Winter Olympics day 11: figure skating, nordic combined and more – live! – The Guardian

It’s been a manic few hours of action, and it’s time for me to hand over to Adam Collins. Bye!

Wow! That was some race. Joergen Graabak finds his way back from over two minutes down to overtake the previous leaders and grab another gold for Norway, this time in the Nordic combined – men’s Gundersen Large Hill/10km.

And it’s a one-two on the podium for Norway with Jens Lurås Ofterbro wing silver and Akito Watabe of Japan eventually beaten into bronze.

Riiber (who has been in Covid isolation) started the skiiing with a 44sec lead, following the ski jump, but he went the wrong way at the start of the first lap and eventually finishes eighth! What drama.

Nordic combined – men’s Gundersen Large Hill/10km: Riiber looks spent. He’s dropped down to fifth. Lamparter leads! Watabe second!

Nordic combined – men’s Gundersen Large Hill/10km: Confusion reigns. The live standings on the Olympics site went haywire for a while and had Geiger in the lead. Watabe is in fact fourth behind Lamparter (Austria), Riiber (Norway) and Faisst (Germany).

The confusion and excitement was only added to by Riiber going the wrong way at the start of the first lap.

Nordic combined – men’s Gundersen Large Hill/10km: Akito Watabe of Japan leads the way. Riiber (Norway) second, Faisst (Germany) in third …

Denis Oswald, the International Olympic Committee’s permanent chair of the disciplinary commission, has defended their decision to allow the Russian skater to compete in the individual competition in Beijing.

Watch the video:

Women’s figure skating – short program: Mana Kawabe (Japan) has registered the score to beat, 62.69.

Men’s ice hockey: Into the third period and Switzerland still hold a 3-1 lead against Czech Republic in their playoff encounter.

The cross-country skiing in the Nordic combined – men’s Gundersen Large Hill/10km is about to begin.

But why is it called ‘Gundersen’? Wiki has the answer:

“The Gundersen method is a method in the Nordic combined developed by Gunder Gundersen, a Nordic combined athlete from Norway, that was first used in the 1980s. This technique turned the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined from a points-based system, where all athletes ski in an interval start manner and whoever earned the most points with the ski jumping part of the Nordic combined won the event, to a pursuit race for the cross country skiing part where whoever crossed the finish line first in the cross country skiing part of the Nordic combined event won the competition.”

Exciting format! Good work, Gunder.

The organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympics said on Tuesday they want to make sure the doping case of Russian teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva, which has rocked the Beijing Olympics, does not cast a shadow on their own Summer Games.

“Paris 2024 is 100% committed to the fight against doping and is working in close coordination with all stakeholders to ensure the fairness of the competitions in 2024 and the protection of athletes,” they said in a statement. “We must use this situation [the Valieva case] to make sure that it does not happen again. Our top priority will be the development and execution of an effective anti-doping program that protects the rights of athletes and the integrity of competitions.”

Valieva, 15, has been cleared to further compete at the Beijing Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) ruled in favour of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada)’s decision to lift her provisional ban after a positive drug test that was revealed at the Games, prompting outrage from athletes and officials around the world. (Reuters)

The women’s short program figure skating has begun. Anastasiia Shabotova, of Ukraine, has got things up and running and registered a score of 48.68, and is clearly far from pleased with her performance.

There are 30 athletes – the top 24 qualify – and all eyes will be on Kamila Valieva, of the ROC team, who yesterday was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to continue at these Games, despite failing a doping test at Christmas.

Valieva is 26th on the list of 30 skaters, so won’t be up for a while yet.

Speaking of big air, the BBC are currently revisiting the snowboarding contest, when the 20-year-old Reira Iwabuchi of Japan came close to landing the first-ever triple cork in a women’s competition. It was an astonishing attempt. Anna Gasser (Austria) won gold, retaining her title, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (New Zealand) took silver and Kokomo Murase (Japan) won bronze. But Iwabuchi (who finished fourth) was the talk of the town, and was mobbed by her fellow competitors after nearly pulling off the historic trick.

“She went for progression and not for the medal today,” Gasser said of Iwabuchi. “She could have played it safe and maybe been on the podium, but she went all out. I hope she gets the same attention from this ride that she would have got for a medal.”

You can keep up with all the latest – live scores, schedule and results – right here:

Can you actually imagine skiing (or boarding) down this ludicrously steep ramp, at top speed, and being launched into high into the air? I have to be honest, I don’t think I’d fancy it.

GOAL! Switzerland bang in a power-play effort from Denis Malgin and it’s 3-1 in the men’s ice hockey.

Just at the moment the men’s ice hockey is the solitary live event. Switzerland continue to lead Czech Republic 2-1, as they battle for a berth in the last eight.

Coming up soon: women’s singles short program figure skating, the cross-country skiing in the Nordic combined, men’s Gundersen large hill/10km, freestyle skiing – men’s aerials qualifying … men’s curling, bobsleigh, and MORE men’s ice hockey. Phew.

Norway, Germany and the USA are first, second and third in the medal table respectively.

Nil points for Great Britain but there is still time.

When Sturla Holm Lægreid handed over to Tarjei Boe in Tuesday’s Olympic biathlon relay he was sure Norway’s hopes of gold were gone, but a collapse by Eduard Latypov and a stunning final leg by Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen delivered a stunning victory. While Latypov, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, missed four of his five shots on his final visit to the range, Christiansen’s five-shot salvo was perfect and he powered home to take the gold medal.

“I was so pumped up when he left the shooting, I was screaming with all I had because it was such an incredible moment for me, to watch him go out there in the lead and the secure the gold,” an elated Lægreid said. There was little to suggest a Norwegian win when Lægreid handed over to the elder Boe brother in seventh place, more than 40 seconds behind the ROC team, but Tarjei and his brother Johannes battled back to get close enough for Christiansen to exploit Latypov’s wayward shooting.

“We weren’t really in the gold fight in the beginning, but when the Russian started with these mistakes, there was a chance for the gold,” Lægreid said. “It was still unbelievable to watch Vetle hit every target in the last standing shoot and just go for it.”

The Norwegians are enjoying a stellar Games at the National Biathlon Centre, picking up five gold, one silver and four bronze medals, and Lagreid said the team would be celebrating. “We have to suit up tonight and maybe we will have something else for dinner, other than pasta and water,” he said.

Men’s ice hockey: Killian Mottet restored Switzerland’s lead against Czech Republic. The Swiss lead 2-1 in the second period of their playoff.

Italy’s Sofia Goggia won a remarkable silver medal in the women’s downhill just three weeks after partially tearing a knee ligament in a crash in Cortina. The reigning Olympic champion revealed she battled through the pain barrier to take second place, 0.16sec behind Corinne Suter of Switzerland, with Goggia’s compatriot Nadia Delgado taking bronze.

“The path to come here after the crash in Cortina was tough, but I had no room for doubts,” said Goggia. “I really did believe that I could make it, and this is why I did it.” Goggia established an early lead and was only eclipsed by Suter, despite revealing she was far from fully fit after damaging her anterior cruciate ligament. The American Mikaela Shiffrin’s difficult Beijing Olympics continued as she finished 18th.

“This has been really tough on me mentally,” said Goggia. “I took painkillers before the race. It was really painful at the top of the course, but it was for less than a second. I would have loved to have had 80 per cent of my strength. Of course it is getting better every day, but I cannot bend the knee and I can barely do a squad. But skiing in the last days was pretty much OK.” (PA)

Canada won gold in the women’s speed skating team pursuit after a mishap by the Japanese team cost them the top prize. The defending champions Japan started strong as they raced at the National Speed Skating Oval, keeping a steady half-second lead ahead of their Canadian rivals.

But a slip by Japan’s Nana Tagaki, who was third in the train as they coasted towards a gold medal with the finish line in sight, cost them their title. She lost her balance as the team sped around the last corner and banged into the trackside wall. Her teammates slowed as they realised she had fallen, raising their hands in despair before crossing the finish line 11 seconds behind the Canadians, who finished the race in an Olympic record time of 2min 53.44sec.

Tagaki could be seen putting her hands together in apology towards her teammates as tears streamed down her face. The Canadians cheered after crossing the finish line and looking up to see that they had clinched their country’s first gold medal in the event. Their win marks the first podium since Canada won silver in Turin 2006. The fancied Netherlands team, which counts gold medallists Irene Schouten and Ireen Wüst in their ranks, won the bronze medal after crashing out in the semi-finals in a race they lost to Canada. (Reuters)

Women’s round robin curling: Switzerland have closed out a 9-6 win against USA. ROC beat China 11-5 and Sweden beat Denmark 9-3. As I mentioned earlier, Great Britain defeated Japan 10-4 with a convincing performance that only required eight ends.

That all means that Switzerland top the round robin (P 7 W6), Sweden are second (P 7 W5). Great Britain, Japan and USA are all played seven, won four, with Great Britain sitting third in the table on their head-to-head record. Great Britain have two matches remaining, against China and ROC, and they know if they win both they will progress.

Men’s ice hockey: Czech Republic lead Switzerland 1-0 in the first period of their playoff match. Lukas Klok got the goal. His teammate Jan Kovar has just got two minutes in the sin-bin for a cynical foul, slamming an opponent into the boards. “Boarding”, they call it.

Nordic combined – men’s Gundersen large hill/10km: Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway is the pacesetter, his jump of 142m garnering 139.8pts. Kristjan Ilves (Estonia) and Ryota Yamamoto (Japan) are second and third respectively before the cross-country skiing part of the event, which is coming up in a couple of hours.

The Norwegians hold off the ROC team in the final: 3 min 38.07sec is their time, with the Russians 2.39sec behind. Like a well-oiled machine, Norway defend their title. That’s a first Olympic medal for the ROC team in this event, so well done them.

Dave Hogg tweets to point out that Miho Tagaki of Japan has now won three silver speed skating medals at these Games.

She’s finished second in the 1,500m, 500m and now the team pursuit. An outstanding performance but no doubt she’d have loved a gold medal.

Men’s team pursuit speed skating: the USA take a comfortable win against the Netherlands in the bronze-medal race. Not a good day at the office for the Netherlands, 2.81sec off the pace.

Norway roared back to pull off a stunning win in the men’s 4 x 7.5km biathlon relay at the following a sensational collapse on the final shoot by Eduard Latypov of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The middle two legs of the race looked like a victory parade for the ROC team, but a disastrous series of misses by Latypov destroyed their chances of gold, allowing Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen to swoop in and claim the win for Norway. He crossed the line 27.4sec ahead of Quentin Fillon Maillet of France, with Latypov coming home 17.9sec further back for a disappointing bronze medal finish.

Freezing temperatures of -15C prompted organisers to start the race two and a half hours earlier than planned, and the competition began in blazing afternoon sunshine with blustery winds increasing the chill in the air. In all, 21 teams of four set out, with each racer skiing three 2.5km laps and shooting twice, once from the prone position and once from standing. The field remained tight through the first leg, with the top dozen teams skiing into the second shoot with only a few seconds between them, but the Norwegians soon found themselves well down the pack after an indifferent performance by Sturla Holm Laegreid.

The Russians took command over the middle two legs of the race, Alexander Loginov and Maxim Tsvetkov taking their time on the range and preserving their lead. Latypov, a bronze medallist in the pursuit race, set his sights on bringing home the gold. That dream was dashed, however, as he missed a scarcely-believable four of his five shots to leave his team’s hopes in tatters and Christiansen sailed past into the lead on the final lap, with no intention of relinquishing it. Wrapped up in hugs by his teammates after crossing the finish line, he delivered Norway’s fifth biathlon gold of the Games and by far the most thrilling. (Philip O’Connor, Reuters)

That is so painful for the Japan team and they are distraught, as you would be … years of work and it comes down to a mistake on the final corner of the gold-medal race.

Ivanie Blondin, Valerie Maltais and Isabelle Weidemann of Canada, needless to say, are jubilant. They were 0.3sec down on Japan but they take gold and in Olympic record time: 2min 53.44sec.

Japan were seconds away from retaining their title, speeding around the rink, and metres away from glory … but Nana Tagaki, at the back of the group of three, crashes on the final corner and Canada win! Incredible!

Tagaki lost her balance, desperately tried to hold it together, but fell and slammed into the protective barriers at the side of the ice as her teammates sped over the finish line.

Speed skating – women’s team pursuit: Netherlands win the bronze-medal race against ROC in a time of 2min 56sec. Another Olympic medal in the bag for the remarkable Ireen Wüst.

The gold-medal race will be contested by Canada and Japan, and is coming up any second now.

GB curler Vicky Wright talks to the BBC after the 10-4 win against Japan: “We knew what we had to do, we just had to go out there and win … we’ve still got a long way to go, two wins needed to go through.”

Curling: Great Britain’s women have just wrapped up a 10-4 round robin win against Japan. Japan throw the towel in after eight ends. That result means Great Britain can qualify if they keep winning … their next match is against China, and their final date of the round robin is again the ROC team.

Thanks Emma and hello everyone. It’s all going on today: speed skating, curling, Nordic combined skiing, the lot.

What is Nordic combined skiing, exactly? It’s a mix of cross-country skiing and ski jumping.

Here they are again, this time in the flesh. And now I’m off and handing you over to my colleague Luke McLaughlin. Go well.

Behold some (dramatic) 4×7.5km relay results:

Gold: Norway
Silver: France +27.4
Bronze: ROC +45.3

Biathlon really is a slog, isn’t it. All sweat and tears. And grimacing, if you’re Philipp Nawrath and trying in vain to squeeze Germany into a podium place only to finish fourth.

This has been an intriguing race. The ROC led until about six minutes to go in the final leg when Eduard Latypov slipped to third place as Norway’s Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen surged from fourth into the lead and held firm all the way home with a 10 out of 10. A remarkable turnaround for the Norwegians, who keep winning shiny things in the biathlon.

For their efforts they earn this exquisitely kitsch Photoshop job from the sport’s governing body:

Biathlon: Did someone say Johannes Thingnes Boe? He’s still going, is the Norwegian. Going, specifically, for a third gold at these Games. He has already two golds and a bronze and is now much of the way through the men’s 4×7.5km relay. As it stands, Norway lead with France and ROC closely in tow.

To the curling! Team GB hold a 7-3 lead over Japan at half-time in the women’s round-robin session. The US are neck and neck 3-3 with Switzerland.

I have gone down a google rabbithole searching for historical curling photos on Scotland’s frozen lochs. There are some good ones here:

1929 Grand Match

Freestyle skiing: Three Americans are into the men’s slopestyle final after Nick Goepper (third), Alex Hall (fifth) and Colby Stevenson (sixth) posted strong first runs, which means the US is still in with a shot of sweeping the podium as the country did at Sochi 2014. Goepper, who won bronze in at those Games and has since claimed a silver in Pyeongchang, will seek to complete his collection with a gold.

Swiss world champion, Andri Ragettli, qualified first in front of the Netherlands’ Birk Ruud, who has already won big air gold in Beijing.

New Zealander Ben Barclay will compete in his first Olympic final on debut but fellow Kiwi Finn Bilous missed the cut.

Speed skating: Canada have upset the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the women’s team pursuit, reeling in and then finishing 0.98 seconds faster than their rivals to guarantee themselves the gold or silver medal. They will face Japan in Final A while the Dutch team will meet ROC in Final B, after the Russians came in 6.99 seconds slower than Japan.

Both will take place from 4.22pm local time (8.22am GMT/7.22pm AEDT).

The men’s semi-finals are happening right now and the Netherlands have missed out on a chance for silver or gold here too after losing to Team Norway, who will go for gold against the ROC. The Russians have absolutely smoked their semi against the US in an Olympic-record 3:36.61 (+0.44).

Hockey: Slovakia have seen off Germany 4-0 in the men’s qualification play-offs to set up a quarter-final meeting with the US, while Denmark have beaten Latvia 3-2 and will meet the Russian Olympic Committee team.

Still to come today is Czech Republic v Switzerland (winner to play Finland) and Canada v China (winner to play Sweden).

Freestyle skiing: The men’s slopestyle qualifiers are under way. Said qualifiers do not feature Britain’s James Woods, who said he was “full of painkillers and strapped up in bed” because of a back injury. Antoine Adelisse of France is the other competitor who did not start.

Switzerland’s Andri Ragettli is in plum position to qualify first thanks to a second run of 85.08 while Birk Ruud of Norway sits second with 83.96 and American Nick Goepper third with 82.51.

Su is pretty happy. And why wouldn’t you be? He already had a silver in the slopestyle and now he’s added a gold in the big air. Su started snowboarding when he was three, which probably says something about his centre of gravity.

Meanwhile, Parrot’s bronze means Canada has now won six snowboarding medals – one gold, one silver and four bronze.

Gold: Su Yiming – 182.50
Silver: Mons Røisland – 171.75
Bronze: Max Parrot – 170.25

Hiroaki Kunitake displaces Red Gerard with an 84.00 which, despite his middling middle run of 50.25, brings his total to 166.25 and is good enough for third … for now. It’s Su, Parrot, Kunitake. Van der Velden crashes on his final run but Røisland rises under pressure. He puts out a very similar trick to one by Gerard earlier on and the landing is perfect. He needs early 80s, and he looks nervous. It’s an 82.50!

Su is hugging his coach in celebration from the gate before his final run. He knows he doesn’t need to do anything – he’s done it already. This run is basically a victory run and the 33.00 he yields makes not one bit of difference.

Parrot has just completed his third run – a frontside triple 1620 and is waiting nervously for his score. It’s a 76.25, which is not going to better Su, who is almost certainly going to win gold at this point.

Otsuka is out of the running, after a front foot-heavy land that is not a land and earns him a 33.75. Combined score is 128.75 and he’s back in ninth. It’s also not good news for McMorris, who went hard but fell and ended up with a 33.25. The US’s Gerard Redmond is sitting in third on 165.75 with a few to go.

Yikes! Otsuka has well and truly recovered from his first-up disappointment with a 95.00. I repeat, 95.00. If numbers could be capped I would cap it but this is the highest single score thus far.

Parrot has almost matched him with a 94.00. He knew it was good as soon as he hit the ground on a cab 1800, and let’s us know by shaking his fist.

He and Otsuka are back in gold-medal contention.

Speaking of McMorris, he went for the quad but his last rotation came up ever so slightly short and he was flat on his back before he knew it. That’ll be a 21.00. Some other cracks are starting to appear following that flawless group of first runs, including

Marcus Kleveland of Norway attempts a mystery trick even the commentators are struggling to figure out and after a swivel and a swerve lands it, but comes away with a 62.25. Still good enough for fourth place.

Su, meanwhile, has put down a 93.00 for a combined score of 182.50 with one run remaining. This kid. This 17-year-old who has just done five 360s in the air and landed it so easily. So neatly. How will anyone beat that total? There is Su, then daylight, then Mons Røisland.

Here’s Bryan Armen Graham’s report on the women’s slopestyle final:

Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud soared to gold in the Olympic women’s freeski slopestyle final after holding off another last-gasp charge by Eileen Gu, the American-born emerging superstar representing China who settled for silver by the narrowest of margins but stayed on course for a historic treble at the Beijing Games.

In that first run, apart from those who bombed out (Otsuka, Max Parrot, Sven Thorgren) all scores were more than 80.00. That is some special kind of twisty turny craziness. Parrot, who won gold in the slopestyle under some controversy, still has plenty of time to post a big score.

For those who missed it, Parrot’s compatriot and bronze medallist in that event, Mark McMorris, claimed judging errors meant Parrot was mistakenly awarded gold. Fans of silver medallist Su were also a little riled up. McMorris has since apologised.