By DAVE SKRETTA, Associated Press Sports Writer

MILAN (AP) — Madison Chock and Evan Bates set the tone for the powerful U.S. Figure Skating team at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Friday with a rocking, high-energy rhythm dance set to music by Lenny Kravitz to open the team figure skating competition.

Alysa Liu made sure the defending champion Americans would maintain their lead going into Day 2 of the event.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States react to their scores after competing during the figure skating ice dance team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Chock and Bates scored a world-leading 91.06 points to open the three-day competition, where the U.S. is the defending champ, before a packed crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena that included U.S. Vice President JD Vance, his family and other dignitaries.

Vice President JD Vance, center, and his wife Usha Vance applaud while Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States compete during the figure skating ice dance team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pairs skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea finished solidly in the middle of the pack in their short program for the U.S., while Liu was second to Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto in the women’s short program, leaving the Americans with 25 points.

Japan was second with 23 and host-nation Italy third with 22 going into the men’s short program Saturday. After that, the competition is whittled from 10 teams to the top five, with those five also performing their free dance later in the day.

The men’s, women’s and pairs free skates will ultimately decide the medals Sunday.

“We definitely skated great and we’re very happy, as you saw when we finished. I think we both felt the excitement of just getting these Olympics underway,” said Bates, who along with Chock were part of the gold medal-winning team at the 2022 Winter Games.

Yet Chock and Bates, the three-time world ice dance champions, never received their medals in Beijing, thanks to an investigation into Russian doping. In fact, Chock and Bates wouldn’t get them until two years later at the Summer Olympics in Paris.

So there is a little added motivation for the Americans to win a second consecutive team title.

“I think we have the best generation of figure skaters within the U.S. right now,” O’Shea said. “Amazing people helping each other, supporting each other, and Maddy and Evan leading the charge, being the experienced group who are so helpful to everybody.”

Chock and Bates, fresh off their record seventh U.S. title, also are favored to win the individual ice dance event later in the Winter Games. But they got a taste of how challenging that could be from the new French duo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron — the latter the defending Olympic champion with his former partner, Gabriella Papadakis.

Just before Chock and Bates took the ice, Beaudry and Cizeron had posted their own world-best score of 89.98 points.

Related Articles

The Milan Cortina Olympics will start with a four-site and two-cauldron opening ceremony

Italy braces for Winter Olympics with high security and decree targeting violent protesters

Lindsey Vonn tests injured left knee in Olympic downhill training, pumps fist after successful run

Meet the Minnesotans competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics

Curling: Duluth mixed-doubles team opens with a pair of victories

“I think our goal was to really keep building,” Cizeron said. “I think we’ve been improving at each competition and adding to our score, obviously, but getting more precise with our technical elements and having more fun, enjoying the performance, and giving 100%. So I think we’re kind of still climbing that ramp a little bit.”

Chock and Bates gave the U.S. a big lead over the Japanese after struggles by their ice dancers, but the pairs duo of world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara got the reigning silver medalists back in the mix by winning their portion of the competition.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava were second in pairs for Georgia with Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii third.

Kam and O’Shea were fifth in the pairs short program, but that was good enough to keep the Americans in the lead.

“You could hear it when we landed our side-by-side jump set. It was so loud, I literally couldn’t hear anything,” Kam said. “I couldn’t hear our music for a second. I was like, ‘Oh, OK. Lock in. We need to do the rest of this program.’”

Perhaps fittingly, the last two women on the ice Friday represented the favored American and Japanese teams.

They also happened to be the last two world champions.

The 20-year-old Liu, back at the Olympics after a brief retirement, was clean on all three of her jumping passes, including her finishing triple lutz-triple loop. She wound up with 74.90 points for her program, set to “Promise” by Icelandic-Chinese artist Laufey.

She wouldn’t wipe the smile off he face afterward.

“I never thought I would be back, honestly,” Liu said. “It’s surreal.”

With the Americans poised to take a big lead into Saturday, the 25-year-old Sakamoto delivered with the poise and precision of a veteran. The reigning Olympic bronze medalist also was clean on her jumping passes, including a triple flip-triple toe, and her score of 78.88 points gave the Japanese squad a much-needed 10 points to keep pace with the U.S.

By Karen Bennett, Bankrate.com

The thought of saving money may feel overwhelming, especially if you have nothing saved and struggle to afford necessities like rent and groceries.

Related Articles

EU accuses TikTok of ‘addictive design’ that harms children, seeks changes to protect users

Hims & Hers launches copy of Wegovy pill, prompting legal threats from drugmaker Novo Nordisk

St. Paul: Owner of Grand/Fairview site — former Grandview Grill — courts developers

Pizza Hut closing 250 US stores as parent company considers selling the brand

Anthropic, OpenAI rivalry spills into new Super Bowl ads as both fight to win over AI users

If you don’t have a healthy emergency fund, you’re not alone. In fact, only 30% of Americans would pay a $1,000 emergency expense from savings, a recent Bankrate survey found. Other survey respondents said they’d go into debt to afford such an expense through credit cards or personal loans.

Saving certainly isn’t easy and we won’t pretend it is — but here are some practical steps you can take to get started.

1. Set clear savings goals

The key to successful saving is knowing what you’re saving for. Whether it’s an emergency fund, a down payment on a house or a dream vacation, having specific goals can keep you motivated and on track.

Start by deciding upon your savings goals, giving them names (like “new car” or “wedding”), and setting deadlines for when you want to achieve them. Then, calculate how much you need to save each month to reach your target amount by your deadline.

Your first goal should probably be to save for emergencies

Whether you’re hit with a curveball in the form of a car repair, medical bill or a job loss, having an emergency fund — with three to six months of living expenses — can help you weather financial storms without going into costly debt.

2. Create a budget that works for you

At its core, a budget is simply a plan for making sure you’re spending less than you earn. In addition to helping you pay your bills on time and cover essential expenses, a budget can help you accomplish things like saving money and paying down debt. The key is finding a budgeting method that works for your lifestyle and personality.

Popular budget methods include:

50/30/20 budget: To make this budget, you set aside 50% of your income to needs, 30% to wants and 20% to savings.
Zero-based budget: This budget method assigns a purpose to every dollar of your take-home pay — which can include a category for savings.

Whatever budgeting strategy you choose to follow, it’ll involve tracking where your money goes each month. This gives you the chance to find areas to cut spending. A digital budgeting app — such as YNAB or Rocket Money — can come in handy by tracking your spending and saving automatically.

3. Tackle high-interest debt

While it might not feel like paying off debt is helping you save, eliminating costly interest charges from carrying a balance can free up money to put toward your goals.

According to a recent Bankrate survey, nearly half of American credit cardholders carry a balance from month to month, with the average APR just under 20%.

Let’s say you have a $5,000 credit card balance with a 20% APR. Even if you pay $300 per month, you’ll end up paying an extra $906 in interest before reaching a zero balance. That’s money that could be going into your savings instead.

4. Automate your savings

One of the easiest ways to save more consistently? Make it automatic. Set up recurring transfers from your checking account to your savings account each payday, so you’re saving without even thinking about it.

Many banks also offer tools like round-up programs, which automatically round your debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and transfer the spare change to your savings. Over time, those small amounts can really add up.

You can also take advantage of money-saving apps like Oportun or Qapital, which can analyze your spending habits and automatically move small amounts of money into your savings when you can afford it.

Pro tip: Use multiple savings accounts

“Opening separate savings accounts for each of your goals can help you track your progress and stay organized. Plus, you can easily shift your money to the account with the higher interest rate to maximize your earnings,” says Hanna Horvath, CFP and Bankrate Managing Editor. You can also find a savings account that lets you divvy up your savings into goals or buckets, so you can keep one savings account but track your savings goal separately. Ally Bank and SoFi Bank are two online banks that offer this feature.

5. Separate your spending and saving

If you’re just getting started with saving money, consider opening up a savings account at a different bank from where you keep your checking account. This may help to create a psychological barrier between the money you have set aside for spending versus savings, making it less likely you’ll raid your savings on a whim.

“When you open your bank account app and your checking and savings numbers are in there, you kind of add those numbers together, and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s how much money I have to spend,’” says Pamela Capalad, a certified financial planner and owner of Get Shameless Inc. “But if your bank accounts are at separate institutions — and better yet if your savings account is a high yield savings account — it’s out of sight, out of mind and your savings will grow.”

The bottom line

Starting to save can feel daunting, but the most important thing is to just start. No amount is too small, and no goal is too insignificant. Ways to begin include setting clear goals, creating a budget, tackling debt and automating your savings. Keeping your checking and savings accounts at different banks can also help eliminate the temptation to dip into savings for nonessentials.

Everyone’s financial journey is different. Stay open to trying new savings strategies and tools until you find the ones that work best for your situation and personality.

Key takeaways

The first step to saving is setting specific, achievable goals and tracking your progress using a digital budgeting tool, spreadsheet or pen and paper.
Following a budget can help you identify ways you can add to savings as well as pay down debt.
Ways to help you save more consistently include keeping your spending money separate from your savings, as well as automatically transferring money to savings each paycheck.

©2026 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By BILL BARROW and JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used his social media account to share a video about election conspiracy theories that includes a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle.

Related Articles

Oman mediates indirect US-Iran talks over Tehran’s nuclear program

Newly obtained emails undermine RFK Jr.’s testimony about 2019 Samoa trip before measles outbreak

Russia and US discussed nuclear arms and agreed talks need to start soon, Kremlin says

Census Bureau plans to use survey with a citizenship question in its test for 2030, alarming experts

Republicans reject complaint about Gabbard as Democrats question time it took to see it

The Republican president’s Thursday night post immediately drew backlash for its treatment of the nation’s first Black president and first lady. It was part of a flurry of social media activity that amplified Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and a Trump attorney general from his first term finding no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected criticism of the post that depicted the Obamas, who are Democrats. An Obama spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Nearly all of the 62-second clip, which was among dozens of Truth Social posts from Trump overnight, appears to be from a conservative video alleging deliberate tampering with voting machines in battleground states as the 2020 presidential votes were tallied. At the 60-second mark is a quick scene of two primates, with the Obamas’ smiling faces imposed on them.

Those frames were taken from a longer video, previously circulated by an influential conservative meme maker. It shows Trump as “King of the Jungle” and depicts a range of Democratic leaders as animals, including Joe Biden, who is white, as a primate eating a banana.

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” Leavitt said by text, referring to Disney’s 1994 feature film. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

Trump did not comment on the video in his post.

The group Republicans Against Trump, a frequent social media critic of the president, criticized the post and its “racist image.”

“There’s no bottom,” the group wrote.

Trump and the official White House social media accounts frequently repost memes and artificial intelligence-generated videos. As Leavitt did Friday, Trump aides typically dismiss critiques and cast the images as humorous.

Trump also has a long history of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric.

In his 2024 campaign, Trump said immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” language similar to what Adolf Hitler said to dehumanize Jews in Nazi Germany.

During his first White House term, Trump referred to a swath of developing nations that are majority Black as “shithole countries.” He initially denied using the slur but admitted in December 2025 that he did say it.

When Obama was in the White House, Trump advanced the false claims that the 44th president, who was born in Hawaii, was born in Kenya and was constitutionally ineligible to serve. Trump, in interviews that helped endear him to many conservative voters, repeatedly demanded that Obama produce birth records and prove he was a “natural-born citizen” as required to become president.

Obama eventually released his Hawaii records. Trump finally acknowledged during his 2016 campaign, after having won the Republican nomination, that Obama was born in Hawaii. But he immediately said, falsely, that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton started those birtherism attacks on Obama.

By HOWARD FENDRICH, Associated Press National Writer

MILAN (AP) — An unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron Winter Olympics opening ceremony replete with references to Italian icons and culture — plus American pop diva Mariah Carey — was scheduled to officially start the Milan Cortina Games on Friday as the sports spectacle returns to a nation that last hosted the event 20 years ago.

This is the most spread-out Olympics — Summer or Winter — in history, with competition venues dotting an area of about 8,500 square miles, roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey.

The main hub Friday is in Milan at San Siro soccer stadium, which is home to Serie A titans AC Milan and Inter Milan, opened a century ago and is due to be razed and replaced in the next few years. There also will be three other places where athletes can march, some carrying their country’s flag: Cortina d’Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomite mountains; Livigno in the Alps; Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.

Workers drive a golf buggy outside a compound next to the San Siro Stadium during rehearsals for the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, at , in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

That allows up-in-the-mountains sports such as Alpine skiing, bobsled, curling and snowboarding to be represented in the Parade of Nations without needing to make the several-hours-long trek to Milan, the country’s financial capital, and back.

For good measure, the Feb. 22 closing ceremony will be held in yet another locale, Verona, where Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” was set.

Related Articles

Meet the Minnesotans competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics

Curling: Duluth mixed-doubles team opens with a pair of victories

Women’s hockey: Team USA wins Olympics opener

An American skier is fighting to open up the last Winter Olympic sport off limits to women

US Olympic leaders in Milan set goals to be respectful guests and good team players

Another symbol of how far-flung things are this time: Instead of the usual one cauldron that is lit and burns throughout the Olympics, there will be two, both intended as an homage to Leonardo da Vinci’s geometric studies. One is in Milan, 2½ miles (4 kilometers) from San Siro, and the other is going to be 250 miles away in Cortina.

The people given the honor of lighting both was a closely guarded secret, as is usually the case at any Olympics. At the Turin Winter Games in 2006, it was Italian cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo.

Other links to Italy’s heritage scheduled to be a part of Friday’s festivities include a performance by tenor Andrea Bocelli; classically trained dancers from the academy of the famed Milan opera house, Teatro alla Scala; a tribute to the late fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died last year at 91. Armani designed the Olympic and Paralympic uniforms for the Italian national team for decades, and was a personal friend of the former president of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò.

Plenty more planned for Friday was being kept under wraps by organizers who said they sought to convey themes of harmony and peace, seeking to represent the city-mountain dichotomy of the particularly unusual setup for these Olympics while also trying to appeal to a sense of unity at a time of global tensions.

Another unknown: What sort of reception would greet U.S. Vice President JD Vance when he attended the ceremony in Milan? And what about the American athletes?

When new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry was asked this week what sort of greeting the U.S. delegation would get when they enter San Siro in the Parade of Nations, she replied: “I hope the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful.”

Associated Press writer Colleen Barry contributed to this report.