Chloe Kim goes for a trick never before seen in women’s Snowboard Halfpipe
Team GB’s men’s curling team beat Italy 7-5 in their first round-robin match of the competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Bruce Mouat was back in action following his participation alongside Jen Dodds in the mixed, joined by Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan. Earlier the women’s team, led by Eve Muirhead, lost to Switzerland in a tense extra-end finish, but can redeem themselves against Sweden (12.05pm GMT). There are also snowboard cross finals (from 7am), freestyle skiing mixed aerials finals (from 11am GMT) and much more.
American skater Nathan Chen earned an elusive Olympic gold medal today following his record short programme with a near-perfect free skate that earned him a standing ovation from supporters inside historic Capital Indoor Stadium. And the US took another gold earlier in the day after Chloe Kim successfully defended her title in the women’s halfpipe final.
Chen’s success brought a welcome respite in an otherwise tense atmosphere where the buzz was centred on day-old reports – still unconfirmed – that Russian Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old gold medal favourite in the women’s competition, had tested positive for a banned drug. Valieva was part of the six-person Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team that won gold on Monday. Medals from that event have yet to be awarded with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) citing unspecified legal reasons for the indefinite delay.
Follow the latest updates from Beijing 2022:
Muirhead upbeat after Team GB curling defeat to Switzerland
Team GB skip Eve Muirhead is focusing on the positives after her team came up short against Switzerland in the opening match of the women’s curling round robin.
In a tense fixture the teams were separated by just one point at the culmination of the tenth end, and Muirhead says the performance can still provide a platform for success.
“As much as it was a loss on the scoreboard, we can take a lot of things that keep us positive,” the 31-year-old said. “As a team I think we worked very, very well. All our communication and shot play was good but maybe we just didn’t play the crucial shots at the right time.”
“I’m very glad that I’ve got the opportunity to be here with four girls at their first Olympic Games,” the four-time competitor added. “I’m proud of them, how much they’ve come along and fought and they deserve their spot in the team.”
Dan Austin10 February 2022 10:03
Wyatt says track changes making Beijing skeleton difficult
Marcus Wyatt is a few spots below Matt Weston in the skeleton standings, and has been discussing how evolution in the track since his last visit to Beijing has made things more difficult.
“We were last here in October,” he said. “The general way tracks are maintained, putting the water onto the ice shape, it just changes over time and some of the corners are behaving a bit differently.”
“It’s really special [to be an Olympian], he added. “We’ve been here for a week and a half maybe two weeks and that hasn’t quite sunk in, I think it will take some time. But it is literally a childhood dream. It’s something I can be proud of forever.”
Dan Austin10 February 2022 09:52
Weston bemoans “10 or 12 mistakes” in skeleton run
Team GB has won medals in the skeleton events for the past five Winter Olympic Games, but looks likely to miss out this time after poor opening runs from athletes Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt left them down the order.
Weston is 13th ahead of the final two runs tomorrow, and feels he made two many mistakes.
“I could probably look at it and look at about ten or 12 mistakes that I made,” the 24-year-old said. “I’m not happy, I’m hopefully going to go away tonight, look at the video review and come back even stronger tomorrow. Hopefully, if I have a run I’m satisfied with then I think I can jump up a few places.”
Dan Austin10 February 2022 09:41
Russia faces questions over doping reports and figure skating controversy
But according to news reports in Russian newspapers RBC and Kommersant, Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, which is used to treat chest pain and angina, before arriving in the Chinese capital.
The drug increases blood flow to the heart and limits rapid swings in blood pressure and has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s [WADA] list of prohibited substances since 2014.
You can read the fully story here:
Dan Austin10 February 2022 09:30
Wins in curling for Sweden and ROC
Other men’s curling matches were going on while the Brits were beating the Italians at the National Aquatics Centre, as the round robin format got underway.
There was a win for Sweden over the United States in a replay of the Pyeongchang final four years ago, with the Swedes three points ahead before the American conceded defeat in the final end.
The Russian Olympic Committee, meanwhile, beat hosts China by the same score after coming from 4-3 down in the ninth end to steal the victory.
Dan Austin10 February 2022 09:20
Cousins lauds “true champion” Nathan Chen after figure skating gold
Former Olympic champion Robin Cousins has hailed Nathan Chen’s gold medal-winning performance in the men’s short program figure skating.
The 22-year-old unleashed a sensational performance earlier this week to post a world record, and secured the gold earlier this morning in his final display.
“He was fantastic,” Cousins exclaimed. “He was over 20 points in front of the end. Nathan lay down the exact program he planned – five quadruple jumps! What was science fiction in my time he has gone out and done perfectly. The thing for me is that you can see the focus, you can see his self preservation. It’s all on or all off, and he’s been so on for the past few seasons. It was absolutely sensational, and today he delivered exactly what he set out to do. He is a true, true champion.”
Dan Austin10 February 2022 09:07
Mouat hails “momentum” of early Team GB curling win
Team GB skipper Bruce Mouat has hailed the team’s winning start to the men’s curling competition in Beijing after the 7-5 victory over Italy.
The 27-year-old missed out on a medal in the mixed doubles with Jennifer Dodds and is hoping to put that right in the mean’s team event.
“I was looking forward to [my team-mates] getting to experience this,” he said. “I didn’t have my best of starts but we settled into it and got going. This is where I feel at home with these boys. It’s very important [to start with a win] to get momentum going for the week, and Italy were on a high after their win [in the mixed doubles]. We had to come and perform and we’re really chuffed that we did.”
“We knew we would get chances in the second half of the match and has to take them,” team-mate Grant Hardie added. “Bruce made a couple of great shots to take advantage of their mistakes.”
Dan Austin10 February 2022 08:57
Team GB wins curling match with Italy
Team GB have won their opening fixture in the men’s curling by beating Italy 7-5 at the National Aquatics Centre.
GB are the European champions and they managed the game well here after a strong start from the Italians, with some strong placement on tough shots from the British men helping them take control in the second half to make a promising side to their tournament.
Bruce Mouat missed out on a medal in the mixed doubles with team-mate Jennifer Dodds but put in an impressive performance here, shooting with 90 percent accuracy to lead the team to an opening round win.
Dan Austin10 February 2022 08:48
Chen talks “amazing” figure skating gold
In the early of the morning the United States’ Nathan Chen took a stunning gold in the men’s shot program figure skating competition.
The 22-year-old set a world record early on in the competition with a sensational performance that earned him a score of 113.97, and he was a comfortable overall winner in the end.
“It feels amazing,” he said afterwards. “Words can’t even describe. I never thought I would be able to make it this far and I am really really happy. My family, my friends, my coach Rafael (Arutyunyan) and all my other coaches. They were all supporting me and they all put so much of their lives into this. It means the world to have this opportunity to share this with Raf. I know he wanted this more than anything.”
Dan Austin10 February 2022 08:44
Strolz reacts to winning gold after father did the same
Austria’s Johannes Strolz took gold in the men’s Alpine combined earlier this morning.
The event sees athletes compete to set the fastest overall time in two disciplines, first a run of downhill and second a run of slalom. 29-year-old topped the timesheets in Beijing to beat off competition Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway and Canada’s James Crawford, and is following in the footsteps of his father Hubert, who won gold in the same event at the Calgary Games in 1988.
Reacting afterwards, Strolz said: “It means the world to me because I was not on the team any more last summer, and made it back into the team, got the full support again. Especially with the history of my father, it means so much to me. When I think about it, all the pictures and the gold medal of my father, it’s hard for me not to cry. It’s just a dream coming true.”
Dan Austin10 February 2022 08:34