Today in a nutshell: It was golden oldies day on the snowboard for the US, but there’s still no decision on whether one of the youngest athletes at the Games – Kamila Valieva –will be able to compete again
Next up: There is some ski jumping, ice hockey, curling and the women’s skeleton still to be contested today. Tomorrow is the men’s giant slalom, the women’s monobob, and a couple more biathlon contests
After waiting 16 years to win a first Olympic gold medal, Lindsey Jacobellis captured her second in four days, pairing with Nick Baumgartner to win the inaugural mixed team snowboard cross event for the US. Baumgartner, 40, and Jacobellis, 36, become the oldest snowboarders to win any Olympic medal and the oldest Americans to win gold at the Winter Games since 1948. “We’re 80s babies and we were comin’ in hot today,” said Jacobellis.
The journalists who broke the story of Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) skater Kamila Valieva’s positive drugs test on Wednesday say they have faced death threats, abuse, and warnings that they should check their tea. Valieva’s coach Eteri Tutberidze spoke to Russian state television for the first time since the scandal emerged, to say that she was certain the skater was “clean and innocent”.
“It’s unclear why an athlete with a suspected doping on 25 December was cleared to compete at the Olympics,” Tutberidze said. “Either it is an ill-fated confluence of circumstances, or it’s a very well-planned plan.”
Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse, has said the failed drug test was a reminder of how vulnerable young athletes remain. “A child does not make a choice to take those kinds of medications unless they’re given to her by somebody who’s in authority.”
The US men’s ice hockey team pulled off a 4-2 win over Canada in Group A of the preliminary round. It doesn’t quite guarantee the US top spot in the group – they have one more group match to go, against Germany tomorrow. With NHL stars absent from Beijing, Brian O’Neill is the lone US returnee from the 2018 Olympics. “We didn’t back down from their physical play,” said US captain Andy Miele. “I love the way our team responded. I’m so proud of this group. We took a beating. They kept on going forward, we kept on coming back at them and got the outcome that we deserved.”
ROC dominated the 4x7.5km women’s cross-country skiing relay, finishing over 18 seconds ahead of Germany in second place. Sweden took bronze, just half a second ahead of Finland after the 54-minute race.
Things you might have missed
Suzanne Schulting scored another Netherlands gold in the short track skating, winning the women’s 1,000m yesterday. She broke the world record along the way in the quarter-finals, and afterwards said: “I skated a world record and I was really excited. And then I said, ‘Oh damn, I still have to do the semis and then we have the finals.’”
Also setting a record on the ice, Japan’s women’s speed skating team posted an Olympic one in the quarter-finals today. That competition concludes on Tuesday.
Gao Tingyu thrilled the home crowd at the National Speed Skating Oval with an Olympic record and a gold medal for the hosts in the men’s 500m. Cha Min-kyu of South Korea took silver – just as he had in Pyeongchang last time out. Just 0.05 of a second separated third place from sixth place, but it was Wataru Morishige of Japan who won the bronze in the end by a whisker.
Canada’s women raced into an early lead and never looked back in their ice hockey quarter-final against Sweden. They won yesterday’s late match 11-0. Today’s first quarter-final saw Switzerland knock out ROC 4-2. Canada and Switzerland will play each other in the semi-finals on Monday. The US look set to face Finland who were leading Japan 5-1 going into the third period of their quarter-final.
In the women’s curling, after this morning’s fourth session, the US and Switzerland remain unbeaten after three matches. Japan, South Korea and Sweden are tucked in behind them in the standings with two wins and one defeat each. In the men’s, Sweden are at the top of the standings with a perfect four victories so far. Switzerland have three wins from four and are in second place.
You might also enjoy:
‘Clean and innocent’: Valieva’s coach breaks her silence on doping scandal
Jaclyn Narracott on brink of history as Australian skeleton queen eyes gold
Farewell to the Flying Tomato: how Shaun White left an Olympic legacy
The briefing’s picture of the day
It was family joy for Norway in the men’s 10km spring biathlon. Johannes Thingnes Bø added a second gold to the one he won as part of the mixed relay team. His older brother Tarjel took bronze. Sandwiched in between the siblings was Quentin Fillon Maillet of France.
What to look out for next
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.
Later today – Saturday 12 February
8pm Ski jumping – the men’s large hill individual final round 🥇
8.05pm Curling – Great Britain’s women take on the so far unbeaten US in a match you feel Team GB really need to win 🥌
8.20pm and 9.55pm Skeleton – the final two rounds for the women 🥇
9.05pm Ice hockey – the evening action is ROC v Czech Republic and Switzerland v Denmark in Group B of the men’s competition 🏒
Tomorrow – Sunday 13 February
9.05am and 2.05pm and 8.05pm Curling – various men’s and women’s round robin matches, with Team GB and the US involved in every session 🥌
9.30am and 11am Bobsleigh – heats one and two of the women’s monobob
10.15am and 1.45pm Alpine skiing – it is the men’s giant slalom 🥇
12.10pm and 4.40pm and 9.10pm Ice hockey – the US face Germany in the final game of the day 🏒
3pm Cross-country skiing – the men’s 4x10km which would last approximately 1,057 hours if they were doing it at the pace I could cover 10km on skis 🥇
5pm and 6.45pm Biathlon – they are absolutely spoiling us with the biathlon on Sunday. The women do their 10km pursuit first and then the men do their 12.5km pursuit 🥇
7pm-8.14pm Short track speed skating – the women’s 3,000m relay and the men’s 500m race today 🥇
9.56pm Speed skating – the women’s 500m 🥇
Full Winter Olympics schedule | Results, sport by sport | Medal table
How things stand
Here’s what the emoji table looked like at 6.25pm Beijing time. Five nations now have five gold medals or more, and Germany really have gone top – this isn’t a mistake by me this time.
1 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 7 🥈 5 🥉 0 total: 12
2 🇳🇴 Norway 🥇 7 🥈 3 🥉 6 total: 16
3 🇺🇸 United States 🥇 5 🥈 5 🥉 1 total: 11
4 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🥇 5 🥈 4 🥉 1 total: 10
5 🇸🇪 Sweden 🥇 5 🥈 2 🥉 3 total: 10
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The last word
I’m going to pick a bit out of Barney Ronay’s column that was published after I sent the newsletter yesterday as the last word today. But I’d also recommend you read it in full. It is brilliantly written, brutal, and true.
Right now Zhu Yi and Kamila Valieva, first and last in the same field, both look like victims, collateral human damage in the game of sport as geopolitics, sport as toxic global circus. The after-drama is yet to play itself out. But there is a kind of zugzwang here. There is no happy way for Valieva’s situation to resolve itself; and no outcome that doesn’t leave the Olympic Games looking just a little bit more rotten – Barney Ronay, Kamila Valieva and Zhu Yi are victims in Winter Olympics’ puppet theatre of pain
