Olympic ice hockey game postponed as illness hits team
Finland's women won bronze at the most recent World Ice Hockey Championships
- Published
A women's ice hockey match at the 2026 Winter Olympics has been postponed on the morning of the fixture after one of the teams suffered an outbreak of norovirus.
The fixture between Finland and reigning Olympic champions Canada in Group A was due to take place at Rho Arena on Thursday - the opening day of competition.
However, it has been delayed by a week because of an outbreak of illness in the Finnish squad.
Instead of taking place at 20.00 GMT on 5 February, it will be played a week later at 13.20 on Thursday, 12 February at the same venue.
"The decision was taken following consultations with medical professionals after cases of norovirus were identified within Team Finland," the Games organising committee said.
Canada are favourites - alongside the USA, who they beat in the Beijing 2022 final - for the women's ice hockey gold medal in Milan.
They have never lost to anyone other than the US in the Olympics and beat Finland 11-1 when the sides met in the preliminary round four years ago.
Finland recovered from that loss to go on and claim bronze in Beijing.
The Rho Arena is a temporary venue built for Milan-Cortina 2026 to host preliminary stage ice-hockey matches.