The Winter Olympics today …
- Team GB finally have a medal. The men’s curling team claimed silver after a 5-4 defeat to Sweden after the final went to an extra end.
- Nico Porteous defied the wind and crashes to win the freeski halfpipe – New Zealand’s second ever Winter Olympics gold.
- Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won her third gold and fourth medal overall from Beijing in the women’s mass start as the speed skating competition drew to a close. Bart Swings won Belgium’s first gold of Beijing in the men’s mass start race.
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Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi continued German dominance at the Xiaohaituo Bobsleigh and Luge Track in Yanqing. They took gold in the 2-woman bobsleigh. Compatriot and defending champion Mariama Jamanka piloted herself and Alexandra Burghardt for silver.
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Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China won the pairs skatings by the narrowest of margins from Eteri Tutberidze-trained Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of the Russian Olympics Committee.
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US figure skaters whose Olympic team silver medals are being withheld on account of the positive drugs test by 15-year-old Kamila Valieva have filed an appeal with the Court of arbitration of sport to have them awarded before the end of the Games, with a decision expected before the closing ceremony.
- British freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, signed off his Olympic career with a swipe at the IOC for allowing China to host, saying “When there’s human rights and the country’s stance on LGBT, those issues should be taken into consideration by the IOC.”
- Sweden won the bronze medal in the women’s curling - beating Switzerland, who had topped the round robin stage with only one defeat in nine matches, 9-7.
- Two late empty-net goals handed Slovakia a 4-0 victory over Sweden to claim the bronze medal in the men’s ice hockey tournament.
- The Alpine skiing mixed team parallel contest has been rescheduled to tomorrow due to adverse weather conditions.
- The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Norway staged a shut-out of the first six places in the men’s 50km mass start cross-country ski. The race was delayed by an hour and shortened to 30km due to cold temperatures and high winds. Alexander Bolshunov won his third gold of the Games for ROC.
We will be back tomorrow. Here is what you can expect – all times are Beijing time:
- 9am Alpine Skiing – the rescheduled mixed team parallel contest 🥇
- 9.05am Curling – the women’s gold medal match: Great Britain v Japan (that is an unsociable 1.05am in the UK I am afraid)🥇
- 9.30am and 11.20am Bobsleigh – the final two runs of the four-man competition 🥇
- 12.10pm Ice hockey – the men’s gold-medal match, Finland v the Russian Olympic Committee 🥇
- 3pm Cross-country skiing– the women’s 30km mass free start – this has been moved a bit later due to the weather, and presumably shortened although I am yet to see any confirmation of that 🥇
- 8pm Closing ceremony – Oh, that’s it. I’ll be here on the live blog again for that, and probably crying again.
Here are some of our key stories and galleries from today:
Take care, I’ll see you tomorrow.
Men's ice hockey bronze for Slovakia!
Men’s ice hockey: Two late empty-net goals handed Slovakia a 4-0 victory over Sweden to claim the bronze medal in the men’s tournament.
It is the first time that Slovakia’s men or women have earned a medal in ice hockey at the Winter Olympics, although back in the day Czechoslovakia earned four silvers and five bronzes in the men’s contest. Since the countries split, the Czech Republic have earned a gold in 1988, as well as a silver and a bronze in the men’s contest. Slovakia were yet to make a similar impression, and were overjoyed at the buzzer.
