Winter Olympics 2022 — Eileen Gu wins gold, Nathan Chen competes again, U.S. vs. Canada hockey and more live updates in Beijing

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Tuesday in Beijing at the 2022 Winter Olympics has already been jam-packed with excitement as Eileen Gu won the first-ever Olympic gold in freeski big air and Ryan Cochran-Siegle earned silver in the men’s Super-G, 50 years after his mom won a slalom gold.

In figure skating, the U.S. team lost one of its biggest stars Monday morning when Vincent Zhou withdrew from competition after testing positive for COVID-19. But three-time world champion Nathan Chen will start his quest for individual gold in the men’s short program. Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu began with a major error, but 2018 silver medalist Shoma Uno and his Japanese teammate Yuma Kagiyama excelled.

If you’re on the East Coast, drink some extra coffee to stay up late — because it’s rivalry time in Beijing: Canada vs. Team USA in women’s hockey.

Despite dominating play for most of the first period, the U.S. left for intermission down 1-0 to archrival Canada. The Americans buzzed the Canadian zone for nearly 10 minutes, twice hitting the post with shots. But a cross-checking penalty on Team USA’s Caroline Harvey led to a power-play goal by Canada’s Brianne Jenner, scoring at 14:10 of the first period on a tic-tac-toe passing play from Sarah Fillier and Marie-Phillip Poulin. The Americans had a 14-3 shot advantage when Canada scored, and finished the period with a 16-5 shot advantage.

We’ve got updates on all the action here:

Gu becomes the first Olympic champion in freeski big air

By landing two of the biggest tricks in women’s freeskiing, Eileen Gu captured the win in the sport’s Olympic debut in Beijing. In fact, only two women in the world, Gu and Tess Ledeux of France, have ever landed 1620 spins in a freeskiing contest and both did so Tuesday to go 1-2 in big air finals. Gu had never landed the trick in competition. When she did so on her third jump, she screamed, skied to the bottom of the landing and dropped to her knees.

“I’m not crying,” Gu said into the television camera. “I’m definitely not crying.” Gu’s third-run score saw her jump into first place above Ledeux, who had landed the double cork 1620 on her first run. When Gu saw the score, she grabbed her helmet and fought back tears. She took off her skis and bowed to the crowd. Then she waited. In her third and final attempt, Ledeux, who won the X Games big air event for the third time just a few days before flying to Beijing, threw a massive switch 1440, but landed on one ski and was unable to reclaim the lead. Swiss skier Mathilde Gremauld finished third. Darian Stevens, the only U.S. skier to make the final, finished 11th.

Born in San Francisco to a Chinese mother and American father and raised by her mother and maternal grandmother, Gu opted to compete for China at these Games. With the win, Gu ties China’s gold medal haul (3) from the Pyeongchang Olympics — and that’s with two events left to compete: freeski slopestyle and halfpipe.

“That was the best moment of my life. The happiest moment, day, whatever — of my life. I just cannot believe what just happened,” she said after. — Alyssa Roenigk

Two-time gold medalist Hanyu makes costly mistake early

Yuzuru Hanyu, the reigning two-time Olympic champion, made an extremely uncharacteristic mistake in the much-hyped showdown between him and Nathan Chen. He was supposed to do a quad salchow for his opening jump and instead popped it — meaning he registered zero points for that element. He was graceful and majestic as always throughout the rest of the skate but scored only 95.15 points. He was visibly upset as he left the ice. — Elaine Teng

Men’s downhill is back on the podium

Fifty years after his mother, Barbara Ann, won a slalom gold in the 1972 Sapporo Games, Ryan Cochran-Siegle wins silver in the men’s Super-G after a 1:19:98 run. After charging to the finish, Cochran-Siegle said “What’s up, Vermont? I hope it holds,” to the camera.

Cochran-Siegle, 29, and in his second Olympics, was in the lead when he went past the third checkpoint of the men’s downhill event, but finished four-hundredths of a second behind Austria’s Matthias Mayer, who defended his Olympic title. Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde picked up bronze.

Cochran-Siegle is the sixth member of his family to compete in an Alpine event at the Olympics. At the 2018 Olympics, the U.S. men’s alpine team failed to make the podium for the first time in 20 years. — Aish Kumar

Take a bow, Donovan Carrillo

Already the first Mexican figure skater to compete in the Olympic Games in 30 years, Donovan Carrillo made even more history for his country on Tuesday by becoming the first skater from his country to qualify for the free skate portion of the event. The 22-year-old Carrillo dazzled those watching in the building and around the world with a high-energy performance, which included a successful quadruple toe loop and a triple axel, set to a medley of music by Santana.

He earned a 79.69 score for his efforts, and immediately qualified for Thursday’s free skate. He couldn’t hide his excitement after completing his routine, and after hearing his score, smiled and raised his hands in jubilation.

Carrillo, who was a flag bearer for Mexico in the Opening Ceremony, practices at an ice rink in a shopping mall in Leon, Mexico. He already owns the record for best result at a world championship by a Mexican skater after finishing in 20th place in 2021. — D’Arcy Maine

Injury update on O’Brien

Team USA skier Nina O’Brien, who was carried off on a stretcher after crashing across the finish line of the second run of her giant slalom event on Monday, posted on Instagram that she had surgery Monday night Beijing time to “stabilize her tibia, which unfortunately was an open fracture through my leg.”

She added that she would further care back in the U.S.

“I keep replaying it in my head, wishing I’d skied those last few gates differently. But here we are,” she wrote in her Instagram post. “I want to say thank you to everyone who’s taken care of me.”

O’Brien, 24, lost her balance close to the finish line of her run. –Aish Kumar

Peng Shuai watches Eileen Gu

Tennis star Peng Shuai was spotted at the Big Air Shougang venue with IOC President Thomas Bach. They watched Eileen Gu win her gold medal in women’s freeski big air. Bach told the press that Peng is leaving the bubble today and going into the required quarantine to leave the Olympic closed loop and enter the general population of China.

Event schedule (all times ET)

8:15 p.m.: Men’s figure skating — singles short program

9 p.m.: Women’s freestyle skiing — big air final

10 p.m.: Men’s alpine skiing — Super-G

11:00 p.m.: Women’s hockey preliminary — U.S. vs. Canada

5:30 a.m.: Men’s speed skating — 1,500 meters

8:35 a.m.: Women’s luge — singles finals



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