03:04
Mike Hytner
Curling: ROC manage to pull one back in the seventh end and with three ends to go, Great Britain lead 5-3. And with that I’ll hand you over to Luke McLaughlin in London, who will see you through the res of the day’s action in Beijing. Bye for now.
02:57
Cross-country skiing: some news in ahead of the 50km freestyle race on Saturday – Simen Hegstad Krueger has been named in Norway’s four-man team after his journey to Beijing was delayed by Covid-19.
Reuters reports Krueger was stranded in Italy following his positive coronvairus test but has finally arrived in Zhangjiakou, some 200km north-west of Beijing, and is fit enough to take part in the race – one of the sport’s blue riband events.
“I’m really glad to finally be here. It’s been a long wait for me in Italy so looking forward to finally getting the chance to compete on these tough courses, looking forward to that,” he said. “[There were] some parts where I thought my chances were quite small to get here, but sometimes my chances felt bigger, so it was ups and downs, but very glad to finally be here.”
02:49
Curling: Things are getting tense on the ice at the National Aquatics Centre, where Great Britain’s women have extended their lead over the ROC to 5-2 heading into the seventh end of the round robin clash. The Russians’ last stone in end six hasn’t got the legs on it and it’s a steal of one for the Brits.
Eve Muirhead in action for Great Britain. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
Updated
02:46
Here’s that story I promised earlier from Sean Ingle.
The Winter Olympics have plunged been into further controversy after Beijing 2022 spokesperson Yan Jiarong dismissed human rights violations among the Uyghur muslim population as “lies” – and then insisted Taiwan was part of China. Yan, a former member of the Chinese delegation to the UN General Assembly, referred to “so-called forced labour” in Xinjiang in response to one question, before insisting China was against the “politicising of sports”.
Read the full story below:
02:41
A bit of a lull in the live action at the moment, so let’s just have a look ahead to what is to come today.
In about 20 minutes, the nordic combined Team Gundersen large hill/4x5km ski jumping gets underway before the women’s 1,000m speed skating starts in just under an hour from now.
There’s the conclusion of the women’s single skating with the free skating, featuring a certain 16-year-old Russian called Kamila Valieva who holds the lead and will go last. The ski jumping part of the aforementioned nordic combined also takes place today before the big curling semi-final between the men of Great Britain and US.
02:28
Sandra Naeslund wins gold in women’s skicross
Freestyle skiing: Naeslund is the Olympic champion! She gets out in front early in what proves to be tightly contested final, but the fight is more for the silver and bronze, such is the Swede’s dominance in this race. Marielle Thompson picks up silver – and this is the first time a Canadian has not won gold – while Fanny Smith claims bronze. Daniela Maier comes in fourth.
02:22
Freestyle skiing: Here we go then, the skicross small final. It’s an even start, but Brittany Phelan soon leads, followed by Courtney Hoffos and a third Canadian, Hannah Schmidt. And that’s how it finishes, Kennedy-Sim unable to register a best-ever finish for Australia in this event.
02:14
Freestyle skiing: So, the women’s skicross big final will be contested by Naeslund, Thompson, Smith and Maier. Kennedy-Smith still has a chance to post her best ever placing in the small final, but no medal this time. A grand total of three Canadians fall in the semis.
02:10
Freestyle skiing: To the second semi… it’d be picture perfect for a Christmas card out there as the snow falls heavily. Fanny Smith opens up a lead, ahead of Brittany Phelan as Kennedy-Sim lags behind. But it’s Daniela Maier who takes the win, overtaking on the very last jump, to advance along with Fanny Smith! Kennedy-Sim finishes in fourth, and there will be no final for the Australian. Her run is ended at the semi-final stage, as it was four years ago.
02:06
Freestyle skiing: Sandra Naesland, the world No 1, is imperious in the first semi-final as visibility deteriorates. The Swede eases across the finish line in first place to qualify for the big final along with Canada’s Marielle Thompson.
02:03
Curling: As the snow tumbles on the slopes, let’s head inside briefly to the National Aquatics Centre where Japan and Switzerland are locked at 2-2. The big men’s semi-final between Great Britain and the US is coming up later on.
01:58
Freestyle skiing: Brittany Phelan makes it four Canadian women in the semi-finals as Fanny Smith of Switzerland wins the last quarter-final. Not so great for Alexandra Edebo of Sweden, who crashes out. Semis coming up and from there, the small matter of the medal allocation.
01:55
Freestyle skiing: Back to the slopes and Sammy Kennedy-Sim gets another good start in her four-woman quarter-final and leads from the start to the finish to book her spot in the semis! The veteran of three Winter Games is looking good. Daniela Maier of Germany comes in second and joins the Australian in progressing.
The snow falls on the skicross course. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images
Updated
01:50
My colleague Sean Ingle in Beijing will bring you more on this shortly, but a Beijing official has spoken for the first time about Taiwan and Xinjiang, saying that there is only “one China”.
“The so-called forced labour in Xinjiang is lies made up by deliberate groups,” Beijing Games spokesperson Yan Jiarong said.
Stay tuned for more.
01:42
Alpine skiing: The women’s combined podium is pretty much set – Michelle Gisin and Wendy Holdener, both of Switzerland, and Federica Brignone of Italy occupy the top three slots, in that order, as the rest of the course finish off their runs.
01:35
Freestyle skiing: She’s a renown fast-starter and Sammy Kennedy-Sim bursts out of the gates in her women’s ski-cross 1/8 final. The Australian crosses the line in first to ease into the quarter-finals, but all eyes are on the Italian Lucrezia Fantelli, who has a nasty-looking crash which effectively gifts progress to both Kennedy-Sim along with the Russian Anastasia Chirtcova. Fingers crossed Fantelli is OK – she stays down for a long time, receiving attention. There’s a delay in competition, but we’re back up and running now with those quarter-final heats.
Lucrezia Fantelli is stretchered off the course. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Updated
01:35
Mike Hytner
Thanks Beau, that was a hectic hour or so. Excellent work seeing us through it all. I’ll be here now for the next 90 minutes or so now, and we’ll start with an update from the women’s ski-cross….
01:31
Time for me to sign off and do the short-track relay push to Mike Hytner in Australia.
But I did want to toss in one email I received from Barbara Roden in one of my favorite places in the world, British Columbia: “It’s 10.10 pm here on the west coast and I’ll bet a lot of people are glued to the game. Nail-biting time. Also, I haven’t been to a Vancouver Canucks game for a while, but ‘Freeze Frame’ used to be a staple of between plays music at their games. All these arena music people must train at the same place.”
I love hockey music. And that was a great game to watch.
So the last few hours have been heart-wrenching (Shiffrin), thrilling (hockey) and breathtaking (halfpipe). Still so much more to come. Enjoy.
Updated
01:26
Canada wins women’s hockey gold
Credit to Team USA for a spirited rally, but it’s just too late. The shot count since Canada’s third goal was 22-5, but only a few of those shots tested Ann-Renee Desbiens, and the great goalie was up to the challenge on those.
The Americans will lament their sluggish, muddled start. A lot of mental lapses on defense. A sense that they weren’t rising to the challenge against their eternal rivals.
But credit to Canada. They’re just that good.
01:23
Alpine combined, slalom: The refs are talking about that goal, and while they’re busy with that, we can see Switzerland’s Gisin and Holdener have taken the top two spots.
Updated
01:22
Goal! Canada 3-2 USA 12.5 seconds, 3rd period (Kessel 59:47)
Just brute force on the 6-on-4. Kessel jams a rebound through Desbiens.
01:20
Alpine combined, slalom: Only five of the first 10 skiers have made it down the course. Now come the two skiers with a good chance — Holdener and Gisin.
01:19
Canada 3-1 USA 1:25, 3rd period
The USA accidentally plays the puck out of the Canadian zone but regroups.
And it’ll be a power play — Poulin, of all people, for tripping. Dangerous hit on Barnes.
6 on 4 …
01:17
Canada 3-1 USA, 2:30, 3rd period
Good effort by the US defense to prevent the empty-net goal. Here comes Knight.
01:16
Canada 3-1 USA 3:08, 3rd period
While the PA plays Elvis Costello’s Pump It Up, the US women pull the goalie.
01:15
Alpine combined, slalom: Never mind, then — Italy’s Federica Brignone rips through the gates with confidence and bests Ledecka’s combined time by 0.80 seconds.
Still, a medal from the snowboard wizard would be amazing.
01:14
Halfpipe: Gus Kenworthy has qualified! His score of 70.75 holds up, and he makes the 12-skier final.
The top nine all hail from the USA (four), Canada (three) and New Zealand (two). Then one each from France, Switzerland and Britain.
01:12
Alpine combined, slalom: The USA’s Keely Cashman gives Shiffrin some company on the DNF list.
Don’t look now, but Ester Ledecka may be set for a snowboard-ski double even more unlikely than the one she pulled off in 2018.
3.04am EST 03:04 Mike Hytner Curling: ROC manage to pull one back in the seventh end and with three ends to go, Great Britain lead 5-3. And with that I’ll hand you over to Luke McLaughlin in London, who will see you through the res of the day’s action in Beijing. Bye for now. 2.57am EST 02:57 Cross-country skiing: some news in ahead of the 50km freestyle race on Saturday – Simen Hegstad Krueger has been named in Norway’s four-man team after his journey to Beijing was delayed by Covid-19. Reuters reports Krueger was stranded in Italy following his positive coronvairus test but has finally arrived in Zhangjiakou, some 200km north-west of Beijing, and is fit enough to take part in the race – one of the sport’s blue riband events. “I’m really glad to finally be here. It’s been a long wait for me in Italy so looking forward to finally getting the chance to compete on these tough courses, looking forward to that,” he said. “[There were] some parts where I thought my chances were quite small to get here, but sometimes my chances felt bigger, so it was ups and downs, but very glad to finally be here.” 2.49am EST 02:49 Curling: Things are getting tense on the ice at the National Aquatics Centre, where Great Britain’s women have extended their lead over the ROC to 5-2 heading into the seventh end of the round robin clash. The Russians’ last stone in end six hasn’t got the legs on it and it’s a steal of one for the Brits. Eve Muirhead in action for Great Britain. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA Updated at 3.01am EST 2.46am EST 02:46 Here’s that story I promised earlier from Sean Ingle. The Winter Olympics have plunged been into further controversy after Beijing 2022 spokesperson Yan Jiarong dismissed human rights violations among the Uyghur muslim population as “lies” – and then insisted Taiwan was part of China. Yan, a former member of the Chinese delegation to the UN General Assembly, referred to “so-called forced labour” in Xinjiang in response to one question, before insisting China was against the “politicising of sports”. Read the full story below: 2.41am EST 02:41 A bit of a lull in the live action at the moment, so let’s just have a look ahead to what is to come today. In about 20 minutes, the nordic combined Team Gundersen large hill/4x5km ski jumping gets underway before the women’s 1,000m speed skating starts in just under an hour from now. There’s the conclusion of the women’s single skating with the free skating, featuring a certain 16-year-old Russian called Kamila Valieva who holds the lead and will go last. The ski jumping part of the aforementioned nordic combined also takes place today before the big curling semi-final between the men of Great Britain and US. 2.28am EST 02:28 Sandra Naeslund wins gold in women’s skicross Freestyle skiing: Naeslund is the Olympic champion! She gets out in front early in what proves to be tightly contested final, but the fight is more for the silver and bronze, such is the Swede’s dominance in this race. Marielle Thompson picks up silver – and this is the first time a Canadian has not won gold – while Fanny Smith claims bronze. Daniela Maier comes in fourth. 2.22am EST 02:22 Freestyle skiing: Here we go then, the skicross small final. It’s an even start, but Brittany Phelan soon leads, followed by Courtney Hoffos and a third Canadian, Hannah Schmidt. And that’s how it finishes, Kennedy-Sim unable to register a best-ever finish for Australia in this event. 2.14am EST 02:14 Freestyle skiing: So, the women’s skicross big final will be contested by Naeslund, Thompson, Smith and Maier. Kennedy-Smith still has a chance to post her best ever placing in the small final, but no medal this time. A grand total of three Canadians fall in the semis. 2.10am EST 02:10 Freestyle skiing: To the second semi… it’d be picture perfect for a Christmas card out there as the snow falls heavily. Fanny Smith opens up a lead, ahead of Brittany Phelan as Kennedy-Sim lags behind. But it’s Daniela Maier who takes the win, overtaking on the very last jump, to advance along with Fanny Smith! Kennedy-Sim finishes in fourth, and there will be no final for the Australian. Her run is ended at the semi-final stage, as it was four years ago. 2.06am EST 02:06 Freestyle skiing: Sandra Naesland, the world No 1, is imperious in the first semi-final as visibility deteriorates. The Swede eases across the finish line in first place to qualify for the big final along with Canada’s Marielle Thompson. 2.03am EST 02:03 Curling: As the snow tumbles on the slopes, let’s head inside briefly to the National Aquatics Centre where Japan and Switzerland are locked at 2-2. The big men’s semi-final between Great Britain and the US is coming up later on. 1.58am EST 01:58 Freestyle skiing: Brittany Phelan makes it four Canadian women in the semi-finals as Fanny Smith of Switzerland wins the last quarter-final. Not so great for Alexandra Edebo of Sweden, who crashes out. Semis coming up and from there, the small matter of the medal allocation. 1.55am EST 01:55 Freestyle skiing: Back to the slopes and Sammy Kennedy-Sim gets another good start in her four-woman quarter-final and leads from the start to the finish to book her spot in the semis! The veteran of three Winter Games is looking good. Daniela Maier of Germany comes in second and joins the Australian in progressing. The snow falls on the skicross course. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images Updated at 2.44am EST 1.50am EST 01:50 My colleague Sean Ingle in Beijing will bring you more on this shortly, but a Beijing official has spoken for the first time about Taiwan and Xinjiang, saying that there is only “one China”. “The so-called forced labour in Xinjiang is lies made up by deliberate groups,” Beijing Games spokesperson Yan Jiarong said. Stay tuned for more. 1.46am EST 01:46 Michelle Gisin wins women’s combined slalom 1.42am EST 01:42 Alpine skiing: The women’s combined podium is pretty much set – Michelle Gisin and Wendy Holdener, both of Switzerland, and Federica Brignone of Italy occupy the top three slots, in that order, as the rest of the course finish off their runs. 1.35am EST 01:35 Freestyle skiing: She’s a renown fast-starter and Sammy Kennedy-Sim bursts out of the gates in her women’s ski-cross 1/8 final. The Australian crosses the line in first to ease into the quarter-finals, but all eyes are on the Italian Lucrezia Fantelli, who has a nasty-looking crash which effectively gifts progress to both Kennedy-Sim along with the Russian Anastasia Chirtcova. Fingers crossed Fantelli is OK – she stays down for a long time, receiving attention. There’s a delay in competition, but we’re back up and running now with those quarter-final heats. Lucrezia Fantelli is stretchered off the course. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Updated at 1.46am EST 1.35am EST 01:35 Mike Hytner Thanks Beau, that was a hectic hour or so. Excellent work seeing us through it all. I’ll be here now for the next 90 minutes or so now, and we’ll start with an update from the women’s ski-cross…. 1.31am EST 01:31 Time for me to sign off and do the short-track relay push to Mike Hytner in Australia. But I did want to toss in one email I received from Barbara Roden in one of my favorite places in the world, British Columbia: “It’s 10.10 pm here on the west coast and I’ll bet a lot of people are glued to the game. Nail-biting time. Also, I haven’t been to a Vancouver Canucks game for a while, but ‘Freeze Frame’ used to be a staple of between plays music at their games. All these arena music people must train at the same place.” I love hockey music. And that was a great game to watch. So the last few hours have been heart-wrenching (Shiffrin), thrilling (hockey) and breathtaking (halfpipe). Still so much more to come. Enjoy. Updated at 1.33am EST 1.26am EST 01:26 Canada wins women’s hockey gold Credit to Team USA for a spirited rally, but it’s just too late. The shot count since Canada’s third goal was 22-5, but only a few of those shots tested Ann-Renee Desbiens, and the great goalie was up to the challenge on those. The Americans will lament their sluggish, muddled start. A lot of mental lapses on defense. A sense that they weren’t rising to the challenge against their eternal rivals. But credit to Canada. They’re just that good. 1.23am EST 01:23 Alpine combined, slalom: The refs are talking about that goal, and while they’re busy with that, we can see Switzerland’s Gisin and Holdener have taken the top two spots. Updated at 1.26am EST 1.22am EST 01:22 Goal! Canada 3-2 USA 12.5 seconds, 3rd period (Kessel 59:47) Just brute force on the 6-on-4. Kessel jams a rebound through Desbiens. 1.21am EST 01:21 35 seconds: Good scramble. Updated at 1.22am EST 1.20am EST 01:20 Alpine combined, slalom: Only five of the first 10 skiers have made it down the course. Now come the two skiers with a good chance — Holdener and Gisin. 1.19am EST 01:19 Canada 3-1 USA 1:25, 3rd period The USA accidentally plays the puck out of the Canadian zone but regroups. And it’ll be a power play — Poulin, of all people, for tripping. Dangerous hit on Barnes. 6 on 4 … 1.17am EST 01:17 Canada 3-1 USA, 2:30, 3rd period Good effort by the US defense to prevent the empty-net goal. Here comes Knight. 1.16am EST 01:16 Canada 3-1 USA 3:08, 3rd period While the PA plays Elvis Costello’s Pump It Up, the US women pull the goalie. 1.15am EST 01:15 Alpine combined, slalom: Never mind, then — Italy’s Federica Brignone rips through the gates with confidence and bests Ledecka’s combined time by 0.80 seconds. Still, a medal from the snowboard wizard would be amazing. 1.14am EST 01:14 Halfpipe: Gus Kenworthy has qualified! His score of 70.75 holds up, and he makes the 12-skier final. The top nine all hail from the USA (four), Canada (three) and New Zealand (two). Then one each from France, Switzerland and Britain. 1.12am EST 01:12 Alpine combined, slalom: The USA’s Keely Cashman gives Shiffrin some company on the DNF list. Don’t look now, but Ester Ledecka may be set for a snowboard-ski double even more unlikely than the one she pulled off in 2018. 1.10am EST 01:10 Canada 3-1 USA 5:45, 3rd period Nothing happened on the power play.