And finally before we leave you for the day, check out the updated medals table. We’ll be back tomorrow, starting with the men’s halfpipe where Shaun White goes for gold, but you can look at the full schedule here. And for a daily email with a summary of what’s gone down in Pyeongchang, sign up to the Recap here.
Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow!
Here’s something to set up some of the ice hockey over the coming days: did the NHL kill the men’s competition? A piece by DJ Gallo.
That’s all for the live Pyeongchang action today. A quick wrap-up of what’s gone on:
- Elise Christie falls and can only finish fourth in the final of the women’s speed skating 500m, as Italy’s Arianna Fontana takes the gold medal.
- 17-year-old American Chloe Kim wins a brilliant gold in the women’s halfpipe snowboarding.
- Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger retains the women’s luge title, beating compatriot Dajana Eitberger with Canada’s Alex Gough taking bronze.
- Stina Nilsson wins gold in the women’s cross-country skiing sprint.
- Austria’s Marcel Hirscher nabbed gold in the men’s Alpine combined event, after a thrilling slalom show lobbed him to the top of the leaderboard.
- Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris took gold for Canada in the first ever mixed doubles curling, beating Switzerland in the final.
- The first doping scandal of the Olympics came when Japanese short track speed skater Kei Saito was suspended from the games, after testing positive for acetalozamide, which can be a masking agent and is used as a diuretic.
And the hockey is done. USA 5-0 OAR. You might say the losing team conceded a boat-load of goals. Eh? Eh?
(OAR stands for Olympic Athletes from Russia. But it also spells OAR. Which is what you use to row a boat. Cheers)
Updated
Goal! Really this time! It’s 5-0 to the USA over the Stateless Skaters Who All Happen To Be Russian, as Brandt redeems herself from the previous handsy snafu by backhanding one in.
Goal! A rout! Take that Vlad! The USA score another and...no, wait a second, it’s disallowed. Hannah Brandt shoots, it’s saved, the rebound loops up and she herself flicks it home, but the replays show she put it in with a hand. No goal.
A three-goal burst in the second period as put the US 4-0 up over the Russian Raggydolls in the hockey, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson with a brace there. 15 minutes to go in that one.
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Bryan Graham is in Pyeongchang and has written about the remarkable Chloe Kim:
She is candid, easygoing, worldly and relatable, armed with a magnetic personality and a megawatt smile. She’s fluent in English, Korean and French, the latter honed over two years living with her aunt in Switzerland, with an already formidable endorsement portfolio including Toyota, Samsung and Nike that will no doubt redouble after Tuesday’s triumph. Even the cattiest of snowboarding journos who slight her image as over-produced admits she overcomes any artifice with her athletic charisma. Behold the Beatlemania along the finish corral at Tuesday’s climax as throngs of supporters in full throat waved an even mix of South Korean and American flags. As the trade publication SportsBusiness Journal put it recently: “You’d be hard-pressed to create a more promising brand spokeswoman in a lab.”
Updated
Low scoring affair thus far in the hockey: still USA 1-0 Olympic Athletes from Russia, and they’re into the second period.
Interesting that the British team had this sort of thing in mind, re: Christie. Stewart Laing, the speed skating performance director, told the Beeb:
“We have brought our sports psychologist out and we have had this planned just in case. We will regroup and refocus. We will give her time to digest but then help her cope with what’s happened.”
Alpine escalating pic.twitter.com/tutfR9c1RU
— Paul Campbell (@campbellwpaul) February 13, 2018
Updated
A video from earlier, on the upsettingly young Chloe Kim, who won gold in the women’s snowboard halfpipe. Gnarly, bodacious etc.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo wins the men's cross-country spring skiing
Neglected this one slightly due to the luge, but Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo takes gold, finishing ahead of Federico Pellegrino from Italy and Alexander Bolshunov from the Forbidden Country.
Natalie Geisenberger wins gold in the women's luge!
No mistakes from the defending champion. Eitberger takes silver, and Gough bronze...
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Huefner goes over the line in third! My days! The Canadians go postal as this means Gough is guaranteed a medal - now the favourite Geisenberger, who looks absolutely terrified, goes to see if she can beat Eitberger...
And Gough - who finished fourth in Sochi and has a string of silvers and bronzes at the World Championships to her name - can’t beat Eitberger! No gold for her, and now we wait to see the remaining two Germans...
Germany’s Dajana Eitberger goes 0.162 faster than McRae and into the lead - that means only Canada’s Alex Gough stands between a German 1-2-3. Geisenberger and Huefner still to go...
And the women’s luge is reaching the business end. A few untidy runs mean Kimberly McRae of Canada is still in the lead, but the four top sliders from the previous rounds are still to come...
Gold for Stina Nilsson in the cross-country skiiing!
Other things are happening: the USA are facing Russ...sorry, OAR in the women’s preliminary round ice hockey, and it’s 1-0 to Trump’s lot so far. And in the women’s cross-country skiing, sprint classic, Stina Nilsson has her first Olympic gold. Maiken Caspersen Falla from Norway won silver, and Yulia Belorukova bronze.
Updated
Here’s Sean Ingle’s report from Pyeongchang.
And still more from Christie, talking to Eurosport here...
Heartbreak yet again for @Elise_Christie 💔
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) February 13, 2018
The Team GB athlete reacts to crashing out in the #SpeedSkating 500m final 😢#PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/zkEaGULqrO
A bit more from Christie. You do want to just give her a hug.
“I was knocked over, I didn’t fall on my own...Even in the semi final I got crashed into and ended up in lane four. It is short track and I am supposed to be prepared for this but it hurts...Right now I can’t see living with this feeling.”
They’re forensically going over the final on TV and rather desperately looking for some sort of injustice - they find a nudge on Christie’s hand just before she went over, but there’s no recourse now.
Ach, Christie is distraught, in tears speaking to the BBC.
“I’ve worked so hard for the 500, and it’s just been taken away from me. I know it’s short track and I’m supposed to be prepared for this, but....
“I’ve got a few days to reset, a week until my best distance. I don’t think I’ll be taking many positives tonight...
We’ll have a report on the speed skating final for you shortly, but here’s an account of the history repeated today, from four years ago...
Should be noted that Christie does have two more cracks at gold...
Canada win gold in the mixed doubles curling!
A hammering in the end - they beat Switzerland 10-3, Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris taking gold.
Arianna Fontana wins gold!
It was a photo finish, but the Italian just got a toe/tip of blade ahead of Choi Minjeoun...but the Korean is penalised and is disqualified! Yara Van Kerkhof is bumped up to silver, and Kim Boutin is awarded bronze.
Elise Christie falls!
Oh my, it’s happened again. Christie started off poorly, was in fourth place and was struggling from the off. For a moment on the last lap it looked like she was making a significant move, but on the back straight she falls and goes into the side boards.
As things stand Arianna Fontana is the winner, but the judges are looking at the replays...
Updated
The skaters are on the ice. A reminder of the finalists:
- Choi Minjeoung (Republic of Korea)
- Arianna Fontana (Italy)
- Yara Van Kerkhof (Netherlands)
- Elise Christie (Great Britain)
- Kim Boutin (Canada)
Curling: they’re into end six, and Canada are 8-3 up over Switzerland. Meanwhile, the women’s luge final run has started. Five athletes have gone so far, but the favourite and leader Natalie Geisenberger won’t be sliding for a little while.
Claire Balding has just solemnly quoted JFK in the build-up to the speed skating final. Ever think we take sport a bit too seriously?
Amusing detail: with five athletes in the speed skating final, and two disqualified, there’s only one down for the ‘B’ final - Sofia Prosvirnova. Big tension as we wait to see if they actually make her skate. Hopefully.
Quite a sweet interview with Christie’s coach just now on the BBC. He was tearing up at the mere memory of her winning the World Championship, so he might actually burst if she wins gold. The final starts in about 15 minutes.
If nothing else, the Winter Olympics is belting for pictures, all that scenic snow and whatnot. And here are the best ones from day four:
In that men’s 5,000m skating relay, predictably enough the ending was chaotic. On the final corner Canada’s Samuel Girard was sent flying into the sideboards, and after some deliberation the judges rule that the Dutch skater took him out, and thus they’re kicked out. China win, and thanks to that official intervention Canada are second, into the final.
We’re in end four in the curling, and Canada have belted out into a 6-2 lead.
The women’s luge penultimate heat is done: the final one, wittled down to 20 competitors and where the medals will be dished out, starts in about 20 minutes. Natalie Geisenberger is in the lead, Tatjana Huefner is second and Alex Gough is currently in the bronze medal position.
Competitive chaos on the rink now: or, as the IOC insist on calling it, the men’s 5,000m short track speed skating relay. No baton, they just push each other on the bum to switch over, which adds a little frisson. Blokes all over the shop, and there’s already been one crash in the first heat.
2-2 now in that curling mixed doubles gold medal match between Canada and Switzerland. There’s a real edge to the yelling at each other which is hugely enjoyable.
After the first end in the mixed doubles curling, Canada are 2-0 ahead over Switzerland.
So five skaters into the final. Christie will be in lane four, which could make things spicy. Boutin was allowed through from the last semi because Qu was adjudged to have hampered her. That race will be at 21.09 local, 12.09 GMT.
Elise Christie into the Olympic final!
Woof! A very close race. Christie stumbled a little at the start, but then took the lead ahead of Canada’s Kim Boutin. Qu Chunyu fell and is out, and Van Kerkhof took the lead. Christie stretched, tried to get her toe over the line first, but Van Kerkhof won by 4cm.
Updated
The arena erupts as Korean Choi Minjeong skates past Arianna Fontana to win the first semi, but there’s a surprise as China’s Fan Kexin - five time world champ - finishes third and is out! Actually - she’s penalised and is disqualified. Christie’s Olympic record didn’t last long - Choi sets a new mark of 42.422.
Women’s 500m short track speed skating semi-finals coming up: the skaters are on the ice for the first one, Christie is in the second.
The gold medal game in the mixed doubles curling is underway: Canada v Switzerland, no score so far.
Japes in the eighth and final heat: a great big crash, three skaters go down, but the pen-pushers at City Hall have apparently changed the rules so the one dude left standing can’t just sail through and win by glorious default, like Steven Bradbury at Salt Lake City in 2002. They restart the race, Pavel Sitnikov from Russia blamed for the collision and disqualified. Shaolin Sandor Liu - who the BBC commentators are very keen to tell us is Elise Christie’s boyfriend - is the wins the reset race.
Seventh skating heat: home boy Hwang Daehoen wins, and Britain’s Josh Cheetham comes third, so won’t go through.
Nobody has yet gone above Geisenberger in the huge luge: she’s in the lead, fellow German Tatjana Huefner is just behind her and Canada’s Alex Gough is third. This is the first run, by the way: we’ll see medals dished out later, from 12.30.
More drama in the sixth heat: initially it looks like a big shock is on our hands, Korea’s Seo Yira, who won at the World Championships this year, finishes the race third and thus should be out. BUT - the judges decide that China’s Han Tianyu, who won, did a naughty during an overtaking move and is disqualified, and thus Seo goes through.
Another Olympic record is set: Canada’s Charles Hamelin goes through at pace in the fifth heat, going round in 1:23.407.
The fourth heat in the skating is done: Sjinkie Knegt, out of the Netherlands with his vowels all over the shop, wins. The judges take a look at the tapes to see if anything was askew - and it is. Ren Ziwei, who finished the race second, is tossed for some sort of infraction. It is slightly incongruous, although obviously very sensible, that the judges are wearing dark blazers, shirt and tie, grey slacks...and ice skates.
Meanwhile, the women’s singles luge (because doubles luge is a thing - an insane, terrifying thing) is underway. Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger is currently in the lead.
No giggling at the back here: in the third heat, Semen Elistratov puts on a late burst to qualify in second place, behind Canada’s Samuel Girard.
Less falling over and stuff in the second heat: but the home crowd go wild, wild, wild as Korea’s Lim Hyojun wins.
Drama! Hungary’s Shaoang Liu and Japan’s Ryosuke Sakazume collide a lap or so from home as the latter tried to undertake. All of which means Treacy sailed through as one of the two remaining skaters, with American John-Henry Krueger taking the victory. After a quick conflab the judges decide Liu was at fault, and the silver medallist from last year’s World Championships is out, out, out.
The chaps are up now in the short track speed skating. The 1,000m heat is first, featuring Britain’s superbly named Farrell Treacy.
FYI: Christie will be in the second semi-final, which should start at 11:13. But don’t just go away and come back then. Stick around. What fun we will have.
In fairness, he hasn’t got much else on these days...
Former CAF boss Issa Hayatou is at tonight’s speed skating. Rarely seen in football circles these days. pic.twitter.com/lEYJTYOjV0
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) February 13, 2018
Speaking of hockey...
The hockey has finished: no further score, so the Canadians take that preliminary round, Group A game 4-1 over Finland.
Belting race in the final quarter, all four skaters separated by about a metre. The lead changed hands a few times, but China’s Qu Chunyu took first place, while the home crowd are delighted that Choi Minjeong qualifies in second.
Multiple World Champion Fan Kexin is in the next quarter, but she’s edged out into second place by OAR skater Sofia Prosvirnova. Fan is through in second, but Han Yutong is surprisingly eliminated, coming third.
Elise Christie sets Olympic record!
Christie is content to take the first lap and a bit in second, but she overtakes Kim Boutin smartly on the inside and holds on for the rest of the race. Everyone else falls over, Boutin at the very last and slides over the line. Christie goes through to the semis, and sets a new Olympic record of 42.703!
Updated
St Gelais slinks off the ice, which makes the race itself much more roomy: Fontana takes it with a relative amount of ease, with Van Kerkhof finishing second. They’ll both go through to the semis. Christie up next...
Wipe out on the first corner: Yara Van Kerkhof goes down, so they’ll restart. The officials are looking at the replay to see if anyone needs a slap on the wrist for causing that. And it’s Canada’s Marianne St Gelais that gets the finger of blame pointed at her, and she’s disqualified!
Short track speed skating ahoy. The first 500m quarter-final is up: Italy’s Arianna Fontana, who won silver four years back (after colliding with Christie) goes in this one.
Ten minutes until the speed skating: Christie goes in the second quarter-final of the women’s 500m.
Updated
A minor lull in proceedings at the moment. Finland have pulled back a consolation in the hockey, Riikka Vaila making it 4-1, the Canadians still comfortably in the lead.
Oh, as I press publish: Young is pushed into 31st, so won’t be back for the next round.
Britain’s Andrew Young has posted what is apparently a respectable time in the men’s sprint cross-country skiing. He’s currently ranked 24th, with the top 30 going through. Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola is in the lead.
4-0 now in the ice hockey: Canada are way ahead, Jillian Saulnier getting their fourth to pop a cap on the rout over Finland.
Back at the cross-country skiing, for the parochialists among us all, Britain’s Andrew Young goes in the men’s sprint qualification shortly.
Another step here towards the inevitability of the robots taking over and destroying us all. They can ski now. My god. Nice that they’ve put little coats on some of them, mind.
The women’s speed skaters are warming up on the rink - a reminder that Elise Christie goes in the women’s 500m today: the quarter-final gets going in just under an hour.
Canada are sashaying away with their preliminary round ice hockey match against Finland: 3-0 now, Melodie Daoust absolutely battering one home from range.
Nostalgia! From the archives, here’s how the Guardian reported Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards’s achievements at the 1988 games in Calgary.
Eddie Edwards arrived an hour late at the Winter Olympic press centre. His apologies were waved aside. This man is news. Egypt with its pyramids, the press believe, has more ski jumping opportunities than Britain, and Eddie, in his Gloucestershire burr, hardly dissuaded them.
“There’s a million and one reasons why you stand at the top of the 90-metre jump and think why you shouldn’t go down,” he said. “You see across the valley and it looks and is dangerous.”
Anyway, the women’s sprint classic qualification is underway, and defending champion Maiken Caspersen Falla has been and gone and looks to be comfortably through, with Sweden’s Stina Nilsson the quickest thus far.
Updated
The skiing at these Olympics provides quite a handy summary of the breadth of the human experience. For many, skiing is a pleasurable experience, a leisure activity for the monied, young or both which forms part of a charming trip to scenic parts of France or Austria. But then you make it uphill, remove the lovely drinks, the warm, bearskin rugged lodge at the end and indeed all the fun, and you’ve got a competitive sport.
For a proper summary of what’s coming up this morning, I shall refer you to our full schedule. The cross-country skiing is about to get underway...
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Recap! Recap! Recap! If you fancy knowing what’s happened on each day in these Winter Olympics, then what better than a daily email with all the salient information? Sign up for just such a thing here.
Updated
Controversy in the hockey: a combination of Rebecca Johnston and Natalie Spooner force the puck over the Finnish line (geddit?) but for some reason the refs take aaaaaaaaaaaaages to recognise a fairly obvious goal. And ultimately they don’t: that’s fairly remarkable. It looked clear from the replays they showed on TV, everyone seemed to agree that it was a goal...except the officials. Bizarre. The only explanation is that it was deemed not a goal on the ice, so they needed clear evidence to reverse the decision from the replays. Looked clear from an office in north London, but not in the arena, it seems. Still, Canada lead 2-0 at half-time.
Morning everyone. Please update your contact books to email Nick.Miller@theGuardian.com with your thoughts, comments, complaints, jokes, feedback, anecdotes, pep ups - whatever you like, really.
We’ve just had a VAR incident in the ice hockey: Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin shimmied her way through the Finland defence and flicked the puck into the top of the net, but it bounced out and nobody seemed sure if it had actually gone in. The replays confirmed it had, and the Canadians are 2-0 up.
Day four so far
What’s happened
US superstar teenager Chloe Kim did more than the Pyeongchang winds ever could to blow her competitors off the halfpipe, taking snowboarding gold with an extraordinary 98.75 near-perfect mark.
Read more: Chloe Kim soars to Olympic gold in snowboard halfpipe
Those winds are still causing headaches, as well as a few bumps and scrapes, for Olympians, but officials aren’t gushing with sympathy: “Nobody’s forcing them to compete.”
Read more: FIS responds to riders’ concern over high winds
Austria’s Marcel Hirscher nabbed gold in the men’s Alpine combined event, after a thrilling slalom show lobbed him to the top of the leaderboard. Of the top three in downhill, part one of the combined, only Thomas Dressen made it to the bottom of the slalom course. Matthias Mayer of Austria crashed out, taking a cameraman with him, and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal chose not to start at all.
Wife-and-husband team Anastasia Bryzgalova and Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, competing as Olympic athletes from Russia, swiped the first ever medal in mixed doubles curling, beating Norway 8-4.
Shaun White (USA), Scotty James (Australia) and Ayumu Hirano (Japan) topped qualifying for the men’s halfpipe, promising a sharp-intake-of-breath exciting final on Wednesday.
And Japanese short track speed skater Kei Saito has been sent home after an out-of-competition test on the day of his arrival at the athletes’ village turned up evidence of acetalozamide, a masking agent often used to cover banned substances.
Read more: First doping case of 2018 Winter Olympics sees Japanese athlete sent home
What’s next
Within the next hour, qualification starts for both the women’s and men’s cross-country skiing sprint classics, with finals for each kicking off around 9.25pm local time (that’s a little under five hours from now).
The women’s singles luge final is looming from 7.30pm local time. And the short-track speed skating gets going from 7pm by the Pyeongchang clock, with Team GB’s Elise Christie hoping to be in the running for a medal in the women’s 500m. The men’s 1,500m speed skating rounds off the medals day at 8pm local time.
And the mixed doubles curling gold medal showdown between Canada and Switzerland is rumbling up at 8.05pm Pyeongchang time.
(In brief, and with apologies to the rest of the globe, Pyeongchang is GMT +9, EST +14, AEDT -2.)
And with that I’ll hand you over to my colleague Nick Miller for all the action and anything else that catches his eye. Thanks for reading and for getting in touch.
Updated
Meghan Agosta has put Canada 1-0 ahead in the first period of that women’s ice hockey preliminary round against Finland.
Updated
Canada are just about to take on Finland in the preliminary rounds of the women’s ice hockey; the USA square up to OAR (the not-Russia team) later on.
In case a gold medal wasn’t reward enough …
When @chloekimsnow dropped into the halfpipe, she had ~15,000 Twitter followers. By the time she finished her run, she had Tweeted about sandwiches and earned a #gold medal & 100,000+ new followers.
— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) February 13, 2018
It’s true that as well as being a top-class snowboarder, 17-year-old Kim is nifty with social media:
Wish I finished my breakfast sandwich but my stubborn self decided not to and now I'm getting hangry
— Chloe Kim (@chloekimsnow) February 13, 2018
I hate crying but I'll give myself a pass for this one. Thank you everyone for the love! Stoked to bring home the gold pic.twitter.com/vxApf1lxbI
— Chloe Kim (@chloekimsnow) February 13, 2018
How quickly it can all go wrong …
Here’s the moment Matthias Mayer (you’ll have to trust me that he’s in the blur of snow in the centre) collides with a cameraman (the understandably surprised-looking man in purple) midway through his slalom run.
The top three in the men’s Alpine combined downhill all failed to make their mark in the slalom event – only Germany’s Thomas Dressen managed to finish the course, winding up an eventual ninth overall.
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, in second spot after the downhill, chose not to undertake the slalom as the wind whipped up.
Matthias Mayer of Austria ended the downhill session in third place, but ended his slalom effort with a tumble, taking out a cameraman as he skidded his way to a DNF.
Perhaps it’s time to say goodbye to this event, Associated Press suggests:
Many expect Tuesday’s race to be an Olympic farewell for combined, which has fallen out of favour with the rise in head-to-head parallel racing formats.
Combined was the original event at Alpine skiing’s Olympic debut in 1936. Traditionalists like the mix of skills, but racers are now so specialised that those good at one discipline tend not to be competitive at the other.
Marcel Hirscher almost never races World Cup downhills. Svindal, a two-time world champion in combined, has not skied a competitive slalom run in two years.
Updated
The North Korean leader is having a little joke about the weather at the Games, my colleague Benjamin Haas reports from Pyeongchang. Given it makes a change from threats of nuclear war, we’ll go along with it.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has praised the “warm climate of reconciliation and dialogue” after a delegation returned from their three-day visit to the South for the Winter Olympics.
Kim expressed “satisfaction” over their visit, according to state media, and gave his gratitude for “sincere” and “very impressive” efforts made by Seoul to receive them.
“It is important to continue making good results by further livening up the warm climate of reconciliation and dialogue created by the strong desire and common will of the North and the South with the Winter Olympics as a momentum,” he said.
And here’s your need-to-know on that victory in the men’s Alpine combined, courtesy of AP:
Marcel Hirscher of Austria has won the men’s Alpine combined event, the first career Olympic gold medal for one of skiing’s greats.
Hirscher used his elite skills in the slalom leg to rise from 12th place after the opening run of downhill.
His combined two-run time was 0.23 seconds faster than silver medalist Alexis Pinturault of France. Another Frenchman, Victor Muffat-Jeandet, took bronze, 1.02 behind Hirscher.
The fastest downhill racer, Thomas Dressen of Germany, dropped to ninth place, trailing Hirscher by 2.44. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway did not race the slalom despite placing second in downhill.
Hirscher has a record six overall World Cup titles as the season’s best all-round skier, and four career world championships gold medals.
But he had taken just a silver medal in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics from two previous Winter Games.
Here’s your men’s Alpine combined top three:
Marcel Hirscher wins gold in men's Alpine combined
Back to the men’s Alpine combined event, and Marcel Hirscher has taken ownership of this gold medal after a stunning show in the slalom.
The six-times world champion was lacking an Olympic gold for his collection. So that’s a good day’s work.
Second and third spots belong to France, as Alexis Pinturault takes silver, while Victor Muffat-Jeandet goes away with bronze.
Updated
The International Ski Federation (FIS) has dismissed the concerns of snowboarders who complained about treacherous conditions at the women’s slopestyle by telling them that “nobody was forced to go down and compete”.
A number of riders expressed their anger at the FIS’s decision to allow the event to go ahead in 30mph (48kph) crosswinds on Monday, which turned one of the most exciting events at these Winter Olympics into a dangerous lottery.
But FIS spokesperson Jenny Wiedeke insisted that while conditions were tough they were also safe:
We know it was very difficult conditions for the riders. Each rider had two opportunities to perform their run. Nobody is forced to go down and compete.”
That comment is bound to provoke anger from the riders, who could hardly have expected to have pulled out of an Olympic final. In total there were only nine clean runs out of 52 in total with riders falling, face-planting or pulling up because they couldn’t build enough speed.
That led to a number of riders, including the bronze medallist Enni Rukajärvi, to complain that the weather was bad and too dangerous, and the event should have been cancelled or moved.
Reader Susan Templeton emails from New Zealand to make this very pertinent point:
Please tell your (male) sportscasters that they shouldn’t call women athletes ‘girls’ unless they are going to call the men ‘boys’!
I endorse this message.
We have a medals event under way right now, as the second part of the men’s Alpine combined – the slalom – hits the slopes.
The downhill component wrapped up earlier in the day, with Germany’s Thomas Dressen in the lead. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was just 0.07 seconds behind, with Austrian Matthias Mayer in third.
At this point in the slalom, Austria’s Marcel Hirscher leads, with the earlier top three all yet to run.
Qualifiers for men's snowboard halfpipe final
Here are the 12 who’ll troop out in the hunt for medals on Wednesday:
1 Shaun White (USA)
2 Scotty James (Australia)
3 Ayumu Hirano (Japan)
4 Ben Ferguson (USA)
5 Raibu Katayama (Japan)
6 Jan Scherrer (Switzerland)
7 Chase Josey (USA)
8 Jake Pates (USA)
9 Patrick Burgener (Switzerland)
10 Yuto Totsuka (Japan)
11 Peetu Piiroinen (Finland)
12 Kent Callister (Australia)
Scotty James says he fully expected Shaun White to hit back after the Australian briefly took the top spot in the men’s halfpipe qualifying.
But he says he believes he can switch the positions in the medals event on Wednesday:
I’ve left a lot in the tank for tomorrow … I think it’s going to be an awesome show.
White tells Australia’s Channel 7 that the “younger guys” (White is all of 31) were pushing him hard for that first-place qualifying place:
This is my fourth Olympics … I really wanted to be in that position for tomorrow.
The second qualifying heat of the men’s snowboard halfpipe is over and we have our finalists for tomorrow’s medals battle: Shaun White (USA), Scotty James (Australia) and Ayumu Hirano (Japan) top the list, with Australia’s Kent Callister rounding off the 12.
I’ll whizz together the full list in a few moments.
58 medals have been awarded with Germany nabbing the most golds with 4, while Norway has secured the highest overall medal count with 9. We still have a lot more medals to give out! Fighting! 현재의 메달 순위 TOP 5🏅 과연 메달 순위는 또 어떻게 바뀔까요? 대한민국은 공동 8위🇰🇷 pic.twitter.com/gkYAd743rf
— PyeongChang 2018 (@pyeongchang2018) February 13, 2018
You can scroll through the full leaderboard – who’s up, who’s down, who’s yet to get off the snowy ground – plus the sport-by-sport breakdown, in our interactive here:
In less exhilarating news, Pyeongchang 2018 has its first doping case.
Japanese short track speed skater Kei Saito has been sent home after an out-of-competition test on the day of his arrival at the athletes’ village turned up evidence of acetalozamide, a masking agent often used to cover banned substances.
Saito, who hadn’t yet competed in these Games, was provisionally suspended. “I am shocked by this as I have never tried to commit doping,” he said in a statement. “I have no motivation to use this. I want to prove my innocence but I do not want to burden my team so I accepted this decision.”
He is the first Japanese athlete ever to fail a doping test at a Winter Games.
Shaun White is right behind him, though. The American snowboarder puts in an impressive yet apparently effortless display, strolling back for a 98.50 and a return to the qualifying top spot.
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Australia’s Scotty James swishes up for his second stab in the men’s snowboard halfpipe qualifying.
He starts with sky-scraping back-to-back 1260s and ends on 96.75 and a catapult into first spot.
Today has also seen the first ever medal in mixed doubles curling – a bronze won by wife-and-husband team Anastasia Bryzgalova and Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, competing as Olympic athletes from Russia.
Associated Press has the lowdown:
Despite a highly unusual tumble on the ice, a team of Russian athletes roared back to win the bronze medal in mixed doubles curling by beating Norway 8-4 on Tuesday. The game, which is a faster, more energetic offshoot of standard curling, is making its Olympic debut at the Pyeongchang Games.
Both the Russians and Norwegian teams are couples: Anastasia Bryzgalova is married to teammate Aleksandr Krushelnitckii, and Norway’s Kristin Skaslien is dating teammate Magnus Nedregotten. Bryzgalova said she and her husband drew strength from their relationship, particularly after a tough loss to Switzerland on Monday.
The most dramatic moment of the game came in the third end. Bryzgalova was shuffling backward while strategising with Krushelnitckii when she stumbled over a stone behind her. It is very rare for a curler to fall in professional curling, and the spill drew gasps from the crowd.
The Norwegians were trailing from the start, after the Russian duo managed two points in the first end. Norway drew close in the fifth after a takeout shot that gave them two points to bring the score to 5-4, with Russia in the lead. But the Norwegians missed an opportunity to add points in the seventh, when they had the advantage of throwing the final rock. They delivered the stone too hard and it glided past the target, giving the Russians a one-point steal to bring the score to 7-4. Russia added one point in the final end to clinch the win.
“We always ended up chasing the Russians almost every end, so we struggled out there and the Russians had a very good game,” Skaslien said. “Fourth place is not bad at all and we’re happy with our performance throughout the week.”
Canada will face off against Switzerland later on Tuesday in the mixed doubles gold medal match.
Ben Ferguson is out for his second run in the men’s halfpipe now.
It’s an 89.75, but the American has no worries about qualifying for tomorrow’s final, with a first run of 91.0. He stays in third spot for now.
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With a stomping 95.25, Japan’s Ayumu Hirano has just moved into the lead in the men’s halfpipe qualifying.
Straight behind him comes his compatriot Raibu Katayama, who edges Australia’s Scotty James down to fifth place with 90.75. James is yet to take his second run, of course.
After two days of bad weather postponements, the Alpine skiing is finally underway.
The men’s combined event kicked off with the downhill, although the course had to be modified thanks to that pesky persistent wind. Reuters reports:
Organisers opted to go ahead with an adjusted downhill stage, starting lower down the course at the designated super-G start and using the “blue wind line”, which effectively eliminates jumps from the race.
Germany’s Thomas Dressen leads at this stage, with Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway just 0.07 seconds behind. Austrian Matthias Mayer sits third.
It’ll all be wrapped up with the combined slalom event, which follows at 3pm local time, in around 45 minutes from now.
The men’s snowboard halfpipe qualifying is in full swoop right now. The first round ended with Americans Shaun White and Ben Ferguson in the top two spots, with Australia’s Scotty James in third.
We’re now into the second qualifying run, with the finals looming tomorrow.
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Welcome to day four
What’s an opening chit-chat without talk of the weather? Monday’s women’s slopestyle final was scooped by America’s Jamie Anderson but will be remembered principally for blowing most of its competitors out of contention. Olympics organisers have rather bafflingly rebuffed those saying the event should have been cancelled, saying:
Nobody was forced to go down and compete.
If only those impatient competitors could have held on for another four years.
Today’s forecast includes more strong winds but so far no events have been cancelled. Watch this space: we’ll bring you news of anything that’s not happening alongside the action that actually is.
And, of course, the action already under our insulated belts: Tuesday morning Pyeongchang time saw the finals of the women’s halfpipe snowboard, with all eyes on 17-year-old superstar Chloe Kim. To the surprise of few and the awestruckness of many, the US teenager swept all before her: her third and final run – when she was already in an unassailable gold medal position – racked up an entirely justified 98.25.
China’s Liu Jiayu won her country’s first medal of the Games, grabbing silver on 89.75, ahead of Kim’s compatriot Arielle Gold on 85.75. You can relive how it all played out here.
Qualification for the men’s halfpipe continues right now, and I’ll be switching my brain to that imminently.
We’ve also had medal action in the mixed doubles curling, with the Olympic athletes from Russia (OAR) – and married couple – Anastasia Bryzgalova and Aleksandr Krushelnitckii securing bronze 8-4 ahead of the Norwegian pair of Kristin Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten.
The official Russian Olympic committee was pleased, which is odd because obviously the OAR athletes are merely coincidentally from Russia:
#Керлинг. Микст-Дабл. Матч за 3-е место. НАШИ ПОБЕДИЛИ 8:4! АНАСТАСИЯ И АЛЕКСАНДР – БРОНЗОВЫЕ ПРИЗЕРЫ ОЛИМПИАДЫ!!!
— Olympic Russia (@Olympic_Russia) February 13, 2018
The mixed doubles gold medal showdown between Canada and Switzerland is rumbling up at 8.05pm Pyeongchang time (check our natty schedule, which will show you what time that means where you are).
Other medal events to stay tuned for today:
- The men’s Alpine combined slalom in around one hour from now; the earlier combined downhill stage saw Germany’s Thomas Dressen position himself as the one to beat.
- It’s the men’s 1,500m speed skating final at 8pm local time.
- After a whole bunch of cross-country skiing heats, we get the women’s sprint classic final at 9.25 local time, followed right after by the men’s sprint classic final.
- Around the same time, it’s the women’s singles luge final.
- Team GB hopes centre on world record-holder Elise Christie in the women’s short-track speed skating.
(In brief, and with apologies to the rest of the globe, Pyeongchang is GMT +9, EST +14, AEDT -2.)
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