BEIJING — The Russians have set an Olympic record in men’s speedskating team pursuit to advance to the gold medal final against defending champion Norway.
The ROC squad of Daniil Aldoshkin, Sergei Trofimov and Ruslan Zakharov won a thrilling semifinal race against the world record holders from the United States. They crossed the line in 3 minutes, 36.62 seconds, beating the Olympic record of 3:37.08 set four years ago by the Norwegians.
The U.S. trio of Ethan Cepuran, Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman briefly grabbed the lead in the middle of the eight-lap race, but the Russians held a slight advantage almost the entire way. The Americans finished in 3:37.05, also bettering the previous Olympic record but only good enough to earn a spot against the Netherlands in a race later Tuesday for the bronze medal.
On the women’s side, defending Olympic champion Japan will meet Canada for the gold medal. The Netherlands will face ROC for the bronze.
Japan faces Canada for speedskating team gold
Defending Olympic champion Japan has advanced to the final of women’s speedskating team pursuit.
The trio of Ayana Sato and sisters Miho and Nana Takagi easily won their semifinal race against the Russian team. They advance to the gold medal race later Tuesday against Canada.
The Canadians knocked off a team from the Netherlands that included gold medalists Irene Schouten and Ireen Wust. The Dutch will face the Russian team for the bronze medal.
Su gives China 2nd gold
at Big Air Shougang
Su Yiming gave host China its second gold medal at Big Air Shougang, matching Eileen Gu with a stunning show in front of fans at the repurposed steel mill and winning the country’s first top prize in Olympic snowboarding.
The 17-year-old child actor-turned-rider followed up his unexpected silver in slopestyle — he would’ve taken gold if not for a judging blunder — by joining Gu in cementing his celebrity status with a big air gold.
Gu won the freestyle skiing best-trick contest last week on her final jump, and the celebration briefly broke Chinese social media website Weibo.
Goggia won’t win 2nd
straight downhill title
The only skier to beat Sofia Goggia in a downhill over the last two seasons beat Sofia Goggia again to win the Olympic gold medal in the event at the Beijing Games.
Corinne Suter, a 27-year-old Swiss skier who injured both of her legs early in the season, edged Goggia by 0.16 seconds.
Goggia hurt her left knee about a month ago but still managed to take the lead by nearly half a second. She let out a lengthy roar after crossing the line and then kissed a television camera.
Goggia has dominated the downhill in recent seasons and would have been the favorite if not for getting injured during a super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo less than a month ago. The 29-year-old Italian partially tore a ligament in her left knee and sustained a minor fracture in that leg, along with tendon damage.
Goggia had won the last eight World Cup downhills she finished, a streak that began in December 2020. But Suter won the last downhill race before the Olympics.
Mikaela Shiffrin, who did not finish her opening runs in either of her initial two events, finished in 18th place, 2.49 behind Suter.
US men beat Switzerland
7-4 in curling
The defending Olympic champion U.S. men’s curling team beat Switzerland 7-4 and moved within reach of a playoff berth.
John Shuster’s team is in fourth place after its fourth win, with matches against the two bottom teams in the standings — Italy and Denmark — remaining. Six wins would definitely earn the 2018 gold medalists a spot in the semifinals, and five might even be good enough.
The Swiss led 4-2 after six ends before the Americans (4-3) rolled off three scoring ends in a row. They picked up two points in the seventh with the last-rock advantage known as the hammer, then stole a point in the eighth and ninth when Switzerland held the edge.
Defending silver medalist Sweden (7-0) remained unbeaten with an 8-3 win over Denmark in the morning session. Britain (5-1) is in second, and Canada (5-2) beat China 10-8 to hold onto third place.
The Americans entered the day tied for fourth with Switzerland and Russia, which lost to Norway 12-5.
Austria’s Anna Gasser
wins big air gold
Anna Gasser of Austria has won her second straight Olympic gold medal in women’s snowboarding big air.
The 30-year-old Gasser held off a field with an average age of 21, including 20-year-old Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand, who last week won her country’s first ever Winter Olympics gold medal in slopestyle. Sadowski Synnott took silver Tuesday.
Kokomo Murase of Japan earned bronze with a pair of 1080s at Big Air Shougang. It was the first Olympic medal for the 17-year-old.
Norway’s Riiber is back
in Nordic combined
Nordic combined star Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway is back.
The three-time world champion jumped 136 meters (446 feet) on the large hill in the trial round, sending a clear message that he’s fit to compete after being in isolation for more than 10 days after testing positive for COVID.
Only Austria’s Johannes Lamparter jumped farther, by half a meter, before the competition round Tuesday afternoon.
Riiber and the rest of the 48-man field will jump and take part in a 10K cross-country race later in the day at the Beijing Games.
Estonia’s Kristjan Ilves, who also had tested positive for COVID-19, is competing after missing last week’s medal event.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Eric Frenzel of Germany has not been cleared for competition, but the team is holding out hope he can make a comeback for the team event. Germany’s Terence Weber was ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19 and replaced by Manuel Faisst, who traveled to China and may compete.
