An athlete from Team France passes snowless hills as he takes part in a training session Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre on February 7, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China. The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics are held entirely on artificial snow. Photo: Carl Court (Getty Images)
Maddie Phaneuf, an Olympic biathlete (she does a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting) from Upstate New York has watched this year’s Winter Games with mixed enthusiasm. She’s saddened—but not surprised—that the event has had to use fake snow, as snowfall is becoming harder to predict around the world.
It’s become more and more obvious to Phaneuf that finding the right amount of snow for sports like hers is more complicated than it used to be. As a professional athlete, she has traveled to compete and train in places like the Dolomites in Italy, snowy ranges known for their long winters, only to find a completely different environment.
“You’re imagining these places to be amazing winter wonderlands that have so much snow, and you get there and there’s just green grass, and there’s just a ribbon of white snow that’s all manmade,” she said. “It’s obviously hard to see that as a professional athlete, where that’s your livelihood to race on that.”
The climate crisis is changing winter weather around the world. What was once a predictable season of cold weather and snow is now a hodgepodge of extreme snowfall and dry spells. This year’s Winter Olympic Games have worried both climate advocates and winter sport athletes. Beijing has experienced dangerously high levels of pollution, and venues are using artificial snow for outdoor sports—this year’s games are in fact using all fake snow. Seeing this, athletes, scientists, and outdoor sporting enthusiasts are concerned that it will become harder and harder to stage future Winter Olympics.
Mario Molina is the executive director of Protect Our Winters (POW), a nonprofit that promotes progressive climate policy. They aim to turn outdoor enthusiasts into climate advocates by using their personal experiences and love for winter sports as motivation. “We encourage the outdoor community, which is [more than] 35 million people that recreate [with] outdoor sports every year, and we try to get the message out there to participate in the civic process by calling their elected officials,” Molina said. “And we get out the vote in favor of climate-friendly candidates.”
POW also works with professional athletes and winter sports influencers like Phaneuf, who are seeing their careers changed by shortening winters and erratic snowfall, to engage others who are worried about the future of winter sports. The organization partners with climate and weather experts as part of their outreach and education as well.
To sound the alarm on a potentially snow-less future, POW released “Slippery Slopes: How Climate Change is threatening the 2022 Winter Olympics.” The report pointed to research from the University of Waterloo that found that, “out of the 21 cities to have hosted the Winter Olympics up to 2022, only Sapporo in Japan would have the necessary conditions to host them again in a safe and fair way by the end of the 21st century if there is not a drastic reduction in greenhouse gasses.”
A snow machine makes artificial snow for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on January 2, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, northern China. Photo: Kevin Frayer (Getty Images)
Thomas Painter is a snow hydrologist who works with Airborne Snow Observatories Inc, a California-based organization that collects data on the snow melt flowing out of major water basins in the Western United States. He explained that the climate crisis is making it harder to predict reliable snowfall for parts of the world that used to have regular snowy winters.
“We are moving towards more precipitation falling as rain that used to fall as snow… There’s enormous volatility, and so I think that’s going to make the decision on where we even continue to have the Winter Olympics,” he said.
That’s not to say that snow storms aren’t happening—we’ve seen major snow and ice storms this year. But a changing climate is going to make winter more about feast or famine, where there are large snowfall events followed by long stretches of time with no snow at all. Painter pointed to a variety of factors like rapidly melting glaciers, droughts all over the world, and changing atmospheric rivers that used to ensure predictable rain and snowfall.
Molina pointed out how some sports can be replicated indoors; events like figure skating are already held at indoor rinks. But athletes like Phaneuf need to train and compete along stretches of land.
Without regular snowfall and long winters, it’s harder for areas to maintain a “base” of snow so that equipment like skis and snowboards aren’t regularly damaged by rocks and other elements. Many ski resorts try to have a base of about 20 inches of snow before opening; areas designated for cross country skiing only need a few inches if the area is grassy in the spring. If there are a lot of rocks on the ground, there needs to be several inches of snow. Without that thick layer, skiers and snowboarders can easily be injured by tripping.
When there isn’t enough snow, some competition organizers have to bring in snow from other areas. Distance sports like Phaneuf’s don’t belong indoors, but current conditions have caused many competitions to be canceled or relocated due to a lack of adequate snow.
“I’ve had experiences where we’ve been to races and the only snow that could provide for us was extremely dirty and full of rocks. And as soon as you just ski, one-kilometer loop or two kilometers, your skis are just totally damaged… full of scratches and dents,” she said.
When there isn’t local snow to be moved around, venues and events have turned to artificial snow. Beijing had to utilize entirely man-made snow in order to host the games. Using fake snow has become increasingly common in other previous Olympics. Fake snow was used in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. It also made up more than half of the snow during the 2014 Sochi games, and about 90% of the snow at Pyeongchang in 2018 came from snow machines, Vox reported.
Fake snow doesn’t work with sporting equipment the same way that natural snow would. Artificially made snow may look like the fallen stuff, but when put under a microscope, the structure is very different. Real snow is made of snowflakes and isn’t as densely packed, while fake snow is often composed of frozen water droplets that become tightly packed, creating harder surfaces and unsafe landings.
POW’s “Slippery Slopes” report outlined the experiences of several athletes, who explained that competing or training on fake snow increases the risk of “bad landings.” Scottish freestyle skier Laura Donaldson—who competed at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002—pointed out in POW’s report that fake snow can really suck for professional sports.
“Jump take-offs can be excessively icy and slippery, bad take-offs directly contribute to bad landings. It is dangerous for an athlete if take-offs and landings are formed from sheets of ice,” Donaldson said in the report. “If Freestyle super pipes are formed from snow-making machines in a poor season, the walls of the pipe are solid…This is dangerous for athletes, some have died.”
Phaneuf is one of many athletes and former Olympians who have worked with organizations like POW and have traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for better climate legislation so that professionals like herself and others employed in the outdoor industry can keep their livelihoods.
“I selfishly want to continue seeing the Olympics… It’s also hard to see these communities and the next generation of skiers not being able to grow up with this bountiful snow and a real winter,” she said.
Painter sees the survival of the Olympics as a symbol of how much effort international leaders and communities have put in to lower emissions and to protect snowy environments while we still have them. “Sounds kind of like a serious first world problem,” he said. “[Water issues cause] geopolitical strife… regional conflict… I think that if we’re still having Olympiads in at the end of this century, then we will have finally done something right.”
YANQING, China — High winds at the National Alpine Skiing Centre forced the postponement of Saturday’s final Alpine race of the Beijing Olympics, the mixed team event, to Sunday, the final day of the Games, with a start time of 9 a.m., local time.
After gusts of up to 40 mph prompted two weather delays Saturday morning, organizers and Alpine skiing officials decided just after 11:30 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. Eastern) to either postpone or cancel the event. The decision to reschedule it to Sunday came more than an hour later. Among the issues complicating the decision: The forecast for Sunday is no better than the one for Saturday, and some teams were scheduled to fly out of Beijing late Saturday night or early Sunday.
“It was pretty clear with the wind gusts, it wasn’t possible to stage the race,” said Jenny Wiedeke, communications director of the International Ski Federation (FIS). “ … When you have air fences flying, then it’s a pretty clear decision.”
The race, which is to feature United States star Mikaela Shiffrin’s sixth and final chance at a medal at these Olympics, was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. local time, but officials decided Friday to move the start up an hour, to 10 a.m., because of the weather forecast.
However, less than an hour before the race was due to begin, officials decided it was too dangerous to race — with the start pushed back first by one hour, then another. At one point, a segment of the gondola system that transports skiers, media members, volunteers and officials to the start and finish areas was shut down because of the wind, forcing everyone onto shuttles that climb up a steep road via hairpin turns to the top.
According to Olympic historian Bill Mallon, only one Winter Olympic event ever has been canceled entirely: In 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the men’s speedskating 10-kilometer race was canceled after warm weather made the ice melt.
Simone Biles offered some words of encouragement to Mikaela Shiffrin following the superstar skier’s tough showing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Shiffrin lamented in a lengthy social media post Thursday the criticism she’s been facing following her failure to medal in five individual races and picking up three Did Not Finish marks.
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Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States sits on the side of the course after skiing out in the first run of the women’s slalom at the 2022 Winter Olympics Feb. 9, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
But Biles, who went through her own struggles, commented on Shrffin’s Instagram post, reminding her that “people suck.”
“I know this all too well,” Biles wrote. “I’m sorry you’re experiencing this! People suck…. . damned if you do damned if you don’t. but remember how AMAZING you are, we’re all cheering for you, proud of you, love & support you! Go kick some a*s Saturday! But most importantly, embrace the moment. Have fun. Love ya!!!!”
Simone Biles of the United States reacts after winning the bronze medal on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women’s apparatus final at the 2020 Summer Olympics Aug. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Shiffrin came into the Olympics as one of the favorites with Olympic gold in 2014 and 2018 and several world championships under her belt. She was also the leader in the World Cup standings.
After talking to reporters about her latest failure Thursday, Shiffrin snapped back at critics in a lengthy statement.
MIKAELA SHIFFRIN FIRES BACK AT CRITICS FOLLOWING DISAPPOINTING OLYMPICS RUN: ‘IT’S NOT ALWAYS EASY’
“Well kids… Feed ‘em what you wanna feed em. Self pity, sadness… Let the turkeys get you down. There will always be turkeys. Or get up, again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again,” she wrote.
“Get up because you can, because you like what you do when it’s not infested with the people who have so much apparent hate for you. Just get up. It’s not always easy, but it’s also not the end of the world to fail. Fail twice. Fail 5 times. At the Olympics (Enter me…)
“Why do I keep coming back? Gosh knows it hurts more than it feels good lately. I come back because those first 9 turns today were spectacular, really heaven. That’s where I’m meant to be and I’m stubborn as s—. So let’s go for some team event training tomorrow, and the final alpine race of the Olympics on Saturday.”
Shiffrin told reporters she wasn’t “afraid” of what criticism may be coming her way.
Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States gestures after falling in the women’s combine slalom at the 2022 Winter Olympics Feb. 17, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
“There’s going to be a whole chaotic mess … that people are saying about how I just fantastically failed these last couple weeks in the moments that actually counted,” the two-time gold medalist said. “It’s really strange, but I’m not even afraid of that right now. Maybe that’s because I have zero emotional energy to give anymore.”
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Shiffrin has one last event — the team Alpine — to potentially earn a medal.
The Winter Olympics are drawing to a close with the sports showcase set to wrap up on Sunday. There’s been plenty off action on and off the slopes.
New records have been set, U.S.-born skier Eileen Gu has taken the Games by storm as she competes for host China and there have been a few shockers too with hockey giants Canada and Team U.S.A. bounced from the tournament early.
But controversy has swirled as Russian teen skating sensation Kamila Valieva battled doping allegations. Sport’s highest court still cleared her to compete in a widely criticized decision.
Geopolitical tensions are also hanging over the event amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and a handful of allies launched a diplomatic boycott over China’s rights record, and the highly transmissible omicron coronavirus variant tested Beijing’s bid to put on a safe event.
For all our coverage, visit our Beijing Winter Olympics page.
Read our in-depth coverage:
— Star skier Eileen Gu faces slippery slope after Beijing success
— Xi’s Olympics diplomacy stumbles as leaders avoid Beijing Games
— Indian skier from small Kashmir village reaches Beijing Olympics
— Inconsistent COVID tests bedevil athletes at Beijing Olympics
Entries include files from wire services and Nikkei Asia reporters.
Here are the latest developments:
Friday, Feb. 18 (Tokyo time)
11:55 p.m. Chinese figure skating pair Sui Wenjing and Han Cong lead the short program in the pairs event after breaking their own world record score.
4:49 p.m. Eileen Gu’s dominant win in the halfpipe added to host China’s best ever gold medal tally at a Winter Games. China now has eight golds and 14 medals in all. Defending champion Norway’s gold medal tally at Beijing is 15 — a record for any nation at a single Winter Olympics.
China’s freestyle superstar Eileen Gu has picked up two golds and one silver at her first Olympics.
4:04 p.m. The World Anti-Doping Agency accuses the Court of Arbitration for Sport of ignoring global rules when it upheld a Russian agency’s decision to lift the provisional doping suspension of teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva at the Games.
3:42 p.m. Finland claims a 2-0 win over Slovakia to reach the men’s ice hockey final. They’ll face off against Russia or Sweden.
3:07 p.m. Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic says he has unfinished business at the Olympics and will be gunning for gold at Paris 2024. His quest for an Olympic gold in Tokyo ended in a semi-final defeat to Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
2:40 p.m. InternationalOlympic Committe president Thomas Bach says he was “very disturbed” watching Russian teen skater Kamila Valieva’s meltdown that resulted in her fourth place finish in women’s figure skating. He also hit out at her team, saying it was “chilling” to see her entourage criticize the 15-year-old for her performance.
12:01 p.m. Freestyle sensation Eileen Gu has done it. She grabbed her second gold of the Games in the women’s halfpipe final. That is three medals in all for the 18-year-old at her first Olympics. She also makes history asthe first athlete to win three medals in three different freestyle skiing disciplines.
10:40 a.m. The women’s freeski halfpipe final is underway. Could be some history in the making here. Chinese freestyle superstar Eileen Gu is gunning for gold after taking gold and silver earlier in the Games. If she ends up on podium today, she’ll be the first athlete to win three medals in three different freestyle skiing disciplines.
10:35 a.m. We’re down to the final four in men’s ice hockey after favorites Team U.S.A and Canada were both eliminated in shock upsets. Slovakia faces off against Finland in today’s first semifinal, followed by the Russian taking on Sweden for a place in the final.
4:45 a.m. Some reactions to the women’s figure skating final.
Evgeni Plushenko, the four-time Olympic medalist men’s figure skater from Russia, calls gold-medal winner Anna Shcherbakova a “Russian Rocket” on Instagram. He tells fourth-place Kamila Valieva that “sometimes you have to fall” in order to take off in the future.
1:15 a.m. A visibly distraught Alexandra Trusova was overheard as saying “I hate skating” after her silver-medal-winning performance in Beijing.
The 17-year-old Russian appeared upset at the scoring of her routine, which put her second despite her multiple quadruple jumps.
“I will never skate again,” Reuters reports her as saying. In the end, Trusova stood on the medal platform with gold winner Anna Shcherbakova bronze medalist Kaori Sakamoto.
Thursday, Feb. 17
11:00 p.m. Embattled skater Kamila Valieva finishes fourth for the Russian Olympic Committee.
The 15-year-old Valieva, who is skating despite revelations she tested positive for a banned substance in December, has some uncharacteristic slip-ups in the women’s figure skating free skate.
Compatriot Anna Shcherbakova wins gold. Fellow Russian Alexandra Trusova finishes second for silver, while Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto takes home bronze in a tearful climax to the much-anticipated event.
Russian skater Anna Shcherbakova performs at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
7:15 p.m. Switzerland’s ski cross head coach criticizes Beijing Olympics judges after athlete Fanny Smith lost out on a bronze medal when she was penalized for kicking a rival in the women’s final.
7:14 p.m. Japan’s Miho Takagi clinches her first gold of the Beijing Olympics, following up on the three other medals she has already won in the Winter Games so far, as she sailed to victory in the women’s 1,000 meters speed skating.
Japanese speed skater Miho Takagi celebrates after setting an Olympic record and winning gold.
7:10 p.m. The women’s free skate has started. Russian teen star Kamila Valieva is up last as she goes for gold. But there won’t be any medals handed out tonight because the 15-year-old’s doping case has to be resolved first.
4:55 p.m. Canada beats the United States 3-2 to win the women’s ice hockey final, reclaiming the gold medal the Americans had taken from them four years ago in Pyeongchang.
4:38 p.m. Politics enters the Olympics again as an official for the Beijing Games declares “there is only one China” when the subject of Taiwan’s presence at the closing ceremony comes up. She also describes claims of rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region as “lies.”
4:31 p.m. Gold medal favorite Mikaela Shiffrin suffers yet another disappointment after failing to finish a race for the third time at the Games.
2:55 p.m. No new cases of COVID-19 reported inside the Olympics “closed loop” for the first time Thursday, a victory for organizers who have gone to extreme measures to prevent outbreaks.
1:37 p.m. Eileen Gu may be the world’s best freestyle skier with legions of adoring fans, but she says she still has to win over her doubting grandma who would prefer that she becomes a doctor or a lawyer.” She’s never watched me compete,” the 18-year-old said. “She’s going to be unfazed and unimpressed I think.”
1:36 p.m. International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach offers U.S. figure skaters Olympic torches as holdover gifts while they await a resolution of the Russian doping case that is preventing them from receiving their silver medals, The Associated Press reports.
11:20 a.m. Skiing sensation Eileen Gu is sitting at the top of the pack in the women’s halfpipe qualifiers after two first-class runs. The U.S.-born Gu, competing for China, is aiming to land her third medal at Beijing 2022 after picking up a gold and silver.
11:00 a.m. The women’s figure skating finals kick off at 7:00 p.m. Be sure to tune in as Russian teen Kamila Valieva goes for gold with controversy swirling over her failed drug test. No medals will be handed out though until the case is resolved.
2:05 a.m. Another shock upset in men’s ice hockey. Sweden beats medal favorite Canada 2-0 to advance to the semifinals. Minnows Slovakia bounced Team U.S.A. from the tournament just hours earlier in another unexpected twist.
12:40 a.m. Japan defeats the U.S. 10-7 in women’s curling at the end of round-robin play. With the loss, the U.S. is out of contention for a medal. The Japanese team, which won bronze at Pyeongchang in 2018, advances.
Wednesday, Feb. 16
11:39 a.m. Another doping case hits The Games. Ukrainian cross-country skier Valentyna Kaminska is suspended after testing positive for an anabolic androgenic steroid and two stimulants, the International Testing Agency said.
10:49 p.m. Finland crushes Switzerland 4-0 to claim the women’s ice hockey bronze medal. Finland wins the bronze for the fourth time in seven Olympic tournaments.
10:35 p.m. Choi Min-jeong of South Korea wins the short track speedskating women’s 1,500-meter event. Italy’s Arianna Fontana takes the silver medal, and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands claims bronze.
10:26 p.m. Charles Hamelin captures his fourth Olympic title as he leads Canada to the gold medal in the short track speedskating men’s 5,000-meter relay, holding off silver medalist South Korea. Italy takes the bronze.
4:08 p.m. Medal favorite Team USA is knocked out of the men’s ice hockey tournament after Slovakia pulls off a stunning shootout win to advance to the semifinals. That sets up a chance for the country to take its first-ever Olympic medal in the sport.
1:34 p.m. An International Olympic Committee spokesman says his “heart goes out” to figure skaters who won’t get to take part in a medals ceremony because of the Russian doping case. The case needs to be resolved first, and that won’t happen before Games end on Sunday.
1:29 p.m. A person who made and sold knockoffs of Olympic mascots Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined 40,000 yuan ($6,300), reports say, as Chinese officials launch a crackdown on copyright infringement at the event.
1:00 p.m. India’s Winter Olympic dreams are over. The country’s only athlete, skier Arif Khan, failed to finish the slalom today. He got off to a good start but then veered off course in the final stretch.
Arif Khan was the only athlete competing for India in the Winter Olympics.
6:40 a.m. Combination of three heart drugs in teen Russian skater Valieva’s system “seem to be aimed at increasing endurance, reducing fatigue and promoting greater efficiency in using oxygen,” says United States Anti-Doping Agency Chief Executive Officer Travis Tygart.
6:39 a.m. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, whose doping case has rocked the Beijing Olympics, had three drugs that could be used to treat heart conditions in the sample she provided at a pre-Games event, The New York Times reports. Two of the three drugs are not on banned list. Valieva, 15, has alleged a mix-up with her grandfather’s medication.
4:10 a.m. Nigerian monobob and skeleton competitor Simidele Adeagbo lodges a formal complaint with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), alleging gender discrimination in the spots allocated to men and women at the Beijing Games.
2:10 a.m. China’snew digital currency, the e-CNY, is being used to make 2 million yuan ($315,000) or more of payments a day in its latest pilot at the Beijing Winter Olympics, says a top official from the Chinese central bank. Athletes, coaches and media from around the world can use the e-currency via smartphone apps, physical payment cards or wristbands.
Tuesday, Feb. 15
11:25 p.m. Russian teen Kamila Valieva, competing while facing a doping allegation, takes the lead in the women’s figure skating event by winning the short program with a score of 82.16 points.
Russian Anna Shcherbakova, the 2021 world champion, stands second at 80.20. Japanese champion Kaori Sakamoto follows closely in third, with 79.84 points.
10:59 p.m. Russia’s Kamila Valieva takes the lead with 82.16 points, about 8 points below her career-best score.
10:37 p.m. The final six figure skaters in the women’s short program take the ice for their warmup, including Russia’s Kamila Valieva. Japan’s Wakaba Higuchi leads with a score of 73.51 points, but the medal favorites remain to skate.
7:05 p.m. The women’s figure skating short program kicks off with all eyes on Russian teen sensation Kamila Valieva. She’ll take to the ice in a little bit. The 15-year-old, whose failed drug test rocked the skating world, was cleared to compete by sport’s highest court, a decision that drew sharp criticism.
6:44 p.m. Organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympics say they want to ensure the doping case of Russian teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva does not cast a shadow on their own Summer Games. “Paris 2024 is 100% committed to the fight against doping,” they said in a statement to Reuters news agency. “We must use this situation (the Valieva case) to make sure that it does not happen again.”
5:48 p.m. Canada wins gold in the women’s speed skating team pursuit after a mishap by defending champions Japan cost them the top prize.
5:42 p.m. Investors in Chinese manufacturer Yuanlong Yatu are a happy bunch these days. The company’s shares have shot up more than 50% this month on the back of surging demand for souvenirs bearing the image of Games mascot Bing Dwen Dwen, a portly panda that has captured the hearts of millions. Yuanlong Yatu is among just a handful of companies licensed to produce Bing Dwen Dwen stuffed toys.
3:13 p.m. Chinese snowboarder Su Yiming bags another medal for the host country by winning the men’s Big Air. China has 5 gold medals so far, putting it in 7th place. Norway leads the pack with 9 golds.
Chinese snowboarder Su Yiming going for a win at the men’s Big Air event.
3:03 p.m. Russia’s Freestyle Federation says it will complain to the sport’s governing body about the low score handed to Anastasia Tatalina in the women’s freeski slopestyle final. The Russian athlete finished 4th, putting her out of medal contention.
2:15 p.m. Plot thickens in Russian Kamila Valieva’s drug case. Turns out the 15-year-old told sport’s highest court that a banned angina drug got into her system due to contamination from her grandfather’s heart medication.
2:08 p.m. Switzerland’s Corinne Suter wins gold medal in the women’s downhill, beating defending champion Sofia Goggia of Italy by 0.16 seconds.
1:45 p.m. There will be no medals ceremony if Russian teen Kamila Valieva finishes on the podium at the women’s figure skating singles event because her drug case hasn’t been resolved. “We want to allocate the medal to the right person,” Denis Oswald, head of the International Olympic Committee’s disciplinary commission, told reporters.
12:56 p.m. Taking a pork bun out of a plastic container, home favorite Eileen Gu apologizes to reporters for snacking while answering questions. “I just have no other time to eat,” the San Francisco-born skier said after picking up her second medal of the Games.
12:05 p.m. Just one new COVID-19 case detected Monday among athletes and others linked to the Games, organizing comittee says, as officials move to stamp out any virus outbreak. That was the lowest daily figure so far.
12:01 p.m. China’s Eileen Gu narrowly misses second gold at the Games as she grabs silver in the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle. Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud chalks up a victory with gold-medal performance.
11:55 a.m. Kokomo Murase, competing in her first Olympics, grabs bronze for Japan in the Big Air snowboarding event. Austrian snowboarder Anna Gasser takes gold while New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott picks up a silver medal.
Bronze medallist Kokomo Murase grabs a spot on the podium at Big Air event.
10:36 a.m. China’s intellectual property regulator says it is cracking down on illicit moves to use the trademarked image of massively popular Games mascot Bing Dwen Dwen. Stuffed toys and other souvenirs bearing the portly panda mascot’s image have been flying off the shelves. But only a small number of manufacturers are licensed to reproduce it.
10:21 a.m. Freezing temperatures are causing more problems for Olympic organizers. Tuesday’s biathlon 4 x 7.5 km relay was brought forward by two and a half hours to avoid the evening chill which could see temperatures drop to a frigid minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 Fahrenheit).
10:08 a.m. The women’s figure skating short program kicks off this evening and all eyes will be on Russian teen Kamila Valieva after she was cleared to compete, despite failing a drug test at a pre-Games competition. Valieva is a favorite in the women’s singles, but she said being at the center of a doping case has taken a toll. “It’s as if I don’t have any emotions left. I am happy but at the same time I am emotionally tired,” she told Russian television.
10:01 a.m. Keep your eyes on the women’s slopestyle final today. Eileen Gu is going for another gold at the Games, where the San Francisco-born athlete is competing for host China. She’s been a fan favorite and raking in endorsements. But will she match that success with a second top medal today?
5:58 a.m. The wife of Chinese film director Zhang Yimou says her husband’s role overseeing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics had pushed his health to the limit. Chen Ting took to China’s Twitter-like Weibo to describe the 71-year-old Oscar-nominee’s “self-harming” work rate. She said she was keen for the Feb. 20 conclusion of the Games.
3:27 a.m. Sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson questions why Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is allowed to continue competing at the Beijing Games amid a doping charge, months after a positive test for cannabis derailed her own Olympic dreams.
Monday, Feb. 14
10:49 p.m. China’s Xu Mengtao finally claims her elusive Olympic gold medal as she triumphs in a dramatic final of the freestyle skiing women’s aerials.
8:30 p.m. The IOC says that if Russia’s Kamila Valieva finishes in the top three in the women’s singles figure skating, “no flower ceremony and no medal ceremony will take place” during the Games. It adds that in the “interest of fairness” it would “not be appropriate” to hold the ceremony for the team event that Russia won, “as it would include an athlete who on the one hand has a positive A-sample, but whose violation of the anti-doping rules has not yet been established on the other hand.”
7:30 p.m. Japanese superstar figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu tells reporters that he is not sure if the Beijing Games will be his last Olympics, after his disappointing fourth-place finish.
“I thought the Olympics are special and this is the stage worth standing up for even if you are injured,” Hanyu says, referring to the ankle injury that has hampered him all season. “There is no other stage like this … I have a desire to skate here again.”
He also admits to feeling pressure to win a third consecutive gold medal. “Now I’m free from the pressure … but I want to continue taking pride in being a two-time Olympic gold medalist,” he says. “I want to live so that the me of tomorrow will be proud of me today.”
3:42 p.m. The Russian figure skating federation is unsurprisingly happy about the decision to let Valieva skate, calling it a “triumph of common sense and justice.”
3:41 p.m. U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland says the Valieva ruling sends a “disappointing message.” “This appears to be another chapter in the systematic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia,” Hirshland adds.
3:20 p.m. It remains unclear if other members of the Russian team can receive their gold medals. The second-place Team USA and Japan in third are also waiting for news. The figure skating team event medals ceremony was postponed because of Valieva’s case.
3:19 p.m. The sports court did not address Valieva’s drug case — she was found to have a banned angina drug in her system. But it flagged “serious issues of untimely notification of the results.” No details are given on why her failed drug test was revealed more than a month after it was taken. “Such late notification was not her fault, in the middle of the Olympic Winter Games,” the ruling said of the teen.
3:18 p.m. The International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Skating Union had appealed a decision by Russia’s anti-doping agency to lift a provisional doping suspension of Valieva, which cleared the way for her to compete at the Olympics.
3:17 p.m. The result of the positive drug test was not revealed until Feb. 8 after Valieva had competed in the team event at the Winter Games, dazzling the world with the first quad jumps ever completed in the women’s Olympic competition. Her gold medal was on the line before Monday’s ruling in her favor.
3:15 p.m. Valieva’s case is exceptional and not letting her compete would do the teen “irreparable damage,” the court says. The three judges add it was not her fault that results from a pre-Games drug test were only disclosed during the Beijing Olympics. She is one of the youngest athletes to face a doping charge during the Olympics.
3:05 p.m. Russian skating sensation Kamila Valieva is cleared to compete despite failing a drug test linked to an event before the Games, multiple media outlets report, citing a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The 15-year-old is a favorite in the women’s singles event on Tuesday.
12:51 p.m. Two-time gold medalist Jamie Anderson’s Olympic dreams are dashed as the American snowboarder fails to qualify for the Big Air finals.
12:39 p.m. The IOC spokesman says he “sincerely hopes” the Games are not remembered for the Valieva doping case. The teen Russian skater’s positive test for a banned substance wasn’t linked to Beijing 2022, but it has “ramifications” that must be dealt with now, he adds.
10:48 a.m. Winter sports powerhouse Norway sits at the top of the table with 9 gold medals. The Germans are hot on its heels with 8 golds while the Dutch squad has 6 in its pocket.
9:16 a.m. Athletes could face more blizzards and frigid temperatures, but the deteriorating conditions won’t derail games, says Huang Shanjiang, director of Zhangjiakou Meteorological Station. “The Games are at most delayed or postponed, but not interrupted,” he is quoted as saying.
5:54 a.m. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) finishes its hearing on Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. A final decision on the teenager, who tested positive for a banned drug, will be announced later Monday. The 15-year-old prodigy’s gold medal is on the line. The situation presents another embarrassment for Russia, which was already competing without its flag and anthem owing to previous doping violations.
12:20 a.m. Japan Olympic team captain Miho Takagi on Sunday claims her second speedskating silver medal of these Beijing Games, finishing just behind new champion Erin Jackson of the United States in the women’s 500 meters. Defending Olympic champion Nao Kodaira falls short in her bid to win a second straight 500 crown, finishing 17th
—
To catch up on earlier developments, see the previous version of latest updates.
Eileen Gu after winning the gold medal in freestyle skiing halfpipe.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
Eileen Gu did what she set out to do.
Gu, the 18-year-old Californian who is competing for China at the Beijing Games, had already won two medals in freestyle skiing events. She took gold in big air last week and narrowly missed another in slopestyle on Tuesday, finishing with silver.
On Friday, she entered the halfpipe — which she believes is the best of her three events — seeking a trifecta.
With a large crowd of Chinese fans cheering her every trick, she easily scored a 95.25 on her second run, putting her far above the rest of the field. By the time she was up for her third run, she had already won gold.
Her halfpipe win completed the goal she had set for the Winter Olympics: to win three medals for China.
Score
China
95.25
Canada
90.75
Canada
87.75
Gu was going to try a final run with a difficult cork 10, to show off a bit, but her teammate Kexin Zhang fell and hit her head, then struggled to get up before skiing down the halfpipe. That made Gu reconsider a risky run.
“It kind of woke me up, and I’ve never taken a victory lap before in my entire life, so I felt like, ‘You know what, last event at the Olympics, it feels like I finally deserve it,’” she said. “I’m really happy.”
Canadians came in strong after Gu, with Cassie Sharpe taking silver and Rachael Karker bronze. Sharpe, who won the halfpipe gold at the 2018 Olympics, came back from knee surgery last year.
“I’ve been through hell and back the last year, so I’m just so grateful that all the pieces that I’ve worked so hard on came together today,” she said.
Gu’s competition also included her top rival, Kelly Sildaru of Estonia, the only other woman who competed in all three of Gu’s events. Sildaru, who finished fourth, said the halfpipe was a little slow on Friday when it was windy, especially the right wall. But she was happy with her performance.
Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
Credit…Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times
“These Olympics have been amazing,” she said. “I’m just happy now that I can go back home and rest a little bit.” She earned one medal, a bronze in slopestyle.
The United States had a strong contingent, led by the 17-year-old Hanna Faulhaber, who was fourth at the world championships last year, and Brita Sigourney, 32, who won Olympic bronze four years ago. Faulhaber finished sixth, Sigourney 10th and Carly Margulies 11th in the 12-woman final.
Gu has attracted international attention — and some debate — for her decision in 2019 to represent her mother’s homeland.
The decision was barely noted when she was 15 and the Beijing Olympics were nearly three years away. Now Gu dominates her sport and finds herself straddling a growing geopolitical rift between her two countries.
Yan Gu, Eileen’s mother, was born in Shanghai and raised in Beijing, the daughter of a government engineer. She emigrated to the United States about 30 years ago for postgraduate studies and settled in San Francisco.
Eileen Gu, raised in San Francisco, has become a model, representing luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany. She has so many sponsorships in China that she is a ubiquitous presence in advertisements and receives glowing coverage from the state news media.
Gu has said that she wants to be a bridge between the United States and China while inspiring young women and helping China’s nascent winter-sports industry to grow. She and her mother have declined to discuss any of the thorny geopolitical issues that involve the rival countries.
Gu knows the past two weeks will change her life forever.
“It has been two straight weeks of the most intense highs and lows I’ve ever experienced in my life,” she said.
U.S. Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles jumped to the defense of American skier Mikaela Shiffrin on Thursday after Shiffrin shared on Instagram some of the abusive comments she’s received following her disappointing performances at the Beijing Games, where she failed to win an individual medal.
“I know this all too well, I’m sorry you’re experiencing this,” Biles responded to Shiffrin’s post, referencing the equally-unwarranted barrage of vitriol aimed at her after her “twisties”-hit Tokyo Games.
“People suck,” she wrote, summing up the trolls in two words.
“Just remember how AMAZING you are,” Biles urged Shiffrin, who will compete in the mixed team parallel on Saturday.
“We’re all cheering for you, proud of you, love&support you,” she added. “Go kick some ass saturday! But most importantly, embrace the moment. Have fun (heart) love ya!!!”
Recently-engaged Biles similarly supported Shiffrin after her second “did not finish” at the Games, sharing three hearts on social media.
The controversial women’s figure skating short program at the 2022 Winter Olympics comes to a close Thursday morning. Russian skater Kamila Valieva, who tested positive for banned heart drug trimetazidine in December but was cleared to skate Monday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, will skate for gold. She earned the top score in the first skate despite a stumble.
Americans Mariah Bell, Alysa Liu and Karen Chen also are in the field.
Although Valieva is permitted to skate, her ongoing case means there will be no medal ceremony.
Earlier in the Olympic action, if you’re a fan of Team USA — or just a fan of watching the world’s best — Wednesday night (Eastern time) was tough to watch. Canada beat the United States in women’s hockey, and after a promising start in the combined, Mikaela Shiffrin skied out in her final individual race.
We’ve got live updates here:
Women’s free skate
The women’s free skate got underway Thursday. Americans Mariah Bell and Alysa Liu got their Olympic moments. Bell fought through her jumps and performed beautifully through k.d. lang’s rendition of “Hallelujah.” The 2022 U.S. national champion came into the day in 11th place and will finish in the top 10. “I need a drink,” her coach Adam Rippon was heard saying as she left the ice.
Liu was all smiles after her skate. The 16-year-old put on a show and landed all of her jumps — though she did not get credit for an attempted triple axel. She will also finish in the top 10. Bell hugged her as she awaited her score.
She is radiating! ✨
A spectacular program from Alysa Liu. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/iKv3HdeWEy
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) February 17, 2022
Earlier, Karen Chen, in 13th after the short program, finished her second Olympics with a disappointing performance. The triple loop, which has bedeviled her throughout the Games, felled her yet again. Chen fought back tears as she came off the ice, but she will go home having won silver in the team event. — Elaine Teng
Canada bests the U.S. in women’s hockey
Canada won Olympic women’s ice hockey gold 3-2 over archrival Team USA in the latest thrilling chapter of the sport’s greatest rivalry.
Marie-Philip Poulin had two goals and an assist, while goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens made 38 saves. Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel had the U.S. goals.
🥇 GOLD 🥇#TeamCanada beats Team USA 3-2 to win gold at #Beijing2022 🤩🏆🎉
This is Canada’s fifth Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey.
Details on their victory: https://t.co/5cJy0svwgZ pic.twitter.com/KTdDBO6znG
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) February 17, 2022
This was the sixth meeting between the U.S. and Canada for Olympic women’s ice hockey gold since the event was added in 1998. The Americans have won twice (1998, 2018), while Canada has won gold five times — four times against the U.S. and in 2006 against Sweden, when the U.S. settled for bronze.
Canada finished the tournament with an Olympics record 57 goals scored. It previously defeated the Americans 4-2 in the preliminary round. — Greg Wyshynski
Shiffrin skis out
Mikaela Shiffrin entered the slalom portion of the combined race in fifth place after an impressive downhill run, looking to reverse her Olympic woes with a medal in her last individual race of the 2022 Games.
But it wasn’t to be.
The 26-year-old crashed out of the race, and recorded her third “Did Not Finish” in Beijing. She appeared to be fighting tears on the side of the course.
@MikaelaShiffrin 🙏🏻🤍 pic.twitter.com/FN8WFmqyE4
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) February 17, 2022
Shiffrin was candid in an interview with NBC prior to the slalom run about how she was feeling entering what has long been considered her signature event.
“I’m not feeling totally confident with the slalom,” Shiffrin said. “I mean, I have a recurring image of myself skiing out on the fifth gate again, so I’m just going to do my best.”
Shiffrin will have one last chance to earn an Olympic medal in Beijing on Saturday in the mixed team parallel slalom competition. She will become just the second woman in history to compete in all six Alpine events in the Olympics, joining her rival Petra Vlhova, who did so in 2018, the first year of the team event. — D’Arcy Maine
Every American qualifies for men’s ski halfpipe finals
All four American skiers qualified for halfpipe finals — and David Wise is on track to become the only three-time Olympic medalist in freeski halfpipe history. The two-time defending Olympic champion, Wise qualified fourth into Saturday’s final.
4️⃣ FOR 4️⃣@usskiteam is sending a full squad to the men’s halfpipe finals. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/ioLmZY9Ot4
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 17, 2022
The top spot went to Wise’s teammate, three-time Olympian Aaron Blunck. New Zealand’s Nico Porteous qualified second, and U.S. skier Birk Irving, the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics gold medalist, qualified third.
Unlike the past two Games, Wise did not come into this year’s event as the favorite. He last won a major event — X Games Aspen — in 2018 and spent the past three years recovering physically and mentally from a broken femur. But over the past several weeks — including a bronze-medal performance at the X Games — Wise has looked every bit the defending Olympic champ and a challenger for the podium once again.
American skier Alex Ferreira, the silver medalist from Pyeongchang, qualified seventh.
Gus Kenworthy, who competed for the U.S. in the past two Winter Olympics and was part of the U.S. slopestyle sweep in Sochi, is skiing for Great Britain and grabbed the final qualifying spot. One of the few openly gay athletes competing in Beijing, Kenworthy announced three years ago that he would ski for Team GB to honor his mother, Pip, who is British. Kenworthy was born in England and could become the rare athlete to medal in the Olympics for two countries. — Alyssa Roenigk
Did you know?
The sheets of ice on which curling is being held at the Olympics is the exact spot — down to the very pools — where Michael Phelps won eight gold medals for the U.S. back at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. This New York Times article lays out how the organizers meticulously built sheets of ice on surfaces that were once Olympic-sized swimming pools. That meant filling the pools with concrete, then meticulously filtering the water used to freeze the ice (curling requires a pure form of ice without the presence of salts, minerals and ions.) — Aishwarya Kumar
Gu leads the way in halfpipe qualifiers
With a mix of grabs, big spins and superior execution, two-time Olympic medalist Eileen Gu of China qualified at the top of the field for Friday’s freeski halfpipe final.
Gu’s first-run score of 93.75 was five points better than the field. In her second run, Gu opted to go even bigger and topped herself with a 95.50.
A picture-perfect run for Eileen Gu!
A 95.50 in her second qualifying run in the women’s halfpipe. #WinterOlympics 📺 : @USA_Network and @peacockTV 💻 : https://t.co/DaRR18atEa pic.twitter.com/BjZyRIsP3n
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 17, 2022
“Halfpipe is all about fun and pushing myself and the limit,” Gu told NBC after her second run.
When asked what she thought about the finals-level skiing in the contest, Gu said she, too, held back.
“I’m not going all out,” Gu said. “I have a few more tricks. But given it’s the Olympics, I want to be consistent and do my best. I have to put a safety run down first, but there are some things I am hoping to bring out if I have the opportunity [Friday].”
Canada’s Rachel Karker, a former ballet dancer and gold-medal contender in the halfpipe, qualified second. Kelly Sildaru of Estonia, the only athlete other than Gu who is competing in all three freeski events, opted not to take her second run and qualified third with her first-run score.
Three American skiers finished in the top 12. Brita Sigourney, 32, the 2018 bronze medalist in halfpipe, improved on her first-run score to qualify seventh into Friday’s final. Hanna Faulhaber, a 17-year-old senior at Basalt (Colorado) High School who grew up skiing with the Aspen Valley Ski Club, launched the biggest airs of the contest and finished eighth. And 24-year-old Carly Margulies, who is competing in her Olympic debut — and her first contest in nearly two years — is two months out from her seventh knee surgery and qualified 10th. “I’m still in disbelief that I’m here,” Margulies said after the contest. “I’m speechless.”
Devin Logan, a three-time Olympian and the slopestyle silver medalist from Sochi, finished one spot out of qualifying in 13th. — Roenigk
Men’s curling makes it through
The U.S. men’s curling team is in to the playoffs, keeping the dream of a second consecutive Olympic gold alive. After trailing 0-2 against Denmark, the U.S. men made a huge comeback, which included a three-point steal in the fourth end to take them up 5-2. Riding on that lead, the team comfortably won the game 7-5.
While the team was busy winning, it’s important to note they were also winning in style, courtesy of Matt Hamilton’s always buzzworthy shoes:
Here for the heat 👟🔥@MattJamilton x #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/ysfeySy8HJ
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 17, 2022
And, the shoutouts continued, with The Rock weighing in with both an epiphany and wishes of good luck:
Took me a sec to figure this out 🙋🏽♂️ I did not know that the thing being pushed on the ice – which for years I’ve been referring to as “the gimmick they push” is actually called THE ROCK. Very cool. But nowhere near as cool as @MattJamilton’s focus, flexibility & hair. LFG!! 🇺🇸🪨 https://t.co/xGVXvQWaHp
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) February 16, 2022
Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out for the U.S. women, who fell to Japan 10-7 earlier on Wednesday, and are now out.
The men’s team will play Great Britain in the semifinals on Thursday. — Aishwarya Kumar
“Curling is cool, fool!”
Team USA curling fan Mr. T sent out a message ahead of the round-robin finale against Denmark. If John Shuster & Co. secure the final playoff spot, it will also open up the opportunity for a second straight gold medal.
Before tonight’s big match vs Denmark, curling super fan @MrT wished @TeamShuster good luck.
You can watch tonight at 8ET on @CNBC and @peacockTV. (Via @usacurl) #WinterOlympics | #WatchWithUS pic.twitter.com/elHyJ1FcZC
At the start of Thursday’s game, Canada had scored 54 goals, an Olympic tournament record.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
All through the Beijing Games, the unchecked swagger of Canada’s women’s hockey team had been conspicuous for all to see — and to admire, fume over and fear.
There were the humiliations of the teams that would play for the bronze medal, the edgy digs at rivals, the nuanced critiques of the failed strategies to score on Ann-Renée Desbiens, the goaltender who made the Canadian crease a fortress.
The Canadians proved Thursday that all of it was justified: They overpowered the United States in the gold medal game, 3-2, and reclaimed the Olympic crown that the Americans had wrested away four years ago.
Canada
United States
Canada’s victory was a display of strong-armed, swarming play, blended with a few doses of luck and an angsty, furious drive that started with the Olympic loss in 2018.
The outcome was one that the Canadians had tiptoed toward predicting. To them, a gold medal often seemed less about redemption and more about simply meeting a ceaselessly high standard.
“We’ve been playing so well that when we do play our way — and not focus on other teams or focus on who we’re playing — we are unstoppable,” said Natalie Spooner, a forward on her third Canadian Olympic team.
Canada appeared to strike about seven minutes into Thursday’s game, when the American goaltender Alex Cavallini deflected a puck and saw Spooner sweep it in with a powerful shot. The United States, though, challenged that Canada had been offside, an assessment the officials upheld.
“I owe you one,” Spooner said her teammate Sarah Nurse told her on the bench. “I was offside.”
Thirty-five seconds later, the goal arrived: After Canada won a face-off, Nurse took a pass, spun and scored.
Canada doubled its lead later in the period on a shot by Marie-Philip Poulin, the Canadian captain who was playing in her fourth Games, and pushed it to 3-0 when Poulin scored again midway through the second.
Hilary Knight scored a short-handed goal for the United States late in the second, promising that the Americans would at least avoid the indignity of being shut out when a gold medal was for the taking.
A power-play goal with 13 seconds to play made the final score close. By then, though, the Canadian team knew its victory was assured.
So did the Americans.
“We wanted to just get a lot of pucks in there and actually have a lot of bodies, and I don’t think we did enough of a great job of that,” U.S. forward Abby Roque said.
Thursday’s spectacle was familiar ground, the sixth gold medal game between Canada and the United States since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998. The United States captured the first Olympic title but not another until 2018, when it won a game decided by a shootout that was seen, at least in Canada, as an aberration, not a harbinger of a power shift.
Amanda Kessel (28) of the United States and defender Claire Thompson (42) of Canada battle for the puck in the third period.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Hilary Knight (21) of the United States scores the U.S.’s first goal in the second period.Credit…Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Many of the meetings leading to Thursday’s game suggested as much. The Canadians won a preliminary round game in Beijing, 4-2, and posted a 4-2 record in a series of pre-Olympic exhibition games in North America.
The teams were the unquestioned titans of the Games. Entering Thursday, Canada had scored 54 goals, an Olympic tournament record, and had three women — Brianne Jenner, Sarah Fillier and Jamie Lee Rattray — among the five top scorers in Beijing.
The United States had logged two shutout wins, and had twice defeated Finland, which won the bronze medal on Wednesday night.
Led by Kendall Coyne Schofield, the captain and one of the world’s fastest skaters, and Knight, who on Thursday set the American record for most games played by a women’s hockey player at the Olympics, the United States possessed a fearsome attack that forced rival goalies to confront a storm of shots through the tournament.
But the Americans struggled again on Thursday to turn chances into goals. At the same time, they found a Canadian squad eager — and able — to score quickly. In the first period, Canada tied the United States for shots, with 11, a marked shift from their last meeting, when the Americans had 16 attempts in the first and the Canadians managed only five.
Canada
3
21
0 for 2
6
United States
2
40
1 for 3
4
The United States eventually outpaced Canada in shots again, calling to mind the Canadian judgment after their first meeting that the Americans were all too happy to try to overwhelm opponents with a barrage of shots that were not always good ones.
Still, it was a strategy that worked for most of the Games. But as time faded on Thursday, with the Americans scrambling to a final soundtrack of clacking and hitting and emptying their net with more than three minutes to play, it was clear which team had shown itself to be the better one.
Canada-USA games can get chippy. There’s no fighting in international hockey, but there’s the usual argy-bargy at times, and neither team backs down.
Late in the first period, while Cavallini was covering the puck, Canada’s Sarah Fillier gave Hannah Brandt a solid two-handed shove and knocked her to the ice. Fillier than coolly skated in the foot or two of space between the downed US player and the goal.
There was no reaction from any US players.
They need a Herb Brooks speech at this point.
04:44
Canada 2-0 USA 1:40, 1st period
Prolonged possession for the USA, but again, no serious shots here. The Americans haven’t had a real scoring chance since Brandt hit the outside of the net with the goal at her mercy in the early going.
04:41
Canada 2-0 USA 3:48, 1st period
Canada has a power play, courtesy of a delay-of-game call when Kendall Coyne Schofield played the puck over the glass, and it just feels like this game will be out of hand if the US penalty kill can’t hold here.
04:39
Canada 2-0 USA 4:48, 1st period (Poulin 15:02)
Marie-Philip Poulin just kills the USA in every major tournament final. She’s done it again, swiping the puck from an unsuspecting defender and easily depositing it past Cavallini, who doesn’t seem to be getting any sort of a look at a few of these shots.
Alex Cavallini sees the puck too late to stop it on Marie-Philip Poulin’s goal. Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters
Updated
04:37
Canada 1-0 USA 6:00, 1st period
In the group-stage game, Canada gave up shots by the bushel, but the defense also made those shots a lot less dangerous. The USA just got another shot, but it was from a distance that isn’t going to scare Desbiens.
Don’t blame Canada. Blame Wisconsin. That’s where Desbiens went to college.
04:33
Canada 1-0 USA 7:18, 1st period
And a bit better for the USA, forcing a scramble in front of Desbiens’ goal. But the swarming Canadian defense forms a red wall, and the danger is cleared.
04:32
Canada 1-0 USA 8:24, 1st period
Finally, the USA goes back on the attack. Alex Carpenter gets a shot on a quick push forward.
Nurse has tied the great Hayley Wickenheiser for points in one Olympic tournament with 17 — five goals, 12 assists.
04:26
Goal! Canada 1-0 USA 12:10, 1st period (Nurse 7:50)
Well, that didn’t take long. Faceoff win, quick pass to Sarah Nurse, and it’s redirected past Cavellini and in.
Canada has outshot the USA 5-1.
Alex Cavallini scrambles to break up one of many Canadian attacks. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images
Updated
04:24
Goal disallowed!
Canada 0-0 USA 13:04, 1st period
Canada whips the puck around against a somnambulant US defense, and Natalie Spooner takes it in the middle of the US zone and drills it past goalie Alex Cavallini, who is getting the start here instead of Maddie Rooney, who played the first game.
But the US challenges the play, saying Canada was offside. Replay says … yes. Offside. No goal. But if that isn’t a wakeup call for the US, I’m not sure what would be.
Organ plays the Star Wars music from the scene of Luke watching the twin sunset.
04:18
Canada 0-0 USA, 15:04, 1st period
Before I forget, I’d like to single out the organist at the hockey venue, who has been outstanding. They’ve been alternating the organ with recorded music, most recently Tame Impala’s song Elephant.
04:16
Canada 0-0 USA, 17:40, 1st period
CHANCE! Hannah Brandt pounces on a rebound on the doorstep with half the net open behind Canadian goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens. Call it nerves, call it a rolling puck — Brandt’s shot hit the outside of the goal, and they may regret that.
In the group stage, the USA outshot Canada 53-27 and lost 4-2. Just like the USA-Canada men’s soccer game recently. Possession means nothing if you don’t put something in the net.
04:11
I could bore you with details about how dominant Canada and the USA have been in women’s hockey. But I already wrote a story that included those numbers …
Just know this — no other country has ever won squat in this sport. A Canadian columnist actually wrote recently that the sport didn’t belong in the Olympics because no one else can compete. It was not a popular opinion.
Faceoff … here we go ..
04:00
Let’s see … we’ve covered curling, Alpine skiing, the freestyle halfpipe qualifications … what’s left?
Oh right …
The US women’s hockey team heads out onto the ice to face Canada. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images
03:56
US men qualify for curling semifinals
Based on how they had played in the last year or two, Tabitha Peterson and the US women seemed to be a better bet to reach the semifinals than John Shuster and the US men, even though the latter won gold in 2018
But the women lost their last three to finish 4-5, taking care of business against the less-accomplished opponents but failing to break through against the sport’s titans — world champion Silvana Tirinzoni’s Swiss team, second-ranked Anna Hasselborg and Sweden, and two-time Olympic semifinalist Eve Muirhead and Britain. A loss to fearsome Canadian Jennifer Jones, the 2014 Olympic champion and 2018 world champion, deflated the USA, and they lost their final game to Japan.
Shuster’s team underwhelmed in several games, including a horrid 10-4 loss to Italy in their penultimate game. But other results broke their way, and as in 2018, a 5-4 record would get them into the semifinals. They clinched that a few minutes ago with a workmanlike win over a misfiring Danish team.
Later today, the US will face Team GB, which clinched the top seed with an 8-1 record. Shuster, though, accounted for that loss. This team often plays to the level of the competition for better or for worse.
Mikkel Krause of Denmark and John Shuster chat after their last round-robin game. Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
03:39
Shiffrin well placed in combined
Mikaela Shiffrin has done what she needed to do in the downhill phase of the combined. She’s in fifth place, 0.56 seconds behind Austria’s Christine Scheyer.
No one else in the top seven has any World Cup points in slalom this year. Italy’s Federica Brignone, who’s eighth, has a handful but would not be expected to make up 0.13 seconds on Shiffrin.
The biggest threats to Shiffrin are Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, who’s 0.43 seconds behind the American and stands third in the World Cup slalom standings, and defending champion Michelle Gisin, who’s another 0.01 back and is seventh in World Cup slalom this season.
The slalom starts at 1 a.m. Eastern time, right when the USA-Canada gold medal women’s hockey game will be in full swing.
Mikaela Shiffrin seems happy with her downhill run. Photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty Images
03:31
Curling: Denmark picks up two in the ninth end, which John Shuster and company will happily concede. USA up 7-5 with hammer in the 10th. For those who don’t know curling — that’s good.
Other games are just for seeding, and Team GB has a firm grasp of the top seed with a 5-2 lead over Canada. Their only loss? USA.
Sweden, also with just one loss, is up 8-7 in a barnburner with an already-eliminated Swiss team.
03:15
Curling: I flipped over to USA-Denmark and heard “if they get this, they’ll get four points.” Nearly had a heart attack. But what they meant was that Denmark would have four points for the game, a threshold they have not oft crossed.
And they have not yet crossed it here, either, as Mikkel den Krause makes another mistake that would agitate a typical above-average club curler, taking out a US rock but rolling far enough from the center to give the US another steal. It’s 7-3 USA after eight ends, and John Shuster has the semifinals in sight.
03:09
Women’s halfpipe ski qualification complete
The field of 12 is set, led by Eileen Gu, who finished a staggering six points ahead of Canada’s Rachael Karker. Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru took third despite passing up her second run.
Team GB will be represented by Zoe Atkin with an impressive fourth-place run. The last spot goes to Germany’s Sabrina Cakmakli.
Aside from Sildaru, Atkin and Cakmakli, the final 12 comes from three countries. Kexin Zhang busted out a 1080 to move up from 10th to fifth in her second run, joining Chinese teammates Gu and Li Fanghui in the final. Canada has Karker, Cassie Sharpe and Amy Fraser.
For the USA, it’s Brita Sigourney, Hanna Faulhaber and Carly Margulies, clumped together from eighth to 10th.
Brita Sigourney spends some quality time above the halfpipe. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
03:01
Halfpipe: Margulies improves slightly to 82.25. That’s behind Faulhaber, so her fellow American clinches a spot, but Margulies should qualify.
Now it’s up to Devin Logan, who goes big on the first trick but barely lands it. Her tail hits before the rest of her, and it’s a nice bit of athleticism to hang on.
But that’s not going to impress the judges. She’s out.
Margulies is in, and NBC informs us that she has not competed in two years due to injuries. Not a bad comeback.
02:55
Halfpipe: As expected after that second run, Brita Sigourney has qualified for the final.
Not much has changed on the bubble, which has a lot of Americans. Hanna Faulhaber is ninth and has almost clinched a spot. Carly Margulies is 10th. Devin Logan is one spot outside the top 12 and will have a pressure-packed final run.
Faulhaber has already done both runs. Margulies is up now.
02:53
Alpine skiing, downhill: That’ll do quite nicely for Mikaela Shiffrin. A coach gives a nice fist pump as she comes in second of the skiers so far, trailing only Ledecka and putting 0.44 seconds between herself and Gisin.
Ledecka competes almost exclusively in downhill and super-G when she does Alpine skiing rather than snowboarding. She shouldn’t be a factor in the slalom unless favorites like Shiffrin miss gates.
02:49
Alpine combined, downhill: With Petra Vlhova out, the biggest threat to Mikaela Shiffrin is surely Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin. She’s just the defending champion. And she took bronze in super-G earlier in these Games.
But her downhill run is a little ragged. She’s 0.99 seconds behind Ledecka and just fourth out of the eight pre-Shiffrin skiers.
Second place — the USA’s Keely Cashman.
02:44
Alpine combined, downhill: The versatile skier-snowboarder Ester Ledecka is the fastest skier of the first five by a wide margin.
Mikaela Shiffrin starts ninth. Another five minutes or so.
Ester Ledecka takes flight, though it’s unlikely she’ll expand her competitive focus to include ski jumping. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
02:40
Halfpipe: Can Brita Sigourney, the 2018 bronze medalist, improve in her second run to feel a little safer about qualifying for the final? Her 80.50 in the first run put her in eighth place.
On her second hit, she flies 12 1/2 feet out of the pipe. She does the same tricks as in her first run except for some slight changes near the bottom.
That’s an 84.50. Should be fine.
A bit earlier, Kelly Sildaru opted out of her second run, thinking her 87.50 will be enough to qualify. Safe bet.
02:33
Halfpipe: Eileen Gu won the big air event by a hair. If she does anything like this in the final, it won’t be close. She made the halfpipe look small, easily floating more than 10 feet above it and once again landing back-to-back 900s at the start. The back-to-back flatspins at the bottom were sick as well.
95.50. Off the charts.
Before that, the USA’s Hanna Faulhaber didn’t improve her score, once again getting tremendous amplitude but having some sketchy landings.
After that, Britain’s Zoe Atkin improved slightly to 86.75. She’ll be in the final.
02:29
Coming up in about one minute: Women’s combined downhill.
This is where Mikaela Shiffrin should shine. She’s the slalom GOAT and is good enough in downhill. She took silver in this event in 2018 and won the 2021 world championship.
02:19
Halfpipe: If you’re checking in from New Zealand, I have some bad news — Chloe McMillan is 17th and Anja Barugh is 18th. As many a report card might say: Needs improvement.
02:16
Halfpipe: The first run is done. Top 12 reach the final. Only the best run counts for each skier.
Eileen Gu has the top score with a 93.75, and there’s no way 12 people will top that. It’s unlikely more than two people have a shot at it. Canada’s Rachael Karker and Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru are similarly safe. Likely safe: Canada’s Cassie Sharpe and Team GB’s Zoe Atkin.
Three Americans — Hanna Faulhaber, Brita Sigourney and Carly Margulies —are clustered at seventh through ninth and might need better runs to feel safe. Devin Logan is 13th, so she definitely needs better.
02:10
Curling: Well, that changes things. John Shuster makes a solid takeout to lie three with his last rock, leaving no Danish rocks in the house.
Denmark’s Mikkel den Krause needs to draw close to the button to get a single point. If he misses by a couple of feet, he gives up a steal of one.
He missed by a lot. In archery terms, his shot missed the target entirely and went somewhere into a neighboring realm.
USA 5, Denmark 2 after four ends.
Bird photo!
A bird gets a good view of the Canada-Britain game. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock
02:01
Curling: I’ve been told there’s a bird in the Ice Cube, but I have no photo.
Anyway, the US men just need to beat last-place Denmark to reach the semifinals. They gave up a steal in the second end to trail 2-0. They did get two back in the third, though.
01:50
Halfpipe: From 32 to just-turned-20, it’s Estonian star Kelly Sildaru dropping into the pipe on her birthday. She and Gu are the only skiers going for the big air-slopestyle-halfpipe triple. No medal for her in big air, but she took bronze in slopestyle. She doesn’t show anything spectacular but gets an 87.50.
01:48
Halfpipe: A lot of these competitors are teens or in their early 20s. The USA’s Brita Sigourney is 32. She starts out with a huge 900 but loses some momentum late. That’s still an 80.50.
01:45
Halfpipe: Canada’s Cassie Sharpe only has rotation in three of her six hits, but the judges must have liked what they saw, because that’s an 86.25.
Next — Britain’s Zoe Atkin, one of many US-based Winter Olympians who competes for another country, has a nice array of spins for an 85.25.
The parade of high scores comes to a screeching halt with China’s Wu Meng. She crashed, so her score was obviously kind of low. This isn’t figure skating.
01:39
Halfpipe: Stanford-bound Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu starts with back-to-back 900s and ends up with a 93.75.
There are six judges for this event, and the highest and lowest scores are dropped. Ironically, the US judge was responsible for the “lowest” score for Gu, though it was a 93. Remarkable consensus here.
Eileen Gu reaches for a grab. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Updated
01:36
Halfpipe: The USA’s Hanna Faulhaber has kicked off qualifying with about 15 1/2 feet of amplitude and six tricks. That’s good for an 84.25.
Canada’s Rachael Karker goes for more spins than height, landing back-to-back 900s.
Here goes Gu …
01:32
Hi folks. Beau Dure here, and I’d like to start by saying 1,057 matches in curling still aren’t enough. Especially for the US women, who are out. We watched some of the USA-Canada game last night at the curling club, and we’re all a little depressed.
Speaking of USA-Canada, stay up late with me (East Coasters, that is) to keep up with one of the most anticipated events of these Games — USA-Canada women’s hockey, for the gold this time.
Around that time, Mikaela Shiffrin will be going in the combined, an event in which she would the prohibitive favorite if not for her mistakes on these slopes over this fortnight.
Before that, let’s check in with Eileen Gu again as she hops into the halfpipe.
01:15
Today’s schedule
Times are all in local Beijing time. For Sydney it is +3 hours, for London it is -8 hours, for New York it is -13 hours and San Francisco is -16 hours.
9.05am and 2.05pm and 8.05pm Curling – after approximately 1,057 matches it is the final bits of the round robin stage, and then in the evening it is the men’s semi-finals 🥇
9.30am-3.10pm Freestyle skiing – there’s action all day but the main attraction from 2pm onwards is the women’s ski cross which goes from the quarter-finals to the final 🥇
10.30am and 2pm Alpine skiing – it is the women’s combined – they do the downhill in the morning, the slalom in the afternoon 🥇
12.10pm Ice hockey – no shocks in the women’s ice hockey the gold medal game will be Canada v US 🥇
4pm and 7pm Nordic combined – the teams do jumping first and cross-country 🥇
4.30pm Speed skating – the women’s 1,000m at the National Speed Skating Oval 🥇
6pm Figure skating – the conclusion of the women’s single skating with the free skating 🥇
