Olympic opening game on the brink Norovirus outbreak among Finland's ice hockey players

Norovirus alert in the Olympic village in Milan: Finland's ice hockey team has to isolate players and cancel training. The opening game against Canada is also on hold.

Keystone-SDA

04.02.2026, 17:03

04.02.2026, 18:35

SDA

Four players from the Finnish national ice hockey team have fallen ill with a gastrointestinal infection ahead of the Winter Olympics in Italy. According to consistent media reports, citing team doctor Maarit Valtonen, it is the highly contagious norovirus. It causes a sudden onset of severe diarrhea. The virus can be transmitted via contaminated food or water.

Training and media appearances on Wednesday were canceled as a precaution. The Finns were due to play their opening match against Canada in Milan on Thursday evening (21:10), one day before the opening ceremony. However, according to the regulations, the team must consist of 17 players - including two goalkeepers.

Opening game on the brink

"We are in talks with the Ice Hockey World Federation. If we're not able to get that number of players on the ice, we'll have to discuss how many more players we can play the game with. It would be practically impossible to find a new date for the game in such a tournament," Finland's general manager Kimmo Oikarinen told Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

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Team doctor Valtonen explained that the infected players and their roommates had been isolated in the Olympic village. "And all the team's premises in the Olympic village and in the ice rink are being disinfected to prevent the disease from spreading. We are also trying to avoid all contact for the time being." Names of the sick players were not mentioned.

Coach Lehterä: "Regrettable thing"

Despite everything, Finnish head coach Tero Lehterä remained calm. "It's an unfortunate thing, but we're doing what we can. We had no influence on this, so we're not stressing about it. Our dream hasn't changed. It's still about winning the right games, and those come at the end of the tournament," Lehterä said.

Finland will play Switzerland at the end of the preliminary round on February 10.