Lucky Charms and Close Calls

Day 8: Friday the 13th adds extra intrigue to Olympic history

Feb 13, 2026

Superstition, ritual, and good-luck charms are synonymous with sports. Even more so on the world’s biggest stage. Strange Olympian superstitions range from painting a mustache on one’s face before every competition to picking underwear color based on race distance. And it works, too! Both of those women are multiple medalists.

Friday the 13th brings its own superstitions to the Games, of course. The day’s unlucky origins come from Norse mythology, so maybe the all-time Winter Olympic greats will have an off day. This day has fallen during the Olympics before, and not without notice. The Athens 2004 Olympics are the only Games to open on Friday the 13th. The cauldron was lit that night by a late substitution after the original picks were implicated in a doping scandal.

Austria’s Hermann Maier had a very bad Friday the 13th at the Nagano 98 Olympics *(Photo: Sports Illustrated/Carl Yarbrough)*

And it could only have been a Friday the 13th at the Nagano Olympics in 1998 when German Alpine Skier had a major crash that looked life-threatening in the Men’s Downhill, but remarkably walked away and won double Gold in the Super G and Giant Slalom later that week! (It’s also crazy how old that footage looks and it was only 1998.)

Subscribe for two weeks of daily updates, then two years on hiatus until LA 28.

What To Watch Today

(All times Eastern. Full event replays available on-demand on Peacock)

Team USA Women’s Ice Hockey 🇺🇸 begins their playoff run against hosts Italy.
Another full day of heated rivalries in Men’s Ice Hockey (Now in a separate schedule block at the bottom.)

3:05 am - Curling: Men’s Round Robin (4 matches) 🇺🇸
5:45 am - Cross-Country Skiing: Men’s 10km Interval Start 🥇 🇺🇸 🐐
7:30 am - Snowboarding: Women’s Snowboard Cross 🥇 🇺🇸
8:00 am - Biathlon: Men’s 10km Sprint 🥇 🇺🇸
8:05 am - Curling: Women’s Round Robin (4 matches) 🇺🇸
10:00 am - Skeleton: Women’s Heats 1&2 🇺🇸
10:00 am - Speed Skating: Men’s 10000m 🥇 🇺🇸
10:40 am - Ice Hockey: Women’s Quarterfinal - CZE vs SWE
1:00 pm - Figure Skating: Men’s Single - Free Skate 🥇 🇺🇸
1:05 pm - Curling: Men’s Round Robin (4 matches)
1:30 pm - Skeleton: Men’s Heats 3&4 🥇 🇺🇸
1:30 pm - Snowboarding: Men’s Halfpipe Finals 🥇 🇺🇸
3:10 pm - Ice Hockey: Women’s Quarterfinal - USA vs ITA 🇺🇸