Olympics news, live updates: Closing Ceremony ends final day of Games, Team USA takes down Canada for gold medal in men's hockey

The Closing Ceremony is over. And the Olympics turn their attention to Los Angeles, which will host the Summer Games in 2028.

NBC transitioned from the ceremony straight into a promotion of the 2028 Games with a Kate Hudson rendition of ‘California Dreamin’.’

As for Milan Cortina, a largely riveting Olympics is over as the Winter Games look ahead to France in 2030.

The Closing Ceremony quickly shifted from the somber moment of the extinguishing of the Olympic flames to an upbeat pop performance to get the athletes in the arena on their feet.

The dual Olympic flames in Milan and Cortina have been extinguished, further signaling the closing of the Games.

International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry has announced the official closure of the games.

“Dear friends, I now declare the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics Winter Games closed.”

The closing ceremony goes with the extinguishing of the Olympic flame up next.

Surrounded by Italian athletes, members of the Milan Cortina contingent are having their final moment as Olympics hosts, offering thanks to those who made the Games happen and congratulating the athletes who starred in them.

The Olympics will return to France in the French Alps in 2030 for the Winter Games, six years after Paris hosted the Summer Games.

Representatives from the Milan-Cortina contingent just handed the Olympics flag over to the French contingent, and the flag of France is being raised as the nation takes the baton for hosting another Games.

French athletes joined the stage as the French national anthem was being played.

The ceremony’s so far been alternating between artistic performances and segments focused on the athletes and the Games themselves. The latest was an an artistic tribute to the environmental elements that make the Winter Games possible.

What a cool moment for these athletes. Sweden’s Ebba Andersson (gold), Norway’s Heidi Weng (silver) and Switzerland’s Nadja Kälin (bronze), just had their medal ceremony at the Closing Ceremony in front of most of the entire delegation of a athletes

Andersson won the women’s 50KM cross-country skiing mass start event, held earlier Sunday as one of the final events of the Games.

The 50K men’s medalist also had their medal ceremony following Saturday’s event, which was a Norwegian sweep. Johannes Klæbo secured his Winter Olympics record sixth gold medal of these Games in the event alongside countrymen Martin Nyenget (silver) and Emil Iversen (bronze).

Norway’s 18 gold medals and 41 total medals were also a record for a single Winter Games.

We’ve moved on to the dance party portion of the evening. A dance troupe has taken the stage surrounded by strobe lights and mirrors, dancing to electronic music.

Alysa Liu’s still beaming from her gold medal win in women’s figure skating. The 20-year-old spoke with NBC on her way in to the closing ceremony arena, and says she’s not done skating.

“Yeah, I mean I have no plans to leave yet,” Liu said when asked about her Olympic future. “I can’t imagine not skating next year.”

The flags are in the arena. And now the rest of athletes participating are walking in as one group rather than being introduced nation by nation, as is Closing Ceremony tradition.

The Parade of Nations is underway with Greece, as always, leading the delegation. The parade has started with with music from renowned Italian Spaghetti Western composer Ennio Morricone.

Italy’s 1994 Olympic cross-country men’s relay championship team has carried the Olympic flame into the arena.

The Closing Ceremony has started with a performance from Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata at the ancient Roman ampitheater Arena di Verona.

The Games have concluded, and the Milan Cortina Closing Ceremony is underway.

For team USA, U.S. women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight and ice dancer Evan Bates will be the flag flag bearers. Knight led Team USA to a gold medal, while Bates won gold in the team figure skating competition and silver with his partner and wife Madison Chock in the ice dancing competition.

MILAN — This wasn’t a miracle. It was a moment of magic.

Forty-six years to the day after a bunch of unheralded amateurs stunned the heavily favored Soviet Union en route to winning Olympic gold, the U.S. men’s hockey team engineered another epic victory. The Americans won a battle of the sport’s superpowers on Sunday, toppling longtime nemesis Canada 2-1 in overtime to win their country’s first Olympic gold in men’s hockey since the famed 1980 “Miracle on Ice.”

Jack Hughes scored the decisive goal, ripping a shot past Jordan Binnington less than three minutes into 3-versus-3 overtime.

Read more from Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee on the scene.

Jack Hughes created the winning scoring opportunity with a poke check in the USA end and Zach Werenski skated hard up the ice to get the puck.

Retrieving it in toward the left corner, he finds a wide-open Hughes with a centering pass. Hughes then whistled it past Jordan Bennington for Team USA’s first men’s ice hockey gold in 46 years.

Jack Hughes wins the gold medal for Team USA, 1:40 into overtime. Hughes took a centering pass from Zach Werenski and slaps it past Jordan Binnington for the game-winner.

The U.S, wins gold for the first time since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team.

Why not overtime for the men’s hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics? The U.S. and Canada will go to an extra period tied at 2-2 after three.

Under Olympic rules, the two teams will play 3-on-3 to decide the winner.

The Milan Cortina Games will last just a bit longer!

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