Editor’s note: This page reflects performances at the Olympics on Saturday, February 12th. Visit our Updates page for news and instructions for the Sunday (February 13th) promotion.
Lindsey Jacobellis, 36, won her second gold medal at the Olympics by placing first on her snowboarding debut in a mixed team with American teammate Nick Baumgartner. Team USA is the oldest team in the field, with a combined age of 76 years.
For 40-year-old Baumgartner, heartbroken after failing to qualify for the men’s individual final, this was his second chance to win his first Olympic medal in his fourth and final Olympics.
In men’s hockey, the US beat Canada 4-2, improved to 2-0, won the group stage and advanced to the quarter-finals.
In ice dancing, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donoghue of Team USA, as well as Madison Jock and Evan Bates, took the top places after the rhythm dance section.
BEIJING — After the first half on Saturday, two US ice dancing teams battled for medals.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donoghue placed third in the rhythm dance portion of the competition with 87.13 points while skating and enjoying Janet Jackson’s music collection. Reigning national champions Madison Jock and Evan Bates finished fourth, but were almost three points behind their compatriots (84.14).
France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron topped the list with a rhythm dance world record of 90.83 points. Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov from Russia will receive silver medals.
BEIJING. Cathy Ulender of the United States, who has stood out on the world stage for nearly 20 years with her skeleton, finished sixth in what will almost certainly be her last Olympics.
A two-time World Cup Series Champion who also won the 2012 World Cup, Ulander excelled at the Beijing Olympics. Getting a podium spot in her fifth Olympic appearance wasn’t enough.
Ulander didn’t make any serious mistakes in the last two rounds of the women’s skeleton on Saturday, she just didn’t have the speed to catch up to the competition. Starting eighth, she finished her third lap at the Yanqing Skating Center with a personal best of 1:02.15 but did not play much time for the leader. Ulender showed the participant fifth place in her fourth race, securing her sixth place.
An Olympic medal was the only thing Ulander lacked in her skeleton career. In 2014, she came very close to winning the bronze medal temporarily when Russia’s third-place finisher Yelena Nikitina was embroiled in a Russian doping scandal over the Sochi Winter Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned this decision, ruling that there were not enough grounds to disqualify Nikitina and strip her of her bronze medal.
Germany’s Hannah Ness beat Australia’s Jacqueline Naracotte by 0.62 seconds for the gold medal on Saturday. Bronze went to Kimberly Bosch from the Netherlands.
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Sean White and his brother Jesse launched Whitespace, a snowboarding and outdoor lifestyle brand, last month. During the soft launch, Whitespace showcased 50 branded skis.
“I don’t want to beat these guys anymore. I want to sponsor them,” White said. “Not to sign them or anything like that, but to help their careers and guide my experience and what I’ve learned.”
American halfpipe ski and snowboard coach JJ Thomas, who began coaching White ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, called White a natural “businessman”.
BEIJING — The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced Saturday that it had set a time and date for a hearing in the case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valeva.
CAS said the hearing is set for Sunday at 8:30 p.m., with a decision expected on Monday.
Valieva, 15, tested positive for an illegal heart drug that improves endurance and blood flow. She was informed of her positive test result earlier this week on 25 December.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency initially suspended Valieva, but lifted the suspension after she filed an appeal, prompting the IOC and other governing bodies to seek a CAS decision on the matter.
BEIJING — The Beijing 2022 panda mascot has won supporters around the world as Wu Rouro queued for 11 hours to buy her own Bing Dwen Dwen plush toy. Chinese consumers in stores and online flocked to buy the collectible version of the plush animal mascot, whose name translates into English as a combination of “ice” and “chubby.”
“It’s so cute, very cute, oh I don’t know, because it’s a panda,” said Rou Rou Wu, explaining in a USA TODAY post why she placed 11th on the team for the night. At zero temperatures in Nanjing in southern China, it is possible to buy bears living in the mountains of central China with Olympic souvenirs.
While you sleep in America, Team America has another gold medal. Here are the highlights of the evening:
The 17-year-old from Kewaskum, Wisconsin, became the youngest runner in the race, finishing in 34.85 seconds. He was the fastest of the 10 skaters in the fifth pair, but was quickly finished by China’s Gao Tingyu with an Olympic record time of 34.32 seconds and Pole Damian Zurek (34.73) in the seventh pair.
At the home race at the National Oval Skating, Gao’s time would be the best of the day, earning him an Olympic gold medal and a bronze medal, which he won at that distance in 2018.
Silver went to the South Korean athlete Min Kyu Cha (34.39), bronze went to the Japanese Wataru Morishige (34.49).
He headed to the airport less than 24 hours after the global snowboarding icon completed his last competitive halfpipe at the Olympics. Destination: Los Angeles to watch your first Super Bowl in person.
White has said that his friend, actress Nina Dobrev, advises him to make a list of things he wants to do in retirement “so I don’t sit around and twirl my fingers.”
BEIJING — Rescuing American off-road ace Jesse Diggins in the 4x5k relay may be the right strategy. But, unfortunately for Deakins, it didn’t matter that her teammates weren’t close enough in the first three rounds.
In a competition in which Team USA hoped to win their first medal, Deakins failed to perform miracles and had to finish sixth.
The Russian team won the gold medal, breaking away from Germany in the last two kilometers. Sweden beat Finland for bronze.
Team USA almost lost any chance of a medal at the end of the second round when Rosie Brennan, who had been part of the Russian and German pursuit group for most of her race, found herself at the end of the game. left and lost contact with the wolves. Novi McCabe, 20, is making his Olympic debut and no one can choose or re-enter the pursuit team in the third round. By the time she handed over to Deakins, who won the 2018 team sprint gold medal and this year’s individual sprint bronze medal, Team USA was almost 43 seconds away from the medal battle.
It was too difficult for Diggins to get into the group from Norway, Finland and Sweden, vying for third place for most of the competition. Team USA finished the race in 55:09.2, about 67 seconds off the podium.
BEIJING. Russian figure skater Kamila Valeva returned to practice on Saturday as her Olympic future still hangs in the balance.
About 50 journalists and two dozen photographers lined the rink floor, and Valieva performed the planned exercises on the ice throughout the session, occasionally chatting with her coach Eteri Tutberidze. The 15-year-old girl did not answer reporters’ questions when she walked through the mixed zone.
Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart drug, on Dec. 25, but played a team game earlier this week because the lab had yet to report on the analysis of the samples.
Valeva has since been suspended by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency and has since returned to work, with the Court of Arbitration for Sport to decide on her status in the coming days.
“It’s unpleasant to say, because we are at the Olympics, right?” said American Mariah Bell, who skated at the training ground after Valieva. “Obviously there is nothing I can do about it. I’m only here to focus on my own skating.”
BEIJING. For Mikaela Shiffrin, who hasn’t skied in over two months, that’s not bad.
Shiffrin set the ninth fastest time and the fastest American time at her first Saturday downhill practice. What’s more, she’s doing well and is still planning to compete in the downhill at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday and the Alpine Combine on Thursday.
“Today has given me more positivity,” she said. “We’ll have to see how things go with time.”
The combo consisted of one downhill and one slalom, so Shiffrin did the practice run anyway. But she has said several times that she also wants to race downhill, depending on how she feels in training.
BEIJING. The NHL, which withdrew from the 2022 Winter Olympics, has offered several elite players from around the world an Olympic opportunity and a chance to showcase the sport’s future.
All seemed to be in good hands, but veterans played a decisive role when the US men’s hockey team defeated Canada 4-2 in a fast-paced game Saturday at the National Indoor Stadium.
Four of the top five picks from the 2021 NHL Entry Draft (three in Canada) entered the game. The Americans took a 2-0 lead in Beijing and beat China 8-0 on Thursday.
Team USA will close out the group stage against silver medalists Germany on Sunday night (8:10 am ET).
KENNY AGOSTINO! He won the national championship with @YaleMHokey in 2013 and now puts @TeamUSA two ahead of Canada! #WinterOlympics | #WatchWithUS
Post time: Oct-24-2022
