Emerging from a cloud of controversy and recrimination, 15-year-old Kamila Valieva delivered her lowest score of the season but it was still more than enough to lead the women’s figure skating competition after the short programme at the Winter Olympics.
Valieva, cleared to compete by an ad-hoc committee of the Court of Arbitration for Sport despite a positive drugs test, stumbled on her opening triple axel but scored 82.16 to finish ahead of compatriot Anna Shcherbakova.
It leaves Valieva as the clear favourite to win the event when it concludes with the free skate on Thursday, but if she finishes in the top three no medals will be awarded with the podium put on hold until the full investigations into the Russian’s doping case has concluded.
Elsewhere, Brad Hall and Nick Gleeson crashed on their penultimate run of the two-man bobsleigh in Yanqing as Great Britain’s nightmare Games continued.
Hall’s sled overturned towards the end of the run and they slid over the finish line on their side, but both emerged apparently unscathed and later completed the final run and ended 11th overall.
There was better news for Britain’s curlers as the women’s team kept their medal hopes alive with an emphatic 10-4 win over Japan before the men’s team advanced to the semi-finals with a 7-6 victory over the previously unbeaten Swedish side.
Star of the day
Italy’s Sofia Goggia won a remarkable silver medal in the women’s downhill just three weeks after partially tearing a knee ligament in a crash in Cortina.
The reigning Olympic champion revealed she battled through the pain barrier to take second place, 0.16 seconds behind gold medallist Corinne Suter of Switzerland, with Goggia’s compatriot Nadia Delgado taking bronze.
“The path to come here after the crash in Cortina was tough, but I had no room for doubts,” Goggia said. “I really did believe that I could make it, and this is why I did it.”
Fail of the day
Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber squandered a massive lead after taking a wrong turn in the Nordic combined large hill/10km event.
Riiber, who was only released from two weeks in isolation on Monday after testing positive for coronavirus on arrival in Beijing, produced a remarkable jump of 142 metres on the large hill to earn a 44-second lead.
However, the 24-year-old took a wrong turn at the end of the first lap of the cross-country ski and ended up skiing down what would be the eventual finishing straight.
That allowed his rivals to close the gap and team-mate Joergen Graabak went on to claim the gold medal ahead of compatriot Jens Luras Oftebro. Japan’s Akito Watabe took bronze.
Picture of the day
Social media moment
As Hall and Gleeson walked down the track following their crash, an official behind them proved how difficult it is to simply walk on the ice.
What’s on tomorrow?
Dave Ryding gets the chance to build on his remarkable World Cup win in Kitzbuhel last month when he goes in the men’s slalom from 0215GMT. It’s another crucial day at the curling where Eve Muirhead’s women face a potentially make-or-break clash with China (0105), while Bruce Mouat’s men are already assured of a semi-final place ahead of facing the Russian Olympic Committee (0605). Andrew Young and James Clugnet represent GB in the cross-country team sprint (1100).
