‘The Brits are coming again’: Team GB hail their greatest ever Winter Olympics
Team GB have hailed a “historic” Winter Olympics after Britain’s greatest performance in the 102 years of the Games left them 15th in the medal table – and warned their rivals the “Brits are coming again”.Zoe Atkin’s women’s halfpipe bronze medal on Sunday ensured that Britain left Milano Cortina with five medals – equalling the tally from Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018.However, Team GB also won a record three gold medals with Matt Weston winning two of them in the individual skeleton and the mixed event with Tabitha Stoecker.Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale also took gold in the mixed snowboard cross, while the men’s curling team won silver.“It is far and away our most successful Games ever, both in terms of total medals achieved but also the number of Olympic champions,” the UK Sport performance director, Kate Baker, said.
“We are absolutely delighted with that.“I think we can all walk away from this Games incredibly proud of the successes that we’ve had and the breakthrough moments that we’ve had and we’ll be looking to do more of that.Ultimately the message is the Brits are coming again and I think we can all get really excited not just for French Alps in 2030 but for Los Angeles in the intervening period.”That message was shared by Eve Muirhead, the British Olympic Association’s chef de mission.“It has been a historic Winter Games and what an incredible team we have had out here in Milan-Cortina,” she said.
Muirhead, however, also stressed that the medal table didn’t tell the whole story with a record 24 top-10 finishers, surpassing the previous best of 18 from Sochi.“We have seen some incredible performances on the snow and in the arenas and a handful of fourth places, which any other day could have been very different results,” she said.“That just shows the kind of jeopardy of winter sports and how margins are so fine when you’re here.“Look at Andrew Musgrave for example.As much as he didn’t hit the podium you’ve got three top-10s at your fifth Winter Olympic Games.
That’s incredible.You’ve got Niall Treacy making the final of the 1500m in short track.It’s these less minority sports that don’t get as much publicity day in, day out that catch the eye of the nation when it comes to winter sports.“And I don’t know what the viewing figures were last night for the curling but I can imagine on a Saturday night back in the UK the whole place was buzzing.”Muirhead paid special tribute to Weston, who had got Team GB off the mark after a slow start and then added a second gold later in the week.
“Matt is an incredible athlete.I was out here at a World Cup about six months ago and he won.And he was like, I’m still just 70% back.I do know the resilience he has, the determination, the commitment, it kind of separates him.“He’s just got that incredible athlete mindset and head on him.
It has been an absolute privilege to work with him and he’s not just a great athlete, he’s a really great guy as well.”UK Sport has received criticism for funding sports such as skeleton, which has no facilities in the UK, rather than the skating sports given there are 50 ice rinks in the UK.Asked about that, Baker replied: “In terms of things like speed skating, I think any number of our sports that you look at in the winter portfolio, you can now watch on a Sunday and try it on a Monday.“Figure skating is the same.You can go to a snow dome.
And lots of our athletes started out on dry slopes,So, I think that ability to be able to do it is really, really important to us at UK Sport and of course we’ll look at any sport that offers that potential,But there’s also a reality about the kind of investment that would be required,“We know the public are really proud of this group of athletes,In terms of the ambition I think what this shows is we’re not done yet.
Great Britain has more to come.”The Winter Olympics ends with a joyous closing ceremony in Verona.Now all eyes will be on the Winter Paralympics in 12 days’ time which will feature Russians competing under their own flag for the time since 2014.Asked about that, Baker replied: “I know this might feel like I’m avoiding the question but it genuinely is a matter for the British Paralympic Association, because they control, they oversee and support the athletes in Games time.So that would be a question for them.
”
Lamborghini pulls plug on plans to launch all-electric supercar
The Italian supercar manufacturer Lamborghini has abandoned plans to make all-electric vehicles, and will instead focus on making plug-in hybrid cars, after a drop-off in demand for EVs among its wealthy clientele.Lamborghini unveiled its first all-electric concept car, the Lanzador, in 2023, but it is no longer planning to put it into production.The carmaker’s chief executive, Stephan Winkelmann, told the Sunday Times that developing EVs risked becoming an “an expensive hobby” for the brand, given that the “acceptance curve” for battery-powered cars among its customer base was getting “close to zero”.Winkelmann said the Lanzador would be replaced by a plug-in hybrid, meaning its range would consist only of plug-in hybrids by 2030. In the meantime, the company would continue to build combustion engine vehicles for “as long as possible”, he added
Trump’s trade war risks undermining his hopes of hefty US interest rate cuts | Graeme Wearden
Donald Trump and Denis Healey don’t have much in common. One of the greatest prime ministers Britain never had shares little of his famous hinterland with what some historians see as one of the worst occupants of the White House.But Trump would be well advised to remember Healey’s first law of holes – when you’re in one, stop diggingInstead, having seen the supreme court reject his sweeping global tariffs on Friday, Trump dug his shovel out, announcing a new global tariff of first 10%, then upping it to 15%. That may have lifted the president’s mood, after a stinging rebuke from the top judges in the US, but it risks backfiring on his hopes for hefty interest rate cuts this year.The trade war, with its exhortation to businesses to make their products in the US if they know what’s good for them, is one of Trump’s signature policies
‘It’s survival of the fittest’: the UK kebab chain seeking an edge with robot slicers
They are already packing our groceries and delivering shopping. Now robots are coming to the kebab shop, alongside self-service screens and loyalty apps, as takeaways look for ways to tackle rising costs.German Doner Kebab (GDK), a perhaps surprisingly British-owned chain that has been springing up across the country, has turned to technology to keep its fast food business buzzing in the face of rising costs and tough times on the high street.With households cooking at home more often to save money, and restaurants facing increases in energy bills, business rates, national insurance and hourly pay, profits are under pressure despite rising prices at the till.“It is survival of the fittest,” says Simon Wallis, the CEO of the brand, which operates via dozens of franchise partners running 155 outlets in the UK and nearly 40 more overseas including in the US, Dubai, Ireland and Sweden
Nascent tech, real fear: how AI anxiety is upending career ambitions
Matthew Ramirez started at Western Governors University as a computer science major in 2025, drawn by the promise of a high-paying, flexible career as a programmer. But as headlines mounted about tech layoffs and AI’s potential to replace entry-level coders, he began to question whether that path would actually lead to a job.When the 20-year-old interviewed for a datacenter technician role that June and never heard back, his doubts deepened. In December, Ramirez decided on what he thought was a safer bet: turning away from computer science entirely. He dropped his planned major to instead apply to nursing school
Winter Olympics briefing: the tooth fairy brings gold as USA end 46-year wait
If the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony was a love letter to Italian heritage, the final day was a thunderous operatic finale, a crescendo of clashing sticks, soaring amplitude and the bittersweet tears of legends taking their final bows. As the sun dipped behind the peaks of the Dolomites for the last time this fortnight, the Olympic flame did not just flicker out – it was passed from the high-fashion streets of Milan to the ancient stones of Verona.The final day’s headline act was the men’s ice hockey final which the weight of a 46-year ghost. Pitting the United States against Canada, the contest fell exactly on the anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice. There was no need for a miracle this time, just the surgical precision of Jack Hughes
England’s zombies have rapidly descended into collective brain fog in Six Nations | Robert Kitson
The band on the stadium concourse were playing a familiar tune in the immediate aftermath of England’s latest debacle on Saturday. “Zombie! Zombie!” the vocalist sang, ostensibly in tribute to Ireland’s record 42-21 victory at Twickenham. Alternatively he might just have been riffing on the horribly listless, blank-eyed performance that ended England’s Six Nations title hopes for another year.“In your he-ad, in your he-ad…” The old Cranberries anthem, synonymous with Ireland’s 2023 World Cup campaign in France, will be heard a few more times over the next month if Andy Farrell’s team maintain their revitalised excellence and no-nonsense physical intent. For England’s players, though, the past two weekends have been truly grim, a return to the bad old days they had dared to hope were over
Better right ideas than wrong results | Brief letters
Defence secretary says he hopes to deploy British troops to Ukraine - as it happened
‘She did kill. There’s no grey area there’: Labour MP Naz Shah on the day she and her mother were arrested for murder
Labour minister faces calls to be sacked over false claims against journalists
Donor suspended from Tories pays £50,000 for dinner with Kemi Badenoch
Does Nigel Farage have a problem with women?