The buzzer has finally put Switzerland out of their misery in the women’s ice hockey. They’ve gone down 8-0 to the US in the final sporting action of day two in Beijing. The US only had the mere 66 shots on goal during the match.
Join us here on the live blog again tomorrow for day three, which promises the conclusion of the team figure skating, the semi-finals in the mixed doubles curling, the rescheduled men’s downhill and the women’s giant slalom Alpine skiing, a 15km biathlon for the women, men’s snowboard slopestyle, speed skating and much, much more. It should be fun. Sign up to get my daily Beijing Briefing by email, and I will see you again here soon.
Today at the Winter Olympics
- Zoe Sadowski-Synnott became the first ever New Zealand athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold with victory in the women’s snowboard slopestyle.
- Jakara Anthony became Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold medallist since 2010, winning the freestyle skiing women’s moguls.
- Nils van der Poel of Sweden won the 5,000m men’s speed skating, smashing the Olympic record that had earlier been broken by Patrick Roest of the Netherlands who had to be content with a silver medal.
- Johannes Ludwig of Germany won the men’s singles luge, while Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan won the men’s normal hill ski jumping.
- Cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov secured gold in the men’s 30km skiathlon for the athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), and later hit out at reporters “hinting at doping” by querying his dominant performance.
- The British curling mixed doubles pair of Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat are guaranteed a semi-final spot despite defeat to Norway, who also progress.
- The Australian curling mixed doubles pair packed their backs this morning after a positive Covid test, then were reprieved and allowed to compete, then secured back-to-back victories including over Canada.
- ROC lead the figure skating mixed team event going into the final day. Their fifteen-year-old competitor Kamila Yulieva blew the competition away, scoring the highest marks ever recorded in the women’s short program.
- Japan will progress to the women’s ice hockey quarter-finals with the point secured during their shootout defeat to China in Group B.
- The men’s downhill Alpine skiing was postponed due to adverse weather conditions. They will try again tomorrow.
The second period of that ice hockey contest between the US and Switzerland has just come to a conclusion. The US are leading 7-0. That means that Switzerland’s record after two-and-two-thirds games is no wins, three goals scored, and 24 conceded. Ouch. They are still guaranteed a quarter-final spot though.
In Group B, where only three teams progress, Japan may have lost in a shootout against China today, but that leaves them on seven points after three matches which is enough to ensure that they will progress. Tomorrow’s matches in Group B pit winless Denmark against the Czech Republic, and hosts China against Sweden, who are also yet to win a match. Victories for the Czech Republic and the Chinese would secure their quarter-final spots.
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I got so over-excited with my abacus of curling permutations earlier than when Australia pulled off that shock result against Canada, I hadn’t realised that the knock-on effect is that both Great Britain and Norway will definitely advance alongside Italy into the semi-finals. Canada can join them with a win tomorrow – although they are playing unbeaten Italy. But if Canada lose that, then I think Sweden sneak through on tie-breaking criteria.
Jakara Anthony became an Australian hero with her gold medal today. She has spoken to the Seven Network about the experience, saying “It’s really incredible to know that all the hard work that I have been putting into my whole skiing career is really paying off. I’m just lost for words.”
She added that being able to handle the pressure “is a a real testament to myself and the team around me in the last four years and the really solid processes we follow. It really hasn’t been easy. I think that I am a much better athlete and person because of it.”
Anthony becomes Australia’s first Winter Olympics champion since Torah Bright (snowboard halfpipe) and Lydia Lassila (women’s aerials) both won at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
We have a lovely interactive medal table for these Games, which allows you not only to see which countries have won the most medals, but also allows you to drill down to see what events they won them in, and who did the winning. It is a thing of wonder.
But to save you a click for the moment I can tell you that Norway are topping it, with two golds and one bronze. Sweden are second now, with their two golds. The Russian Olympic Committee actually have the most medals overall – one gold, two silver and two bronze – and that places them third. Germany and the Netherlands are joint fourth with one gold and one silver apiece. Australia, Japan, Slovenia, China and New Zealand are the other countries to so far have secured a gold medal in Beijing.
That is almost the end of our live action for day two. I’ve really enjoyed it. I must admit I did an involuntary gasp out loud when Sweden’s Nils van der Poel powered through to smash the Olympic record and take it from Patrick Roest of the Netherlands, who had been sitting in gold medal position for most of the contest in the speed skating earlier. The women’s moguls was great fun too.
The only thing left going at the moment is this Group A women’s ice hockey game, where the US are currently leading Switzerland 6-0 with 15 minutes of the second period remaining. But stay tuned, because I’ll have the updated medal table, curling qualification permutations and more while we wait to see how many the US can score here.
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So the one-two-three at the end of run 4 of the luge is the one-two-three that went into it. Johannes Ludwig, who won the test event here, has triumphed again, and imporved on the bronze medal he won in Pyeongchang in 2018. Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl finished 0.160 seconds behind for silver. Dominik Fischnaller of Italy secures his bronze – 0.951 seconds off the pace.
Australia’s Alex Ferlazzo came in 16th. The US were represented in the final by Chris Mazdzer (8th), Tucker West (13th) and Jonathan Gustafson (19th). The British luger, Rupert Staudinger, ended up 23rd, meaning he didn’t progress to the final twenty-man run.
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Gold for Johannes Ludwig in the men's singles luge for Germany
Wolfgang Kindl is the penultimate luge to go for Austria. He’s only been a whisker off first place all contest. He’s gone first again, but Johannes Ludwig has just launched himself. Can he secure gold? He absolutely can!
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Australia are going to have the last stone in the extra end of this tense curling match against Canada – but they don’t need it! Canada failed to clear out the stone they needed, and it is a 10-8 win for the Australians. A huge upset, and it leaves Canada’s semi-final qualification still unconfirmed.
Dominik Fischnaller of Italy has just gone in the luge. He had been sitting in bronze medal position going into it. After his run he is guaranteed a medal. He leads with just two men to go. It is just a question of whether it will end up being better than a bronze.
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There are just four men left to go in the final run of the luge. Felix Loch of Germany is leading, but I suspect he hasn’t done enough to remain in the medal places by the end. Kristers Aparjods of Latvia goes next.
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Canada have only gone and tied that curling match with Australia up at 8-8 and forced the extra end. Incredible stuff. They were 6-0 down at one point.
I think we can safely file this US-Switzerland ice hockey game under ‘mismatch’. The US have ended the first period with a 5-0 lead. Goals have gone to Jesse Compher, Kelly Pannek, Amanda Kessel and Hilary Knight has contributed two.
The luge is getting down to the sharp end. Chris Mazdzer of the US has just gone temporarily into first place in run 4. There are seven men left to go.
Defeat for Great Britain in crucial curling match
Norway have emerged victorious against Team GB in the mixed doubles curling. The British pair needed to score four points in the final end to try and overturn a 6-2 deficit, and it proved beyond them. The final round robin game for Team GB is against the US. They can qualify for the semi-final with a victory there. That match is on at 1am tonight UK time, if you fancy an all-nighter. Norway will also hope to progress if they can win their final match, against Switzerland.
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The momentum has really swung in that match between Canada and Australia in the curling. From being 6-0 down at one point, Canada have gone into the final end trailing Australia by just one point at 8-7. A win for Canada would put them through to the semi-finals if they can pull off the comeback.
Regular readers of this live blog or my daily Beijing Breifing will know that I have a very low opinion of the format of the women’s ice hockey group stage. Every team in Group A is guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals, which to my eyes makes these group games not much more than glorified friendlies. Anyway, with that said, the US are currently in action against Switzerland, and with six minutes remaining in the first period, the US lead 1-0.
Norway have just extended their curling lead over Great Britain to 6-2. There is one end to go. Dodds and Mouat need to score four to force the match into an extra end now. Tomorrow’s games are Great Britain v the US, Canada v Italy, Switzerland v Norway and the Czech Republic v China.
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I’ve got my abacus out here for the curling permutations, because by my reckoning, as things stand across today’s matches, we’ll go into tomorrow’s final round of games with Canada, Sweden, Norway and Great Britain all on five victories. Only three of them can progress and join Italy in the semi-finals.
In the mixed doubles curling, Norway still lead Great Britain 4-2 as we are approaching the conclusion of the 7th end. Canada, meanwhile, are having a nightmare against Australia, and are currently 8-4 down after six ends.
We are back in action over at the luge, where twenty men are going for gold. The aim of nineteen of them is to dislodge Germany’s Johannes Ludwig, who has been in top spot throughout the whole competition so far. He goes into the last round leading Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl by 0.113. In bronze position after three runs is Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller. As is the way with these things, those three men will be the last three to go.
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There are some quotes from Turkish ski jumper Fatih Arda İpcioğlu that have dropped on the newswires. He has declined to elaborate on whether the crescent and star on his blue skis was a statement in support of China’s Uyghur community.
“I don’t want to answer about those questions. I’m a sportsman. I do just my job. The other things, I don’t care about. It’s not my job,” he said.
The design on the skis he used on Saturday seemed to some observers to indicate a recognition of East Turkestan, the region that is home to Uyghurs. İpcioğlu used different skis in todays competition.
That gold medal for Jakara Anthony has ended a 12-year Winter Olympics gold-medal drought for Australia. The 23-year-old Anthony scored 83.09 points in the six-woman super final.
It also marked the first time in Winter Olympics history that Australia had won more than one medal on a single day after Tess Coady claimed bronze in the women’s snowboard slopestyle earlier today.
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While there is a slight lull in proceedings after the frenzy of the moguls, let me gently point you in the direction of our gallery of the best pictures of the day so far, kindly assembled for your enjoyment by John Windmill on our picture desk.
That moguls final was great fun and great quality. At a somewhat slower pace, here is what is happening in the curling, after four ends.
- Norway are leading Great Britain 3-1
- Switzerland are 4-2 ahead of the US
- Italy have edged 3-2 in front against Sweden
- Australia are hammering Canada 7-0
Here are the final results of the women’s moguls freestyle skiing, with a gold for Jakara Anthony of Australia. Jaelin Kauf of the US gets silver. Anastasia Smirnova of the Russian Olympic Committee is a slightly surprising bronze medallist, out-performing the outgoing Olympic champion Perrine Laffont who finished fourth.
Makayla Gerken Schofield finished 8th for Team GB – the highest ever moguls position for any British athlete, male or female.
Gold for Jakara Anthony of Australia in the women's moguls
Jakara Anthony makes the final run of the contest. It is a great run, she does nothing wrong, it is not the quickest, but she is placed first. Gold for Australia!
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Jaelin Kauf of the US has made the penultimate moguls run in the super-final. 26.37 is her time, the fastest run of the night despite bouncing around a bit at the top of run. She’s been placed first. Only Jakara Anthony of Australia can stop her winning gold.
Japan’s Anri Kawamura is the fourth skiier to go in the women’s moguls. She’s 17, and she’s gone into third place. There are two women left to go. Will that be enough for Kawamura to medal, or can Jaelin Kauf or Jakara Anthony do anything about it?
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This women’s moguls contest is a tense affair. Anastasia Smirnova of ROC went third and has taken the lead. We are halfway through the final run. It means that Perrine Laffont, currently second, has lost her title from 2018.
Perrine Laffont of France is up next in the moguls. Again there were a couple of minor mistakes, but she was faster than Giaccio and goes into the lead with 77.36. I should add, as someone who can barely stand up on snow, I do feel a bit churlish being a bit picky about these freestyle skiing performances.
The women’s mogul super-final is go! Olivia Giaccio of the US goes first of the six – and delivers a 720 as her final jump. At 29.6 it wasn’t super-quick.
Let us check in on the latest scores in the mixed doubles curling. That vital Great Britain v Norway match is tightly poised at 2-1 to Norway after three ends. Elsewhere Italy and Sweden are tied 2-2, Switzerland are leading the US 3-2, and after their Covid scare earlier, Australia suddenly cannot stop winning – they are 6-0 up against Canada.
It is Japan’s first gold of these Games, and there are wild scenes of celebration here. Ryoyu Kobayashi scored 275 overall, with jumps of 104.5m and 99.5m. Austria’s Manuel Fettner earned silver, with 270.8. Bronze went to Poland’s Dawid Kubacki.
Gold for Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan in the ski jumping
The lead has changed hands in the ski jumping again, and with only one man left to jump, Manuel Fettner of Austria is in pole position … but Ryoyu Kobayashi has won it for Japan with his last jump!
Here are your six super-finalists for the women’s moguls who will make one more run:
1. Jakara Anthony (AUS) 81.29
2. Jaelin Kauf (USA) 80.12
3. Anri Kawamura (JPN) 78.84
4. Anastasia Smirnova (ROC) 78.64
5. Perrine Laffont (FRA) 77.62
6. Olivia Giaccio (USA) 77.57
Perrine Laffont has just qualified for France in the women’s moguls, which means it is the end of the road for Team GB’s Makayla Gerken Schofield who has been pushed into seventh place.
Dawid Kubacki has just taken the lead in the ski jumping for Poland. It’s all happening at the moment!
Olivia Giaccio has guaranteed her place in the final moguls runs for the US, as has Jaelin Kauf. That has pushed Kai Owens out of the top six, and GB’s Makayla Gerken Schofield is just clinging on to fifth place with the top three athletes from the last round yet to go.
It was a quick run from Kai Owens of the US in the women’s moguls, but she made a couple of mistakes on the jumps and ends up placed fifth. Hannah Soar of the US has placed second. Anastasia Smirnova from ROC is the first woman to definitely qualify.
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The women are back out doing the next run of the final in the moguls. The top six in this round progress for a final shot at the gold. Team GB’s Makayla Gerken Schofield has had a decent run and is placed third out of the six runs so far with 73.04. It won’t be good enough to medal though. Canada’s Sofiane Gagnon got a DNF. We are about to get the trio of Americans going.
Marius Lindvik of Norway is leading at this stage in the men’s normal hill ski jumping. He has jumped 102.5m for an overall total of 260.7 points in changeable wind conditions that are proving to be a bit of a nuisance.
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Prior to jumping on the live blog, I was putting together today’s Beijing Briefing, summing up the day so far and giving you a few pointers as to what to look out for next. You can catch up with that here.
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I mentioned that the curling between Norway and Team GB could be potentially decisive in the hunt for semi-final places. Italy are assured to go through. Four other teams are fighting for the remaining three places. Sweden, Canada … and these two. Jen Dodds has just missed a huge chance with the last stone in the first end, so Norway get a steal to immediately go 1-0 up.
It was a bit of a delayed start but they are underway now in the men’s normal hill ski jumping. I’m absolutely mesmerised by this fish-eye lens view of it.
We know the twelve women who will progress in the women’s moguls. A very strong US field of Jaelin Kauf, Olivia Giaccio and Kai Owens are bunched up at the top of the standings, all in the top six. Anri Kawamura of Japan qualified second, Perrine Laffont of France in third.
Team GB’s Makayla Gerken Schofield also progresses. However Brittany Cox and Sophie Ash of Australia ended up being pushed just out of the qualification places, but it was Jakara Anthony of Australia who qualified first with the final run of the round.
Hello, it is Martin Belam taking over from Niall. I will be here for the next few hours as the day’s events gradually draw to a close. We should get the medals in the women’s moguls and the men’s singles luge before the end of the day. There’s also a potentially decisive set of round robin matches in the mixed doubles curling, plus the US take on Switzerland in the women’s ice hockey. At the moment there are just a couple of more women to go in the moguls qualifying – Anri Kawamura of Japan has gone into the lead
There are three runs in the final; after this first round, the top 12 advance to a second run before the top six compete in the final stage. Japan’s Anri Kawamura has just stormed into first place, posting 80.72 to Owens’ 75.26 – but the scores are reset after each run.
Time to hand over to Martin Belam, who will guide you through the rest of day two’s ice-cold action.
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Women’s moguls: Twelve of the 20 finalists have completed their first run, with Makalya Gerken Schofield still in fourth, and now guaranteed a place in the second round of the final. Chloé Dufour-Lapointe is in sixth while her sister, 2014 champion Justine, goes down early in her run and can’t recover, leaving the competition in tears.
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Slovenia’s Peter Prevc is the current leader, ahead of the evergreen Kamil Stoch. Kobayashi produces a spectacular jump, however, getting plenty of style points. He takes over at the top and Karl Geiger can’t match him, delivering a seriously underwhelming effort. The German is in 21st place; there’s still another round to go, but his medal hopes look over.
Top three:
1. Ryoyu Kobayashi (Jpn) 145.4
2. Peter Prevc (Svn) 139.2
3. Kamil Stoch (Pol) 136.3
Updated
Only six men left to go in the men’s ski jumping first round – they’ve been going in reverse order, based on the World Cup standings – Karl Geiger (Germany) and Ryoyu Kobayashi (Japan) are the final two.
The wind is proving to be a big factor, though, and some of the favourites are struggling to trouble the podium places. Marius Lindvik of Norway, the strongest qualifier, can only make 16th place.
In the men’s luge, sport’s bravest souls are flying down the ice in pursuit of gold. It’s their third run of four, with leader Johannes Ludwig going first. None of his nearest rivals can overtake him or even keep pace – he has the fastest third run so far and looks likely to begin the final run in the lead.
Women’s moguls final: Makayla Gerken Schofield goes for Team GB, and is more aggressive than in her qualifying run, finishing with a backflip-cross off the final ramp. She posts an improved 73.99, and is in third place but there are 16 other athletes to go; her main aim will be to make the top 12 and get a final run. The USA’s Kai Owens is the early leader.
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We’ve seen 30 of the 50 jumpers make their first attempt. Three-time Olympic champion Kamil Stoch of Poland, now 34 and returning from injury problems, shows he’s still got it with a score of 136.3 to take the lead. Most of the heavy hitters are still to come, though.
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There has been a bit of a lull in the action, but that’s all about to change. In the next two hours, we’ll see three golds won – in the ski jumping, moguls and luge.
We’re also approaching the business end of the mixed doubles curling group stage – Team GB face Norway in a match that could be pivotal for their medal hopes.
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This is almost too on the nose ...
and of course the US has a strong contender for #olympictunes for the winter games with this top power-pop masterpiece from @superchunk called, er... Winter Games. @niallmcveigh @guardiansporthttps://t.co/n5Tw2SRYLm
— Oh! Canada (@OhCanada_uk) February 6, 2022
The men’s ski jumping (normal hill) final is under way, with Finland’s Antti Aalto taking an early lead. He’s from Kuopio, a town where I once massively over-indulged at a pizza buffet. A bit of local colour for you there.
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China and Japan go to a shootout in their women’s ice hockey group game. Each player carries the puck forward from halfway and try to beat the goaltender, rather than take a static shot. After three failed attempts each, Mi Le – otherwise known as Hannah Miller – scores to earn victory for China.
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Before we continue with the sport, this comment piece from Labour MP David Lammy is well worth a read.
In Group B of the women’s ice hockey tournament, China and Japan are playing overtime after a 1-1 tie in their game.
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Another one for the Winter Olympics playlist ...
Canada has form on Olympic/love crossovers- Possibly the only tale of trying to skate like Canadian Olympic Figure Skater Kurt Browning, but falling on your behind, courtesy of @theburninghell @niallmcveighhttps://t.co/iSHuTCmXEy
— Oh! Canada (@OhCanada_uk) February 6, 2022
Earlier, we saw cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov secure gold in the 30km skiathlon. In his press conference, the Russian athlete hit back at reporters “hinting at doping” by querying his dominant performance.
“We have clean sportsmen, clean athletes who are at the Olympics who do doping tests almost every day,” Bolshunov said. “I believe it’s wrong to ask us these questions – you don’t achieve these results all of a sudden, you don’t become an Olympic champion, because it takes years and years of training.”
The ROC cross-country skiing coach, Yuri Borodavko, was banned by the Russian ski federation for two years in 2010 for being “involved in doping cases”. He has always denied any involvement, and maintains that his suspension was a formality.
Here comes Leonie Gerken Schofield, who opts to sacrifice some pace here after falling in her first run. Her technique in the turns is good, but she doesn’t have the speed to really impress off the ramps, and ends up 16th and outside the final.
Her sister Mikaela is through, along with 2018 bronze winner Yulia Galysheva and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe, who joins her sister Justine in the final. We’ll have coverage of that in about an hour.
And if you’re thinking “that’s all very well, but what on earth are moguls?” – this video should help.
Today, the remaining 20 contenders get the chance to win one of the 10 remaining places in the final, which begins in about an hour.
Among them are Team GB siblings Makayla and Leonie Gerken Schofield. Makayla has posted a score of 67.96 today, but her Q1 total of 70.18 will be enough for her to sneak into the final.
Leonie did not complete her first run, and will be among the last to go. Up now is 2018 bronze winner Yulia Galysheva, who produces some heavyweight aerial moves but can only take eighth place.
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Time to head over to the Zhangjiakou Zone for women’s moguls. This is the second qualifying run, after 10 skiers booked their place in the final in Q1 earlier this week.
Those already through include 2018 gold medallist Perrine Laffont of France, and runner-up Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who beat her sister Chloé to the final qualifying spot, ensuring an awkward evening at the Dufour-Lapointe residence back in Montréal.
That’s the second gold of the Games for Sweden, and they join neighbours Norway at the top of the medal table. Engebråten’s bronze at least keeps Norway ahead on total medals won.
Nils van der Poel (Sweden) wins 5,000m speed skating gold
At the bell, Van der Poel is up to second, 0.99s behind and switching to the inside lane. He has really found an extra gear here – and crosses the line half a second ahead!
He adds Olympic gold to his world title, and a visibly devastated Patrick Roest (Netherlands) has to settle for silver, and also sees his Olympic record improbably overtaken. Norway’s Hallgeir Engebråten takes the bronze.
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The final pair in the 5,000m speed skating final are Belgium’s Bart Swings and Sweden’s Nils van der Poel, the world champion. Neither man races out of the blocks and both are outside the medals after three laps.
At halfway, Swings has drifted but Van der Poel is up to third place – but 1.85sec behind Roest. Does he have anything left in the tank?
Sean Ingle reports on Australia’s mixed doubles curling team, who were heading home after a Covid positive only to get a dramatic reprieve – and then win their first game in Beijing.
“It has literally been the craziest, craziest 24 hours,” said Tahli Gill, who along with partner Dean Hewitt was given 15 minutes to get to the venue. “My bags are still packed, I only just had time to pull out my uniforms. I played with only one glove on – and it was the wrong one.”
The penultimate pair are ROC’s Ruslan Zakharov and Ted-Jan Bloemen. The 2018 silver medallist was born in the Netherlands, but races for Canada, where his father is from.
Bloemen leads at the first split, quickly leaving Zakharov behind. He can’t maintain that speed, in third place at halfway – and he falls away badly to end up in eighth place. Leader Patrick Roest is guaranteed a medal, but which colour?
Patrick Roest is trying his best to look relaxed, with four skaters left who could take away his gold. Roest is part of the Jumbo-Visma team, one of the franchises that help the Dutch dominate international speed skating – and a very familiar name to any cycling fans.
The second day of these Winter Games has seen continued complaints over conditions for athletes, including isolation facilities and on-site catering.
Finnish ice hockey player Marko Anttila tested positive 18 days ago, and his coach has raised concerns that he is still in isolation and “not getting good food”.
“We know that he’s fully healthy and ready to go,” said the Finland coach, Jukka Jalonen. “That’s why we think that China, for some reason, they won’t respect his human rights and that’s not a great situation.”
There have also been complaints about the food provided at the alpine skiing base in Yanqing. “There are no hot meals,” German coach Christian Schwaiger said. “There are crisps, some nuts and chocolate and nothing else. This shows a lack of focus on high-performance sport.”
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There are six skaters left to go in the men’s 5,000m, with none of the quartet racing since the break able to trouble the podium. There are some heavyweights still to come, though, not least Sweden’s Nils van der Poel, the world champion and world-record holder at this distance.
Coming up
The second qualifying run of the women’s moguls is coming up at 10am (UK time), with the final at 11.30am.
The men’s normal hill ski-jumping final begins at 11am, with the closing two runs of the men’s luge at 11.30am and 1.15pm.
The curling mixed doubles round-robin stage continues with Team GB taking on Norway and Australia playing Canada. The US play Switzerland, and that’s also the fixture in Group A of the women’s ice hockey.
“The break during the speed skating competition is to clean the ice for the next group of skaters,” writes Sander Kuvener. “The ice gets quite a beating during the races, and smooth ice is faster ice. It is to level the playing field.”
Adding to our winter playlist, my colleague John Windmill suggests “Cold As Ice” ...
... and Vanilla Ice, on ice!
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In the fourth leg, neither USA’s Ethan Cepuran or Switzerland’s Livio Wenger can get close to the podium. I’m also disappointed that Wenger didn’t take to the rink in a knee-length padded coat.
The final pair before we take a 15-minute break (why, I’m not sure) are Dutchman Patrick Roest and Italy’s Andrea Giovannini. Roest is on track to overtake Engebråten at halfway but looking weary – can he hold on?
He certainly can – in fact, he sets a new Olympic record of 6min 9.31s, half a second quicker than his Norwegian rival. That will take some beating.
“Songs to listen to during the Winter Olympics?” tweets @OhCanada_uk. “Winnipeg’s finest The Weakerthans’ ‘Tournament of Hearts’ is the ultimate Love/ Curling crossover.”
There are 20 competitors in the 5,000m final, racing in 10 different pairs, with the fastest overall time getting the gold. 2018 winner Sven Kramer went in the first leg and set the pace, but he’s just been overtaken by Norway’s Hallgeir Engebråten.
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Team GB’s Andrew Musgrave, seventh in Pyeongchang and in last year’s worlds, came home 17th in that gruelling 30km skiathlon event. There are two live events going on: China v Japan in women’s ice hockey, and the men’s 5,000m speed skating final, which we’ll focus on next.
“What music should I listen to during the Winter Olympics?” asks Kurt Perleberg. How about this for starters?
Sunday's main stories so far
It’s approaching 8.30am in the UK; 4.30pm in Beijing, 7.30pm in Sydney and er, 3.30am in New York – here’s a roundup of day two’s news:
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has won New Zealand’s first ever Winter Games gold after winning the women’s snowboard slopestyle event.
Australia’s mixed doubles curling team were cleared to compete despite a Covid positive, and went on to win their match against Switzerland.
Britain’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat won their game against the hosts 6-5 and go second in the table, while the USA lost 10-8 to Czech Republic.
The men’s downhill skiing event has been postponed to Monday due to high winds.
ROC lead the figure skating mixed team event after another two events were completed, with the USA second and Japan third. Fifteen-year-old Kamila Yulieva blew the competition away in the women’s short program, while Yuma Kagiyama of Japan was the top performer in the men’s free program.
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Alexander Bolshunov (ROC) wins skiathlon gold
Bolshunov is so far clear, he’s got time to high-five team mates, collect a flag emblazoned with the Russian Olympic Committee logo and wave it around as he swishes over the finish line.
His compatriot, Denis Spitsov, takes silver at 1m 11sec behind; Finland’s Iivo Niskanen is the bronze medallist, and there are no Norwegians on the podium after a clean sweep in 2018.
Updated
Hello everyone, Niall McVeigh here, picking up the baton and skiing up the hill. ROC’s Alexander Bolshunov is cruising to gold, a minute clear of Denis Spitsov (also ROC) with 25km gone. Finland’s Iivo Niskanen is in third.
A moment to cherish forever…
— The New Zealand Team (@TheNZTeam) February 6, 2022
New Zealand’s first ever Winter Olympic Gold Medalist - Zoi Sadowski-Synnott#Earned #olympics
📸 @gettyimages pic.twitter.com/QfZIF3LNUx
As I prepare to pass the baton, and as the Russian Bolshunov makes mincemeat of the men’s cross country field, a reminder of the highlight of this session - Zoi Sadowski-Synnott becoming New Zealand’s first ever Winter Olympics gold medalist.
They’ve done it!!!
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) February 6, 2022
Australia’s first Olympic curling win 👏👏👏#ChasingWinter pic.twitter.com/oa3S1W96BL
One minute, they were on the first plane home. Fast forward an hour or two, and they’ve recorded Australia’s first ever Olympic Curling victory.
Men’s Cross-Country Skiathlon
Well, I talked up the Norwegians and naturally, they’ve barely been sighted. As the field transitions to the freestyle component of the race, Finland’s Iivo Niskanen and Russia’s Alex Bolshunov are careering ahead. The Russian took a tumble in the opening kilometre, but barely bat an eyelid. I’ve shed about half a stone just watching these guys.
Curling Mixed Doubles - Australia v Switzerland
Scores are tied! 6 apiece. It’s a ringa-ding-dinga, following a roller coaster of an afternoon for the Australians.
MEDIA ALERT 🚨
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 6, 2022
After the delay of today's men’s downhill, the @Beijing2022 alpine comp. schedule for Monday, Feb. 7 will be as follows:
Women's GS first run at 9:30am local.
Men's downhill race at 12pm.
Women's GS second run at 2:30pm.#Olympics #AlpineSkiing pic.twitter.com/kHyl8PpHPe
Curling - Mixed Doubles
After five ends, the Swiss have extended their lead by three points. The Aussies now trail 3-6.
Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle
As expected, no-one came close to 17-year-old Su Yiming, who leads from Canada’s Mark McMorris and American Sean Fitzsimons, with defending champion Redmond Gerard qualifying in fifth. As we mentioned, Australia’s Matt Cox was tracking nicely, but failed to nail his landing.
The time has come for @musgraveandrew 💪
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 6, 2022
He goes in the men's 30km skiathlon live on @BBCSport and @eurosport 📺#TeamGB | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/01tnRFY9N1
No Snow
As we wait the starting gun in the men’s cross country, a reminder that this is the first Olympics to use almost 100% artificial snow, deploying more than 100 snow generators and 300 snow-cannons working flat out to cover the slopes. The hosts, not always convincingly, have vowed to deliver a sustainable and eco-friendly Games. “Snowmaking at some of the Beijing 2022 venues is anything but detrimental to the environment,” a spokesperson said.
Incidentally, it’s minus ten degrees Celsius. They’ll earn their medals, these fellas.
Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle
Australia’s Matt Cox has come a cropper. He was travelling well in his second and final run in the Qualifiers, but came unstuck on the final landing. Rotten luck for the 23 year old.
Closing in on the semi-finals...@BruceMouat and Jen Dodds take on Norway later today 👇#TeamGB | #Beijing2022
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 6, 2022
On the topic of Curling, the British pair Bruce and Jen are zeroing in on a medal. They overcame a tardy start to finish all over the Chinese pair.
Men’s Downhill – Delayed
Just to recap, the men’s downhill will not take place today. The last thing you want as a downhill skier is to go hurtling down the mountain with winds up to 40 mph. As the Sopranos Paulie Walnuts told his mother: “Safety First”.
Curling - Mixed Doubles
The Aussies are back from the brink, and back on the rink. They’re up 2-0 on the Swiss pair after the first end.
Men’s 30km Skiathlon Preview
This event is similar to the biathlon, except the competitors are not bearing arms. It’s one for the lactic acid masochists. Just for a change, it’s an event dominated by Norway, which can prove challenging for live bloggers endeavouring to transcribe Nordic, heavily hyphenated names. Their 2018 champion Simen Hegstad-Kruger recently tested positive for COVID, so he’s out. In his absence, compatriot Johannes Hoesflot-Klabeo is the hottest of favourites, virtually unbeatable on the world cup circuit, and a chance to bring home multiple medals. Australia has two competitors, both from Melbourne – Phillip Bellingham and Olympic debutant Seve de Campo.
Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Qualifying
The tearaway leader is just 17-years-old. China’s Su Yiming unleashed a blistering run, “an absolute shredder – a shred shed beast”, according to the commentators. To the untrained eye, the majority of competitors and broadcasters are remarkably relaxed about proceedings. We’re still waiting on Australia’s Matt Cox. “He’ll be frothin’” we’re assured.
Artists in their own way: Yuma Kagiyama (JPN), Mark Kondratiuk (ROC) and Vincent Zhou (USA).
— ISU Figure Skating (@ISU_Figure) February 6, 2022
They looked smooth!
Day 2 Results: https://t.co/T03fe4Efkr#FigureSkating #Olympics #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/D6uA22roLS
I’m not going to tiptoe around this. I don’t know a lot about figure skating. I know a lot about Australian rules football and rescue greyhounds, and a reasonable amount about Russian history and centre-left Australian politics. But there’s a gaping hole in my figure skating knowledge. I’ve never been figure skating. I don’t hang in figure skating circles. I don’t dress like a figure skater. So I’m going to defer to the experts here, as they wrap up Day 2 of the Teams Event. It’s a tight tussle for the medals, with the ROC narrowly on top of the United States and Japan.
Late Minute Reprieve for Aussie Curlers
Hours after being booted out of the Olympics, Australia’s curling team in the mixed doubles has been given a late reprieve and will compete this afternoon. It follows an urgent meeting of the Medical Expert Panel in Beijing. They take on the Swiss team shortly.
Happy Waitangi Day!
It’s New Zealand’s national day, and they now have their first Winter Olympics gold medal. In this correspondent’s opinion, the New Zealand national anthem is the best of the bunch, so it’s always worth rooting for the Kiwis. I know I’m deviating from the winter script here, but this, as the locals would say, is a choice rendition.
Updated
When you win your country's first-ever Winter Olympic #gold medal 😍
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 6, 2022
IOC/John Huet pic.twitter.com/L3XA2U5P1Y
Men’s Downhill – Delayed!
The skies are blue, but the winds are wreaking havoc, and what many see as the blue ribband event of the Games has been delayed until tomorrow.
Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Qualifying
This course has been described as “arguably the most technically advanced, thoughtfully designed and awe-inspiring slopestyle course ever constructed.” That’s good enough for me. And it’s good enough for Aussie Matt Cox, who’s just watched his compatriot win the bronze medal on the said course. “It’s dreamy snow, he said in the lead up. But the winds are getting nastier.This is his first Olympics, and he’s up shortly. Each athlete gets two qualifying runs, with a dozen spots in the final on offer.
The day so far ...
With the downhill on hold, the only action at the moment is in the men’s snowboard slopestyle qualifying.
Let’s look at what’s happened so far:
Snowboarding, women’s slopestyle: New Zealand, USA and Australia break through
In the 2011 Women’s World Cup (soccer/football), New Zealand’s women got their first point with two late goals against Mexico. Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is just as clutch. Her gargantuan last two jumps put her over the top and lifted her past the USA’s Julia Marino for gold. Australia’s Tess Coady held off Canada’s Laurie Blouin for bronze. Two-time defending champion Jamie Anderson just never put it together.
ROC puts stamp on figure skating team event
For the USA to have any shot at gold in the team event, they had to outscore the ROC in the men’s free skate. It didn’t happen. You might as well hand the gold to Not Russia at this point. But the USA has virtually clinched a medal and will duel Japan for silver tomorrow.
Team GB up, Australia out in curling
The hard-luck story of the Games so far is Australia’s mixed doubles curling team, which really should’ve come up with at least one win by this point but instead has gone winless. They’ll stay that way, departing the Olympics after a positive Covid test.
Team GB got its expected win over China, though it went down to the last two shots. The USA did not get its expected win over the Czech Republic and will need some help to make the playoffs.
Up next
Men’s slopestyle qualifying will go on for a while, though defending gold medalist Red Gerard can surely start sketching out his plans for the final, comfortably outscoring the field so far.
We’re still hoping to see the men’s downhill today. We’ll definitely see the men’s cross-county skiathlon and more curling over the next few hours.
With that, I’ll pass the baton to Jonathan Horn, reporting from the country with mixed fortunes today, Australia. See you in a couple of days.
Team event figure skating standings
After two of three days, or five of eight programs ...
1. Not Russia 45
2. USA 42
3. Japan 39
4. Canada 30
5. China 29
You can probably hand the ROC 10 points in the women’s skate. The most drama on the final day will be the battle for silver between the USA and Japan. Canada and China are all but mathematically eliminated from the podium places -- it would take some calamitous Japanese performances to get them into the mix.
Underrotations cost Vincent Zhou (USA)
It’s hard to top Zhou’s ambition. He put five quads in this free skate. The first landed stiffly. The second turned into a single. He recovered nicely from that point, but the judges kept reviewing all his quads to see if he really got around all four times. In snowboarding terms, he was going for 1440s and landing something closer to a 1420.
The reviews knock his technical score down to 85.24, behind Kondratyuk. And there was no way he was catching the ROC skater on the program components that measure the artistry and transitions.
Total score: 171.44. He was never going to catch Kagiyama, but turning a quad into a single is leaving a lot of points out there.
Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) sticks the landings
So nearly flawless. So deceptively effortless.
Artistically, it’s meh. Technically, he had one minor bobble, but the rest of the landings looked so routine.
Score: 208.94. The bar keeps getting raised.
I’m going to quibble, though. His score for “interpretation of the music” was higher than Kondratyuk’s. No way.
Still, it’s a textbook performance. Your move, Vincent Zhou.
Updated
Delayed again, naturally
But really, the wind isn’t that bad, they say.
MEDIA ALERT 🚨
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 6, 2022
Unfortunately we have another wind delay here at @Beijing2022 for the men’s downhill. Next decision 1pm local for 2pm start. The guys are saying the wind is similar to the first two training run days, so we’re hoping we will go today. 🙏🙏🙏 #Olympics
Mark Kondratyuk (Not Russia), superstar
The ROC’s men aren’t quite at the level of their women, not that anyone is. But I for one enjoyed Kondratyuk’s program, set to music from Jesus Christ Superstar. His technical score is higher than Jin’s by a good margin: 94.85 to 78.26.
And artistically? That was at another level. He brought the music to life. If he seemed slightly out of control at times, well, that just added an extra bit of drama.
Finally, pounding the ice with your fist after finishing a programme either means you nailed it or you really want to break your hand.
Total score is 181.65, blowing away Jin’s 155.04.
And the men are the weak link in the ROC’s team. Good luck beating that.
Next up: Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama.
Jin Boyang (CHN) skates
The two-time world bronze medalist, known for barrier-breaking sequences of quads, has a strong start on a quad lutz but fades toward the end, stumbling on some landings and putting his hand on the ice to avoid falling.
“Artistry has never come easily or naturally to him,” says NBC’s Tara Lipinski, who goes on to say it’s improved over time. His spins and steps are indeed pretty nice, but if you’re looking for silky-smooth skating, this isn’t your guy. Those who argue that the focus on jumping has overshadowed the beauty of figure skating would have some evidence here. Some of his combinations were impressive feats of athleticism but brought his skating to a screeching halt.
But the music, a classical guitar solo seguing into the Bolero, is a winner.
His 155.04 is, of course, far ahead of the unfortunate Sadovsky.
First up: Roman Sadovsky (CAN)
It’s a difficult watch. He lands awkwardly on his first quad and later tumbles on a single axel that was supposed to be a triple.
Fellow Canadian Keegan Messing has cleared Covid protocols and is en route to Beijing for the individual competition.
And now the crowd goes wild, with Jin Boyang on the ice.
Snow Patrol on ice
The men’s free skate is the next event in the figure skating team competition. Canadian Roman Sadovsky will get us started with a program set to the Snow Patrol song “Chasing Cars.” Is that the one with the repetitive two-note guitar riff or the one with the repetitive two-note guitar riff?
Downhill in the dumps
All hail New Zealand’s first gold medalist
Zoe Sadowski-Synnott is the first New Zealand athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold. Ever.
The deputy prime minister is excited:
GOLD for ZOI! I had the honour to be there four years ago to see @zoisynnott win bronze. Ever since she has continually lifted her game to be one of the best snowboarders in the world. Our first ever Winter Olympic gold medal! So proud of this awesome woman. Happy Waitangi Day! pic.twitter.com/RC7gdSBown
— Grant Robertson (@grantrobertson1) February 6, 2022
Zhou gets call for US figure skating team
Let’s update the team event after the women’s short programme, which had the misfortune of running at the same time as the breathtaking slopestyle competition ...
No surprise here. Not Russia is producing enough top-level figure skating women to form a conga line on ice. Kamila Valieva won by an absurd 15.45 points, scoring 90.18. Japan’s Higuchi Wakaba was second at 74.73.
The margins after that were considerably closer, which means US skater Karen Chen would have finished a couple of places higher if not for her fall on a triple loop late in the programmes. She wound up fifth.
But that’s the worst result so far for the USA, so finishing the short programmes in the top five and qualifying for the next phase was no trouble.
Canada’s Madeline Schizas finished third, propelling her country into the all-important top five.
Standings at the halfway point:
1 Not Russia 36
2 USA 34
3 Japan 29
4 Canada 24
5 China 22, claiming the last spot on tiebreak over Georgia
As some observers suggested earlier, the USA will rest Nathan Chen in the free skate, leaving Vincent Zhao to try to keep up with Not Russia. He’ll go last in the free skate with a program that includes as many quads as three bodybuilders. He’s trying five. No one else is trying more than three.
Downhill delayed again
I might need some caffeine.
Due to high winds, the men’s Olympic downhill is still under a weather delay.
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 6, 2022
The next decision will be at 11p ET. Racer #1 will be @TeamUSA’s Bryce Bennett. #WinterOlympics
Curling catchup
A devastating blow for the medal hopes of the USA’s Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys, as the Czech Republic took a 10-8 win. The US curlers took their power play in the seventh end, but the Czechs played brilliantly to hold them to one point and head into the last end down one but with hammer.
Plys threw a double takeout to clean up a congested house, leaving the USA looking likely to avoid giving up a big number. Persinger’s last shot stopped in the four-foot circle and was outcounting the Czech stones, but it wasn’t buried behind other rocks, and Zuzana Paulova coolly picked out Persinger’s stone to score three for the win.
The two teams are now tied at 3-4 and would need some help to overhaul Norway (3-3) and at least one of the teams with only two losses.
One of those team is Team GB, which eked out a 6-5 win over China. Down 4-1 at the halfway point, Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds roared back to score three on their power play in the fifth. China called its power play in the sixth and botched the final shot, giving Mouat and Dodds a steal of one. China got one back in the seventh, but that left Team GB with the hammer in the decisive eighth end. Mouat swatted away several Chinese guards, and the game ended on a missed takeout attempt from Fan SuYuan.
Three games are coming up at 2:05 p.m. Beijing time, which would’ve been the next game for the now-departing Australian team.
(Corrected after originally saying “1:05 a.m. Beijing time,” which seems rather inconvenient. It’s 1:05 a.m. Eastern time and a reasonable 2:05 p.m. in Beijing.)
Updated
First US and Australian medals
Our long national nightmares are over, thanks to Marino and Coady.
New Zealand, on the other hand, is tied for third in the medal table with one gold.
🥇HISTORY MADE 🥇 Zoi Sadowski-Synnott wins New Zealand’s first ever GOLD medal at an Olympic Winter Games!
— The New Zealand Team (@TheNZTeam) February 6, 2022
Could not be more proud right now 🖤🌿 #EarnTheFern #KoTātauTeKapaOAotearoa pic.twitter.com/mJZY308K9m
GOLD: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL), women's snowboard slopestyle
The world champion started racking up points early, hopping on a rail with a nifty 270. Off the last rail, she seemed to lose a bit of momentum, but she cleanly landed a 900 on the first jump.
Next up: double cork 1080. No problem.
She won it on the last jump. To say “double cork 1080” doesn’t do it justice. She flew to the sky, looking like she was going to soar over the Great Wall. Her landing was perfect, and fellow medalists Julia Marino and Tess Coady ran out to celebrate the spectacular trick with her.
Final:
Gold: Sadowski-Synnott 92.88
Silver: Marino 87.68
Bronze: Coady 84.15
Party in the Southern Hemisphere tonight. Or today. I lost track of time waiting for Sadowski-Synnott to land.
USA, New Zealand, Australia medal
Julia Marino (USA) and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) will medal. The only questions left:
Japan’s Murase Kokomo did a series of humdrum maneuvers before trying to make up for it all on her last jump. The landing looked painful.
That leaves Tess Coady safe on the podium. Will Zoi Sadowski-Synnott pass Julia Marino for gold?
No threepeat for Anderson
The US snowboarding legend looked great on the rails but fell after launching from the Twisted Sister feature.
The trio of Julia Marino (USA), Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) and Tess Coady (AUS) will continue to wait through a few more riders. Canada’s Laurie Blouin came up just short.
But wait ... Austria’s Anna Gasser, the big air champion, went big with a double cork 1080 and double cork 900. She once again was going a nearly light speed down the hill and barely stayed on her feet on her final landing. Will the judges dock her some points for that last bobble?
Yes. Far more than I would’ve thought. She’s sixth.
Chen tumbles in team event
Putting a triple so late in a programme is a risk, and it didn’t pay off for the USA’s Karen Chen as she took her turn in the figure skating team event. She had a smooth, wonderful performance to that point.
More on that in a minute ... Jamie Anderson is coming up for one last shot at her threepeat. Leader Julia Marino face-planted on her last jump on her third run.
Here goes Anderson ...
Australia’s Tess Coady laid down another great run run ending with a smooth landing on a frontside double cork 1080. She improved her score but not her position. She’s still in third with a nervous wait.
Australian curling team leaves after Covid positive
The mixed doubles pair of Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt was out of the running, but they surely would’ve loved a chance to pick up their first win.
They won’t get that chance ...
Figure skating: Still going
No, I haven’t forgotten the team event. It’s just that the most interesting skaters here, the USA’s Karen Chen and Not Russia’s Kamila Valieva are the last two up, and we have a snowboarding barnburner here.
Through seven skaters, Canada’s Madeline Schizas has the top score of 69.60.
Slopestyle run 2 complete: USA’s Marino leads
New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott didn’t look at all comfortable on her second run, teetering on a couple of landings and finally just falling on her face.
Standings after run 2:
1 Julia Marino (USA) 87.68
2 Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) 84.51
3 Tess Coady (AUS) 82.68
Reminder: Only the best run of three counts for each rider, so Jamie Anderson is still very much alive. But she just hasn’t seemed to be in great form in the qualifying round yesterday or the final today. The biggest threat to the top three is probably Japan’s Iwabuchi Reira, who has two runs scoring better than 75. Unfortunately for her, scoring isn’t cumulative.
Marino takes the lead
Not surprising to see a US snowboarder leading the slopestyle, but it’s Julia Marino, not Jamie Anderson. The latter had a rather uninspired second run -- clean, but only good for seventh at the moment.
Before that, Marino did the spectacular with a 900, another 900 and a double cork 1080. She put her hands on her helmet in excitement before she stopped at the finish.
Austria’s Anna Gasser, the 2018 big air gold medalist, was on pace to beat that but was going so fast that you had to wonder if she would ever land. She did, but she was out of control and wound up on her back.
Curling update
Big scores in USA-Czech Republic. In the second end (see below), the Czech Republic had a shot for five and wound up with three. The USA took three in the third but gave up four in the fourth on a big double takeout by Zuzana Paulova. The USA piled up red rocks in the fifth to bring it to a 7-7 tie.
Team GB and China are also tied, improbably, at 4-4.
Not everyone is enthused:
Do people that enjoy watching curling know that Netflix and literally any other thing on television exists?
— Eden Dranger (@Eden_Eats) February 6, 2022
I would answer by asking if people who enjoy Netflix know the Scotties (Canadian women’s championships) are also on this week in addition to the Olympics. So there.
Downhill delayed
The much-feared win hasn’t materialized at the snowboarding venue today, but Alpine skiers have had no such luck.
MEDIA ALERT 🚨
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 6, 2022
Due to the present weather situation with high winds - the Jury together with the the organizer have decided to delay today’s men’s Olympic downhill. 🌬🌬
Next decision will be at 11am for a 12pm start time for Racer # 1, big ol’ Bryce Bennett. #Olympics
NZ’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott leads after run 1
The Southern Hemisphere stands 1-2 after the first of three runs in the women’s snowboard slopestyle. Sadowski-Synnott floated gracefully over the features that made so many of her rivals tumble and landed a double cork 1080 as easily as many of us do a warrior pose in yoga.
Sadowski-Synnott, born in Sydney, has emerged as Jamie Anderson’s top challenger with two world championships and three X Games wins.
After one run:
1 Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) 84.51
2 Coady (AUS) 82.68
3 Laurie Blouin (CAN) 77.96
Updated
US favorites hit the snow
Julia Marino was in the midst of an effortless-looking run, but the Twisted Sister claimed another victim, and she bailed on the rest of it. Two more chances for her.
Two-time defending champion Jamie Anderson was the first rider to use this course’s unique house feature, in which riders travel along the “roof,” and she slipped on the landing.
Add Hailey Langland from earlier in the run, and all three US riders fell on this first run. They’ll toss out those scores and hope for better on one of the next two chances.
Australia’s Tess Coady nails it
A smooth ride ends with a clean landing on a double cork 900. Or, as the official stats put it, “fs-D-UF-9-Wed.”
Either way, it’s an 82.68, good for the early lead.
Coady went to the 2018 Games at age 17 but tore an ACL in practice and couldn’t compete. That run made up for lost time.
Snowboarding lingo
As a general rule, curling commentators explain every rule of the game on every shot. Snowboard commentators, on the other hand, will bust out descriptions like “backside 900 switch melon teakettle coffeepot wingdings” with scant details on what that means.
So let’s take a crash course, drawing heavily on this excellent video by Snowboard Addiction.
Stances
Regular means your left foot is leading. Goofy means right.
Spin directions
Backside: When you’ve gone 90 degrees, your backside is facing down the hill.
Frontside: The other way.
You’ll also hear terms referring to how many degrees someone has turned. As we might remember from geometry class, a circle has 360 degrees, so a “360” is one revolution. A 720 is two. A 900 is two and a half, and so on.
If you prefer figure skating terms, a 1440 is a quad. A 1260 is a triple axel. Got it?
Switch means that the rider ends up switching stances when the flippy/spinny is done. In other words, someone might do a 540 starting out regular (see above) and end up goofy (also see above). I’m not sure about this, but I would think “switch” implies a half revolution is involved -- a 180, 540, 900, etc. I’d think that a 720 switch would mean something has gone horribly wrong.
Instead of “switch,” you might hear fakie, which means something slightly different to a skateboarder because their feet aren’t bound to the board. Snowboard commentators like to sound cool, so they’ll probably say “fakie.”
Spin types
Rotation means your body and board rotate the same way.
Counterrotation means your body and board rotate in opposite directions.
A double cork is more flipping than spinning, inverting one’s shoulder twice in the air.
A hospital is where I would go if I tried any of these things.
Grabs
Judges also like to see cool ways to grab onto the board in the air, even though the bindings make such feats unnecessary.
Nose and tail are self-explanatory.
Grabs with the front hand include nose, mute (just inside the rider’s toe), melon (just inside the heel) and seatbelt (almost to the tail, so the arm goes across the body like a seatbelt).
Grabs with the rear hand include tail, indy (inside the toe), stalefish (inside the heel) and crail (reverse seatbelt).
If riders want to reach through their legs, they have all sorts of non-vegetarian terms like chicken salad, roast beef and Canadian bacon.
You’ll have to check out this explainer for pictures and all the other oddities.
A method grab has to be seen to be described, but just remember that Lindsey Jacobellis did it in 2006 in Torino, unfortunately at the end of a snowboardcross final she was leading. She fell and wound up taking silver. Jacobellis is still chasing that elusive gold in her fifth Olympics, but she can always be happy about her six (6) world championships. Anyway, back to slopestyle …
Approach to rails and other terrain
Backside and frontside are also used in this context. If your back is closest to the rail, it’s a backside approach.
What you do on a rail
50-50 is a straightforward ride along the rail like a train on a … well, on a rail.
During a 50-50, a rider may do a nosepress or a tailpress, which aren’t weightlifting terms but references to just one part of the board being in contact with the rail. So, basically, a tailpress is a wheelie, without your mom yelling at you to quit doing tricks on your bike because your mom didn’t foresee the invention of freestyle BMX competition.
A boardslide is a perpendicular ride along the rail in which the front of the board goes over the rail first. It can be front or back.
A lipslide means the tail goes first.
A noseslide or tailslide means the rider is perpendicular to the rail, but only the nose or tail is touching.
A bluntslide apparently has nothing to do with passing a drug test. Instead, it means the rider jumped almost all the way over the rail but landed on the tail.
Dismounting
A pretzel is what happens when you’re dismounting from the rail and spin 270 degrees in the other direction.
A sameway, a bagel or a danish is when you land the same way.
Ouch is what you say when you land as Switzerland’s Ariane Burri did after looking uncomfortable in the air after taking off from the complex feature known as Twisted Sister.
The USA’s Hailey Langland also crashed, overrotating a 720. (Spinning too much.)
This competition is three runs, with only the best run counting.
One fun way to follow curling, especially if you have your various screen(s) tied up with other events: shot-by-shot diagrams. Check out Team GB v China.
These feeds also include live stats on each shot. They’re graded 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and 0%. The second-end shot in which the USA’s Chris Plys took out his own rock instead of the Czechs’ was a 0%. Vicky Persinger’s freeze attempt that didn’t quite stick was 50%. But the stats don’t always tell the whole story. The Czech Republic’s Zuzana Paulova got 100% with the hammer (last shot) in that second end, but she was disappointed because Plys and Persinger had left an opportunity for the Czechs to take a whopping five points, and they “only” got three. She seemed sad for someone who just scored three points with 100%, but they know the USA won’t give up too many more chances like that.
China scored two in the second to go up 2-1.
With that, let’s check out some snowboarding ...
USA, Team GB steal leads
In the first ends of the eight-end mixed doubles games, the USA forced the Czech Republic into a nearly impossible shot that they didn’t come close to making. Team GB forced China into a nearly impossible shot they didn’t even attempt. 1-0 USA, 1-0 Team GB on first-end steals.
Figure skating: Music time!
Highlights of the evening’s selections for the Women’s Short Programme of the Figure Skating Team Event:
Zhu Yi (CHN): Paint It Black
Anastasiia Shabotova (UKR): Carol of the Bells. She plans to start with a triple axel.
Eliska Brezinova (CZE): Sweet Dreams. Not sure if that’s Eurythmics. Or Yes. Or someone else.
Madeline Schizas (CAN): My Sweet and Tender Beast
Higuchi Wakaba (JPN): Your Song, by Elton John AND Ellie Goulding. She’s also starting with a triple axel.
Karen Chen (USA): Requiem for a Tower, Requiem for a Dream. She has a triple later in her programme than any other competitor -- fifth of her seven elements.
Kamila Valieva (Not Russia): In Memoriam by Kirill Richter. Our third triple axel.
First up: Curling
A quick look at the standings, along with matchups in this first draw of the day:
6-0 Italy (qualified for semifinals)
5-2 Sweden
4-2 Canada
4-2 Team GB v CHN
3-3 Norway
3-3 USA v CZE
2-4 China v Team GB
2-4 Czech Republic v USA
2-4 Switzerland
0-7 Australia (they did almost beat the USA)
The Czechs have lost three in a row by at least five points.
Medal standings
1 Norway 🥇 2 🥈 0 🥉 0 total: 2
2 Slovenia 🥇 1 🥈 0 🥉 1 total: 2
3= China 🥇 1 🥈 0 🥉 0 total: 1
3= Netherlands 🥇 1 🥈 0 🥉 0 total: 1
3= Sweden 🥇 1 🥈 0 🥉 0 total: 1
6 Italy 🥇 0 🥈 2 🥉 0 total: 2
7= Canada 🥇 0 🥈 1 🥉 1 total: 2
7= Not Russia 🥇 0 🥈 1 🥉 1 total: 2
9= France 🥇 0 🥈 1 🥉 0 total: 1
9= Germany 🥇 0 🥈 1 🥉 0 total: 1
And one bronze each to Austria, Hungary and Japan.
But can Norway do this?
Coming up today ...
Hello everyone. Beau Dure here, and I first need to clear up an important point. I am not, despite what you might have read at the end of the first day’s excellent live coverage, Australian. Just your typical boring American living outside our nation’s capital.
It’s considerably colder here than it is in Australia, but it’s considerably warmer here than it is at the competition venues in China, which have been cold even by Winter Olympic standards.
I prepped for the day’s action by curling for the first time in a couple of weeks. I made a successful draw around a well-placed guard, which is not typical. Perhaps that augurs well for a good day of action.
Here’s what we have today.
Times are all in local Beijing time. For Sydney it is +3 hours, for London it is -8 hours, for New York it is -13 hours and San Francisco is -16 hours.
- 9am Curling – two mixed doubles round robin matches: USA (3-3) vs the Czech Republic (2-4) and Great Britain (4-2) vs. China (2-4). As it’s shaping up now, a 5-4 record will likely get a team into the playoffs. Probably. 🥌
- 9.30am Snowboard – will the USA’s Jamie Anderson three-peat? She’ll have to do better than she did in qualifying. Speaking of qualifying, the men will do that once the women have finished competing. 🥇
- 9.30am and 11.50am Figure skating – the women show off their short programmes, with Karen Chen taking the US baton, followed by the men. ⛸
- 11am Alpine skiing – brave people go fast in cold air in the men’s downhill. 🥇
- 2.05pm Curling – Sweden (5-2) tries to nail down a semifinal spot and keep Norway (3-3) from winning every gold medal in China. Canada (4-2) faces the busy Czechs, while the unbeaten Italian team celebrates its semifinal qualification with a win, I mean, game, against China. 🥌
- 3pm Cross-country skiing – the grueling men’s 15km + 15km Skiathlon 🥇
- 4.30pm Speed skating – the grueling men’s 5,000m.🥇
- 4.40pm Hockey - China and Japan tangle. 🏒
- 6pm Freestyle skiing– women get their turns in the test of shock absorption known as moguls. 🥇
- 7pm Ski jumping – men’s normal hill, with “normal” meaning “the big one rather than the really big one.” 🥇
- 7.30pm Luge – day two of two in the men’s singles event. 🥇
- 8.05pm Curling – four more mixed doubles round robin matches. The USA, Team GB, Sweden and Canada will be playing and surely looking around at each other’s progress as they battle for playoff spots. 🥌
- 9.10pm Hockey - the US women face a team that isn’t Canada; therefore, it shouldn’t be too competitive. Switzerland, in case you need to know. 🏒
Beau will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Martin Belam’s summary of a thrilling day one:
The first gold medal of the Games went to Norway’s Therese Johaug in the women’s 7.5km + 7.5km Skiathlon. She has won 10 world championship titles and it was the fourth Olympic medal of her career, but her first individual Olympic gold. She absolutely bossed it, finishing 30 seconds ahead of Russian Olympic Committee athlete Natalya Nepryayeva in second and Austria’s Teresa Stadlober in third after a gruelling race.
The wind played havoc with the shooting in an exciting Biathlon mixed relay race, gusting up to 5.6 metres per second at some points. A gripping three-man finish gave Norway their second gold, France recovered from a dreadful first leg to claim the silver, while the Russian team took bronze.
The wind was also buffeting the snowboarders. Great Britain’s Katie Ormerod – who missed out in Pyeongchang in 2018 due to a horrendous injury – failed to qualify for the finals of the women’s slopestyle. New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott leads the pack going into tomorrow’s final. Jamie Anderson and Julia Marino of the US, and Australia’s Tess Coady are all safely through. “It’s cold! It’s hard to keep your core temperature warm and then doing tricks feels a little bit more intimidating as you are just, like, stiff,” said two-time Olympic gold medalist Anderson.
The Dutch have been a dominant force at Olympic speed skating for years, and there was no let-up as Irene Schouten claimed the Netherlands’ first gold in the 3,000m speed skating. She broke Germany’s Claudia Pechstein’s Olympic record that had stood since 2002. Incredibly, aged 49, Pechstein herself also broke a record today – becoming the oldest woman to compete at a Winter Olympics.
Things you might have missed
Shaun White, triple gold medallist and the oldest member of the US team in China has announced that the Beijing Games will be his final snowboarding event. He told a press conference that when he made the decision he was on a chairlift by himself. “I was watching the sun go down and it just hit me,” he said. “It was very sad and a surreal moment but really joyous as well.”
A total of 45 new positive Covid tests have been announced, with athletes and officials accounting for 25 of the cases. “In general we think the situation is under control. The cases within the closed loop have not spread and they do not affect the competition” said Huang Chun, the Games’ deputy director-general of the office of pandemic prevention and control.
Dutch journalist Sjoerd den Daas was dragged away by Chinese security officials in the middle of making a live broadcast for NOS last night. The IOC has rather blandly described it as “an unfortunate circumstance”. He was eventually able to continue broadcasting from the opening ceremony.
