2026 Winter Olympics: Biggest Controversies From Milano Cortina Games

As the 2026 Winter Olympics passes the torch to this year’s Winter Paralympics — which start on March 6 — it’s time to look back at these Olympic Games and all their highlights and lowlights.

The not-so-golden moments include gender-based exclusion, an uproar over a helmet, allegations of biased judging and cheating on the ice, and a confession of cheating off the ice.

Below, we’re recapping our selections for the biggest 2026 Winter Olympics controversies since the cauldrons in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo went up in flames more than two weeks ago. Here’s what had our tongues wagging…

6. Sturla Holm Lægreid’s infidelity confession

After earning the bronze medal in the men’s 20-kilometer individual biathlon on February 10, Norwegian athlete Sturla Holm Lægreid confessed in a post-race interview that he had cheated on his then-girlfriend.

“I told her a week ago. And it’s been the worst week of my life,” Lægreid told Norwegian broadcaster NRK, per NBC News. “I had a gold medal in life, and there’s probably a lot of people out there who look at me differently now, but I only have eyes for her. Sports has taken a bit of a back seat these past couple of days. Yeah, I wish I could share this with her.”

That ex-girlfriend anonymously spoke out about her ex’s confession in an interview with Norwegian outlet VG the following day. “I did not choose to be put in this position, and it hurts to have to be in it. We have had contact, and he is aware of my opinions on this,” she said, per People. “[I am grateful] to my family and friends who have embraced me and supported me during this time. Also to everyone else who has thought of me and sympathized, without knowing who I am.”

5. Allegations of penis injections among ski jumpers

As the 2026 Games began, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced it would investigate claims that ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid after a scientific study found that every 2 centimeters in suit size circumference reduced drag by 4 percent and increased lift by 5 percent, according to The Guardian. The controversy soon got the titles Penisgate and Crotchgate.

“I’m not aware of the details of ski jumping and how it can improve, but if anything was to come to the surface, we would look at anything if it is actually doping related,” Olivier Niggli, WADA’s director general, said at a press conference on February 5, according to The Athletic. “We don’t do other means of enhancing performance, but our list committee would certainly look into whether this would fall into this category.”

Added Polish athlete-turned WADA President Witold Bańka, “Ski jumping is very popular in Poland, so I promise you I’m going to look at it.”

4. Exclusion of female Nordic combined athletes

Nordic combined is the last Winter Olympics sport to exclude women, and U.S. athlete Annika Malacinski was one of the female Nordic combined skiers who protested that exclusion during these games.

“It’s heartbreaking, it really is,” Annika told the Associated Press on February 17 while watching brother Niklas Malacinski compete in these Olympics’ Nordic combined event in Tesero, Italy. “I want to come here with such a positive mindset, and I am a positive person, but at the same time, it is so unjust that I can ski jump and I can ski, but because I’m a woman…”

Brandishing signs reading “No Exception” and “Make Olympics Gender Equal,” Annika told the AP, “My brother is here fulfilling his dreams, and I am not. It’s so bittersweet, and I keep talking about that. It lights a fire in me because this is so unjust, and in 2030, it’s not going to be like this.”

Fellow U.S. skier Tara Geraghty-Moats, who won the first-ever women’s Nordic combined World Cup competition in 2020, told NPR, “When I was at the top of the sport, I certainly had agents come to me and say, ‘If your sport was in the Olympics, we could make you $1 million today, but unfortunately the marketability of your sport without being in the Olympics is not there.’”

3. Cheating allegations facing Canadian curlers

Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian competitor Marc Kennedy of “double-touching” the stone for an advantage as the Canadian team defeated Sweden 8–6 on February 13, and Kennedy responded with a profane outburst toward his accuser.

“We want to play a fair-and-square game, like you follow the rules,” Eriksson later said, per the Associated Press. “And if we see something that’s not following the rules, we tell the opponents or the official. This time we did both.”

Kennedy, meanwhile, said he had never taken to the ice “with the intention of getting an advantage through cheating.”

Then, on February 14, officials accused the Canadian women’s team of double-touching as they faced Switzerland. Canadian curler Rachel Homan said there was “zero percent chance” she double-touched the stone, and the match resumed, according to the AP.

2. Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry’s participation and scores

French figure skaters Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry were controversial going into the 2026 Winter Olympics. In a newly published memoir, Cizeron’s former skating partner Gabriella Papadakis called him “often controlling, demanding and critical” and said she was “terrified by the idea of finding myself alone with him,” in claims Cizeron denied, according to The Guardian.

Fournier Beaudry, meanwhile, is in a relationship with her former skating partner Nikolaj Sørensen, whom the Canadian skating governing body banned for at least six years in 2024 for “sexual mistreatment” after an American coach and former skater alleged he sexually assaulted her in 2012. Sørensen has denied the claims, and his ban was overturned on a technicality the following year. Fournier Beaudry has defended Sørensen against the allegations, and his accuser said Fournier Beaudry’s defense fosters “a dangerous environment for skaters who need to report abuse … [and] further enforces the culture of silence in figure skating,” The Guardian adds.

Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry ended up winning gold in ice dance on February 11 in a controversial judging decision that raised questions of bias, since French judge Jezabel Dabouis gave the pair a score nearly three points above the panel average and gave U.S. competitor Madison Chock and Evan Bates a score more than five points below the panel average.

1. Vladyslav Heraskevych’s helmet

The International Olympic Committee disqualified Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, saying in a February 12 statement that Heraskevych “[refused] to adhere to the IOC athlete expression guidelines” by insisting that he wear a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes who have lost their lives in the war following Russia’s invasion of his country.

“No one, no one — especially me — is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a powerful message,” IOC President Kristy Coventry said that day. “As you’ve all seen over the last few days, we’ve allowed for Vladyslav to use his helmet in training. The challenge that we are facing is that we wanted to ask or come up with a solution for just the field of play.”

Speaking to NBC News, Heraskevych pointed out that other Winter Olympics athletes have shared messages on their gear. “I believe I am right in this case,” he said. For me to back down is betraying [the people pictured on the helmet]. … Some things are more important, and I believe honoring and remembering these athletes is now more important than medals.”