The first medals of the Winter Olympics are set to be awarded

Men’s downhill skiing headlines the opening day of competition at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday, with the first medals to be awarded just hours after the Games’ official opening.

The opening ceremony concluded with the lighting of twin Olympic cauldrons — one at Milan’s Arch of Peace and the other in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the fashionable Alpine resort 400 kilometres from Milan that will host the women’s alpine skiing events.

At the Arch of Peace, Italian skiing legends Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni ignited an elaborate cauldron inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s knot designs. In Cortina’s icy mountain setting, former Olympic gold medallist Sofia Goggia carried out the honour after earlier taking part in a training run for the women’s downhill.

Several events began ahead of the ceremony, including curling, women’s ice hockey, figure skating and snowboarding. Attention now turns to the marquee alpine event — the men’s downhill in Bormio — where the world’s top skiers will compete.

AFP Sport highlights key storylines from the first full day of action:

Swiss star Marco Odermatt enters the men’s downhill as the favourite but faces stiff competition from teammate and reigning world champion Franjo von Allmen. Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni, in strong form, and veteran Dominik Paris are also expected to contend. Odermatt is aiming to become the fifth Swiss skier to win Olympic downhill gold since the event’s debut in 1948.

China’s freestyle skiing sensation Eileen Gu begins her pursuit of a third Olympic gold in the slopestyle qualifiers in Livigno. The 22-year-old will be challenged by defending champion and double world champion Mathilde Gremaud. Gu was one of the standout athletes of the 2022 Beijing Games, winning gold in half-pipe and big air, and silver behind Gremaud in slopestyle.

Snowboarding’s first final of the Milan-Cortina Games sees China’s Su Yiming defending his Olympic big air title against a strong Japanese field. Although the 21-year-old struggled on his opening qualifying run in Livigno on Thursday, he recovered to place fourth overall, as Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara led the standings ahead of Italy’s Ian Matteoli and Japan’s Kira Kimura.

In figure skating, American star Ilia Malinin will lead the United States’ bid to retain the team event title when he competes in the men’s singles. The US hold the early lead following a strong showing from world champion ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates, while Japan sit second after Kaori Sakamoto’s victory in the women’s singles.