Hosts China won their first gold medal of the Winter Olympics in Beijing as they swept to victory in speed skating’s short track mixed team relay.
The quartet of Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin, Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei looked to be in trouble after finishing only third in their semi-final but were advanced to the final after both the Russian Olympic Committee and USA were disqualified following a review of the race.
There, they took the gold ahead of Italy, with Hungary claiming bronze.
Earlier on Saturday, Norway’s Therese Johaug had claimed the first gold medal of the Games with a dominant success in the women’s 15km skiathlon, winning by 30 seconds from Russian skier Natalia Nepryaeva and Austria’s Teresa Stadlober.
Team GB latest
British curlers Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds face two crucial matches against China and Norway after slipping to a 7-5 defeat against leaders Italy on Saturday evening, having earlier beaten Czech Republic 8-3.
The pair are the defending world champions in the mixed doubles event and have now won four and lost two of their six round-robin matches, meaning they remain in a strong position to qualify for the medal rounds.
Britain’s short-track skaters, meanwhile, endured a disastrous day at Beijing’s Capital Indoor Stadium. Kathryn Thomson fell in the first round of the women’s 500m while in the men’s 1,000m Niall Treacy crashed out in his heat before, minutes later, brother Farrell lunged for the line a lap early in his, an error which destroyed his chance of qualification.
“I swear I heard a bell and I went to the line a lap early, which is obviously excruciating in the position I was in,” he told BBC Sport.
“It’s my fault. I’ve never done this before so it’s not a great time to do it, at the Olympic Games.”
Snowboarder Katie Ormerod, considered a medal contender ahead of Pyeongchang four years ago before being ruled out through injury, failed to advance to the final of the women’s slopestyle, finishing 19th in qualifying, with only the top 12 progressing.
Winter Olympics 2022 medal table
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
1 |
Norway |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Slovenia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3= |
China |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3= |
Netherlands |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3= |
Sweden |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
Italy |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
7= |
Canada |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7= |
ROC |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
9= |
France |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
9= |
Germany |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
- |
Great Britain |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
