Milano‑Cortina 2026 Day 1: Best Bets and Picks

While it's the fourth day of the Olympics, today is officially considered Day 1 in Milano Cortina. Plenty of sports are on the menu today, including curling, women's hockey, luge, ski jumping, biathlon, speed skating, and figure skating.

The first Winter Games medals will be handed out today, with the first medal awarded in men's downhill alpine skiing. More medals will be handed out in women's cross-country skiing, 3000m women's speed skating, the men's snowboarding big air event, and in women's ski jumping.

Today, we'll be focusing on women's hockey, as they will be the games with the most amount of betting activity.

Women's Olympic Hockey Best Bets

USA -5.5 (-135) vs Finland (-135)

Odds via via BetMGM

If Team USA didn't win, it would be considered one of the biggest upsets in all of sports history. Fortunately, the odds of this happening are tremendously low.

The last time these two teams met was in last year's IIHF Women’s World Championships, when the US crushed Finland by a 7-1 scoreline. We're expecting more of the same today.

Switzerland +6 (-125) vs Canada

Odds via via BetMGM

While Canada are far and away the better side, Switzerland have managed to keep games relatively close over the last few years, not losing any of their four games by more than four goals.

On a smaller rink, the goal-scoring should be kept on the lower end. We love Switzerland to beat the spread with ease. This is our best bet of the day.

Men's Snowboarding Big Air Final

Hiroto Ogiwara to Win Gold (+125)

Ogiwara absolutely dominated in qualifying and is the odds-on favorite to win gold today. Ogiwara is coming off back-to-back Winter X Games Big Air Snowboarding gold medals.

He was the first to ever land a 2160 and recently landed the first-ever 2340. At just 20 years old, he's the best in the world. Nothing should stop him today.

Women's Individual Ski Jumping

Nika Prevc to Win Gold (-325)

At just 20 years old, the Slovenian is one of the greatest ski jumpers of all time. Her 35 World Cup wins are already second all-time behind the legendary Sara Takanashi, who will also compete, though she's +8000 at the tail end of her career.

Since the beginning of the 2024-25 World Cup season, she has won 28 of 48 World Cup events, finishing the 2024-25 season with 10 consecutive wins. She's only finished outside the top-four once all season, so she should be considered a hammerlock to medal (-2000).