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.
Men’s ice hockey: Slovakia have wrapped up the ice hockey bronze for sure, with two empty-net goals in rapid succession as Sweden were chasing a way back into the match. It is now 4-0, with less than a minute to go.
US figure skaters file appeal to get team event medals presented before Closing Ceremony
If you were hoping for a little bit more controversy from the penultimate day of these Winter Olympics, then I have good news for you. Associated Press are reporting that the US figure skaters whose Olympic silver medals are being withheld have filed an appeal to have them awarded before the end of the Beijing Games, with a decision expected before the closing ceremony.
The Court of arbitration for sport confirmed to AP that it was hearing the case Saturday evening in Beijing and expected a rapid ruling. In a letter sent to International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, lawyers for the skaters said they sought a decision before Sunday’s closing ceremony.
Kamila Valieva led the Russian team to a victory in last week’s team event, but the medal ceremony was cancelled as the event became mired in the news of her positive doping test.
US figure skating executive director Ramsey Baker has given a statement in support of the skaters, saying “Having a medal ceremony at an Olympic Games is not something that can be replicated anywhere else, and they should be celebrated in front of the world before leaving Beijing.”
Men’s ice hockey: There are less than five minutes left of the third period in the bronze medal play-off. Slovakia still lead Sweden 2-0.
If you missed this earlier I got in touch with Katie Tannenbaum, the only US Virgin Islands athlete at these Winter Olympics. She was having an absolutely torrid time, but I thought if I interviewed her it would be a lovely feelgood story with a happy ending leading into tomorrow’s closing ceremony. Dear reader, it was not …
Having lived through the Olympic Games being held in London, I know there is loads of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. In Beijing, as in Tokyo, a lot of that has been complicated by the pandemic and the need to take precautions against Covid infection. Steven Bloor has put together this gallery of the sights away from the events themselves, showing an entirely different side to these Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Bronze medal for Sweden in the women's curling!
Women’s curling: Sweden – ahem – pretty much swept all before them in the round-robin stage, except for Switzerland. That stage of the contest finished with the Swiss top of the pile with a record of eight victories and one defeat, and the Swedes in second place with seven wins and two losses. But neither side could win their semi-final, and now Sweden have prevailed 9-7 to take the bronze.
Men’s ice hockey: Slovakia have tightened their grip on the bronze medal. At the end of the second period, they lead Sweden 2-0. Samuel Takac scored the second.
Women’s curling: Well, what do I know? Switzerland just scored a three in the ninth end, so the two teams go into (potentially) the last end with Sweden’s lead cut down to 8-7. The bronze medal is at stake.
Pejman Faratin has been putting together the best pictures of the day today for you. You can find that here, and there are some absolutely cracking images out of Beijing today, one of which will give you a new understanding of why they cut the men’s 50km cross-country today down to 30km.
Women’s curling: Sweden look to be on the verge of securing the bronze medal. They lead Switzerland 8-4 as they are halfway through the ninth end, and the Swiss need to score well here or the jig is up.
2-woman bobsleigh: The Germany team have been absolutely unbeatable at the Xiaohaituo Bobsleigh and Luge Track in Yanqing. They took every luge gold medal, both skeleton gold medals, and so far have two out of three bobsleigh gold medals, with the 4-man to come which is currently being led by … a German team. Kaillie Humphries’ monobob gold for the US is the only interloper so far into this German party.
In that women’s contest just now, the Australian pair of Breeana Walker and Kiara Reddingius finished 16th. The British pairing of Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas were one place behind.
Gold for Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi of Germany in the 2-woman bobsleigh!
2-woman bobsleigh: Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt will get at least silver for Germany. It depends what Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi do on the very final run. The answer is that Nolte and Levi have gold on their Olympic debut! They’ve set a track record every time they’ve gone down the course over the last two days. They don’t quite manage it this time, but they end up winning by 0.77 seconds overall from Jamanka. Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman take bronze for the US.
Updated
2-woman bobsleigh: The US pair had different ideas and Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman are now guaranteed a medal. They lead with two German sleds to go. Meyers Taylor got silver in Sochi, silver in PyeongChang. What colour will it be in 2022?
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2-woman bobsleigh: Germany’s Kim Kalicki and Lisa Buckwitz have gone into the virtual gold position with three sleds still to go. It is possible that the German team could pull off another podium sweep here, but standing in their way is Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman of the US. They go next.
Updated
Men’s ice hockey: Slovakia have taken the lead 1-0 against Sweden in the men’s ice hockey bronze medal play-off. Juraj Slafkovsky scored the goal.
2-woman bobsleigh: Right, having brushed aside the odd tear there, let’s get straight back to people hurtling down an ice chute for no readily apparent reason. There are nine sleds to go. Breeana “two ‘e’s” Walker and Kiara Reddingius have been for Australia, and didn’t have a great run. I didn’t see it because I was
crying at
watching the figure skating, but they went nearly half-a-second slower than any of their other runs, which must be a frustration to them and has seen them drop down the order. They are currently eighth after twelve sleds.
Updated
Gold for Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China in the pairs figure skating!
Figure skating: Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China finish their routine and the home crowd – which is much larger today despite Covid restrictions – make a lot of noise. They did their routine to a version of Bridge Over Troubled Water and I know I’m tired after doing the Winter Olympics for days on end, but I found it all quite emotional. Sui bursts into tears at the end of the routine. There were a couple of tiny errors though. What will the judges think? Can they pip Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of ROC to the gold? THEY CAN! THEY HAVE! The Chinese score 239.88, the Russians scored 239.25. Could that be any closer?
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Figure skating: Eteri Tutberidze’s charges have done their routine to Lighthouse by Patrick Watson, and Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov have skated absolutely flawlessly, it seemed to me. “Just gorgeous” said Eurosport’s commentator so I am not alone. They missed out four years ago finishing fourth, but they definitely have a medal here. Has it been enough for gold? It is a ROC clean sweep of the virtual podium places. Only China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong can stop them. There was lot of emotion on the ice. The Chinese pair have a vocal home crowd cheering them on. It is genuinely nail-biting pressure stuff here.
Live blogging the evening shift in Beijing can often be a whole lot of nothing much happening, and then loads of things all at once. The women’s bobsleigh final heat is driving towards its conclusion, there are only two couples left to skate in the pairs skating, and Sweden have just taken a big 6-2 lead in the women’s curling bronze medal match against Switzerland at the end of the sixth end. The ice hockey bronze medal match between Sweden and Slovakia remains 0-0 with about three minutes left of the first period.
Figure skating: The World and European champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov have put in a technically difficult routine, and have taken the lead. That guarantees them a medal for the Russian Olympics Committee of some value. Can anybody beat their combined score of 237.71? Two couples to go …
2-woman bobsleigh: Heat four has started. As I mentioned earlier, they go in reverse order this time, which makes for a tense finish. Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas have made their final run of the Beijing Olympics, and it is their fastest time of the competition at 1:02.14. They go into first for now. There are eighteen more sleds to go.
Updated
Figure skating: I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an expert on skating – it seems to me that even attempting most of these moves is a victory in itself – but I do know that stumbling doesn’t score you points, and Aleksandra Boikova’s disappointed face said it all at the end of their routine after she failed to land one throw.
They still had enough cheer to pull off a comedy belly-flop into the padded wall as they left the ice, which I think would be about the height of my ambition in this sort of contest. They’ve gone first for now, but there are three excellent pairs to follow.
Figure skating: The Eurosport coverage of the pairs skating free skating just showed a close-up of Russian Olympic Committee coach Eteri Tutberidze giving an absolute death stare to the camera so intense that I felt it in London from Beijing. On the ice, there are four pairs left to go, the four highest scoring couples from the short program, and three of those pairs are from the ROC. Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii go next, and need a great score to push themselves from fourth into a possible podium finish.
Reuters are carrying some interesting quotes from Tony Estanguet. He is a triple canoeing Olympic champion who was France’s flag-bearer at the 2008 Beijing Games opening ceremony, and is president of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee. He has been setting some bold ambitions for those 2024 Games, and maybe having a slight dig at the organisation of Tokyo and Beijing at the same time. See what you think. He told Reuters:
We want to take the Games out of the stadiums, with a ceremony out in the city and a marathon open to the general public. We are very ambitious, we want to break new ground and offer a popular and spectacular Games. With Milan-Cortina two years later, this is an opportunity for us to start a new cycle in Europe.
We want this Games to be popular, close to the people. For a lot of people, the Paris Olympics are the light at the end of the tunnel, there are a lot of expectations in these Olympics. The Games will change everything that has been done before, we’re going to experience something unprecedented. The Games changed my life, I hope these Games can change other lives and that France will magnify the Olympics.
Organisers say that some 600,000 people are expected to attend the 2024 opening ceremony with around 160 boats setting off on the Seine on July 26 from the Pont d’Austerlitz for a six-kilometre journey to the Pont d’Iena.
While the lower part of the river bank will be subject to ticketing, there will be free access to the upper part with spectators able to see holograms on the water, dancers on the roofs of nearby buildings, and aerial shows.
The Paris Olympics will feature events staged in city locations like the Place de la Concorde and the Chateau de Versailles. In contrast to the hours travelling that athletes, the media and spectators have racked up travelling in recent Olympics, the Paris organisers stress that many venues will be within walking distance of each other.
As well as Sweden’s women curlers battling for a bronze at the moment, Sweden’s men are about to try and finish third in the men’s ice hockey competition. They lost their semi-final 2-1 to the Russian Olympic Committee. Slovakia stunned the US in their quarter-final, but then couldn’t overcome Finland in the semi-final. Sweden v Slovakia starts about ten past the hour.
Regular readers of my contributions to this live blog will know that I have got quite a cob on about the format of this tournament, where none of the group matches actually eliminated anybody. Sweden played Slovakia in Group C on Friday 11 February, and the Swedes overpowered the Slovaks 4-1 on that occasion. I’ll bring you the goals as they go in today.
Sweden have opened up a two point lead over Switzerland in the bronze medal match for the women curlers. It is 3-1 after four ends.
Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas have done their thrid and fastest run in the bobsleigh for Team GB. They have posted their best time of 1:02.17, but it is nowhere near fast enough to move them up the rankings. They are 0.11 seconds behind 18th placed Anastasiia Makarova and Elena Mamedova of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Not only have I got to remember that Breeana has two ‘e’s, I now discover that Anastasiia has two ‘i’s. This is becoming trickier than I bargained for.
Everybody has gone in heat three now. There is a break of about forty minutes in the bobsleigh until we get going again at 9.30pm in Beijing.
Away from the bobsleigh – which I am finding very compelling – the pairs skating competition is halfway through today’s free program. The medals will be decided by the end of the night.
At the moment it is the Georgian pair of Karina Safina and Luka Berulava who are sitting at the top of the rankings with a combined score of 192.44.
However the eight remaining pairs are those who scored highest in the short program the other day, including a strong contingent of three pairs from the Russian Olympic Committee, and China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, who scored the most in that opening round.
Breeana Walker and Kiara Reddingius have gone for Australia in the bobsleigh. 1:02.04 wasn’t their best time, but they have done better than a couple of the sleds that were ahead of them, and have managed to gain two places. With five sleds to go, they are sitting tenth. There’s a bonus point in it for me if I can get all the way through this live blog shift and remember that there are two ‘e’s in Breeana every time.
First blood in that women’s curling bronze medal play-off has gone to Sweden, who have taken a 1-0 lead over Switzerland after the first end.
Today so far in Beijing …
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.
- The remaining action today features the bronze medal match for the women’s curling, a bronze medal play-off in the men’s ice hockey, the free skating in the pair skating, and the conclusion of the 2-woman bobsleigh.
Updated
Cynthia Appiah and Richardson Wilson of Canada have just crashed on their third bobsleigh run. Everyone held their breath as they slid a long way on their side, and at one point one of them reached their arm out to try and slow the sled down against the wall. They are both up and walking and seem fine. Appiah looks furious with herself. The sled crossed the line and they’ve been given a time though, so, provided they feel ok, they will probably still go in heat four.
There will be a slight delay now. So far eight sleds had gone. The only position change has been Germany’s Kim Kalicki moving up from sixth to fifth.
Updated
Also just starting as we get into the evening in Beijing is the bronze medal match in the women’s curling. This feels like a distinct lesson in keeping your form up right to the last moment. Switzerland only lost one of their nine round-robin matches. Sweden only lost two. And then both of them contrived to lose their semi-finals and find themselves out of contention for the gold, despite clearly being the two strongest teams in the competition.
They played each other on Valentine’s Day during the round robin stage – Sweden emerged victorious 6-5 in that match. There will be no love lost between them today etc etc
Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi went first, and they’ve just set a new track record again – touching 133kph at one point. They are the first women on this track to go sub 1:01.00, with a time of 1:00.70.
Fellow Germans Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt are second down. They record a time of 1:00.98, which would have been a track record if they’d gone first. It means they’ve slightly slipped back in second place.
The gap between Nolte and Jamanka at the top of the standings will be 0.78 going into the final heat. That’s a lot of time to try and make up, although fractions of seconds are very easy to lose in the bobsleigh.
Hello, Martin Belam here. The third heat of the women’s 2-women bobsleigh is about to take place. They do four runs in total, and we are now down to the last twenty sleds. Slightly unsatisfactorily from a sporting spectacle point of view, on this run they go in the order of the standings, fastest first, so it is a bit like watching twenty teams, each slightly progressively slower than the last. The fourth heat, when they go in reverse order, is much more fun.
Germany’s Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi lead going into this heat, with compatriots and reigning champions Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt next. Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman of the US are in the virtual bronze position. Australia’s pairing of Breeana Walker and Kiara Reddingius go twelfth, Team GB’s Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas are in 19th place, 2.49 seconds off the lead.
That’s all from me: As the clock ticks towards 8pm in Beijing, I will leave you in the very capable hands of my colleague Martin Belam, who assures me he is feeling very Olympic today. Thanks for your time and have a great weekend, folks.
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Team GB curling skip Bruce Moat speaks ...
The Scot has been sharing his thoughts after he and his team-mates came up marginally short in the final of the men’s curling, going down by a solitary point to their imperious Swedish opponents led by Niklas Edin, who played a borderline perfect game.
“It’s very special to have that kind of support from back home,” upon being told he’d been sent tweets from the Royal family’s official Twitter account before and after the match. “To have messages from the Royal Family is one of the biggest moments of our lives I’m sure.
Asked if this defeat would help fuel Team GB’s efforts to go one better in 2026, Mouat said: “It definitely drives us forward. We’ve put in so much hard work over the last five years and we can’t thank the National Lottery and British Curling enough for all the work they’ve put in for us. It’s always going to continue hopefully and we will be driving harder to get that gold medal next time.”
🥈Congratulations @TeamMouat on your Silver Medal and bringing home @TeamGB’s first #Beijing2022 medal!
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 19, 2022
You should be incredibly proud of your performance this week 👏 https://t.co/YhO2gJgz2Z
Men’s cross-country skiing: Alexander Bolshunov of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) blazed his way to a third Beijing Olympic gold when he took the mass start 50km title in a race postponed for an hour and shortened to 30km due to freezing winds on Saturday.
It was the first time the race had been shortened since making its debut in the first Games of 1924 but it made little difference to supreme all-rounder Bolshunov, who took charge in the latter stages to come in 5.5 seconds ahead of compatriot Ivan Yakimushkin.
Norway’s Simen Hegstad Krueger recovered from a lengthy COVID isolation to claim an impressive bronze but his highly-fancied team mate Johannes Klaebo pulled out just after the 20km-mark having been ill overnight.
Bolshunov completed a hat-trick of golds after victories in the skiathlon and the relay, as well as 15km classical silver and team sprint bronze.
“Five medals, three gold, it is something unbelievable because before the season I set the goal of two gold medals and now I have three and a medal in every race I took part in,” he said. - Reuters
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Women’s team figure skating: The United States figure skating team have asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to rule that they can receive their team silver medals before the end of the Beijing Olympics, Reuters report.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had decided no medals for the competition - won by the Russian Olympic Committee team - would be presented until the doping case of Russian 15-year-old Kamila Valieva had been resolved. That matter could take weeks or months.
Russia finished top, with the USA in second and Japan third. A source close to the proceedings told Reuters that the USA had appealed that IOC decision and asked sport’s highest court CAS to rule before the end of the Games.
Valieva tested positive for a banned heart drug after the Russian national championships on 25 December but the result was not revealed until 8 Feb, the day after she helped the ROC win the team competition.
Valieva was cleared to compete in the women’s single event by CAS, but stumbled to fourth place amid all the drama. CAS did not immediately responded to requests for comment. “The IOC will not comment on an ongoing procedure,” they said.
Women’s cross-country skiing: The final cross-country event of the Beijing Olympics has been brought forward to Sunday morning as high winds continue to buffet the skiing venue.
The men’s 50km event was postponed by an hour on Saturday and shortened to 30km due to concerns over athlete safety and the possibility that wind chill could cause frostbite or other injuries. Now the women’s event has also been moved, from 6.30am (GMT) on Sunday to the earlier time of 3am.
“The race distance and use of course remains the same,” the organisers from the International Ski Federation (FIS) said in a statement.
Women’s mass start speed skating: Irene Schouten of the Netherlands swept around the National Speed Skating Oval to win gold in the women’s mass start, clinching her third title (and fourth medal) at the Beijing Olympics.
In a showdown with Ivanie Blondin, Schouten broke away from the pack as the bell sounded for the last lap, butthe Canadian took an inner line to overtake her with half a circuit to go.
Blondin still had the lead at the last corner, but Schouten skated with everything she had and squeezed past Blondin in the last few metres before the finish.
“It is a game. Not always the fastest wins, you need some luck,” said the 29-year-old. “Today I had luck. I was fast, but I got some luck, too. Normally I skate with my team mate but she crashed so I had to switch and go on my own. I am happy my own plan worked out.”
Men’s mass start speed-skating: Belgium’s Bart Swings has won his country’s first Winter Games gold medal in 74 years. The silver medallist from Pyeongchang initially hung back before the race turned into a blistering sprint to the finish line.
Still in second place, Swings skated for his life as he rounded the final corner to overtake South Korean silver and bronze medallists Chung Jae Won and Lee Seung Hoon to win.
“It’s historical and it’s unbelievable,” the 31-year-old said after his race. “I always want to raise the bar and the next thing after silver is gold. I know it was ambitious and it’s a dream to work towards. I knew today everything could happen so I was just going to go as hard as possible and eventually I achieved it.” Staff and agencies.
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Team GB receive their silver medals: Standing to the right of Sweden, with Canada on the other side in the bronze medal position, Bruce Mouat and chums collect Team GB’s first medals of these winter Olympics. Niklas Edin and his team-mates are presented with gold medals few would begrudge them.
One who almost certainly will begrudge them it is Team GB’s Hammy McMillan. “We’ve had a good week,” he said straight after the final. “It’s not how we wanted to end it but we’ll look back at this and we’ll be proud. Right now it kind of sucks.
“They started strong, they didn’t give us an inch. We weren’t at our best at the start. We fought back hard and had a good second half.”
Sweden are your new men's #Curling Olympic champions! 🥌🥇 pic.twitter.com/ORsgJHRuhS
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 19, 2022
Team GB forced to settle for silver
Great Britain had to settle for a silver medal after losing their Olympic men’s curling final 5-4 to Sweden in an extra end in Beijing. Forced to try an ambitious effort to salvage an improbable win against the hammer, Bruce Mouat’s attempted take-out missed by inches to give Swedish skip Niklas Edin his first Olympic crown.
Mouat’s men were never in front after losing two in the second end but nevertheless the 27-year-old and his team of Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie, Grant Hardie and alternate Ross Whyte can take solace in becoming Britain’s first medallists of the Games.
It was a thoroughly impressive display by Edin, a former soldier in the Swedish army with five world titles to his name, who was under pressure in Beijing to land the one major title that still eluded him.
Sweden took the initiative when Edin took two in the second end, and under Edin’s expert stewardship, it was one they would never quite relinquish. The Swedes extended their advantage by stealing one in the third despite a brilliant double take-out by Mouat that have given him a glimmer of a greater reward.
Mouat pulled one back in the fourth for 3-2 and after Edin intentionally blanked the sixth and seventh ends to retain the last stone advantage, he made a rare error in the eighth to hand GB a steal and allow them to tie up the score at 3-3.
More clever tactics by Mouat in the eighth forced Edin to settle for one, and a pair of superb double take-outs in the ninth - first by Lammie, then Hardie, set up an intentional blank to allow GB to retain the hammer for the final end.
However, forced to take one in the 10th after some more expert work from Edin, they gave the advantage back to the Swedes for the extra end, and they forced Mouat into attempting an improbable effort which came up short. PA SPort
Meanwhile in Stranraer: “I’m bitterly disappointed for the guys because they played so well, says David Hardie, father of British curler Grant Hardie in an interview with the BBC. “They maybe started off a little bit slow in the final but it is a final and that’s the way it goes. I’m disappointed for them because they played so well.
“They set up this team four years ago with a view to getting gold at the Olympics. They just played so well but it just wasn’t for them today, unfortunately.”
Updated
Men’s curling: Arguably the greatest curler of all time, Sweden skip Niklas Edin adds Olympic gold to a medal haul that already included Olympic silver, bronze, fgive world championship golds and seven European championship golds. He and his team-mates Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wranaa and Christoffer Sundgren are understandably delighted with themselves.
Sweden win men's curling gold!!!
Men’s curling - first extra end
Great Britain 4-5 Sweden
Mouat comes so close but gets no cigar with his final stone, failing to dislodge a Swedish stone in the button despite frantic efforts from his sweepers. Sweden win the gold without Niklas Edin having to play his final stone. Team GB did little or nothing wrong in this match but have to settle for silve nonetheless.
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Updated
Men’s curling - first extra end
Great Britain 4-4 Sweden
Oof! Niklas Edin leaves his penultimate stone a mite short, leaving the door open for Bruce Mouat’s final shot of this extra end ... tense times.
Men’s curling - first extra end
Great Britain 4-4 Sweden
Sweden’s early stones are landed precisely, gradually erasing any hope for Team GB. We’re down to two stones each with team skips Bruce Mouat and Niklas Edin to play. There’s a time-out which Niklas Edin avails of to go spend a penny or perhaps just gather his thoughts ...
Men’s curling - 10th end
Great Britain 4-4 Sweden
Edin removes Bruce Mouat’s penultimate stone from the equation. Mouat can’t win the match with his final stone but he can force it to an extra end. He does exactly that, with sweepers Bobby Lammy and Hammy McMillan acknowledging his effort. Sweden have the hammer and a huge advantage.
Men’s curling - 10th end
Great Britain 3-4 Sweden
Under a ridiculous amount of pressure, Edin plays a near perfect shot, tapping red on to yellow to all but ruin Team GB’s chances of getting a two. There are two stones left to play.
Men’s curling 10th end
Great Britain 3-4 Sweden
A fine effort from Grant Hardie sets up an opportunity for Britain to get their two, giving Swedish skip Niklas Edin plenty to think about as he prepares to take the first of his two shots ...
Men’s curling 10th end
Great Britain 3-4 Sweden
“With every stone that gets played, the options for Great Britain start to fade,” says Steve Cram on the BBC, with just four of the team’s eight stones remaining and Team GB’s chance of scoring two dwindling with each slide past the hog line ...
Men’s curling - 9th end
Great Britain 3-4 Sweden
Team GB went into the penultimate end ideally needing to score at least two, or try to force a blank in order to keep the hammer in the final end. A brilliant shot from Grant Hardie with his second and Team GB’s third last stone allows Bruce Mouat to blank the end to leave the Brits a point down but - crucially - with the hammer in the final end. They’ll be happy with that. They need two to win and one to take the final to an extra end, in which case Sweden would have the hammer.
Men’s curling - 8th end
Great Britain 3-4 Sweden
Niklas Edin deliberately tries to blank the eighth end to retain the hammer as the match reaches its knockings but his first stone is misjudged. He’s forced to take his one to restore Sweden’s lead but Great Britain have the hammer with two ends to go.
“The British team are definitely growing in strength and their stone placement is really key,” says Jackie Lockhart on BBC. “I am very shocked at Niklas Edin not trying to go for his two and then forcing Great Britain to the one in the ninth before they go into the tenth. That was a real strange tactic for me.” The upshot? Both teams will think they can win this gold medal match from here.
Good luck to @TeamGB in the curling today and tomorrow @evemuirhead pic.twitter.com/E6DJolqXxN
— ASPoliceHorses (@ASPoliceHorses) February 18, 2022
Men’s curling - 7th end
Great Britain 3-3 Sweden
A long, long end regularly punctuated by long and animated conversations and consultations between the players of both teams. Sweden get themselves in a little bit of bother with a minor error and Grant Hardie capitalises with a wonderful shot to the button. With Sweden’s final two stones, Niklas Edin is unable to dislodge it. Britain take the point and are level with Sweden, who have the hammer in the eighth end. Sweden still have the advantage but Team GB have given themselves a fighting chance.
Men’s curling - 6th end
Great Britain 2-3 Sweden
Sweden blank the sixth end to frustrate Great Britain, retain the hammer and stay in control of this gold medal match. Meanwhile in Stranraer, the family and friends of several Team GB members have convened to watch this final. Katie Lammy, mother of Bobby, is interviewed by the BBC and reveals she is a bag of nerves.
Men’s bobsleigh: Brad Hall has steered his four-man Great Britain bobsleigh team within 0.31 seconds of an Olympic medal after the first two runs of the competition at Yanqing Sliding Centre, according to PA Sport.
Hall, Greg Cackett, Nick Gleeson and Taylor Lawrence sit in sixth position at the halfway stage, with two German crews and Canada’s Justin Kripps making up the medal positions ahead of the event’s conclusion tomorrow.
It marks an impressive response from Hall, a three-time four-man World Cup medallist this season, after overturning his sled in the two-man competition last Tuesday.
“We’re feeling pretty good,” he said. “There were a couple of mistakes on the first run but it wasn’t a bad performance. I’m quite content with sixth place. The Germans have got three sleds, three times the amount of runs to test everything and find the best way down the track, and make sure the equipment works. We’re against it, we’ve got less resources to pull upon, so we’ve just gone with what we know and we’ll see how it turns out.”
Men’s curling final: The story at the halfway stage - if you’re just joining us, Great Britain trail 3-2 at the halfway stage against Sweden at the National Aquatics Centre in Beijing.
Swedish skip Niklas Edin has the upper-hand after taking two in the second end then stealing one in the third in a controlled and tensely-fought affair. Edin chose to intentionally blank the fifth end in order to retain the ‘hammer’ advantage heading into the second part of the contest.
Men’s curling - 5th End
Great Britain 2 - 3 Sweden
The excitement of the men’s curling final has proved too much for my coplleague Jonathan, who has gone for a lie-down after a long shift at the Beijing ice-face, so it falls to me to see out the rest of the game.
Sweden’s Niklas Edin and his fellow curlers are playing some sublime stuff with everything going their way, and are in control of this final at the halfway point. Team GB are not playing badly at all and have made few if any mistakes. They could still turn things around but it will be difficult as Sweden have the hammer in the next end.
Men’s Curling – 4th End
Great Britain 2 v Sweden 3
The measuring contraption has been wheeled out and has dished up good news to the Brits! Swedish Skip Niklas Edin is five-time world champion and has won seven European titles. But he’s never won Olympic Gold. He’s reading the ice to perfection here, and is edging ever so closer to the elusive Gold.
Russian Rout in Men’s Cross Country
We’re halfway through the shortened 30km race, and it’s a Russian 1-2-3. Race favourite Alexander Bolshunov narrowly trails countryman Artem Maltsev.
Men’s Curling – 3rd End
Great Britain 1 v Sweden 3
The pesky Swedes steal a point after a Bruce Mouat curl comes within a bee’s appendix of evening things up.
Meanwhile
As the Swedes wrest back control in the Curling, the men’s and women’s mass start speed skating (Semi Finals) and Men’s 50km Cross Country are now both underway. We’ll check in with both shortly.
Men’s Curling – 2nd End
Great Britain 1 v Sweden 2
A bullet from GB’s Bruce Mouat wasn’t enough as the Swedes, with the last stone advantage and world’s best player in control, went two up.
Men’s Curling – 1st End
Great Britain 1 v Sweden 0
For the uninitiated, each team has 8 Stones per end, with each chap having two goes each. A rudimentary knowledge of Swedish would come in handy here, as they’re a very vocal outfit. But the Brits are off to a slick start.
Men’s Curling Gold Medal Match
Great Britain v Sweden
We’re just about off at the National Aquatics Centre. The respective quartets are being introduced, and now we’re listening to the obligatory Eminem warm up tune. Apparently he’s a Curling fan.
Why is Norway so dominant at the Winter Olympics? A gentleman called Birk Ruud, a skier and no relation to the former Australian Prime Minister, explains: “We’re a country with a lot of good genes and we work hard.”
The story of @BruceMouat 💪#TeamGB | #Beijing2022 https://t.co/bgux3gNRvc
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 19, 2022
For those just waking up in the UK, here’s a little Bruce Mouat taster.
Men’s 50km mass start freestyle race postponed and shortened
We were scheduled to kick off now, but the inclement weather has seen the race postponed for an hour and shortened to 30kms.
It takes a healthy set of lungs, a slow resting heart rate, and a unique capacity for pain to compete in this event. Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov has already claimed four medals at these Games - gold in the 15km + 15km skiathlon and men’s relay, silver in the 15km classic and bronze in the team sprint. He’s the favourite for this event, with his stiffest competition expected to come from Norway’s Emil Iversen and Simen Hegstad Krüger.
Great Britain’s take on Sweden for Gold in just over an hour. The Semi Final score belied what was actually a close and gripping contest. Here’s Sean Ingle’s recap.
Jamaica's 4-Man Bobsled team competed for the first time in 24 years at the #WinterOlympics.
— Team Jamaica (@TeamJA876) February 19, 2022
Shanwayne Stephens (pilot) 🇯🇲, Ashley Watson, Rolando Reid and Matthew Wekpe 🇯🇲 completed their first 2 heats with a combined time of 2:02.19. 🖤💚💛#TeamJamaica 🔥🧊 #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/xqk12IBQ8I
Wind Wreaks Havoc on Alpine Teams Event
As mentioned, the last Alpine skiing race has been postponed, with gusts at up to about 65 kph making it a no brainer for organisers.
At this stage, it’s unsure when, or even if, the event will be rescheduled.
Citius, Altius, Fortius, PORTEOUS
— The New Zealand Team (@TheNZTeam) February 19, 2022
An absolute champ - Nico Porteous 🥇#Earned #olympics
📸 @GettyImages pic.twitter.com/LghCxR9928
Earlier, Nico Porteous became New Zealand’s youngest individual Olympic champion, winning the freeski halfpipe in spectacular style.
The 20-year-old eclipsed Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who won gold a fortnight ago, as New Zealand’s youngest medallist.
Preamble
Welcome the second last day of the Winter Olympics, brought to you for the next three hours from my ski lodge in Melbourne, Australia. Things are officially tense on the Ukraine border, and the weather is officially wretched in Beijing. So much so that the Alpine Teams Event has been postponed, and perhaps cancelled. There’s actually a dearth of events today, with all the British focus on the Men’s Curling Final. We also have the Men’s 50km lung-buster coming up in an hour’s time, with a little bit of Jamaican bobsledding, Kiwi Snowboarding and speed skating carnage thrown in for good measure.
