Beijing 2022: Winter Olympics round up
Follow the Winter Olympics live where Eileen Gu, the American-born skier who chose to represent China, has won gold for the country in the freestyle big air competition as she stunned Tess Ledeux of France, earning the first of what she hopes will be three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. Nicknamed the “Snow Princess”, the 18-year-old from San Francisco dropped to her knees when her score of 94.50 was announced after the third run.
Another skiing record was created on day 4 of the Winter Games as defending champion Matthias Mayer became the first man to win an Alpine skiing gold medal in three consecutive Olympic Games after he finished first in the super-G on Tuesday. Mayer, who won gold in downhill in Sochi in 2014 and super-G in Pyeongchang four years ago, finished the race in 1 minute 19.94 seconds, with American Ryan Cochran-Siegle just four hundredths of a second behind him.
In the men’s individual biathlon, World Cup leader Quentin Fillon Maillet took gold despite inaccuracies in his shooting, with his sheer speed on the skis enough to hold off challenges from defending champion Johannes Thingnes Boe. On the speed skating track, meanwhile, Dutchman Kjeld Nuis defended his gold from Pyeongchang in the 1500m and set an Olympic record along the way.
Natalie Geisenberger became the most decorated athlete in German Winter Olympic history when she won her third consecutive gold in the women’s luge, while Italy took gold in the mixed doubles curling by beating Norway in the final at the National Aquatics Centre.
Elsewhere, American skater Nathan Chen began his quest for gold against two-time Olympic champion and rival Yuzuru Hanyu in the men’s short programme with a stunning world record-breaking performance, and Team GB’s mixed curlers missed out on bronze in their playoff match after being comprehensively beaten by Sweden in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
