09-02-2022, 02:06
It didn't really get much better. 3-9 down after only 6 ends prompted a concession from Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds. I must say Almida De Val, often the weaker link, played a tremendous game and finished with an amazing 100%. Italy once again powered home with an 8-5 win against Norway in the Gold Medal Game. Taking control early on, the Italians were 6-2 up after 4 ends and never looked like allowing the Norwegians back in to the game.
GOLD - Italy
SILVER - Norway
BRONZE - Sweden
Kirsty Muir finished an excellent 5th in her Big Air Final and will no doubt be a big medal hope in her next event, the Slopestyle, at the weekend.
Cornelius Kersten finished 19th in the Men's 1500m Skating event.
GB's Cross-country Skiers were eliminated at the Qualification stage, with Andrew Young in 36th, one second behind the last qualifier, and James Clugnet in 40th, a further second down.
I've never had a chance to look out any information for tomorrow's events, other than to say that Amos Mosaner of Italy and Oskar Eriksson of Sweden are straight back into action with the Men's Curling Teams at 12.05. Magnus Nedregotten of Norway is only the alternate player for Norway and Bruce Mouat gets a day off, as does Jen Dodds with the GB Women's Team. So I've cheated a bit with my copy and paste from the BBC website.
Highlights
Women's snowboard cross brings one of Britain's biggest medal prospects in Beijing. Charlotte Bankes is the world champion in a guaranteed crowd-pleaser of an event, in which athletes go toe-to-toe down a course of bumps and jumps, often with spectacular consequences. Bankes' win in 2021 wasn't a one-off, either - she won silver in 2019 and is this season's World Cup points leader. France's Chloe Trespeuch will be a close rival in Beijing, as will Lindsey Jacobellis, still a regular podium occupant for the US after making her Olympic debut in 2006 (where she took silver after an infamous late fall while leading). Head-to-head racing begins at 06:30, and the final will take place shortly after 07:45.
At the start of January, Mikaela Shiffrin failed to finish a World Cup slalom for the first time in four years. If that (plus her fourth-place finish in this event four years ago, and her early exit from the giant slalom earlier this week) makes you think her rivals have a shot, bear in mind Shiffrin recovered from that DNF to win another World Cup slalom two days later, breaking the record for the most World Cup wins in a single event. Frida Hansdotter, who won in 2018, has since retired. Slovakia's Petra Vlhova is one of few athletes capable of stopping Shiffrin. Racing starts at 02:15 with the climax expected at about 07:15. Charlie Guest and Alex Tilley ski for GB.
James Woods has been gradually closing in on an Olympic medal for GB. At Sochi 2014 he was fifth in freestyle skiing's slopestyle event. In Pyeongchang four years later, he upgraded that to fourth. How about Beijing? Woods is primarily associated with slopestyle but he has three X Games big air medals to his name. In 2019 Norway's Birk Ruud, 21, became the second athlete to win back-to-back X Games big air gold and is a name to watch on the sport's Olympic debut (from 03:00).
Brit watch
Short track speed skating involves GB's Kathryn Thomson in the women's 1,000m heats (11:44) and Farrell Treacy is expected to line up in the men's 1500m (from 11:00, final 13:20). Ten of hosts China's 13 Winter medals in Olympic history have come in short track, and while 2018 champion Wu Dajing has struggled for form lately, rising star Ren Ziwei has a shot at gold in the 1500m.
World watch
The men's ice hockey tournament begins, again without many of the world's leading players as the NHL has withdrawn its athletes for the second Olympics in a row. Last time that was to the benefit of Russia's players, who won gold in Pyeongchang. The Russian Olympic Committee team open this year's tournament against Switzerland (08:40).
Every four years, there are some Olympic certainties. The organisers will have to use artificial snow to make a venue work (this year? Check). There will be a lot of curling (check). And nobody will be able to fully comprehend luge doubles. Luge has been a traditional winter sport in Austria and Germany for centuries, and the two-man event has been a competitive discipline for more than 100 years. But one man lying down on another (there is no women's event) and the two hurling themselves down an ice chute remains a unique spectacle. It's on from 12:20. Germany has a team of people entirely named Tobias - Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt - who won gold in 2014 and 2018, but compatriots Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken may be this year's favourites. Latvian brothers Andris Sics and Juris Sics have a chance.
Mixed doubles curling gives way to the beginning of the men's tournament. Britain aren't in action on the opening day so neutrals may prefer to check in on Norway v Switzerland (12:05), not least to see which trousers the Norwegians have brought this year.
Expert knowledge
Nordic combined begins with the individual Gundersen normal hill/10km event from 07:00. If that last sentence makes no sense, it's an event that combines two Nordic sports: ski jumping, then cross-country skiing. 'Gundersen' refers to the Gundersen method, developed by Norway's Gunder Gundersen, which translates ski jumping performance into a head start in the cross-country skiing. It's basically skiing's answer to cricket's Duckworth-Lewis-Stern. Athletes jump on the normal hill, rather than the large hill, then the cross-country ski lasts for 10km. Simple.
GOLD - Italy
SILVER - Norway
BRONZE - Sweden
Kirsty Muir finished an excellent 5th in her Big Air Final and will no doubt be a big medal hope in her next event, the Slopestyle, at the weekend.
Cornelius Kersten finished 19th in the Men's 1500m Skating event.
GB's Cross-country Skiers were eliminated at the Qualification stage, with Andrew Young in 36th, one second behind the last qualifier, and James Clugnet in 40th, a further second down.
I've never had a chance to look out any information for tomorrow's events, other than to say that Amos Mosaner of Italy and Oskar Eriksson of Sweden are straight back into action with the Men's Curling Teams at 12.05. Magnus Nedregotten of Norway is only the alternate player for Norway and Bruce Mouat gets a day off, as does Jen Dodds with the GB Women's Team. So I've cheated a bit with my copy and paste from the BBC website.
Highlights
Women's snowboard cross brings one of Britain's biggest medal prospects in Beijing. Charlotte Bankes is the world champion in a guaranteed crowd-pleaser of an event, in which athletes go toe-to-toe down a course of bumps and jumps, often with spectacular consequences. Bankes' win in 2021 wasn't a one-off, either - she won silver in 2019 and is this season's World Cup points leader. France's Chloe Trespeuch will be a close rival in Beijing, as will Lindsey Jacobellis, still a regular podium occupant for the US after making her Olympic debut in 2006 (where she took silver after an infamous late fall while leading). Head-to-head racing begins at 06:30, and the final will take place shortly after 07:45.
At the start of January, Mikaela Shiffrin failed to finish a World Cup slalom for the first time in four years. If that (plus her fourth-place finish in this event four years ago, and her early exit from the giant slalom earlier this week) makes you think her rivals have a shot, bear in mind Shiffrin recovered from that DNF to win another World Cup slalom two days later, breaking the record for the most World Cup wins in a single event. Frida Hansdotter, who won in 2018, has since retired. Slovakia's Petra Vlhova is one of few athletes capable of stopping Shiffrin. Racing starts at 02:15 with the climax expected at about 07:15. Charlie Guest and Alex Tilley ski for GB.
James Woods has been gradually closing in on an Olympic medal for GB. At Sochi 2014 he was fifth in freestyle skiing's slopestyle event. In Pyeongchang four years later, he upgraded that to fourth. How about Beijing? Woods is primarily associated with slopestyle but he has three X Games big air medals to his name. In 2019 Norway's Birk Ruud, 21, became the second athlete to win back-to-back X Games big air gold and is a name to watch on the sport's Olympic debut (from 03:00).
Brit watch
Short track speed skating involves GB's Kathryn Thomson in the women's 1,000m heats (11:44) and Farrell Treacy is expected to line up in the men's 1500m (from 11:00, final 13:20). Ten of hosts China's 13 Winter medals in Olympic history have come in short track, and while 2018 champion Wu Dajing has struggled for form lately, rising star Ren Ziwei has a shot at gold in the 1500m.
World watch
The men's ice hockey tournament begins, again without many of the world's leading players as the NHL has withdrawn its athletes for the second Olympics in a row. Last time that was to the benefit of Russia's players, who won gold in Pyeongchang. The Russian Olympic Committee team open this year's tournament against Switzerland (08:40).
Every four years, there are some Olympic certainties. The organisers will have to use artificial snow to make a venue work (this year? Check). There will be a lot of curling (check). And nobody will be able to fully comprehend luge doubles. Luge has been a traditional winter sport in Austria and Germany for centuries, and the two-man event has been a competitive discipline for more than 100 years. But one man lying down on another (there is no women's event) and the two hurling themselves down an ice chute remains a unique spectacle. It's on from 12:20. Germany has a team of people entirely named Tobias - Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt - who won gold in 2014 and 2018, but compatriots Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken may be this year's favourites. Latvian brothers Andris Sics and Juris Sics have a chance.
Mixed doubles curling gives way to the beginning of the men's tournament. Britain aren't in action on the opening day so neutrals may prefer to check in on Norway v Switzerland (12:05), not least to see which trousers the Norwegians have brought this year.
Expert knowledge
Nordic combined begins with the individual Gundersen normal hill/10km event from 07:00. If that last sentence makes no sense, it's an event that combines two Nordic sports: ski jumping, then cross-country skiing. 'Gundersen' refers to the Gundersen method, developed by Norway's Gunder Gundersen, which translates ski jumping performance into a head start in the cross-country skiing. It's basically skiing's answer to cricket's Duckworth-Lewis-Stern. Athletes jump on the normal hill, rather than the large hill, then the cross-country ski lasts for 10km. Simple.
Cabbage is still good for you