Mikaela Shiffrin wins World Cup slalom by whopping margin

AP

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — This is what happens when Mikaela Shiffrin gets really, really mad: She crushes the field and breaks records.

No one could catch Shiffrin as she used an uncharacteristic fall the day before as fuel to power her down the hill.

Shrugging off the disappointment, Shiffrin turned in two blistering runs to win a World Cup slalom by 3.07 seconds Saturday, the largest margin of victory in the history of the women's discipline.

Know what? She wants to win by that margin again. Watch out field.

"From here on out, I'm going to be searching for another 3-second margin of victory," Shiffrin said. "I know very well it might never happen again, because sometimes the stars have to align."

The reigning Olympic and world champion flew through the technical course and finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 39.81 seconds. Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia was second, and Sweden's Frida Hansdotter finished third.

Shiffrin surpassed the previous slalom record for margin of victory held by Florence Steurer. The French standout won by three seconds during a slalom race in 1968.

"It's one of the more cool records that I'll ever have broken," Shiffrin said.

But there were no post-race celebrations. Shiffrin doesn't do celebrations. Doesn't even know how.

Mikaela Shiffrin returns home, dreams of winning overall World Cup title

"Someone is going to have to get out there and put some sticks in my arms like a puppet," she joked.

On the podium after the race, the 20-year-old from nearby Eagle-Vail called it a "special day."

And it certainly made up for Friday's frustration. Shiffrin was in command of a giant slalom race when she crashed near the finish. She buried her face in the snow as the crowd went silent.

That night, she went back to her hotel and watched the footage of her fall.

"When I saw myself fall, I was thinking, 'What were you doing?' I don't fall very often," Shiffrin said. "To do it in a race, it's like a one-in-a-million chance. It was one of those painful things.

"Sometimes that disappointment can hurt you or drive you. I made the decision I was going to let it fuel me."

She was nervous before the first run, so nervous she said she forgot how to breathe as she tried to relax.

"I thought that was a natural instinct?" Shiffrin said.

Those nerves didn't carry over to the course as she built up a big first-run advantage of 1.38 seconds. On her second run, she was all business to become the first American woman to win a slalom race at Aspen.

And it's not like her competitors skied all that bad.

"For sure, I'm really happy with my result," Zuzulova said. "I'm really happy about my day today."

BYU's Jared Ward quickly rising in U.S. marathon ranks

In a post-race news conference, Shiffrin was asked point-blank why she's such a good skier. She offered some insight.

"A lot of technical free-skiing while a lot of my friends were out jumping off cliffs and powder skiing," Shiffrin said. "It's taken me a little while to bring more athleticism into my skiing because I was so robotic for a while. I definitely had the technical side down early."

The winning side, too.

Shiffrin has won four straight World Cup slalom events dating to last season. It's the longest streak in slalom by a female skier since Marlies Schild of Austria captured five straight in 2011-12.

The retired Schild also happens to be one of Shiffrin's childhood idols.

No surprise Shiffrin races a lot like Schild. The resemblance is easy to see for Bernadette Schild, the younger sister of Marlies.

"She skis similar to the way my sister used to ski when she was really good," said Bernadette Schild, who went out early in her first run, ending her day. "She's just sending it."

It was a tough day for the typically strong Austrian contingent as the nation's top three racers veered off course. Schild was at a loss to explain why.

"The course wasn't that hard, actually," she said. "Things like that happen."

This race was scheduled to be held in Levi, Finland, but was relocated because of warm weather there. Aspen will host another slalom race Sunday and Shiffrin will be the overwhelming favorite.

"I don't think they'll let me get away with three seconds ever again," Shiffrin said. "They're going to fight even harder. I have to turn it up a notch, too."

Mikaela Shiffrin, Olympic champion skier, motivated by more than wins

Shiffrin has 2 Olympic gold medals and a silver at just 26 years old

She hopes to race in all five events in Beijing and is ranked No. 1 in both slalom and giant slalom

Four years ago her attempt to ski all five races was thwarted by heavy winds in Korea

Part of USA TODAY's 10 to watch series profiling some of America's top athletes competing at the Beijing Olympics

Of course Mikaela Shiffrin wants to win.

That’s the point of being an elite athlete, isn’t it? To go faster than everyone else. To beat the person next to you. To pile up the statistics and results that are the easiest and most obvious measures of success.

For Shiffrin, though, winning is the byproduct. Like the student who relishes the grind more than the grade, she is more interested in the things that go into making her one of the best ski racers of all time. The mechanics. The angles and edges. The tactics. The repetition. The searching for the tiniest of flaws and figuring out how to fix them. The fascination with the hows and the whys and the what ifs I did this instead.

Mikaela Shiffrin holds slim lead in GS, chasing Lindsey Vonn's record

Associated Press

SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy – Mikaela Shiffrin holds a slim lead after the first run of Tuesday’s giant slalom and is in position for a record-breaking 83rd World Cup victory.

Shiffrin currently shares the women’s record of 82 wins with former American teammate Lindsey Vonn.

Shiffrin is 0.13 seconds ahead of world champion Lara Gut-Behrami and 0.27 ahead of home favorite and former overall champion Federica Brignone at the Kronplatz resort in San Vigilio.

Petra Vlhova, Shiffrin’s usual rival, was 1.01 back, with Olympic champion Sara Hector nearly two seconds behind.

The second run starts at 1:30 p.m. local (7:30 a.m. ET).

If she does win, Shiffrin will then need only three more victories to match Ingemark Stenmark’s overall mark – between men and women – of 86 victories. Stenmark competed in the 1970s and 80s.

Vonn retired four years ago when injuries cut her career short.

Mike Day, the head coach of Shiffrin’s personal team, set the course for the first run. Mauro Pini, Vlhova’s coach, will set the second run.

Shiffrin appeared to make a tactical decision to hold back slightly on the hardest part of a slope that is named Erta, which translates as “steep,” featuring a 61% gradient. Then she accelerated on the flatter lower section and appeared satisfied upon seeing her result, pumping her first slightly.

“There’s some spots where I was skiing very strong but not always taking on the speed,” Shiffrin said. “But I felt very, very good on the start. So just taking that skiing and being a bit more aggressive on the rest of the course.

“It was also smart after downhill, super-G to just get the timing back a bit,” Shiffrin added. “I just tried to move really quick and (make) good, clean turns.”

This is Shiffrin’s fifth opportunity to break the record after matching Vonn’s mark in Kranjksa Gora, Slovenia, earlier this month. She finished second to Vlhova in a slalom, her best event, in Flachau, Austria, then missed the podium in three straight speed races in nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo last weekend.

Gut-Behrami came down immediately after Shiffrin and took a similar cautious approach on the steeps. The Swiss skier’s last GS win came in November in Killington, Vermont. She claimed the gold medal in the event at the 2021 world championships in Cortina.

The first run was held in flat light with snow falling.

Valerie Grenier, the Canadian who claimed her first World Cup win this month, stood fourth, 0.76 behind, and American skier Paula Moltzan was fifth, 0.84 behind.

Winter Olympics recap: Lindsey Jacobellis wins first US gold ...

USA TODAY Sports

Live coverage of today's events can be found here.

Team USA finally earned its first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Lindsey Jacobellis, competing in her fifth Winter Games, won gold in the snowboardcross competition Wednesday. Her previous best finish was winning silver at the 2006 Olympics.

(Looking for a recap of Tuesday's events? We've got you covered.)

Another stunning mistake has taken American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin out of contention for a medal in her second consecutive event at the Olympics.

Shiffrin, who wiped out in the women's giant slalom on Monday, was one of the favorites in the slalom -- an event where she claimed the gold eight years ago in Sochi.

Shaun White and Chloe Kim advanced to the finals of the men's and women's halfpipe competitions. White, a three-time gold medalist in the event, is competing in his final Olympics.

Meanwhile, freeskier Colby Stevenson soared onto the podium in the men's big air competition.

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Denmark's men's hockey team made history Wednesday when they beat Czech Republic 2-1.

Denmark's men and women made their Olympic debuts in hockey this year and the Danish men earned their first win with a two-goal first period. Former NHL player Frans Nielsen and Markus Lauridsen had goals for Denmark.

"This is a huge moment for Danish hockey. We're not usually at the Olympics," coach Heinz Ehlers said. "We're so happy and proud right now.

"It's not like we win here today and we think we're Olympic champions," Ehlers continued. "We're realistic and know that we have to work really hard and get a little bit of luck to win hockey games."

The Danish women claimed their first Olympic win earlier this week 3-2, also against the Czech Republic.

-- Analis Bailey

Biney advances in thrilling short-track finish

BEIJING – U.S. short-track speedskater Maame Biney was in last place entering the final curve of her 1000-meter heat Wednesday night.

She ended up winning – by three thousandths of a second.

Biney, 22, and teammate Kristen Santos both advanced to Friday's quarterfinal round, the latter in far more comfortable fashion than the former. While Biney eked out a win, Santos led for much of her heat before crossing the finish line first.

The American women had much better luck Wednesday than the men, both of whom failed to advance in the 1500. Andrew Heo and Ryan Pivirotto each made the quarterfinals but did not go any further, with Heo placing fifth of six skaters in his race and Pivirotto disqualified for an infraction.

-- Tom Schad

Team USA finally won its first gold medal. Here's what you missed overnight Wednesday:

Lindsey Jacobellis wins snowboardcross, Team USA's first gold medal

Lindsey Jacobellis is golden, and so is Team USA.

Jacobellis, 36, won gold in women's snowboardcross at the Beijing Olympics. France's Chloe Trespeuch finished in second.

Jacobellis is one of the most successful snowboarders in her sport but most Americans remember her for the 2006 Olympic race in which she held the lead late before falling performing a method on the last jump. She settled for silver.

At the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, Jacobellis finished fourth.

She's the most decorated bordercross athlete of all time. She achieved 31 wins and 57 podiums in 104 World Cup starts.

-- Chris Bumbaca

Lindsey Jacobellis among four Americans to advance to snowboard cross quarters

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — All four Americans have advanced to the women’s snowboard cross quarterfinals by placing in the top two of their respective heats (of four riders) on Tuesday.

That includes 2006 silver-medalist Lindsey Jacobellis, who is competing in her fifth Games. She won her heat by more than one second. Meghan Tierney entered the round in 16th and held onto the final spot in the quarterfinals by outlasting Lara Casanova of Switzerland despite the two bumping while coming around the second-to-last bend.

Stacy Gaskill also won her heat handily, and Faye Gulini’s victory made it a clean sweep for the U.S.

Sixteen riders remain in the competition.

-- Chris Bumbaca

Shaun White leads trio of Americans who qualify for halfpipe final

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Shaun White will have one more competition in the halfpipe, only a few runs remaining between him and the end of a competitive snowboarding career.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist advanced to Friday’s final at the Beijing Olympics, qualifying fourth at Genting Snow Park.

Fellow Americans Taylor Gold and Chase Josey also qualified for the final, ranking seventh and 12th, respectively. Lucas Foster had a hard fall on his second run and finished in 17th. Only the top 12 advance to the final.

White, 35, is competing in his final Olympics and last snowboarding competition. It’s a fitting place to end for a rider whose three Olympic golds made him famous and elevated his sport.

-- Rachel Axon

Olympic medals in team figure skating delayed by legal issue

BEIJING – An ongoing legal issue that could affect the medalists in the team figure skating competition at the Beijing Olympics has caused the award ceremony to be delayed, the IOC said Wednesday.

The ceremony to award the Russian team the gold medals, the United States silver and Japan bronze was pulled from its scheduled slot late Tuesday.

International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said the reason was a “legal consultation” required with the governing body of skating. Details of the case were not specified.

“We have athletes that have won medals involved,” Adams said at the daily news briefing.

In a one-line statement, the International Skating Union also cited ongoing legal talks.

If any athlete and team were disqualified, an appeal would likely follow to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Canada placed fourth and would be in line to be upgraded.

Some skaters in the men’s competition are due to finish their events Thursday and leave China soon after.

“Everyone is doing absolutely everything that the situation can be resolved as soon as possible,” Adams said.

However, he cautioned “as you know, legal issues can sometimes drag on.”

-- The Associated Press

Mikaela Shiffrin on Beijing disappointment: 'It feels like everything, but it's not'

BEIJING – Two races, 10 gates.

That’s the sum total of Mikaela Shiffrin’s performance so far at the Beijing Olympics, a Games where she was expected to contend for multiple medals. Two days after skiing out in the first run of the giant slalom, Shiffrin did the same in the first run of the slalom Wednesday.

Afterward, she sat in the snow for several minutes, crying and looking despondent. These were her two best events, races in which she has won gold medals, and she didn’t even get through the first run. It’s the first time she has failed to finish back-to-back technical races since December 2011, when she was 16 years old.

“We came all this way. We’re not done yet but GS and slalom, those were my biggest focuses, so it really feels like a lot of work for nothing,” Shiffrin said afterward, still appearing shell-shocked. “(People) will try to say, `This happens’ and `It’s OK’ and `Don’t be too hard on yourself’ and all of that, but it is a lot of work for a grand total of five gates in the GS and five gates in the slalom. So that is not lost on me.

“It feels like everything,” she added, “but it’s not.”

There are still three races left: the super-G, the Alpine combined and the downhill. While Shiffrin didn’t rule out competing in all three, she didn’t rule it in, either, saying the U.S. team has others who are just as capable.

-- Nancy Armour

Freeskier Colby Stevenson adds another silver to USA's collection

BEIJING – American Colby Stevenson took home the silver medal in the big air men’s freeskiing final, putting down two monster runs after crashing on his first attempt.

Stevenson’s impressive switch left 1800 on his last run – five full rotations in the air – launched him onto the podium but he had to survive seven skiers with an opportunity to pass him. In the end, none of them did, including teammate Alexander Hall.

Stevenson, 24, nearly died in a car crash six years ago that left him with a fractured skull and multiple other injuries.

-- Dan Wolken

Stunned Mikaela Shiffrin still 'processing' after slalom exit

Mikaela Shiffrin said she's "second guessing the last 15 years" of her skiing career after falling in women's slalom, the second consecutive race she did not finish at the Beijing Olympics.

During an emotional interview with NBC following the race on Wednesday, the two-time Olympic champion said she's questioning "everything I thought I knew about my own skiing and slalom and racing mentality."

Shiffrin said she's still "processing" what happened on the mountain after she skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the slalom Wednesday. The DNF comes two days after she skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the giant slalom.

-- Cydney Henderson

Chloe Kim eyes another gold in halfpipe

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Chloe Kim is in position to claim gold again.

The Olympic champion in Pyeongchang four years ago, Kim easily advanced in qualifying on Wednesday at Genting Snow Park. That gives her the opportunity to become the first woman to win two gold medals when she competes in the final on Thursday.

Kim moved on to the final with a mellow, for her, first run that included two 720s and a 900. She’ll be expected to do tricks with 1080 degrees of rotation, and possibly higher, in the final.

“I was really nervous my first run because we’re at the Olympics, but I’m so happy I put one down,” Kim told NBC after qualifying. She did not take questions from print media after the competition.

-- Rachel Axon

Triple corks could make – or break – halfpipe hopefuls

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Perhaps it was Shaun White toying with the triple cork in the halfpipe that made this day inevitable.

Maybe it was the march of progression as snowboarders attempted and mastered difficult double corks. Perhaps it was having the right riders to push it there.

Whatever the causes, the triple cork in the halfpipe is here – and it’s very likely to play a role in the Olympic final. (Qualifying begins Wednesday in Beijing, late Tuesday in the U.S.)

The trick requires three off-axis flips with varying degrees of rotation.

“If you’re a strategist, you’re going save that in your arsenal and use it if you need to," said NBC snowboarding analyst Todd Richards. "That trick could take you out for the day.”

-- Rachel Axon

Shocking disappointment for Mikaela Shiffrin in women's slalom

BEIJING – Mikaela Shiffrin’s second race ended even sooner than her first.

The two-time Olympic champion skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the slalom Wednesday. She had appeared to slip around the second gate, but kept her balance, only to ski off the course shortly afterward.

Afterward, she sat in the snow and took a long look at the course.

The DNF comes two days after she skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the giant slalom. Shiffrin called that a “huge disappointment” and said she would never get over it, but would have to put it to the side because she still had races left at the Beijing Olympics. Clearly, though, she wasn’t unable to get past it, and now the pressure on Shiffrin, who was predicted to win multiple medals here, will only grow.

-- Nancy Armour

Mikaela Shiffrin seeks redemption in women's slalom

Despite wiping out in her first event in Beijing, Mikaela Shiffrin still needs just one more Olympic gold to put her all alone among American alpine skiers. She currently has two gold medals, tying Americans Ted Ligety and Andrea Mead Lawrence.

Her journey, however, has been anything but smooth. From a back injury late last year to a COVID-19 diagnosis, to Monday's disappointment, Shiffrin has experienced a wealth of emotions.

As USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes, Shiffrin can't let her earlier mistake carry over into the other races on her Olympic schedule.

Chloe Kim defending 2018 Olympic title in women's halfpipe

Chloe Kim the first athlete to hold snowboarding titles from all four major events: the Olympics, World Championships, X Games, and Youth Olympics. She is also the only athlete in X Games history to win three gold medals before the age of 16.

She'll compete in the women's snowboarding halfpipe in Beijing, with qualifying alread underway.

Since halfpipe snowboarding debuted in the Olympics in 1998, no woman has won two gold medals. But Kim isn't just aiming for a medal. She's trying for three new tricks.

Though she hasn't said what they are, it's safe to guess they would progress the sport since she is already doing some of the hardest tricks in halfpipe snowboarding.

--Analis Bailey, Rachel Axon

Shaun White's last Olympics and chance for gold

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will be Shaun White's final ride.

One of the most recognizable figures in Team USA history, thanks to his flowing red hair and podium success, the legendary snowboarder said on Dec. 15 these Olympics – his fifth – will be his last.

By now, the sport has caught up to White, and he would be the first to say so. That won't stop him from seeking a fourth gold medal in the men's halfpipe in Beijing to add to his legacy.

Outside of the Olympics, White has 15 Winter X Games golds, in addition to five Summer X Games medals in skateboarding.

Another Russian women's hockey player out due to positive COVID test

BEIJING – Confusion and controversy surrounding the Russian women’s hockey team’s COVID-19 situation took another turn Tuesday in Beijing.

A day after Russia’s game against Canada was delayed an hour as the teams awaited that morning’s test results, another Russian player – forward Polina Bolgareva -- tested positive for the virus, coach Yevgeni Bobariko told state news agency RIA Novosti, according to The Associated Press and Reuters.

That brings the total number of Russian players out due to COVID isolation – meaning they’ve tested positive and have not received two negative tests more than 24 hours apart – to eight, per the AP.

Canada and Russia played their game, a 6-1 Canadian victory, with KN95 masks on their faces. Russia removed the masks prior to the third period because the test results came back, they said afterward. Canada left the masks on.

"Everybody saw how we played against Canada with masks and took them off after the second period, when we received the results of our tests. They were all negative,” Bobariko told the state news agency, per Reuters.

But Bolgareva’s results “turned positive” upon returning to the Olympic Village after the game, the coach said.

“I don’t understand how this is happening,” he added.

Bolgareva played 17:39 against the U.S. on Saturday, a 5-0 U.S. win.

The International Ice Hockey Federation attributed Monday’s delay, officially, to “health and safety issues.”

Regarding Bolgareva’s reported positive, the IIHF referred USA TODAY Sports to the International Olympic Committee, which still has not commented on Monday’s events.

Canada forward Emily Clark, who was infected with the virus in December and whose results came back inconclusive on Monday, did not play against Russia. She played 19:39 against the U.S. in the Canadians’ 4-2 win Tuesday.

-- Chris Bumbaca

What's with all those stuffed pandas at the medal ceremonies?

If you’ve been keeping up with the Winter Olympics in Beijing, you might have noticed Olympians from countries around the world posing with a plush toy panda after they compete.

But why are some of the winning athletes posing with the toy after their events instead of immediately receiving their medals?

After some of the competitions, the champions receive the panda mascot of the games, Bing Dwen Dwen, and are given their medals later at a special ceremony.

The Bing Dwen Dwen toys come stuffed inside a plastic shell that represents ice and is decorated with a gold wreath. Bing means “ice” in Mandarin Chinese, though it also symbolizes purity and strength. Dwen Dwen means robust and lively and it also represents children.

-- Marina Pitofsky

Women ski jumpers disqualified for baggy uniforms

Five female competitors were disqualified from the mixed team ski jump final in the Beijing Winter Olympics over uniform violations.

Their jumpsuits were allegedly deemed too large, which could give a skier a leg up during the event, according to multiple reports.

Katharina Althaus of Germany told reporters after she was disqualified, “We were looking forward to the second competition at the Olympics. [The International Ski Federation] destroyed that with this action – they destroyed women's ski jumping.

"Our names are now (out) there and we just pulled the crap card. That is how you destroy nations, development and the entire sport,” she added, Reuters reported.

This year marked the first time the mixed team ski jumping event was included at a Winter Olympics. All of the competitors who were disqualified are women.

-- Marina Pitofsky

Nathan Chen in in great position to win skating gold

BEIJING – Nathan Chen’s four-year quest now has less than 48 hours to go.

With a massive fist pump following some of the most beautiful jumps ever landed under the unforgiving spotlight of the Olympic Games, Chen exorcized the demons from Olympic short programs past to skate a world-record-breaking men’s short and put himself in position to win the gold medal in Thursday’s long program.

Chen, 22, received more points from the judges than any man ever has – 113.97 – for his soaring quadruple jumps and exquisite artistry to “La Boheme” to take an almost six-point lead over his closest challenger, Japanese 18-year-old Yuma Kagiyama.

NOTE: USA Network replays Chen and the other top skaters' short programs starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Winter Olympics recap: Kamila Valieva misses figure skating podium

USA TODAY Sports

(Looking for Friday's action? Live coverage of today's events can be found here.)

Over the course of a few brief moments at the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. women's hockey team was defeated by Canada in the gold-medal game and Mikaela Shiffrin's frustration at the Winter Games continued after skiing out of a third event.

Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals to help Canada build a 3-0 lead en route to a 3-2 victory over the U.S. Canada snatched gold back from the U.S. as the Americans failed to defend their Olympic crown from four years ago.

Shiffrin skied out in the slalom Thursday after losing her balance at gate 10. Shiffrin still has one last chance at a medal. She has said she plans to do the team event Saturday.

In women's figure skating, Russian gold medal favorite (and center of controversy) Kamila Valieva stumbled throughout her final performance and finished fourth.

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Kamila Valieva stumbles, misses out on medal

BEIJING — In a story full of shocking twists, this might be the one that nobody saw coming.

With a disastrous performance in her long program Thursday, Russian teenager and heavy gold-medal favorite Kamila Valieva dropped out of first place and all the way outside of medal contention, finishing fourth.

It was a shocking finale to a weeklong international saga. Valieva, 15, had been at the center of a media hurricane after news that she tested positive for a banned substance – and subsequent news that the Court of Arbitration for Sport would allow her to compete anyways.

Valieva sat stunned in the kiss-and-cry as her score was announced, and for several minutes thereafter.

Compatriots Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova ended up taking gold and silver, respectively, followed by Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, who won bronze.

– Tom Schad

USA men's curling team loses, relegated to bronze-medal game

BEIJING – There will be no “Miracurl on Ice,” Part 2.

The U.S. men’s curling team is out of contention for a second consecutive gold medal after losing its semifinal to Great Britain, 8-4, on Thursday night. Instead, it will play Canada in the bronze medal game on Friday.

“It’s hugely disappointing, but at the same time I was super proud of how we played and how we battled in the game," U.S. skipper John Shuster said. "I’m sure the disappointment will set in and it will feel worse, but I think honestly they’re a great curling team and they don’t make too many mistakes.”

Trailing 5-4 at the halfway mark, the Americans’ strategy was to string together blank ends in order to have the hammer late – and just as importantly keep it away from Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat, the top-ranked curler in the world.

A potential opportunity came in the ninth end when the board opened up for the Americans to pounce and potentially grab the lead. Instead, vice-skipper Chris Plys hit the guards with both of his throws – an utterly disastrous outcome – which essentially eliminated the possibility of the U.S. taking the lead.

At that point, Shuster could have drawn in for the tie, handing the hammer back to Great Britain for the 10th end. Instead, he chose to concede a point in order to keep the last stone advantage to potentially tie or win.

"The chance of winning against those guys tied without the hammer (is small)," Shuster said.

Despite those untimely mistakes in the ninth, Shuster did get a chance to knock Great Britain’s last stone out of the house and tie the game. Shuster has built a reputation in the Olympics as a big-shot maker, giving the Americans a little hope that he could make something happen again. This time, though, he missed on his attempt to run the guard back, sending the U.S. into the bronze medal game.

Shuster led the U.S. to bronze in 2006.

– Dan Wolken

Alysa Liu will be top finisher for US women

BEIJING – Alysa Liu ensured that she will be the top-finishing American woman at the Beijing Olympics after another relatively smooth program.

With an overall score of 208.95, Liu was sitting in first place at the conclusion of her program, ahead of compatriots Mariah Bell (202.30) and Karen Chen (179.93). There were still seven skaters remaining after Liu.

Liu, 16, is the youngest member of Team USA in Beijing. She attempted and cleanly landed a planned triple axel in her long program Thursday, but it appeared to be underrotated.

– Tom Schad

US figure skater Mariah Bell ends program on high note

BEIJING – Mariah Bell’s first Olympics ended on a high note.

The 25-year-old, and oldest U.S. women’s figure skater since 1928, put together a clean free skate the judges ruled a 136.2 to temporarily move into first place. But with 11 competitors behind her, finishing on the podium remains a longshot.

Bell’s first half went smoothly and her more difficult back end of the program was well-executed. Both triple lutz’s went according to plan for the 2021 U.S. national champion.

Coach Adam Rippon had his hands in the air for those big jumps and greeted her with a warm embrace as she stepped off the rink.

– Chris Bumbaca

US figure skater Karen Chen falls during short program, will not medal

BEIJING – A mistake-filled Olympics for Karen Chen has mercifully come to end.

Chen almost made it through her free skate without falling but took a hard spill toward the end on a triple loop, the same move she fell on in the short program two nights ago. Earlier in the skate, her hand touched the ground on the first triple loop, a jump she expressed confidence in Tuesday night – and described as a cornerstone of her performance.

Chen’s score of 197.93 temporarily placed her in fifth. She will not medal.

The 2018 Olympian also fell during the short program of the team competition, in which the United States still took silver, but stayed upright in the long program.

Chen, who finished fourth at the world championships ahead of the last two Olympics, skated to “Butterfly Lovers” by Takako Nishizaki. The 22-year-old is expected to return to Cornell University.

– Chris Bumbaca

While you were sleeping

The U.S. women's hockey team couldn't defend its 2018 gold medal triumph, and Mikaela Shiffrin skied out again. Here's what you missed overnight while you were sleeping:

Team USA goaltender Alex Cavallini played on torn MCL throughout Winter Olympics

BEIJING — After the United States' third game of group play during the 2022 Winter Olympics, goaltender Alex Cavallini hinted at obstacles that almost prevented her from participating in the Beijing Games.

Asked to elaborate, Cavallini replied on Feb. 6: "We'll talk after the Olympics."

Now that the tournament is over, with the U.S. taking silver after a 3-2 loss to Canada on Thursday, Cavallini revealed she tore her MCL on Jan. 14 and wasn't sure if she'd make the trip to China with her teammates.

"(I) didn't even know if I was going to make it on the flight here," said Cavallini, still "numb" from the defeat. "So for me to be able to battle – all thanks to our (medical) staff, and for our coaching staff to believe in me and support me along the way."

— Chris Bumbaca

Team USA speedskater Brittany Bowe captures bronze medal in women's 1,000 meters

American Brittany Bowe, who has been dominant at the distance over the last three years, won the bronze medal in the women's 1,000 meters Thursday.

Bowe finished third in 1:14.61 behind gold medalist Miho Takagi of Japan and Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands. Bowe, who holds the world record in the 1,000, was 1.42 seconds behind Takagi.

Even though it wasn't the gold medal she was chasing, Bowe has had a special Games, carrying the flag for the U.S. team in the opening ceremony. The three-time Olympian also saw her friend and teammate Erin Jackson win gold in the 500 earlier in the week. Bowe finished first in the 500 at the Olympic trials last month. But she gave up her Olympic spot to Jackson, who slipped and didn’t automatically qualify for the Olympic team. The United States ended up getting another spot in the race, but Bowe’s act of sportsmanship resonated.

Before Bowe’s race, Jackson tweeted a photo of the two together: “You are a mentor. A friend. A teammate. A sister. Thank you for playing a huge part in my journey to gold.”

It's the second Olympic bronze for Bowe, who finished third in the women's team pursuit four years ago with Heather Bergsma and Mia Manganello.

US men have shot at sweep of medals with 4 skiers in halfpipe final

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — The U.S. men’s success in the halfpipe hardly came as a surprise, even if it did come with suspense.

All four American freeskiers advanced to the Beijing Olympics final in qualifying Thursday, giving the country its best chance at a podium sweep.

The veteran team, which is largely the same from Pyeongchang four years ago, entered these Games with every skier in the top eight of the International Ski Federation’s points list.

The final will be held Saturday.

– Rachel Axon

IOC optimistic NHL players will participate in 2026 Winter Olympics

BEIJING — International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif said Thursday he is optimistic NHL players will participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, though he wants an agreement reached further in advance than this time around.

The league, NHL Players’ Association, IIHF and IOC worked out a deal for the 2022 Games that was not announced until September. The NHL withdrew in late December after the omicron variant-fueled wave of the coronavirus pandemic caused mass postponements of games, making this the second consecutive Olympics without the world’s best hockey players.

Tardif said he would like an agreement more than a year in advance of the 2026 tournament. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press by email that league officials do not anticipate an issue reaching an agreement “on a relatively expedited basis.”

The NHL has not participated in the Olympics since 2014, ending a run of five appearances in a row dating to 1998. Players did not take part in 2018 because of disagreements over the costs of insurance and travel.

– Associated Press

US women’s hockey team falls to Canada in gold medal game, settles for silver

BEIJING — For more than a decade, the two constants of the United States-Canada women’s hockey rivalry have been the evenness between the two teams and Marie-Philip Poulin scoring goals in Olympic gold medal games.

Only one of those things was on display for most of Thursday’s gold medal contest at the Beijing Olympics, and it wasn’t parity.

Poulin scored twice and Canada snatched gold back from the U.S. in a 3-2 win, as the Americans failed to defend their Olympic crown from four years ago.

The pings from two shots that hit the post – one from Hannah Brandt in the first period, another off Alex Carpenter’s stick in the third – will haunt Team USA for the next four years. The two misses provided the difference in a game Canada mostly controlled, save for an inspired – and desperate – third-period effort from the U.S.

– Chris Bumbaca

Mikaela Shiffrin skis out in slalom run of combined, will not medal

BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin will need help from her team if she’s to win any medals at the Beijing Olympics.

In position to win her first medal in Beijing after finishing fifth in the downhill portion of the Alpine combined, Shiffrin skied out in the slalom Thursday after losing her balance at gate 10 and falling to her hip two gates later, less than 10 seconds into her race. The combined is a run each of downhill and slalom, with results based on overall time.

Shiffrin had Did Not Finishes (DNF) in the giant slalom and slalom, as well, skiing off the course after the fifth gate in the first run of each race.

The combined was Shiffrin’s last individual event in Beijing. She’d been expected to contend for multiple medals here, after winning three in her previous two Games, but her best finish was ninth in the super-G.

Shiffrin still has one last chance at a medal. She has said she plans to do the team event Saturday, which features head-to-head races in a single-elimination bracket.

– Nancy Armour

Carly Margulies reaches freeski halfpipe Olympic finals after missing two years with knee injuries

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – For a first competition in more than two years, dropping into an Olympic halfpipe isn’t a bad way to go.

Understandably U.S. freeskier Carly Margulies to felt some nervous, but after putting up a score that made her somewhat safe, the Olympic newcomer relaxed.

“It’s been a while since I felt that,” she said. “It’s definitely nerve racking, but as soon as I put that first run down it was all fun from there.”

Margulies’s career as been littered with knee injuries, seven in all over the last decade or so. The tally is four anterior cruciate ligament tears and five to her meniscus, two on her left knee and five one her right.

Within the past two years, Margulies, 24, has had four knee injuries, including as recently as December. After that one, she thought she might be done.

“I thought my career was over, but after surgery there was hope,” she said.

Margulies qualified based on International Ski Federation points she’d accumulated before she missed so much time with injury. After her December surgery, that left her just weeks to get ready.

She qualified in 10th on Thursday at Genting Snow Park, putting her in an Olympic final just months after she thought her career might be over.

“It’s surreal,” Margulies said, “but I honestly feels like it goes to show how much work I put in to get here and my ability to continue to show my skills on snow even though I haven’t been able to practice that much. It just makes me really happy that I haven’t lost anything.”

– Rachel Axon

Hilary Knight gives US women's hockey team hope

BEIJING — It’s looking like silver for the USA in women’s hockey.

Canada leads 3-1 after two periods. Marie-Philip Poulin netted her second goal of the game, knocking a rebound off Alex Cavallini’s right pad. But Hilary Knight at least gave the U.S. life with three minutes to go in the period with a shorthanded goal to bring the deficit back to two.

According to NBC Sports, the three-goal deficit during the second period was the largest in a Games since the teams first met at an Olympics in 1998.

In no surprise, the U.S. leads in shots, 24-17.

– Chris Bumbaca

IOC news conference gets political

BEIJING — A Beijing 2022 spokesperson made several overtly political statements Thursday at a joint news conference with the International Olympic Committee – which has for years stressed the importance of keeping politics out of the Games.

In a particularly notable exchange, a reporter asked IOC spokesperson Mark Adams about the organization's relationship with Anta, a sporting goods manufacturer that sources cotton from China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. government has determined that forced-labor camps in the region are used as part of the cotton supply chain.

When Adams finished answering the question, Beijing 2022 spokesperson Yan Jiarong jumped in.

"I feel obliged to make a very quick comment," she said in English, before continuing in Chinese. "I think the so-called forced labor in Xinjiang is lies made up by deliberate groups, and the relevant organizations have provided a large amount of facts to dispute that. And we are against the politicizing of sports. Thank you."

Then, a few moments later, Adams was asked to provide the IOC's position on forced labor camps in Xinjiang.

"I don't think it's particularly relevant to this press conference. It's certainly not relevant to the IOC," he said in part. "We are very, very concerned about protecting human rights within our sphere, which is within the Olympic Games, within the staging of the Olympic Games."

Yan then reiterated her stance.

"I think these questions are very much based on lies," she said through an interpreter.

Yan had also interjected earlier in the news conference, after Adams fielded a question involving the Olympic delegation from Taiwan – which, for political reasons, competes as "Chinese Taipei."

"What I want to say is that there is only one China in the world," she said. "Taiwan is an undividable part of China. This is a well-recognized international principle, and we are recognized in the international community."

These were hardly the first questions about hot-button issues that have been asked of the IOC and Beijing 2022 organizers since the start of the Games – though spokespeople had, until Thursday, largely gone to great lengths to avoid answering them directly.

When asked about Yan's political statements, in the wake of the IOC's long-standing stance that the Games must be apolitical, Adams demurred.

"There are many views on all sorts of things, around the world," he said. "But our job is to make sure that the Games take place, and the magic of the Games can happen, and that we can improve the world through sport."

– Tom Schad

Sofia Goggia leaves her skis for Mikaela Shiffrin

BEIJING — It’s gotta be the skis.

Mikaela Shiffrin put herself in position for a medal in the Alpine combined Thursday, skiing the fifth-best time in the downhill portion on Sofia Goggia’s skis. The Italian, the world’s best downhill skier, had left the skis for Shiffrin along with a note that said, “Fly Mika, you can.”

“I almost started crying,” Shiffrin said after the run, which left her 0.56 seconds off the lead. “I’m thankful I was able to get a feeling on those and, yeah, just tried to fly as best as I could.”

The combined is a run each of downhill and slalom, with final results based on overall time.

Though Shiffrin races downhill sparingly – she’s only done four races in the past two years – she only needs to be competitive in order to give herself a chance going into slalom, her specialty. Of the medal contenders, she had the best downhill time.

The two-time Olympic champion has had a rough go in Beijing, skiing off the course after the fifth gate in the first run of both the giant slalom and slalom, her two best events. Goggia had her own challenges just getting to Beijing – the Olympic downhill champion in 2018 shredded her knee in a Jan. 23 crash – and had expressed sympathy for Shiffrin.

After winning a silver medal in Tuesday’s downhill race, Goggia went a step further, leaving her skis for Shiffrin.

“They’re a pair of the skis she is currently training and competing on,” Shiffrin said. “She didn’t need them because she wasn’t competing (in the combined) here, so I was able to try them yesterday.”

Shiffrin had the fastest time in the downhill training Wednesday.

– Nancy Armour

Canada takes 2-0 lead on US in women's hockey gold-medal game

BEIJING — The U.S. is going to have to climb out of a two-goal hole to give themselves a chance at gold.

This was always going to be about the U.S. making the most of its chances on Canada goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens. Hannah Brandt missed a big one early, hitting the left post on an open net. Abby Roque couldn’t make anything on another chance later in the period.

A smart offsides challenge kept the game scoreless about seven minutes into the game, but Canada scored less than a minute later anyway to make it 1-0 anyway. Canada’s Sarah Nurse has now tied Hayley Wickenheiser for most points in an Olympic tournament with 17 (five goals, 12 assists).

With five minutes left in the period, familiar foe Marie-Philip Poulin struck again in the big moment. The Canadian captain has scored in four consecutive gold-medal games against the U.S., and her goal made it 2-0 after she swiped the puck from Kelly Pannek and put it past Alex Cavallini, who needs to step up and give her team a chance against a high-powered Canadian attack.

— Chris Bumbaca

Birthday girl Devin Logan fails to advance, but three US women make freeski halfpipe final

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Devin Logan was hoping for more from her last Olympics, wanting her birthday to have more reason to celebrate.

But the three-time Olympian failed to advance through women’s freeski halfpipe qualifying at the Beijing Games on Thursday, finishing in 13th and one spot outside the final field.

Logan, who turns 29 today, has decided these are her last Game. While she has focused on halfpipe here, she long competed in that event and slopestyle and won a silver medal in slopestyle’s debut in Sochi in 2014.

“Definitely wanted more for myself. Being one out is always very difficult,” Logan said. “But this is my third Olympics, and I can say I even got here, which is a great achievement in my eyes. Of course I wanted more, wanted to showcase my skiing in the finals but you’ll be hearing me tomorrow cheering on the rest of the ladies.”

Logan’s American teammates all made the final behind China’s Eileen Gu, who was the top qualifier. Brita Sigourney, a bronze medalist four years ago, qualified eighth. Olympic newcomers Hanna Faulhaber and Carly Margulies qualified ninth and 10th, respectively.

Logan didn’t rule out a return to competition next season, but she does not plan to compete for another Games.

“Injuries, age, my body hurts. I’m all on Aleve right now and shoulder’s taped up,” she said. “You see the next generation pushing and it’s like, ‘OK, I think I left my mark and I think it’s going to be OK.’”

— Rachel Axon

US reaches men's curling semifinals, seeking second straight gold

BEIJING – The U.S. men’s curling team will have a chance to defend its gold medal after all.

With a 7-5 win over Denmark on Thursday morning, the Americans clinched the fourth and final spot in the medal round and will face top seed Great Britain in the semifinals. The game will start at 8 p.m. Thursday in Beijing or 7 a.m. ET in the U.S.

The Americans, led by skipper John Shuster, finished 5-4 in the round robin tournament but needed the final win to get into the semifinals. After a slow start, things turned in the third end when Shuster drew for two to tie the game. Then in the fourth, Shuster was able to set up the board for a potential steal and Denmark skipper Mikkel Krause missed everything with the hammer, giving the U.S. three points.

The Americans played smartly with the lead and never allowed Denmark a chance to put together a big end. The U.S. gave up two in the ninth end but still had the lead with the hammer going into the final frame and successfully knocked away every Denmark stone to close out the win.

Team Shuster shockingly won the gold medal in Pyeongchang four years ago, making the medal round with the same 5-4 record before upsetting Canada and Sweden to make history for the U.S.

— Dan Wolken

Rivalry resumes as US plays Canada for women's hockey gold

BEJING — It all comes down to this for the U.S. women’s hockey team in their quest to repeat as Olympic champions.

Standing in the way is rival Canada, for the fourth consecutive time in a gold-medal game. The 2018 gold marked the first for the U.S. since 1998, and if victorious on Thursday, it will be the first time the Americans repeat.

The United States outshot Canada 53-27 in a 4-2 preliminary-round loss nine days ago. Canada goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 51 shots and has been stellar all tournament. Meanwhile, Canada's offense has been historic; the Canadians' 54 goals scored in six games are an Olympic record. The U.S. is second in team scoring in Beijing with 28 goals here.

Alex Cavallini starts in goal again for the U.S. – she’s been between the pipes for all three playoff round games.

— Chris Bumbaca

Mikaela Shiffrin has combined medal in sight after solid downhill

BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin is in position for her first medal.

A clean run in the downhill portion of the Alpine combined left Shiffrin 0.56 seconds back and in fifth place behind Austria’s Christine Scheyer. But neither Scheyer nor the other skiers in front of Shiffrin are slalom specialists, giving the American a chance to make up ground Thursday afternoon.

Wendy Holdener, the bronze medalist in 2018, is 0.43 seconds behind Shiffrin while reigning Olympic champion Michelle Gisin is 0.44 seconds behind.

The combined is one run each of the downhill and slalom.

Shiffrin was in sixth place after the downhill four years ago, but had the third-fastest run in slalom as she claimed the silver medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Gisin was third in the downhill and fourth in slalom 2018, while Holdener was 10th in the downhill and first in slalom.

One of the best technical skiers ever, Shiffrin can afford to give up some ground in the downhill. But she has to at least be competitive and her experience in downhill has been sparse recently. She has done only four downhill races, the last coming the first week of December, and hadn’t even been on downhill skis in two months before the first training run Saturday.

“Every day that I get on this track and I’m able to take a run and just do a solid run, top to bottom, it gives me the chance to be a little more calm in my mind,” Shiffrin said after finishing 18th in the downhill Tuesday. “I tend to think way too much and that makes it hard to ski freely. But I can’t (ski freely). I have to think because I haven’t really practiced downhill in two years.”

Shiffrin was expected to contend for multiple medals in Beijing, but her best finish so far is ninth place in the super-G. She did not finish either the giant slalom or slalom, her best events, skiing off the course after the fifth gate in the first run of both races.

A medal in the combined would be Shiffrin’s fourth at the Olympics, tying her with Julia Mancuso for most by a U.S. woman. In addition to her silver from the combined, Shiffrin has golds in slalom (2014) and giant slalom (2018).

— Nancy Armour

Gold medalist David Wise overcame adversity to make it back to third Olympics

David Wise couldn’t know it as he lay atop an Austrian mountain feeling his hip move and his foot fall limply, but the broken femur wouldn’t just shape his skiing career.

The injury, the worst he’d endured, would alter how the two-time Olympic gold medalist saw himself, would change his relationships and would prepare him for the life-altering changes the coronavirus pandemic would bring months later.

Now, nearly three years later, the 31-year-old Wise takes the perspective that the adversity has given him and uses it to prepare for his third Olympics, where he will try to win his third consecutive gold in the freeski halfpipe. Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 11:30 p.m. ET.

“In some ways I felt like maybe breaking my leg kind of prepared me for the world to go crazy because I was going through so much on a personal side that I kind of developed this thankfulness to be alive, just a thankfulness for still being able to do what I wanted to do,” Wise said.

And his skiing, well, the lead-up to these Games hasn’t looked as dominant as it did in the past two quadrennia. But few would count Wise out, and his experiences in recent years have given him a new perspective.

“I’m less and less tied, in terms of identity, to a pair of skis,” Wise said. (Read the full story here.)

— Rachel Axon

Lipinski, Weir kept quiet while calling Kamila Valieva's short program

Typically NBC’s Olympic skating analysts Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir never stop talking. Their enthusiasm for the sport they both excelled in is their calling card — each triple axle described as a miracle of science, grace and beauty.

However, when Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva competed in the short program after failing a pre-Olympics drug test, they were uncharacteristically quiet.

Lipinski and Weir simply noted Valieva’s jumps from time to time, and their silence made the event unusually tense, even for such a high-pressure forum.

When Valieva was done, she broke down in tears. Weir said, simply, “All I can feel like I can say is that was the short program of Kamila Valieva at the Olympics.”

If you’ve watched any skating in the last few years, you know what a shock that is.

Beforehand Lipinski said, “I don’t know how many times over the past year I’ve said that she is the best figure skater I’ve ever seen, and just saying that now not only makes me confused, but it makes me angry, and again, I’m disoriented by everything that I thought I knew.”

After the end of the women’s short program, her score of 82.16 landed Valieva firmly in first place, though a well-known retired Olympic and world figure skating judge, who co-wrote the criteria for the program components on which the sport’s artistry is based and judged, told USA TODAY Sports' Christine Brennan that she should have finished third.

Afterwards Weir posted a short video on Twitter, calling it “the hardest event I’ve ever had to cover.”

The women's free skate is set for Thursday evening in Beijing (Thursday morning in the U.S.).

— Bill Goodykoontz

Mikaela Shiffrin seeks to conquer combined again

Mikaela Shiffrin has one final chance to take a medal home from Beijing, and she geared up for the Olympic combined by setting the fastest time in a downhill training session on Wednesday.

The combined, which adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom run, is scheduled to begin Thursday at 10:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. ET) with the downhill portion. American Isabella Wright will be the first to ski first with Shiffrin scheduled to run ninth.

The two-time Olympic champion so far has failed to win a medal at the Beijing Games, skiing out in the giant slalom and the slalom – the two events she has gold medals in – and finishing ninth in the super-G and 18th in Tuesday’s downhill.

Shiffrin is the world champion in combined and also won silver in the event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The 26-year-old Shiffrin is far less experienced in the downhill but finished Wednesday’s training session 0.93 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Wendy Holdener, who won bronze in the combined in Pyeongchang, behind Shiffrin and Swiss teammate Michelle Gisin.

— Associated Press

Can Americans keep up with Eileen Gu in freeski halfpipe?

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Eileen Gu’s last step toward a third Olympic medal during the Beijing Games starts with qualifying.

Gu, the American-born teen who competes for her mother’s native China, competes in the freeski halfpipe on Thursday. The top-ranked skier in the world in that event, Gu is looking to advance to Friday’s final and claim her third medal of these Olympics after capturing gold in big air and silver in slopestyle.

No freeskier has medaled in all three events, which recently joined the Olympic program with halfpipe and slopestyle being added in 2014 and big air first contested here.

Veteran U.S. skier Brita Sigourney enters the Olympics coming off a silver medal at X Games last month. The three-time Olympian took bronze in Pyeongchang four years ago

Olympic newcomer Hanna Faulhaber comes into the competition ranked fifth in the world and with two world cup podiums this season, along with X Games bronze last month.

Three-time Olympian Devin Logan, a silver medalist in slopestyle eight years ago, is competing in her final Games. And Carly Marguilies skies in her first Olympics.

— Rachel Axon

Women's figure skating comes down to free skate

With the short program in the rearview mirror, attention turns to the women's free skate and the medals that won't be awarded in figure skating following their completion if Kamila Valieva, who failed a pre-Olympic drug test, finishes in the top three.

But on the ice, the competition should still be fierce. The women's free skate event is expected to start at 6 p.m. Thursday in Beijing and 5 a.m. ET in the U.S.

Karen Chen, who is in the second of four groups, will be the first American to skate at approximately 6:47 a.m. ET. The third group features Americans Mariah Bell at approximately 7:23 a.m ET and Alysa Liu at approximately 7:46 a.m. ET.

The medals, though, are likely to be decided amongst the skaters in the fourth and final group, which begins around 8 a.m. ET. Valieva skates last of the six skaters in this group at approximately 8:49 a.m. ET.

Valieva was first in the short program, but a well-known retired Olympic and world figure skating judge, who co-wrote the criteria for the program components on which the sport’s artistry is based and judged, told USA TODAY Sports' Christine Brennan that she should have finished third.

Eileen Gu begins quest for Olympic medal trifecta

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Eileen Gu knows she skis better under pressure.

Gu, who was born and raised in the United States but competes for her mother’s native China, won gold in the Olympic debut of freeski big air last week and took silver in slopestyle on Tuesday. Thursday, she'll begin her quest for a third Olympic medal when qualifying begins in freeski halfpipe.

“The trifecta has always been my biggest goal. It’s definitely lofty, but I know it’s something I can do.”

But the halfpipe is sure to carry a unique pressure for Gu.

Though she was born and raised in San Francisco, she decided in 2019 to compete for China. She has become the biggest star of these Games, beloved by the few fans selected to attend, and cheered by the Chinese press. She is ubiquitous in media, appearing in seemingly most commercials airing during Olympic competition.

She’s likely to face pressure again in finishing her trifecta, though it’ll be familiar. Gu won medals in all three events at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games as well as X Games and world championships in 2021 – winning two events in each of those competitions.

So Gu knows how to navigate this.

“My grandma's coming out today, so she's gonna watch me compete in halfpipe, which means the world to me,” Gu said. “She's never watching me compete before, so hopefully I can put on a good show for her.”

— Rachel Axon

Latest developments in Valieva doping case

An investigative website called The Dossier Center, published a document showing that Kamila Valieva took three legal substances: Hypoxen, L-carnitine and supradyn in additional to the banned heart medication trimetazidine.

Valieva's grandfather is part of her defense and saying that she might have been exposed to trimetazidine through him.

"The grandfather did not testify at the hearing," according to a brief synopsis in the document. "In his pre-recorded video (shot in a car), he claimed to use trimetazidine periodically when he suffered from 'attacks' and showed a packet of trimetazidine medication to the camera."

– Tom Schad

Team USA medal count rising

Heading into Thursday's action in Beijing, the United States sit fourth in the overall medal haul with 19, one ahead of Canada.

Norway leads the total medal count with 28, with 13 golds. The Russian Olympic Committee soared into second with 24 total medals, with Germany winning 20 medals so far, including 10 gold.

Elana Meyers Taylor out of isolation; US doesn't reach podium on ...

USA TODAY Sports

UPDATES FROM BEIJING: More live coverage from the Winter Olympics

The first medals of the 2022 Winter Olympics were handed out Saturday, but the Americans were unable to reach the podium in the first full day of events.

There were some positives on Saturday for Team USA though. Bobsled star Elana Meyers Taylor was cleared to leave COVID isolation after two negative tests and the women's hockey team routed Russia 5-0 in a game that featured two scuffles.

Three U.S. women qualified for the snowboard slopestyle final (8:30 p.m. ET Saturday). Jamie Anderson, two-time reigning and defending gold medalist scored a 74.35 on her first run, good for a second-place ranking.

Norway's Therese Johaug was the first to win a medal in Beijing, dominating the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon. Jessie Diggins, the top American in the race, finished sixth.

TEAM USA: Americans have nothing to show for first full day in Beijing

Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor out of COVID isolation

BEIJING — Elana Meyers Taylor is good to go.

The three-time Olympic medalist in bobsled told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday night that she was being released from isolation after returning consecutive negative COVID tests in a 24-hour span. Meyers Taylor will still be under close contact protocols, which include undergoing PCR testing every 12 hours for seven days and taking a PCR test six hours before competition.

NBC’s TODAY show was the first to report that Meyers Taylor had been cleared. Monobob, the first women’s bobsled event, begins Feb. 13.

Meyers Taylor is ranked No. 1 in the world in both monobob and two-man, making her a gold-medal contender in both events. But she tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 29, two days after she and her family arrived in Beijing.

Her husband Nic Taylor, an alternate on the U.S. men’s team, and their toddler son Nico also tested positive.

Meyers Taylor won silver medals as a driver in 2018 and 2014, and has a bronze medal as a brakeman from 2010.

– Nancy Armour

USA women's hockey team routs Russia

BEIJING — For two periods, the Russia Olympic Committee kept the United States women's hockey team mostly in check and entered the third period down 2-0.

Then the floodgates opened.

The U.S. put three pucks in the net within the first eight minutes, 44 seconds of the third period to defeat the ROC 5-0 on Saturday at Wukesong Sports Centre.

Two minor scuffles broke out between the teams during the game.

– Chris Bumbaca

American curlers lose to Canada

Italy remained undefeated in mixed doubles curling at the Beijing Olympics with a 7-5 victory against Britain while defending gold medalist John Morris of Canada and his new partner, Rachel Homan, beat Chris Plys and Vicky Persinger 7-2 to snap the Americans’ win streak at two games.

Italy’s Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini beat the British pair of Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds to improve to 6-0 in the round robin competition in the 10-team field. Britain dropped to 4-2.

Morris and Homan scored a 3-end in the seventh to clinch their game against Plys and Persinger. The Canadians improved to 4-2 while the Americans dropped to 3-3.

The top four teams move into the semifinals on Monday and the medals will be decided on Tuesday.

– Associated Press

USA women's hockey switches goalies for second game

BEIJING — The U.S. women’s hockey team is expected to start Nicole Hensley in net against the Russia Olympic Committee on Saturday.

Maddie Rooney, a hero from the 2018 gold-medal squad, started the first game of this Olympics tournament against Finland two nights ago. But she allowed two goals on 12 shots, took a delay of game penalty and lacked sharpness.

Rooney dealt suffered a partially torn MCL prior to this year’s world championships. In that tournament (seven games), Hensley and Alex Cavallini split time between the pipes.

– Chris Bumbaca

Host China wins its first 2022 gold

China has won its first gold of the Beijing Games, emerging victorious in the mixed team relay at short track speedskating in the event’s Olympic debut.

Wu Dajing edged Italy’s Pietro Sighel by .016 seconds. That’s half a skate blade. Hungary earned bronze Saturday night.

Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin and Ren Ziwei joined Wu for the historic victory. The small number of Chinese fans at Capital Indoor Arena cheered and waved tiny flags.

The results were delayed while the referee reviewed the race. Canada was penalized for pushing from behind and causing contact with Hungary.

China was the favorite coming in, having led the World Cup standings this season.

– Associated Press

Team USA's Maame Biney advances in speedskating

BEIJING — American short-track speedskater Maame Biney is through to the quarterfinals in the women's 500.

Biney, 22, finished third in her four-woman preliminary heat Saturday but skated fast enough to advance on time. (The top two in each heat qualify automatically.) She will be joined in the next round by compatriot Kristen Santos, who won her heat by seven hundredths of a second.

Elsewhere, in the men's 1000m, 20-year-old Andrew Heo used patience and a late surge to claim his own quarterfinal spot in what was his Olympic debut.

The quarterfinals in both events will take place Monday.

– Tom Schad

Olympic record in speedskating

The Netherlands is a speedskating powerhouse and it took gold in the women’s 3,000-meter on Saturday in one of the first medal events of these Games.

Irene Schouten set an Olympic record of 3:56.93, with Francesca Lollobrigida (3:58.06) of Italy taking silver and Canadian Isabelle Weidemann finishing third (3:58.64).

Two-time event champion, Germany’s Claudia Pechstein, came in last in her eighth Winter Olympics appearance.

The lone American in the event, Mia Kilburg, finished 19th out of 20 competitors.

-- Chris Bumbaca

Norway's Therese Johaug gets first gold of Beijing Games; Jessie Diggins finishes sixth

Norway's Therese Johaug won the first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, dominating the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon Saturday.

Johaug finished in 44 minutes, 13.7 seconds Saturday, which was 30 seconds ahead of silver medalist Russia's Natalia Nepryaeva. Teresa Stadlober of Austria took the bronze.

Jessie Diggins finished sixth, the top American in the race.

Johaug, who missed the 2018 Olympics due to a doping suspension, won the first individual Olympic gold of her career. She won silver and bronze in individual events in Sochi and a relay gold in Vancouver in 2010.

Four years ago in Pyeongchang, Diggins claimed the first ever U.S. women’s Olympic gold medal in cross country skiing with teammate Kikkan Randall in the team sprint.

Diggins is the most decorated American cross country skier in world championship history and last year she became the first U.S. skier to win the Tour de Ski.

Her next opportunity for a medal could be Tuesday when she competes in the freestyle sprint.

US defeats China for another big mixed doubles curling win

BEIJING — The U.S. mixed doubles curling team picked up another key win Saturday, defeating host China, 7-5, roughly 24 hours after squeaking out a win over Sweden.

With those two victories, the team of Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys moved to 3-2 at the midway point of round-robin play. They are now sitting in a tie for fourth place out of 10 teams, with four matches to go.

The top four teams advance to the semifinal round.

Persinger and Plys' next match against Canada at 7:05 a.m. ET will be particularly pivotal, with the neighboring countries now tied for that fourth and final spot. The U.S. will then face the Czech Republic and Switzerland on Sunday, and Great Britain on Monday.

-- Tom Schad

Men’s downhill skiing training run canceled due to wind

BEIJING — It’s tough to learn a new downhill course when you can’t ski it.

The third and final training run for the men’s downhill was canceled after just three skiers Saturday because of wind gusts. The forecast for Sunday’s race is more promising, referee Markus Waldner said.

“Two hours before we started at 11 it was good enough to go -- similar to yesterday. Also, during the forerun -- we had five forerunners -- it was good enough to go. Safe,” Waldner said. "But then, suddenly, wind gusts were coming. … (We decided) this is dangerous. It's unpredictable. We cannot handle this.”

The decision was criticized by some skiers, who already felt they were at a disadvantage because no one had been on the course until the first training run Thursday. There also were complaints that the three skiers who did get a run in, one of whom was gold-medal favorite Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, will have an advantage in Sunday’s race.

“Of course I can accept all this criticism coming from the racers, some coaches, that this is an advantage for the three racers,” Waldner said. “But this is force majeure. We're an outdoor sport, force majeure, and we make always decisions in terms of safety.

“Due to safety we made this decision, very simple."

Normally, skiers are able to familiarize themselves with the Olympic course at test events ahead of the Games, but those were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With Thursday the first time they could ski the course, many used their initial training run to simply take mental stock, noting the terrain, turns and jumps on the run. The remaining two runs would then be used to build speed and find areas where they could be aggressive.

But they’ll have to make do with what they got Thursday and Friday.

Bryce Bennett, the top-ranked American in the downhill this season, said he didn’t have a problem with the decision to cancel. In some ways, he said, it worked out better.

“For me, personally, three training runs is difficult. I think it’s too much,” Bennett said. “You kind of get lackadaisical.

“We got some good inspections,” he added. “I got two inspections today, and I think it’ll work out for the better, hopefully, tomorrow. Pray to God I don’t get a headwind. Praying for a tailwind.”

— Nancy Armour

Cross-country skier Jessie Diggins has a fan in Mikaela Shiffrin

BEIJING — Jessie Diggins has a fan in Mikaela Shiffrin.

Asked Friday if there was another U.S. athlete she’d like to watch, the two-time Olympic champion named Diggins. Shiffrin said she and her parents were captivated four years ago as they sat in their hotel and watched Diggins and Kikkan Randall win gold in the team sprint at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

It was the first gold medal for the United States in cross-country skiing, and the first medal of any color in the sport since 1976.

"We watched the, 'Here comes Diggins! Here comes Diggins!’" Shiffrin recalled, referring to NBC commentator Chad Salmela’s exuberant reaction when Diggins caught and passed Sweden’s Stina Nilsson down the stretch."

Diggins begins competition at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday with the skiathlon, which combines classic and freestyle skiing.

— Nancy Armour

Jamie Anderson, two other Americans make women's snowboard slopestyle final

BEIJING — Snowboarder Jamie Anderson is in fifth place after the snowboard slopestyle qualification, leading the way for the U.S. women. The two-time reigning and defending gold medalist scored a 74.35 on her first run, good for a second-place ranking. Her next run was clean until the final moments when she fell.

“I definitely was hoping to get that second run, but I’ll take what I can get,” Anderson told NBC. “I’m excited for tomorrow.”

Fellow American Julia Marino redeemed herself on her second run with a score of 71.78 and sixth place. Rounding out the Americans competing in the final is Hailey Langland in ninth after a clean second run that scored a 68.71. The top 12 advance.

Team USA’s Courtney Rummel finished 18th with a best score of 48.30 and will miss the final.

The final is scheduled to begin Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.

— Alex Ptachick

IOC, Beijing 2022 shrug at Uyghur athlete's inclusion in opening ceremony

BEIJING — Representatives from the International Olympic Committee and 2022 Beijing organizing committee on Saturday downplayed the inclusion of a Uyghur athlete in the opening ceremony for the Games.

Chang Yu, the director of Beijing 2022's ceremonies department, said cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang was selected to help light the torch as part of a generational concept involving athletes born in different decades.

Yilamujiang, 20, hails from the Xinjiang region, where China has been accused of detaining up to one million people in what the U.S. government has deemed "genocide."

IOC president Thomas Bach has previously declined to answer questions about China's treatment of Uyghurs, characterizing it as a political issue outside of the IOC's scope. When asked Saturday about Yilamujiang's role in lighting the torch, and whether the IOC consulted on the decision, spokesperson Mark Adams demurred.

"Obviously the opening ceremony is something that the organizing committee put together," Adams said. "We are involved to a certain extent. But I just would go back to what I said earlier, that this is an athlete who is competing here. She has every right – wherever she comes from, whatever her background – to compete. And she has every right – whatever her background, wherever she comes from – to take part in the opening ceremony."

— Tom Schad

Can Jessie Diggins take home another cross country skiing medal for Team USA?

American cross country skiing star Jessie Diggins is back for her third Olympics, and her first event is just hours away.

This time she’s 30 years old, expecting to marry her sweetheart Wade Poplawski, maybe in May. Diggins is a veteran of 240 World Cup races and an Olympic gold medalist. She’s a leader of Team USA and hype girl for her youngest teammates.

She’s poised, always with an eye on the big picture, and impressive in everything she does, from skiing to speaking to bridging groups and causes with friends and newcomers.

She’s also something else: Team USA's vulnerable, honest, unfiltered badass. Diggins has written a memoir — "Brave Enough" — in which she details her life and career, including her admission and treatment for disordered eating.

Diggins won Olympic gold in the women's team sprint with her teammate Kikkan Randall in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and competed in six events there: team sprint, pursuit, individual sprint individual start, mass start and relay.

Her first event in Beijing is Saturday's skiathlon, which will air live on USA.

— Lori Nickel

IOC calls security guard grabbing TV journalist an 'unfortunate incident'

A Dutch television journalist was confronted by a Chinese security guard while on live TV on Friday, in what the IOC described as an "unfortunate incident."

A clip of the incident shows the journalist, Sjoerd den Daas of NOS Media, being pulled away while trying to deliver a report. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said the organization had been in communication with NOS Media about the incident.

"I think someone was being overzealous," Adams said. "(The reporter) was able very quickly afterwards, with the help of officials there, to do his piece to camera, his standup.

"These things do happen. I think it's a one-off. I hope it's a one-off. We assure you that within the closed loop, you'll be able to carry on your work."

— Tom Schad

How does scoring work in freeskiing and snowboarding?

In freeskiing and snowboarding, scores mean nothing – well, almost. Rather, the numbers are more of a proxy for athletes’ ranking and less tied to specific tricks in their run, for example, than their overall performance.

Judging for both sports is mostly done by a panel of six international judges, with the highest and lowest scores being dropped.

Unlike other sports, such as gymnastics, there are not component scores. A certain trick does not have a set value. Judges are scoring out of 100 based on overall impression and basically ranking from there.

Execution is critical and can include several things, such as how cleanly athletes are landing tricks, how long they hold their grabs or how long they ride a rail. Difficulty can help an athlete stand out, especially by doing tricks that are harder than their competitors or that have never been done before.

Often runs including tricks with more flips or a higher degree of rotation will be scored higher. Judges will also consider progression, and variety matters too.

Freeskiing and snowboarding have been among the United States’ most successful sports in recent Olympics.

— Rachel Axon

Anderson seeking third consecutive gold in slopestyle snowboarding

ZHANGJIAKOU – Snowboarder Jamie Anderson went back and forth on whether or not to come to these Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The pandemic, the restrictions, the COVID testing – it just piled on the pressure of someone who already feels it as the USA’s two-time Olympic gold medalist in women's slopestyle snowboarding.

“It’s definitely a more complicated Olympics. Going to the Olympics is very stressful and you have so much on your plate,” Anderson said at a news conference in the Olympic Village. “And this year it has been an absolute nightmare. Just everything from getting here, I think all of us in the last few months – I was really struggling with everything it took to get here.

But all it took was the very first day on the snow Wednesday for practice runs to reassure her that she made the right decision.

The slopestyle course is massive, and Anderson, 31, said it reminds her of her first Olympics in Sochi where everything was gigantic and intimidating.

“It’s pretty gnarly," Anderson said. "What’s cool about the Olympics compared to any other event is it’s always on a completely new mountain and completely new setup.”

Anderson will make her first runs on the slopestyle course when women's qualifying begins at 9:45 p.m. ET (USA Network).

— Lori Nickel

Brennan: China continues its political charade at opening ceremony

BEIJING – Neither a raging global pandemic nor worldwide concern over China’s awful human rights abuses could stop Beijing from throwing itself a party Friday night at its “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium.

Compared to the last time Beijing gave us an opening ceremony, 14 years ago for the Summer Olympics, it was a muted effort with far fewer spectators, athletes and diplomats. It also was about 70 degrees colder than that sweltering night in August 2008, when the air was so heavy with Beijing’s gritty smog that black residue could be scraped off the skin. This time, it was just bitter cold.

So, for the second Olympics in a row, Beijing organizers created a grand illusion. They sure know how to put on a light show on a stadium floor. If only they were as good at things like freedom of speech and avoiding genocide.

— Christine Brennan

Watch the Beijing opening ceremony again ... or for the first time

The 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony aired lived in the United States early Friday morning, but NBC knows not everyone is an early bird. The network will re-broadcast the Beijing opening ceremony beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

The ceremony opened with fireworks, a lights show and ended with ice hockey players breaking a block of ice to reveal the Olympic rings. Snowflakes with the names of participating countries were held high in front of the large Olympic Rings.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and IOC President Thomas Bach were in the stands alongside a smaller-than-usual crowd restricted due to COVID-19 regulations.

As is tradition, home country dignitaries and Games organizers will give speeches prior to The Delegations Parade. The first nation to enter the stadium will be Greece, followed by all other delegations in the IOC Protocol order, alphabetically by the language of the host country. Italy (as the next Winter Olympic Games host nation) and the host country China will enter last. The U.S. delegation is No. 56, after Bulgaria.

Skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin relishes the racing as much as the results

Make no mistake: Mikaela Shiffrin wants to win.

For Shiffrin, though, winning is the byproduct. Like the student who relishes the grind more than the grade, she is more interested in the things that go into making her one of the best ski racers of all time.

That that painstaking attention to the details – what others might consider drudgery -- has resulted in Winter Olympic gold medals, world titles and international commercial appeal is just a bonus.

“The overarching thing that allows me to ski fast and be one of the best racers in the world and get all the titles and all of these things that feel really great and make you feel like you’re a hero and you're on top of the world and all that, the thing that lets me do it is skiing well. And that's the thing that I actually enjoy doing,” Shiffrin told USA TODAY.

Shiffrin will be making her Beijing Olympics debut on Monday, Feb. 7, in the women's giant slalom, where she will seek to defend her 2018 gold medal.

— Nancy Armour

U.S. snowboarders, freeskiers get new threads

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – The U.S. freeski and snowboard teams will have a different look for the Beijing Olympics thanks to new uniform providers.

Since the 2018 Games, the teams have switched to Spyder and Volcom, respectively, from their longtime partners The North Face and Burton.

This year’s uniforms come with distinct looks for each, offering edgier patterns and multiple layering options that lean less into Americana themes than recent uniforms.

The freeskiing uniforms feature large white and blue color blocks with red accents. The uniforms include jackets, hoodies and reversible vests that allow the athletes to tailor their looks. Uniforms for both teams are created with tech fabrics designed to help athletes keep warm and perform in competition.

The snowboarding uniforms feature five different kits that allow for a layering and a variety of looks. They include a collage print that Volcom intends as a tribute “to the storied history of the legends who have made the Volcom brand what it is today,” and each includes a lucky faux rabbit foot for good luck.

— Rachel Axon

NBC is walking a tightrope at the Beijing Games. The network is covering sports on ice and snow — and news on human rights and genocide.

One of the athletes to light the flame at the opening ceremony is Uyghur, China’s Muslim ethnic minority who are victims of genocide, according to the United States; that is one of the reasons that the U.S. is boycotting these Games diplomatically.

Mike Tirico, NBC’s Olympics host, quickly noted the significance of the flame lighting during the live broadcast of the opening ceremony, which aired on Friday morning in the U.S., and which will repeat Friday evening. “Of course, those are the people from the region of Northwest China that have attracted so much attention in the conversation of human rights,” Tirico said, reporting from the scene.

– Erik Brady

What to know about the 2022 Olympics

Less than six months after the Summer Games in Tokyo ended, the Winter Games in Beijing open. Getting underway in full on Saturday, there's a lot of questions surrounding these Olympics.

USA TODAY Sports' Nancy Armour broke down everything you need to know, from "why Beijing?" to all the must-watch Team USA stars:

Q: Are there new sports or events?

A: Yes! Seven of them. Monobob has been added for women’s bobsled, and there is men’s and women’s Big Air in freestyle skiing. There are four new mixed-team events, in snowboard cross, aerials, short-track speedskating and ski jumping.

U.S. figure skaters off to good start

The United States won the men's short program and rhythm dance and are in first place after the day's team competition. Nathan Chen hit a new personal record of 111.71 in the short program to pace the Americans. The Russian Olympic Committee sits in second place, and China is in third. The women's short program is Sunday with the top five team advancing to the free skate competition after which medals will be awarded.

Olympics 2022 updates, recap: Skier Nina O'Brien hurt in scary crash

USA TODAY Sports

NOTE: Here's a look back at Monday's results in Beijing. For updates from everything going on Tuesday, check out our live blog.

Team USA earned its first figure skating medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics thanks to a clutch performance from its ice dancers.

The U.S. took home the silver in the team figure skating competition after Madison Chock and Evan Bates turned in a season-best score in the ice dancing free program.

The news was not so good for skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin. The defending Olympic champion will not repeat in the women's giant slalom.

Shiffrin's first of five potential events in Beijing ended in disappointment Monday when she wiped out on her opening run.

(Looking for coverage from Sunday's events? Here's everything you need to know.)

TV SCHEDULE: How and what to watch each day of the Beijing Olympics

EXCLUSIVE OLYMPIC UPDATES: Sign up for texts to get the latest news and behind-the-scenes coverage from Beijing.

OLYMPICS NEWSLETTER:The best Olympic stories straight to your inbox

WINTER OLYMPICS 2022: Answering 10 major questions for the Beijing Games

Star US figure skater out individual event after testing positive for COVID-19

Vincent Zhou, 21, the nation's No. 2 male figure skater behind Nathan Chen, tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday and will be unable to compete in Tuesday's individual event. Zhou skated for the U.S. in the team event, winning silver, and was scheduled to compete individually on Tuesday, in the short program.

"It seems pretty unreal that of all the people, it would happen to myself," Zhou said in an emotional, 5-minute long video shared on social media Monday announcing that he will not be competing Tuesday. "That's not just because I am still processing this turn of events, but also because I have been doing everything in my power to stay free of COVID since the start of the pandemic. I have taken all the precautions I can and I have isolated myself so much that the loneliness can be crushing at times."

-- Analis Bailey

Disappointing night at short track for US

Andrew Heo emerged as the best chance for an American medal in short track speed skating in the two events at Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday.

But the 20-year-old didn’t have enough juice to make the “A” final, despite putting together a pair of consistent times to make the “B” final in the men’s 1,000 meter. Heo went 1:24.03 to go into semifinal after a slower 1:24.6 quarterfinal time. He then bursted too early and came in last of the final (1:36.14).

On the women’s side (500 meters), neither of the United States’ two skaters made it out of the quarterfinals. Maame Biney came in third in the second heat with a time of 46.009. Meanwhile, teammate Kristen Santos was penalized in the fourth quarterfinal as she fell and took an opposing skater with her into the wall.

The men’s “A” final was not without drama, as the race was called halfway through due to metal parts on the track. After a brief cleanup and ice manicure, the race restarted, with China’s Rei Ziewei and Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu battling it out for gold. Liu appeared to eke out the photo finish, but after a replay, Liu was assessed a yellow card for committing two penalties. That disqualified him and gave Rei gold in front of a delighted home crowd.

Italy’s Arianna Fontana won the women’s 500 prior to that.

-- Chris Bumbaca

While you were sleeping

From a historic moment to a devastating crash, the Beijing Games have not lacked excitement since it began.

Here are the top stories you missed while you were asleep:

17-year-old Chinese snowboarder claims slopestyle silver, shares podium with his idol

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Mark McMorris remembered the little kid he would see on his visits to China, the one who idolized him and who clearly loved snowboarding.

After the Olympic slopestyle final, McMorris just had to look across the podium to find him.

China’s Su Yiming fulfilled a dream and drew the attention of throngs of media, fans, workers and volunteers at Genting Snow Park. The 17-year-old phenom claimed silver, beating his idol in an Olympic final.

McMorris won bronze for a third consecutive Games, while his Canadian teammate Max Parrot won gold.

“I’m seeing this little kid, he’s always around, and he loves snowboarding more than anything and idolized me and then boom, this fall he’s just like so damn good,” said McMorris, who has been making trips to China to compete for Burton, one of his sponsors, since 2010.

“He became a man, and he definitely has some height now and he’s strong and he’s riding at an incredible level. I’m super proud of him because he is a true snowboarder. He loves the sport. I’m honored to share the podium with him, and his future’s really bright.”

Su finished first in qualifying and drew the most attention here. His massive second run included two triple corks, including one on the final jump with three off-axis flips and five spins that he had never done before.

By the time he lined up on the podium with his idol, dozens of workers stood atop the jump where he made his mark to watch.

“This moment is indeed amazing for me because when I was very young I had this dream to compete in my hometown, in my country, to attend the Olympic Games,” Su said. “I'm extremely happy to achieve this medal in my hometown and also compete and stand on the podium with my idol from my childhood. I really felt overwhelmed.”

— Rachel Axon

US speedskater and flag-bearer Brittany Bowe comes up empty in women's 1500 meters

BEIJING — It was a disappointing day for the Americans at the National Speed Skating Oval, but a historic one for an Olympic speedskating legend.

Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands won gold at 1500 meters Monday, claiming an individual medal at the Winter Games for a whopping fifth consecutive time. Her first medal of the streak came at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Wüst also broke the Olympic record, to boot. She crossed the line in 1:53.28.

American Brittany Bowe, who carried the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony alongside curler John Shuster, had been expected to contend for a medal at this distance but finished well off the pace. She finished nearly a full second off the podium, in 10th place, with a time of 1:55.81.

Bowe will next race in the 500 on Sunday and the 1000, her signature event, on Feb. 17.

— Tom Schad

US skier Nina O'Brien hurt in scary crash in giant slalom

BEIJING — Nina O’Brien, the top U.S. woman in the giant slalom after Mikaela Shiffrin went out, crashed just ahead of the finish line Monday and appeared to seriously injure her left leg.

O’Brien was taken off the course on a stretcher, but U.S. Ski & Snowboard said on Twitter that she was “alert and responsive.”

“She was worried about delaying the race,” the organization said. “And also she wanted to know how fast she was skiing.”

O’Brien had one gate left in the second run and was going at top speed when she lost her balance. Her legs flew wide and she tumbled past the last gate and into the finish area. O’Brien immediately clutched at her left leg, and still photographs showed her ankle going the opposite direction of how it should.

— Nancy Armour

American men fail to medal in snowboard slopestyle

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — There would be no repeat gold for Team USA's men’s snowboard slopestyle team. There would be no medal, even.

Four years after Red Gerard pulled off a surprising Olympic win, the 21-year-old finished just off the podium here at the Beijing Olympics.

Gerard, 21, was a surprise gold medalist in Pyeongchang four years ago – even to himself. He has since embraced the competition scene and came to Beijing gunning for a medal.

He sat in third until Canadian Mark McMorris landed a big run to bump Gerard and take bronze himself. Canadian Max Parrot, who won silver in slopestyle four years ago, claimed gold, while 17-year-old Chinese phenom Su Yiming took silver.

Americans had won the gold in both previous contests since slopestyle was added in 2014, with Sage Kotsenburg claiming it in the debut and Gerard winning in 2018.

“Fourth never feels good. One off from being cool,” Gerard said. “I haven’t really fully put it together yet. I’m just happy that I landed a run, and I was really happy with the run, probably the best run I’ve ever done.”

Gerard used a unique line to put himself in contention.

On his first run, he landed 1620s on the first and third jumps. But in the rail section, he did a trick off the roof of the guard tower feature and on the second jump he used the quarter pipe to launch himself into double cork 1080.

He flubbed a trick in the rail section on his third run, leaving him to wait to see if his score would hold. But McMorris put down a run with three triple corks on the jumps to give himself a bronze medal for a third consecutive Games.

Americans Chris Corning and Sean Fitzsimons finished sixth and 12th, respectively.

— Rachel Axon

Olympic downhill skiing drought continues for US men

BEIJING — The U.S. men’s drought in the Olympic downhill continues.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle was the top American finisher Monday, finishing in 14th place, 82 seconds behind Olympic gold medalist Beat Feuz of Switzerland. Bryce Bennett, the top U.S. man in the downhill this season, was 19th while Travis Ganong was 20th.

It’s the second consecutive Olympics that the U.S. men have failed to have anyone finish in the top 10.

Johan Clarey of France won the silver and Matthias Mayer, the 2014 Olympic champion, took the bronze in the race, which was rescheduled from Sunday because of high winds.

“I can’t think of anything more beautiful than flying home with a gold medal around my neck,” said Feuz, who four years ago was the bronze medalist in the downhill and silver medalist in the super-G.

Only two American men have won the Olympic downhill, and Tommy Moe was the last to do it, at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer. Bode Miller was the last U.S. man to win a medal in downhill, a bronze in 2006.

-- Nancy Armour

Players wear masks for Canada vs. ROC women's hockey game

Even during an Olympics with extreme COVID-19 protocols, it was a bizarre look for Canadian and Russian women’s hockey players. Both teams took the ice Monday wearing KN95 masks underneath their hockey masks.

The start of the preliminary group game was delayed by more than an hour because the Canadian team did not receive a report on Russia’s COVID testing status and didn’t want to take the ice until that happened, according to Toronto Sun reporter Rob Longley.

The Associated Press reported that the IOC told the IIHF, the international hockey federation, that players were required to wear masks due to “safety and security reasons.”

The Russians returned for the third period without their masks, however. The Canadians kept theirs on.

-- Roxanna Scott

US figure skating silver medalist tests positive for COVID-19

BEIJING — A prominent U.S. figure skater has tested positive for COVID-19, and at the worst possible time.

U.S. Figure Skating announced Monday that Vincent Zhou, who is scheduled to skate the men's short program Tuesday, tested positive on Sunday. It is now unclear whether he will be able to compete.

"Under the guidance of the USOPC medical staff, Zhou is undergoing additional testing to confirm his status," the national governing body said in a statement. "If the results are negative, Zhou will be able to compete in the men’s short program, which begins Tuesday. At this time, we ask you respect his privacy as we await the results."

The news of the positive test comes at a devastating time for Zhou, who skated the long program for Team USA in the team competition on Sunday morning.

With the draw already having been completed, it is unlikely that the U.S. would be able to have an alternate skate in Zhou's place. Nathan Chen and Jason Brown are the other American men in the field.

— Tom Schad

Russian woman makes figure skating history

BEIJING — In the final event of the team figure skating competition, Russian skater Kamila Valieva landed a trick that no woman had ever achieved on Olympic ice.

Then she did it again in the same program.

Valieva, 15, became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Winter Games, making four rotations in mid-air. She also became the first woman to land two of them in the same program, kicking off her program with a quad salchow before later landing a quad toe.

That she fell on a third quad attempt later in the program proved to be a mere footnote.

Valieva's performance capped a dominant gold-medal-winning performance by the Russian Olympic Committee in the team event. Valieva is also one of three Russian wunderkinds who will be vying for podium spots in the women's individual competition, and there is a chance they could sweep the podium.

— Tom Schad

USA wins silver in team figure skating event behind stellar ice dance

BEIJING — After the first day of the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Team USA was dreaming of gold.

Instead, it squeaked out a silver.

Buoyed by a strong final performance from the ice dance team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates on Monday, the Americans edged Japan to win their first silver medal in the team figure skating event. They won bronze in both 2018 and 2014.

The Russian Olympic Committee, which entered as the favorite, won gold in dominant fashion.

"We're celebrating silver," Bates said. "Winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games is an incredible achievement, and the fact that we all get a silver medal, the whole team -- I'm so happy. I'm so happy."

The U.S. and Japan were tied in the standings with 48 team points entering the final two events of the competition -- the free dance and women's long program. But Chock and Bates, the captains of the U.S. team, turned in a stellar performance to finish first in their event, and Karen Chen did enough in a redemptive long program to hang on.

— Tom Schad

Chinese American sensation makes Olympic debut

BEIJING – There is no bigger star in China at these Olympics than Eileen Gu, the 18-year old freestyle skier from San Francisco who is headed to Stanford after these Olympics.

Despite her American roots, Gu chose in 2019 to compete for China, the country where her mother grew up and where she has become a fashion model and a breakthrough star.

Given the hype surrounding her debut at the Beijing Games, Gu admitted there was some pressure to perform well Monday in the first Big Air competition for skiing ever at the Olympics. After two of her three runs, though, Gu’s place in the final was uncertain. After her ski fell off on the second jump, her only choice was to produce a clean run or be eliminated from the competition.

“I would not feel satisfied if I didn’t make finals,” she said. “I was just focusing on the trick itself. I wasn’t thinking about there are people who want to watch me or that there was this pressure on me. It’s a right 9 (or jump with 2 ½ rotations). I’ve been doing right 9s since I was 14, and I know I can do that trick so I was just kind of talking to myself in that way.”

Gu pulled it off, securing her place in what will be a widely-watched final here on Tuesday at the Big Air Shougang.

Among the four-woman American contingent, only Darian Stevens qualified for the final after landing a left 900-degree trick on her third try after finding trouble on her second jump.

“I was obviously feeling the heat,” said Stevens, a native of Missoula, Mont. “I had a really good first jump I was very happy with and had a little bit of a speed issue on the second one so there was a lot of pressure riding on that third jump but I was really happy to land it.

— Dan Wolken

NBC's Mike Tirico to depart Beijing early

NBC prime-time Olympic host Mike Tirico will have a shorter stay in Beijing than originally planned.

Tirico's final show from Beijing will be Monday night. He will fly from China to NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, to host Wednesday's and Thursday's shows before heading to Los Angeles on Friday to anchor Olympic and Super Bowl coverage through Sunday.

Tirico will then head back to Stamford for the final week of Olympic coverage. The Games conclude on Feb. 20.

Maria Taylor, who signed with NBC on the eve of last summer's Tokyo Olympics, will host Tuesday night's show while Tirico is flying back.

Tirico was originally scheduled to stay in Beijing through Thursday before going to Los Angeles. NBC officials, though, have reiterated that his schedule was subject to change based on COVID-19 and other factors.

This is the first year that the Olympics and Super Bowl are taking place at the same time. Four years ago, Tirico missed the Super Bowl as he was preparing for his first Olympics as prime-time host in Pyeongchang.

NBC has its announcers and hosts working out of its Connecticut headquarters. It has a limited group of reporters on the ground in China. NBC News' Craig Melvin is still in Beijing and will host “prime plus coverage” (which is late night in New York but prime time in Los Angeles) over the weekend.

— Associated Press

Ice dancers score season best to put U.S. in silver medal position

BEIJING —The U.S. is all but assured of winning silver in the team figure skating competition after a clutch performance from Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the free dance.

Chock and Bates won their event with a season-best score of 129.07, widening the gap between the Americans (58) and Japan (54), which is in third place. There is one event remaining, with Karen Chen set to skate in the women's free skate.

Teams are awarded points based on their finish in each event, with 10 points to the winner, nine to the runner-up and so on.

The U.S. had been squarely in silver-medal position entering Monday, but a last-place finish from Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier in the pairs' long program allowed Japan to knot the score.

The Russian Olympic Committee has all but locked up the gold, while the other two finalists, Canada and China, only had remote chances of medaling entering Monday.

The Americans have won bronze medals in the team event at each of the past two Olympics.

— Tom Schad

Shiffrin wipes out in first run of giant slalom

YANQING, China — Mikaela Shiffrin's first chance for a gold medal was over almost as soon as it began.

Expected to contend for multiple medals at the Beijing Olympics, several of them gold, Shiffrin lost an edge on the fifth gate of the first run of the women’s giant slalom and skied out. It’s the first time she’s failed to finish a GS race since January 2018.

"It's a huge disappointment. Not even counting the medals," Shiffrin said afterward. "The easiest thing to say is I skied a couple of good turns and skied one turn a bit wrong and really paid the hardest of consequences for that."

Shiffrin has said she hopes to do all five individual events at the Beijing Olympics. Her next race will come Wednesday, in the slalom. She won gold there in 2018, making her the youngest champion in that event.

-- Nancy Armour

Report: Peng Shuai meets with IOC president, says she 'never disappeared'

BEIJING – Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai told a French newspaper that her long-planned dinner with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has already occurred.

In a story published Monday by L'Equipe, Peng said the two met for dinner Saturday. She also once again denied having accused anyone of sexual assault, after alleging in a social-media post in November that she had been assaulted by Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking Chinese government official.

Peng's post was later scrubbed from Chinese social media, and she disappeared from public view for several weeks. She also disagreed with that characterization.

"I never disappeared, everyone could see me," Peng told L'Equipe.

Activists have expressed concern that Peng's movements and statements have been monitored or influenced by the Chinese government in the wake of her allegation.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams confirmed that Bach and Peng had dinner Saturday night. When asked Sunday about the dinner, he said he had no update.

-- Tom Schad

Moguls skier Kai Owens couldn't see out of one eye after crash in practice

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Cupping, dry needling, ice, pressure and some kind of brush for her face -- all day, every day, every hour, for the last several days. This was Kai Owens’ entire existence.

With a lot of persistence and medical treatment, the Chinese-born, American raised freeskier was able to compete in the Beijing Winter Olympics Sunday night, finishing in 10th place in the women's moguls. Australia’s Jakara Anthony led the field with a gold medal performance of 83.09. American Jaelin Kauf won the silver with a score of 80.28, and Anastasiia Smirnova of Russia took bronze.

Her ability to get to this night came down to the wire. Owens, 17, missed the opening qualifying round several days earlier, last Tuesday night, when her eye was swollen shut from a crash during a practice run on the same day. Owens, who also had a concussion earlier in the season, was held out by coaches.

“The first day I couldn’t even move my arm,” said Owens. “I was in a sling because of my rotator cuff. And then I couldn’t see out of my eye.”

By Sunday night, her eye was still visibly injured, but remarkably healed given how bad it was a few days earlier.

“I’m just so thankful to be here,” said Owens. “I owe a huge ‘thanks’ to our Team USA staff, U.S. ski and snowboard staff. They helped get me out here tonight.”

-- Lori Nickel

Mikaela Shiffrin to make her debut at 2022 Beijing Games in giant slalom

BEIJING — In what could be the first of five races at the Beijing Olympics, and perhaps as many medals, Mikaela Shiffrin competes Monday in the giant slalom. She is the reigning Olympic champion in GS and is currently third in the World Cup standings, with two wins and a second-place finish in five races this season.

The GS will be followed Wednesday by the slalom, where she became the youngest Olympic champion in the event in 2014. Shiffrin also has a silver, from the Alpine combined in Pyeongchang.

Shiffrin won the season-opening GS race in October in Soelden, Austria. But she didn’t race GS again until December – she won one race and finished second in the other – and her training time throughout the season has been limited.

In fact, she said Friday that she has spent more time training GS since coming to Beijing than she has the rest of the season.

"That’s not ideal," she said.

Despite that, Shiffrin said she feels she’s in a "pretty good place," both in GS and overall.

"There’s a lot of potential there," she said. "What are the odds on a day where all the variables are controlled? My odds aren’t bad. I’m just going to have to see where the chips fall."

— Nancy Armour

Opinion: Are Olympic uniforms tainted by forced labor?

BEIJING – Everywhere you turn at these Olympic Games, friendly staff members and volunteers are impeccably dressed in uniforms depicting white snow peaks and blue Chinese skies. As the competitions get underway in full force, we will see hundreds of technical officials wearing similarly attractive grey and white gear with red accents on their sleeves.

But it’s the logo over the right breast that your eyes should be drawn to.

The nondescript symbol, which looks vaguely like the silhouette of an impala’s head or perhaps a pickaxe, represents Anta Sports, a Chinese sporting goods giant that endorses several NBA players, including Klay Thompson and Gordon Hayward. It is also the parent company of a subsidiary that owns legacy American brands like Wilson and Louisville Slugger. The founder of Lululemon, Canadian billionaire Chip Wilson, is heavily invested in the company.

In China, the world’s second-largest economy, Anta is a very big deal. It’s also at the center of arguably the biggest political controversy surrounding these Olympics involving alleged genocide and human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China.

— Dan Wolken

The unlikely pipeline at the heart of the U.S. speedskating team

Ocala, Florida, is a town of about 60,000 people located between Gainesville and Orlando. Palm trees dot downtown. Temperatures last week touched 80 degrees.

It's not the kind of place you'd expect to produce Winter Olympians.

But in a strange twist – and with the almost inadvertent help of a Florida grandmother – that is exactly what's happened.

Three of the top U.S. speedskaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Brittany Bowe, Erin Jackson and Joey Mantia – all hail from Ocala, which does not even have a year-round ice rink. All three are legitimate medal contenders. And all three started out as inline skaters on a team that is now called Ocala Speed, coached by the same woman, Renee Hildebrand.

— Tom Schad

Opinion: US figure skaters falter on jumps, but still guaranteed a medal at Winter Olympics

BEIJING – After Day 1 of the Olympic figure skating team competition, U.S. athletes talked about skating with intensity and building momentum for an improbable gold-medal run against the Russians.

On Day 2, the conversation turned, sharply. Thoughts of momentum were replaced by concerns about “picking each other up.” High-fives and fist bumps were gone. Hugs and kind words showed up in their place.

That’s because, given the chance to rise to the occasion, both Karen Chen and Vincent Zhou turned in flat, lackluster performances, leaving the United States likely settling for the team silver medal and wondering what might have been had Chen and Zhou been able to skate cleanly – or how things would have been different had U.S. Figure Skating officials chosen other skaters in their place.

— Christine Brennan

2022 Winter Olympics stars to know: From Hilary Knight to Nathan ...

There will be no shortage of American star power at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

After finishing fourth in the medal table at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games with 23 medals, including nine golds, Team USA will look to improve on that mark with a diverse and accomplished group of athletes. The U.S. delegation in Beijing will feature several reigning Olympic medalists, recent world champions and up-and-coming starlets.

Here are 23 key names to know ahead of the 2022 Games, including some who have already become winter sports stars and others who are poised to join them in the coming weeks. The opening ceremony will be held Feb. 4.

NICE THREADS:2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony uniform unveiled

DOUBLE DUTY:NBC preparing for Super Bowl LVI, Winter Olympics

Jamie Anderson, women's snowboarding

Anderson isn't short on accolades. She's the most decorated slopestyle snowboarder in X Games history, the first woman to land a 1080 off a jump and the only person to win an Olympic gold medal in the brief history of women's slopestyle. She's earned each of the past two.

Now, the 31-year-old will be returning to the Winter Games for a third time, with her eyes on a three-peat and a fourth overall medal. (Anderson also won silver in big air at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.)

Kevin Bickner, men's ski jumping

It's been almost a century since the U.S. won its only Olympic medal in ski jumping, and that drought is likely to continue in Beijing.

That said, if there's one American to watch in the event, it's probably Kevin Bickner. The 25-year-old holds the national distance record of 802 feet, set in 2017. And he is coming off an 18th-place finish at the 2018 Games – which, while still a ways off the podium, marked the best finish for a U.S. man in the event since the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

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Summer Britcher, women's luge

At 27, Britcher is already gearing up for what will be her third Olympic appearance. Though she didn't place higher than 15th individually in her first two trips, the Pennsylvania native has shown steady improvement over her career and seen better results of late, including a third-place finish in the 2018-19 World Cup standings.

Britcher has also been an important member of the relay team in recent years, helping the U.S. to a fourth-place finish in Pyeongchang and a bronze medal at the 2020 world championships.

Brittany Bowe, women's speedskating

A former inline skater and college basketball player, Bowe is now one of several U.S. speedskaters who figure to be medal threats in Beijing.

The 33-year-old won a bronze in Pyeongchang in team pursuit – Team USA's only long track speedskating medal at those Games – and she has been arguably the nation's most dominant skater in the years since. Bowe broke the world record at 1000 meters in 2019 and has won gold at that distance at two of the past three world championships. She also finished second at another distance, 1500 meters, at the most recent world championships last year.

Nathan Chen, men's figure skating

After a disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2018 Olympics, Chen has been nothing short of brilliant on the international level. He has won three consecutive world championships – all by whopping margins – and became the first U.S. man to three-peat since Scott Hamilton in the early 1980s. (Hamilton won four in a row.)

In addition to skating, Chen is also a student at Yale, where he is majoring in statistics and data science. He put his studies on pause to train for the Beijing Games but is likely to return to campus later this year with at least one individual Olympic medal – perhaps gold.

Jessie Diggins, women's cross-country skiing

Diggins won a shocking gold medal at the 2018 Games in the team sprint event, alongside partner Kikkan Randall. It was the second Olympic medal ever won by U.S. cross-country skiers, following Bill Koch's silver in the 30K at the 1976 Innsbruck Games.

In the years since, Diggins, 30, became the first American to win the Tour de Ski – a multi-stage event that is modeled off of cycling's Tour de France. In the niche world of cross-country skiing, she quickly has become America's brightest star.

Susan Dunklee, women's biathlon

Dunklee is in the midst of her final year as a biathlete, the end of a career that has spanned more than a decade and seen her achieve new milestones for Americans in the sport. Her silver medal at the 2017 world championships, for example, was the first-ever won by an American in biathlon – the only longstanding sport at the Winter Olympics in which the United States has never won a medal.

Outside of biathlon, Dunklee has also been an advocate for sustainability and gender equity.

Alex Ferreira, men's freestyle skiing

In the brief Olympic history of ski halfpipe, only one man has ever won a gold medal: American David Wise, who's done it twice. But this time around, it could be Ferreira's turn to shine.

The 27-year-old Aspen, Colorado, native finished second to Wise in the halfpipe at the Pyeongchang Games and has been on a tear in the lead-up to the Beijing Games, including wins at both Dew Tour and the U.S. Grand Prix Finals earlier this winter. There figures to be plenty of competition in this event in Beijing, especially among the Americans, but Ferreira will certainly be in the mix.

Taylor Fletcher, men's Nordic combined

Fletcher is one of the few four-time Olympians on Team USA, which is an achievement in and of itself. He won a bronze medal at the 2013 world championships and has long been one of the nation's stalwarts in Nordic combined, which consists of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The event has long been dominated by Europeans – including, unsurprisingly, Norway – so Fletcher faces long odds of reaching the podium.

Alex Hall, men's freestyle skiing

Hall, 23, was born in Alaska, grew up in Switzerland, and won a silver medal in Norway at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games.

The reigning world bronze medalist in freeski slopestyle, he clinched his spot on Team USA in thrilling fashion at a Grand Prix event in January, landing a crazy run in his last attempt to win by less than a point. This will be his second consecutive Olympic appearance. He placed 16th in slopestyle in Pyeongchang.

Dusty Henricksen, men's snowboarding

From Shaun White to Red Gerard, it seems like there's always an up-and-coming American snowboarder who blossoms into a star at the Olympics. And at the Beijing Games, it could very well be Henricksen.

Just 18, Henricksen will be making his Olympic debut after claiming a pair of big victories in recent years. He won gold in slopestyle at the Youth Olympic Games in 2020, then followed up with a first-place finish at the Winter X Games in 2021, becoming the first American to win the event at the X Games since White in 2009.

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, ice dance

The U.S. is the only country to win an Olympic medal in ice dance at each of the past four Games. Hubbell and Donohue will be among those aiming to make it five.

Both are now north of 30 and have said this will be their final Olympic run, after more than a decade together. Hubbell and Donohue placed fourth at the 2018 Olympics, just a few points off the podium. But they've been in sharp form since, finishing third and second at the most recent world championships.

Kaillie Humphries, women's bobsled

One of the most accomplished pilots in her sport, Humphries has won three medals in three Olympic appearances for Canada dating back to 2010. The Beijing Games will be her first with Team USA.

Humphries, 36, switched nationalities after filing a complaint against Canadian team officials in 2018, alleging verbal and emotional abuse. She became a U.S. citizen in December. With the Olympic debut of women's monobob, Humphries is favored to win at least one medal in Beijing, though there is a chance she could return home with two.

Chloe Kim, women's snowboarding

Kim was one of the breakout stars of the 2018 Olympics, where she won a gold medal at the age of 17. And she's heavily favored to become the first repeat winner in the women's halfpipe since its debut in 1998.

After taking a year off from competition in 2019-20 to focus on her schoolwork at Princeton – and to "be a normal kid for once" – Kim has been as dominant as ever in her return to the halfpipe. The 21-year-old has racked up recent wins at the 2021 world championships and Dew Tour, among other marquee events.

Hilary Knight, women's hockey

More than 15 years after making her Team USA debut, Knight is back for a fourth Olympic appearance and will be one of the veteran anchors for a team that will look to repeat atop the Olympic podium this winter.

At 32, she is one of the most recognizable athletes in her sport – and still one of the most accomplished and dangerous attacking players on the ice. In 190 career games for Team USA, Knight has amassed 219 points, including 126 goals. She's also been part of eight world championship teams, on top of her Olympic successes.

Alysa Liu, women's figure skating

Liu, 16, had to withdraw from nationals this year after testing positive for COVID-19, but she successfully petitioned her way onto the Olympic team after a strong first season on the senior international circuit.

A two-time U.S. champion and one of the few American women who can land a triple axel in competition, Liu probably has the best chance of any U.S. women of sneaking onto the podium, which the Russians are expected to sweep.

Jake Sanderson, men's hockey

The NHL's decision to pull out of the Beijing Olympics due to COVID-19 opened the door for younger players like Sanderson to step up.

The son of ex-NHL forward Geoff Sanderson, the 19-year-old currently plays collegiately at the University of North Dakota and was drafted fifth overall in 2020 by the Ottawa Senators. He has been a standout defenseman in the U.S. talent pipeline and captained the U.S. junior national team at its most recent world championships.

Kristen Santos, women's short track speedskating

Originally a figure skater, Santos switched to speedskating at 9 and won a pair of junior national championships. She barely missed out on the 2018 Olympic team, finishing fourth at those trials, where only the top three would be competing at the Games.

This time around, Santos left little doubt, sweeping the 1500-meter races at this season's trials to officially punch her ticket to Beijing, where she might represent Team USA's best shot at a medal in short track.

Mikaela Shiffrin, women's Alpine skiing

Shiffrin, 26, has quickly established herself as one of the most dominant American skiers ever – and she is without question one of the brightest stars on Team USA.

With more than 70 World Cup wins and 11 world championship medals to her name, Shiffrin will enter her third Olympics with strong odds of winning medals in multiple events – just as she did in Pyeongchang, where she took gold in giant slalom and silver in Alpine combined. Shiffrin, who tested positive for COVID-19 just six weeks before the Games, has a stated goal of competing in all five individual events in Beijing.

John Shuster, men's curling

Four years after leading Team USA to an improbable gold in Pyeongchang, Shuster is back for his fifth Olympic appearance, once again as captain of the U.S. men's team.

Few U.S. winter athletes can match Shuster's longevity. The 39-year-old Minnesota native won his first national title in 2003, and competed at his first Olympics in 2006. He'll be joined in Beijing by two of the three teammates who competed alongside him in 2018, Matt Hamilton and John Landsteiner. Chris Plys replaces Tyler George to round out the team.

Jordan Stolz, men's speedskating

The 17-year-old Stolz has been touted as the future of U.S. men's speedskating, and he showed why at the Olympic trials in January. He won both the 500-meter and 1000-meter races at trials, breaking the 1000-meter track record set by two-time Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis in the process.

A Wisconsin native, Stolz will be the third-youngest American male speedskater to compete at the Games. But U.S. teammate Joey Mantia described him as the guy who's "going to carry that torch into the next several quads."

Katie Uhlaender, women's skeleton

Nearly two decades after her first competition, Uhlaender is still going. The Beijing Olympics will be her fifth, a rare achievement for U.S. winter sports athletes. The 37-year-old has come close to the Olympic podium, finishing fourth in Sochi in 2014 by four hundredths of a second, but she has yet to win a medal.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

Lindsey Vonn wins giant slalom as Mikaela Shiffrin misses race after ...

AP

Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup giant slalom in Are, Sweden, on Saturday for her fourth consecutive victory while American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin missed the race following a warmup crash.

While she specializes in the speed events of downhill and super-G, Vonn has now won four giant slaloms in her career — with two of them coming in Are.

Charging down a shortened course due to strong winds in the opening run, Vonn held on to her lead in the second run amid snowfall and clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 4.70 seconds.

“I love racing here in Are under the lights,” Vonn said, having explained earlier that it reminds her of training after school while growing up in Minnesota.

Eva-Maria Brem of Austria finished second, 0.07 seconds behind, and discipline leader Federica Brignone of Italy was third, 0.35 back.

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Vonn swept three speed races in Lake Louise, Alberta, last weekend.

“I feel really good on my skis and balanced. I have a lot of confidence, especially after Lake Louise,” she said. “I said last week if I finish Lake Louise strong that always means good things for the rest of the season.”

Shiffrin, the 20-year-old Olympic slalom champion, was taken to a local hospital for exams on her right knee.

“She basically flipped over into the net,” Shiffrin’s manager Kilian Albrecht told The Associated Press. “She’s in the hospital waiting for the MRI which will probably take a while.”

Vonn increased her lead over Shiffrin in the overall standings to 104 points. Lara Gut of Switzerland, who finished 13th, is third overall, 122 points back.

Roger Federer plans to team with Martina Hingis in Rio Olympics doubles

Vonn took gold in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and has four overall World Cup titles — with the last coming in 2011-12.

In the second run, Vonn’s lead over Brem was down to just three hundredths at the final interval but her gliding skills paid off over the final gates.

“I tried to be smart on the bottom where it was turny and some of the girls had some trouble,” she said. “I think I may have given away too much time there, but still I was attacking the whole time trying to arc and I was fast.”

Vonn let out a big celebration, pumping her poles and screaming before kissing her skis.

“The old woman still has some tricks up her sleeve,” the 31-year-old Vonn added. “I’m not maybe as agile as I used to be. I’m not maybe as explosive. But at the same time I know my ability and I know what I can do and I know in different situations what is required of me.

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“And so I knew today it was going to take two really good, aggressive runs and my experience paid off and I was able to win.”

It was the 71st World Cup win of Vonn’s career. She broke the previous women’s record of 62 wins set by Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell last season and now is taking aim at Ingemark Stenmark’s overall mark of 86 victories.

“It’s just been a great season so far,” said Vonn, who missed the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, in October while recovering from a broken left ankle.

Brignone, who won in Soelden, holds a 28-point lead ahead of Brem in the GS standings.

Expert: Mental health of man accused in PV murders diminishing

The surprise of the day belonged to Simone Wild, an 18-year-old from Switzerland, who finished eighth with the No. 45 bib.

Vonn’s previous GS win came in Maribor, Slovenia, three seasons ago. She also won in Are at the end of the 2011-12 season.

“I was watching some video from that win last night,” Vonn said between runs. “I was hoping to be in the top three but at the same time I knew that if I could arc and ski aggressively that I could win. Because I’ve done it here before.”

Sara Hector of Sweden, the first starter, pulled up midway through her run with an apparent knee injury and was taken down the course on a sled.

While Shiffrin’s status was uncertain, Vonn is not planning to enter Sunday’s slalom race.

“I’m young enough to ski well in GS but not young enough to still be good in slalom,” Vonn said with a laugh.

PHOTOS: Lindsey Vonn in photos

Lindsey Vonn says 'it's time to say goodbye' after racing through pain

Associated Press

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — What was evident all weekend for Lindsey Vonn became clear to everyone else on Sunday.

The American skier’s surgically repaired knees simply don’t let her apply the power she requires to win races anymore.

The pain is too severe; the psychological impact too much to bear; her pride too great.

No wonder that Vonn is considering moving up her retirement.

After failing to finish a World Cup super-G, Vonn said leaving the sport immediately “is a possibility.”

“But I’m emotional right now,” Vonn quickly added. “I have to really think clearly about that. It’s not a decision I make lightly or quickly.”

Vonn added to reporters, “I’ll let you guys know.”

She was more decisive when interviewed by Swiss TV, saying “now it’s time to listen to my body and it’s time to say goodbye.”

Vonn was charging and in contention for a podium spot until a slight bobble bounced her slightly off track. Then she clipped a gate and couldn’t apply pressure on her right leg to force her way back onto the racing line, prompting her to miss the next gate.

And with that, Vonn stood up out of her tuck, hung her head and skied diagonally off the course.

“I’ve had four surgeries on my right knee. I’ve got no LCL (lateral collateral ligament) on my left knee. I’ve got two braces on. There’s only so much I can handle and I might have reached my maximum,” Vonn said. “I’m not sure. I’ve got to take a couple days’ time and really think about things.”

Vonn was planning on retiring in December. She returned this weekend from her latest injury – to her left knee – but her best result in three races was ninth in Saturday’s downhill.

Vonn needs five more wins to break the all-time World Cup record of 86 victories held by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark but that seems like the last thing on her mind now.

“I really don’t know what to think at this point,” she said. “Definitely isn’t the way I had hoped that things would go. I’ve been able to fight through a lot of injuries in my career but I think my injuries might get the best of me at this point.”

While Vonn’s most recent injury was to her left knee – she hyperextended it and sprained a ligament while training in November – her right knee is permanently damaged from previous crashes. She’s racing with braces on both knees and goes through an extensive rehab process each evening to keep competing.

Mikaela Shiffrin, Vonn’s American teammate, won Sunday’s race.

While Shiffrin is gaining on her – 54 wins to Vonn’s 82 – for now Vonn remains the winningest female skier of all-time.

“Her mentality was something we had never seen before,” said Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, who finished second Sunday. “She raised the whole sport to the next level.”

Vonn was met by Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia in the finish area. When Goggia presented her with a bouquet of flowers, Vonn broke down into tears.

“I was just overwhelmed with emotions – and it was really special that she came,” said Vonn, who has developed a friendship with her Italian rival in recent seasons. “It really means a lot to me.”

Vonn, who holds the record of 12 wins in Cortina, also broke down into tears at Saturday night’s public bib draw when organizers showed a video of her triumphs on the Olympia delle Tofane course.

Cortina was where Vonn achieved the first podium result of her career back in 2004 and where she broke the all-time women’s World Cup record with victory No. 63 in 2015.

“It’s more emotional than I expected. You know that the end is coming but it doesn’t make it any easier,” Vonn said. “I’ve been racing here in Cortina for 18 years. It’s always been a great place for me. Some amazing memories. I was hoping to make some more amazing memories this weekend – and they were amazing – just not the way I expected.

“I cried. It was so thoughtful of them to do that for me,” Vonn added of the video tribute. “I don’t expect things like that and so to have that for my last race really means a lot to me. It’s more than skiing. I hope to leave an impression that is not just about racing.”

Vonn was in contention for a top-three place until she went out.

“It’s positive but I’m not able to ski the way I want to – the way I know I can,” she said. “I’m just really inhibited with my body. My body is inhibiting me from doing what I want to do.”

Vonn wasn’t the only top skier who failed to finish. More than a third of the 61 starters also DNF’d on a course set by Vonn’s longtime coach Alex Hoedlmoser.

“I told him to set an easy course but I think it was just a little bit different in some places than people expected,” Vonn said. “I knew that that section where I went out would be difficult but I was trying to let my skis go and try to carry speed and I just underestimated it a little bit and went through the panel.”

Shiffrin, who has replaced Vonn as the top U.S. skier and who is on course for a third straight overall World Cup title, earned her first win in Cortina.

“When I was younger she was someone I looked up to like crazy,” Shiffrin said of Vonn. “I was doing book reports on her. I was one of those fans.”