Beijing Winter Olympics 2022: Opening ceremony, ‘sleeping Putin’ & more
Team Great Britain beat hosts China 6-5 in mixed doubles curling on Sunday, securing a second spot in the overall standings.
“We’re doing a lot of things right, the dynamic we’ve created has been great, and we’re very happy with our result,” said Bruce Mouat.
GB will face Norway in their next game today, who are fifth in the standings after six games played, and are still well within a shout to qualify.
Meanwhile, the United States won its first silver of the 2022 Olympics as Julia Marino bagged second place in the snowboarding slopestyle final. She was bested only by Zoi Sadowski Synnott, who won a historic first Winter Olympics gold for New Zealand.
There are a total of seven medals up for grabs in today’s events and so far 16 countries have made the podium, with Norway and Slovenia leading the tally with two medals each. Team GB is yet to get its first medal.
Follow the latest updates:
Australian curlers to return to competition despite Covid scare
Australia’s first-ever Olympic mixed doubles curling team, which was forced to pull out of the Beijing Games after Tahli Gill returned a series of positive Covid-19 tests, will now return to the competition, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has announced.
The last minute change came after Gill and Dean Hewitt were given permission by the Chinese public health authorities to continue competing under close contact rules following a meeting of the Medical Expert Panel.
The AOC earlier said it was trying to make arrangements to have Gill and Hewitt fly home rather than having Gill remain in an isolation hotel.
The duo will now compete in the match against Switzerland at 2pm, as scheduled.
Stuti Mishra6 February 2022 06:00
‘Can’t really believe it’, New Zealand’s first ever Winter Olympic champion reacts to gold medal
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has spoken after making history by winning New Zealand’s first ever gold medal in any Winter Olympics. She won the women’s snowboarding slopestyle earlier, with the US taking silver.
“Honestly, I can’t really believe it,” she said. “I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time and yet for it to happen in reality, it’s going to take a while to process.”
The 20-year-old from Wanaka – who went in as the defending world champion – made an emphatic start in her opening ride at the Genting Snow Park and completed a stunning final run to win gold as the last rider up.
“I was at the top, and I just knew that I had to put down the run that I’ve been planning to do [for] the Olympics for the last year, really. And I just, yeah, I just had to be completely on it.”
Cheers erupted in the stands after Sadowski-Synnott’s run and two other medallists piled on top of her to congratulate her.
“Could not be more proud right now,” the official account of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Teams quickly tweeted after her win, as she scored an impressive 92.88 on her final run.
Stuti Mishra6 February 2022 05:43
Alpine skiing: Men’s downhill postponed due to wind
The men’s downhill race at the Beijing Olympics has been postponed due to heavy winds in the upper and middle areas of the course that made it too dangerous to race.
Organisers said the opening event of the Alpine competition will now take place on another date, yet to be determined.
Stuti Mishra6 February 2022 05:26
Mixed doubles curling: British curlers beat China 6-5
Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds led Great Britain to victory in their mixed doubles curling clash with China, bringing Team GB to second in the overall standings.
A double take-out by Mouat at the last moment sealed a priceless victory for Team GB, winning the match by 6-5.
The curling duo’s victory today has put them in a strong spot heading to the final two games as the top four teams from qualifying will proceed to the semi-finals and fight for a medal.
GB will face Norway in their next game, who are fifth in the standings after six games played, and are still well within a shout to qualify.
Stuti Mishra6 February 2022 04:36
Snowboarding: Julia Marino wins first medal for the US
Snowboarder Julia Marino has won silver for the United States in the women’s slopestyle snowboarding, their first medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Marino, 24, placed sixth in qualifying for the final, but stunned everyone with her second run, which scored her an 87.68, enough to cement her standing on the podium despite a fall in her third run.
Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand won the gold and Tess Coady of Australia took bronze. It was the first ever gold medal won by New Zealand in the Winter Olympics.
Stuti Mishra6 February 2022 04:21
Welcome back to The Indepedent’s rolling coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics. A total of seven medals are up for grabs today in Snowboarding, Ski Jumping and Luge among others.
Stuti Mishra6 February 2022 03:53
Round-up of Saturday’s action at 2022 Winter Olympics
Well, what a Saturday of sport it has been in Beijing.
Norway took a sensational victory in the biathlon mixed relay thanks to Johannes Thingnes Boe, who pulled his team back from nowhere in the anchor leg before an absolutely superb sprint to the line took him ahead of France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet and Eduard Latyapov of the Russian Olympic committee to win.
In the women’s individual normal hill ski jump final, meanwhile, Slovenia’s Urša Bogataj took gold with a sensational final jump. Katharina Althaus of Germany led the standings going into the final jumps but lost points on style and comes second again after taking silver in Pyeongchang four years ago.
21-year-old Walter Wallberg won the men’s moguls gold medal, meanwhile. The Swede delivered a spellbinding run at the very end of the final at sensational speed in order to dethrone the defending champion Mikael Kingsbury, who had set an impressive score of his own in the previous run.
On the ice, the Netherlands’ Irene set a new Olympic record while winning gold in the women’s 3000m speed skating, while China took their first gold of the games in the mixed relay speed skating.
For Team GB, curlers Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds won one and lost in the mixed doubles curling, while brothers Farrell and Niall Treacy were both knocked out in the heats of the men’s 100m speed skating.
Dan Austin5 February 2022 14:30
China win first gold of home Games
China have taken their first gold medal of the Games after securing victory in the short track mixed relay speed skating event.
The hosts had never before won the gold in this event, but managed to do so in front of the home crowd by beating Italy, Hungary and Canada on the ice.
Italy’s Pietro Sighel pushed the Chinese hard on the final lap, but the host nation won by a margin of just 0.016s to take the gold.
Dan Austin5 February 2022 14:11
Team GB beaten by Italy in curling
Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat have conceded defeat against Italy in the mixed doubles curling at the National Aquatics Centre.
The Scottish pair needed three points in the final end but shook hands with their Italian opponents before playing their final shot as they were resigned to coming up short.
This is Team GB’s second defeat in six matches, while Italy maintain their 100 percent record and are flying at the top of the round robin standings.
Wins for Norway, Switzerland and Canada mean GB sit third in the table with three games left to play.
Dan Austin5 February 2022 13:52
Italy take big lead prior to final curling end vs Team GB
A less than ideal end from Team GB gives Italy a great chance to score big, and they take advantage.
The Italian pair take a long time-out and discuss their options with coach Violetta Caldart prior to their final shot, which Stefania Constantini absolutely nail, knocking away Jennifer Dodds’ red stone and scoring three in the process. The umpire is out to measure a possible fourth point for Italy but after a contentious debate, three is the final result.
The Italians now lead 7-4 with just one end to play, and it would take a sensational comeback from the British pair to avoid defeat now.
Dan Austin5 February 2022 13:38