Ping Huang

She clocked in at 3 minutes and 54 seconds, a full two seconds ahead of the athlete in second place.

She told reporters, this was the best day ever, a perfect day.

For Lolo Brigida, who just turned 35, this is her fourth and last Olympics and her first gold medal.

It's also the first gold medal for Italy in these games.

After winning the race, Lolo Brigida scooped up her two-year-old son.

After the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, she said she weighed becoming a mother against participating in the next Olympics in Italy, and she didn't want to give up on either of them.

Ping Huang and PR News, Milan.

This one was designed by Marco Balic.

So he's designed ceremonies for over a dozen Olympics, but this one was special because it was in his hometown of Milan.

There were nods to opera, to neoclassical sculpture.

There was a tribute to the late designer Giorgio Armani.

There were models who walked down a catwalk in the colors of the Italian flag.

The whole thing was very chic, it was very elegant, and it was centered around the theme of bringing different people, different things together in harmony.

The biathlon events will take place in Antolz-Anterselva near the border with Austria.

Deidre Irwin, America's top female biathlete, says the U.S.

has an advantage here.

Irwin is among many U.S.

winter athletes who regularly train and compete in the mountains of northern Italy.

The cross-country skiing stadium in Val di Fiamme is an annual stop on the racing circuit.

Many of the sites in Cortina harken back to the 1956 winter games there, such as the Olimpia della Tofane, an iconic run for women's alpine skiing.