Olympic figure skating could be gliding towards more controversy. Adeliia Petrosian — the 18-year-old Russian, whose ties to a scandal-scarred coach threatens to put another harsh spotlight on the sport — quickly made herself a medal contender on Tuesday in the women’s short program after judges awarded her a career-best score of 72.

According to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, NBC averaged 24 million viewers across its prime afternoon coverage (2-5 p.m. EST) and Primetime in Milan (8-11 p.m. EST and PST) through Friday. That is a 94% improvement over the 2022 Beijing Games.

What happened with Kamila Valieva? A look back at the figure skating scandal that rocked the 2022 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo)

The final day of competition at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics has concluded and the games have reached their end. Athletes from more than 90 countries battled in 116 events over 16 days, and USA TODAY tracked each nation's podium finishes.

Norway has long treated the Winter Games like its personal playground. After setting the standard in 2022 in Beijing, it looks like Norwegian athletes weren’t content with simply repeating history. This time,