BORMIO, Italy: Russian Nikita Filippov won the first medal at the Milan-Cortina Games for individual neutral athletes when he claimed silver in the men’s ski mountaineering sprint in Bormio on Thursday.
Filippov finished 1.52sec off Spain’s gold medallist Oriol Cardona Coll, who won in 2min 34.03sec. Thibault Anselmet of France took bronze (+2.31) in the event’s debut at the Winter Games.
The Swiss pair of Arno Liethaa and Jon Kistler had led up the initial gruelling 65-meter climb.
But Cardona Coll showed all his experience to fight back and surge into the lead in an astonishing display of stamina and technical nous on the transition.
Filippov moved into second as the Swiss faded and tracked Cardona Coll down through the finish line.
It was a first medal for the 20-strong team of Russian and Belarusian athletes listed as ‘AIN’, meaning they are competing under a neutral flag.
Athletes from Russia and Belarus have faced bans from international competition since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Filippov and his AIN teammates have been allowed to compete at these Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics under a neutral banner having met strict conditions.
Those included competing under a neutral flag, taking part only in individual events and undergoing checks to prove that they did not actively support the war in Ukraine or have any links with the army.
The same conditions applied to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics at which 15 Russians and 17 Belarusians competed, winning a combined five medals.
Russian Filippov wins first medal at Milan-Cortina Games for individual neutral athletes
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Russian Filippov wins first medal at Milan-Cortina Games for individual neutral athletes
- Filippov finished 1.52sec off Spain’s gold medallist Oriol Cardona Coll
- The Swiss pair of Arno Liethaa and Jon Kistler had led up the initial gruelling 65-meter climb
Siniakova ends Andreeva Indian Wells defense in third round
- Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals
INDIAN WELLS, United States: Unseeded Katerina Siniakova ended a frustrated Mirra Andreeva’s Indian Wells title defense on Monday, rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the eighth-ranked Russian.
The 18-year-old Andreeva had opened her repeat bid with an imperious 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Solana Sierra.
But she was in trouble early and often against 44th-ranked Siniakova in a rollercoaster contest that featured seven service breaks for each player and 43 break chances between them.
When she sailed a swinging volley long to surrender the second set, Andreeva threw her racquet in disgust.
She regrouped to break Siniakova for a 3-2 lead in the third, but Siniakova won the next four games.
The Czech saved a pair of break points in the final game before sealing the match with a shot that struck the net cord and dribbled over as Andreeva could only watch, disappointment sparking another outburst from the Russian as she departed the court.
Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals.
In other early matches, fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula shook off a slow start to beat Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Pegula, coming off her fourth career WTA 1000 title at Dubai last month, fired 11 aces with just one double fault as she rallied for the win.
“I think today I had to kind of snap myself back and kind of lock in to not let that get away from me,” said Pegula, who said she was in danger of letting negativity and frustration get the better of her.
“I didn’t think I was playing bad. It was just letting a couple chances, couple breaks here and there (get away), maybe a couple shots that I could have been more aggressive on.”
Later on Stadium Court, world number two Iga Swiatek took on Greece’s Maria Sakkari — the woman she beat in the Indian Wells finals in 2022 and 2024.
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, who lifted the Indian wells Trophy in 2023, played Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final match of the night.
