcastle get the game started. They’re chasing down a two-goal deficit.

Published: February 4, 2026, 10:39 pm

Top seats for Nations Championship’s ‘Glastonbury of Rugby’ at Twickenham to cost £280

• Spectators will not know finalists but can ‘swap’ tickets

• Cheapest standard tickets for day of the final are £125

Top-end tickets for the inaugural Nations Championship final at Twickenham will cost £280 as part of a weekend billed as the “Glastonbury of Rugby”, the Guardian can reveal.

The climax of the new 12-team competition, which will be held every two years and replaces traditional tours, will be held at Twickenham at the end of November with two matches on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday.

Published: February 4, 2026, 5:06 pm

Team GB’s best chance of Winter Olympics gold dealt major blow after helmets ban

• Skeleton crew’s helmets ruled ineligible on eve of Games

• Great Britain appeal to court of arbitration for sport

Great Britain’s best hopes of gold at these Winter Olympics have suffered a setback after skeleton’s governing body banned its new aerodynamic helmets for being the wrong shape.

Team GB’s Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt have dominated skeleton all season, winning all seven of the World Cup races between them, and are strong favourites to win gold and silver in Milan.

Published: February 4, 2026, 2:48 pm

Matt Graham to carry flag for Australia but family to miss Winter Olympics ceremony

• Moguls star named with Jakara Anthony as flag bearers

• Anthony attempts to successfully defend Olympics title

After missing out in Beijing, moguls veteran Matt Graham’s parents jumped at the chance to watch their son march in the Winter Olympics opening ceremony and immediately booked their tickets.

But in an Olympics first, the opening ceremony will be held concurrently at four different locations – Milan, Livigno, Predazzo and Cortina.

Published: February 4, 2026, 12:30 pm

Winter Olympics 2026: all your questions about the Milano Cortina Games, answered

Stars, new events, iconic Alpine venues and a return to full Olympic atmosphere after the pandemic era. Here’s everything you need to know about Milano Cortina 2026

The Winter Olympics are back – and this time they’re zigzagging across northern Italy. Milano Cortina 2026 will be the most spread-out Winter Games ever staged, jumping from Milan’s arenas to the Dolomites’ classic Alpine slopes. With returning superstars, brand-new events and Italy leaning hard into its Olympic heritage, these Games may feel like they’ve arrived quietly – but there is a lot going on. From how and when to watch, to who matters and why these Olympics could look very different, here are your most pressing questions answered.

Published: February 5, 2026, 8:00 am

Weston McKennie is in the form of his life for Juventus, in any position

The American has earned the trust of Luciano Spalletti in Italy, but his role with the USMNT remains an open question

Juventus have tried to get rid of Weston McKennie. They even succeeded once, sending him on loan to Leeds United only for the American to return six months later. When he got back to Turin, as US coach Gregg Berhalter told the story at the time, Juve had emptied his locker and given away his parking spot. Despite this, McKennie stuck around.

It’s just as well for the Old Lady that he did – McKennie is now in the form of his life. The 27-year-old has scored four times in just eight games since the start of 2026. He has become one of Juve’s most important players and arguably the biggest driving force behind their recent upturn in form. Luciano Spalletti – among the most big-name coaches currently working in Italian football – has used McKennie to mould the team in his own image.

Published: February 4, 2026, 7:24 pm

Doberman named Penny takes Westminster’s best in show as Catherine O’Hara honored

• Penny the Doberman pinscher named America’s top dog

• Linton lands second best in show nearly four decades on

• Westminster honors Catherine O’Hara with video tribute

A Doberman pinscher named Penny is America’s top canine after earning the title of best in show on Tuesday night at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York.

Judge David Fitzpatrick tapped the four-year-old female with the mirror-sheen black-and-rust coat from Reseda, California, over a field of six other group champions, among them a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Cota, who was awarded reserve best in show to roars of approval from the crowd. Also making the final lineup were an Afghan hound named Zaida, a Lhasa Apso named JJ, a Maltese named Cookie, a smooth fox terrier named Wager and a popular old English sheepdog named Graham.

Published: February 4, 2026, 12:09 pm