Today in Beijing
- The United States leads the figure skating team event, thanks to Nathan Chen, who gave Team USA a strong start. The athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee are in second and China is third. The competition resumes at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time Saturday.
- Women’s hockey continues, with the Americans set to face Switzerland at 8:10 a.m. Eastern time Sunday. The United States already has victories over Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee in these Games.
- Other events to watch include ski jumping, women’s moguls and speedskating.
- Follow more Beijing Olympics coverage here. See the full event schedule here.
Kamila Valieva delivers standout short program to lift Russians into the lead
BEIJING — Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old figure skating star from Russia, made her Olympic debut with an exquisite short program performance.
Valieva, who executes difficult jumps with stunning grace, is expected to win the women’s individual competition. Her 90.18 in the team event pushed the Russian Olympic Committee into the top spot with 36 points heading into the free skate portion of the competition.
She received a standing ovation from the other teams of skaters, who sit in rink-side booths while watching the team event.
Windy conditions delay start of men’s downhill skiing
Beijing — An hour after organizers delayed the start of Sunday’s men’s downhill skiing competition because of high winds, the event was again postponed by an hour. It is now tentatively scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. Sunday in Beijing (midnight Eastern).
Wind has been an issue for days at these Games. Windy conditions in the mountains also canceled the third round of training for women’s ski jumping in Zhangjiakou. And on Saturday, around the same time the women’s slopestyle qualification was starting at Genting Snow Park, men’s downhill training at the Alpine skiing course in Yanqing was suspended because of heavy winds.
Julia Marino wins first medal for U.S., claiming silver in women’s slopestyle; Zoi Sadowski Synnott takes gold
By Washington Post Staff9:54 p.m.
After a stirring threat by American upstart Julia Marino, the New Zealand superstar Zoi Sadowski Synnott captured the gold medal in women’s slopestyle with a 92.88 on the final run of the competition.
After Sadowski-Synnott cruised to an early lead with a score of 84.51, Marino strung together back-to-back 900-degree turns and then a double frontside 1080 on her second run. Her score of 87.68 put her in the lead entering the final run and put the pressure on Sadowski-Synnott.
Sadowski-Synnott, who qualified first, started off her line a bit after the rails but cut across the course to start with a backside 900 on her first jump. She finished with perhaps the best jump of the day, as Marino and bronze medalist Tess Coady of Australia swarmed her with congratulations.
From there, the score was only a formality — Marino displayed more technical precision, but Sadowski-Synnott soared higher and followed up world championships in 2019 and 2021 with her first gold medal. Coady finished her third run with a double frontside 1080 to win the bronze at 84.15.
Until Sadowski-Synnott’s final run, Marino was the surprise of the competition. The 24-year-old from Westport, Conn., finished 11th in slopestyle in 2018 and qualified sixth. In fact, she nearly duplicated her second run moments later but fell on the final jump.
Jamie Anderson, the American who won gold in the first two editions of women’s slopestyle at the Olympics, finished ninth with the score of 60.78 from her second run.
Karen Chen falls in her short program
BEIJING — After the United States had a strong start in the figure skating team event, Karen Chen fell on her final jump, a triple loop, and underrotated another jump. She scored only a 65.20, the fourth-best score of the day, with Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee up next as the final skater in the women’s short program.
Japan’s Wakaba Higuchi, who skated immediately before Chen, scored a 74.7 and is in the lead.
Julia Marino moves into lead after second run of women’s slopestyle
An American contender moved into first place on the second run in the women’s slopestyle finals, but she came in as an underdog — Julia Marino, who qualified sixth with a score of 71.78, now leads the field after an outstanding 87.68 in the second run.
After stumbling in her first run, Marino pulled off back-to-back 900-degree turns on her first two twisting jumps and then finished with a double frontside 1080, landing all three to move past New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski Synnott. Marino, a 24-year-old from Westport, Conn., finished 11th in slopestyle at the PyeongChang Games.
Sadowski Synnott, who qualified first, set the tone with an 84.51 on her first run and then, looking to pass Marino, fell backward coming off the last rail.
Jamie Anderson, the two-time reigning Olympic gold medalist in slopestyle, improved in her second run but didn’t complete her second jump. After a frontside 720, she aimed to lift off the quarter pipe and do a 540 but ended up with only a 360, which hindered her final jump. She finished with a 60.78 and now stands in eighth.
Canada’s Madeline Schizas takes the lead in the women’s short program
BEIJING — With an excellent short program performance, Canada’s Madeline Schizas overtook the top spot in this portion of the figure skating team event. In her Olympic debut, the 18-year-old hit all of her jumps to earn a 69.60.
Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia (67.56) previously had the best score. Some of the top women, including the Russian Olympic Committee’s Kamila Valieva and Karen Chen of the United States, have yet to skate.
Zoi Sadowski Synnott takes control in first run of women’s slopestyle final
On a grueling first run at the women’s slopestyle final, New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski Synnott took control of the event with a strong ride punctuated by a backside 1080 on the final jump. She scored 84.51 to pace the field.
The first run proved to be a challenge for most of the contenders, as six of 12 stumbled or fell at some point and scored 35.01 or lower. Australia’s Tess Coady stands in second with a first-run score of 82.68, followed by Canada’s Laurie Blouin at 77.96.
Two-time reigning gold medalist Jamie Anderson, from South Lake Tahoe, Calif., scored 22.98 after catching the lip of her board coming off a rail early in the race. The other two Americans, Hailey Langland and Julia Marino, also stumbled.
They’ll all have a tough act to match after seeing Sadowski Synnott’s first effort. Sadowski-Synnott won the slopestyle world championships in 2019 and 2021, as well as the gold medal at the X Games last month.
China’s Zhu Yi struggles in figure skating team event
BEIJING — The Chinese figure skating team, expected to rely on standout performances from pair skating duo Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, suffered a blow to its medal chances. In the women’s short program, Zhu Yi struggled through her short program with mistakes on multiple jumps to score just a 47.03. That’s the lowest mark among the first three skaters.
China entered the second day of the team event in third, behind only the United States and the Russian Olympic Committee, two teams expected to medal.
In a glittery Beijing debut, a U.S. cross-country star never stopped grinding
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — At the halfway mark of her first Olympic race as an Olympic gold medalist, American Jessie Diggins stood in 11th place, effectively eliminated from medal contention. Her ascent to world-class cross-country skier, cemented four years ago and validated since, has not dented her unique approach. Diggins outwardly dismisses the importance of results, focusing instead on a goal she carries into every race: to finish with nothing left.
And so, Diggins could recount her debut at the Beijing Games with genuine pride. It took the form of a sixth-place finish she described as “such a cool victory.” Diggins vaulted up five spots in the second half of the women’s 7.5-kilometer+7.5-kilometer skiathlon, leaving her satisfied after battling a frigid, challenging course at Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre.
“I definitely wish I had a better classic half, but the skate half was some of them best racing of my life, especially at altitude,” Diggins said. (In skiathlon, skiers race 7.5 kilometers in classical style, then switch skis at a pit stop and race another 7.5 kilometers in freestyle, also known as skate style.)
“Mostly I’m so proud that, you know, my goals for today were to keep fighting, to never give up, to ski with the best technique I could,” Diggins said. “It feels so good to have one race under my belt. I’m so excited for this week.”
United States leads entering second day of figure skating competition
BEIJING — The United States leads the figure skating team event entering the second of three days of competition. The Americans started strong with top finishes from Nathan Chen in the men’s short program and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue in the rhythm dance. In the pair skating short program, U.S. duo Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier placed third, the best result they could have hoped for without major mistakes from the top-finishing Chinese and Russian pairs.
In the team event, which debuted in 2014, skaters earn points based on their finish, with 10 for first, nine for second and so on. A representative from each country performs each program, and the top five teams advance to the free skates. The eight segments (two programs in each discipline) are contested over three days of competition, and after the first, the U.S. team led with 28 points.
The Russian Olympic Committee, projected to win this event because of its strength in all disciplines, is in second with 26 points. The Russians could jump into the lead Sunday with Kamila Valieva, the gold medal favorite in the women’s individual event, performing her short program. The United States will be represented by Karen Chen, who skates just before Valieva, the final competitor in this segment.
While the United States and the ROC are nearly assured a spot in the free skate portion of this event, there could be a tight competition for the final three spots. Five countries enter Monday’s competition within six points of one another — China (21), Japan (20), Italy (18), Canada (16) and Georgia (15).
After the women’s short programs, the top five teams will compete in the men’s free skate. The final three segments will be held Monday.
China’s weather is having a chilling effect on Winter Olympians
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — More than 15 years after she first stepped on a snowboard, Hailey Langland did something Saturday she had never done before in competition.
On the first official day of her second Olympic Games, she used hand and toe warmers.
“They’re life-changing,” Langland said after qualifying for the women’s slopestyle final. “Right on top of my toe, they’re like sticky pads. And the U.S. team has these giant football-like parkas, and those are actually really, really helpful with the wind.”
Conditions were sunny but frigid and blustery midday at Genting Snow Park, adding difficulty to what riders agreed is already a technically challenging course. At 12:30 p.m., the wind chill measured on an iPhone read minus-12 degrees, with 13 mph gusts blowing at the bottom of the slopestyle run.
It felt windier. And at the top of the final jump, a bright red windsock stuck straight out almost all afternoon. It took less than a minute to lose feeling in any fingers or hands not covered with multiple gloves, and icicles appeared almost instantly on eyelashes and eyebrows because of warm air escaping from even the most fitted KN95 and N95 masks.
“It sucks. You guys feel it; it’s cold,” said Jamie Anderson, the slopestyle gold medalist who will ride for a third consecutive gold medal in Sunday’s final. “It’s hard to keep your core temperature warm, and then doing tricks feels a little bit more intimidating, you’re just like a little bit stiff. We’re making do.”
Meet the other half of Alpine skiing’s first couple
BEIJING — The first couple of Alpine skiing is like most of us at these covid Olympics: together but apart. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Mikaela Shiffrin can dine with each other in the Olympic Village, separated by plexiglass. They can FaceTime and exchange videos to analyze. They can wave from a balcony down to the sidewalk as the other walks by. And that’s about it.
“It’s a tease, kind of,” Kilde said in the mountains north of here, where the Alpine events will be held. “You can see her, but you can’t really touch her. You can’t really be with her that much.”
That’s fine, really. This is a business trip, and Kilde’s first assignment comes Sunday. For all the buildup for Shiffrin — the three-time Olympic medalist from Colorado who is a surefire medal contender in at least that many events here — Kilde arrives at the Beijing Games as an equally intriguing threat to win multiple medals.
“I definitely feel some pressure,” Kilde said.
Stateside, the 29-year-old Norwegian has been introduced to American fans because he and Shiffrin began dating last year. But on the World Cup circuit, he is a monster, winner of six races this season — three downhills and three super-Gs, placing him first in the season-long standings in Alpine skiing’s two fastest disciplines. With that, he has established himself as a favorite in Sunday’s downhill that opens the Olympic Alpine competition.
For Mexico’s first Olympic figure skater in decades, the dream is real
BEJING — Late Friday night, Donovan Carrillo, Mexico’s first Olympic figure skater in 30 years, walked into the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies beside a skier named Sarah Schleper. Together they carried their country’s flag.
It was, he would later say, “a dream come true.”
Who could have imagined this? Carrillo is 22 years old and ranked 77th in the world. He will not win a medal at next week’s men’s individual event at the Winter Games. He doesn’t come from an elite skating club with famous coaches and top-line equipment. He trains at a small rink in a shopping mall in León, Mexico, where he perfects his routines while trying to dodge tumbling children, wobbling grandmothers and beginners shuffling behind plastic pushers.
As imperfect as it might sound, the León rink is a significant improvement over the rink he and his coach, Gregorio Núñez, left behind in Carrillo’s hometown of Guadalajara, one that is shaped like a circle.
When he was 11 years old and watching the 2010 Vancouver Games, Carrillo had a vision of representing Mexico at the Olympics. The vision became a dream, and the dream became a goal until, at last, it became real.
“I hope it will inspire more people from my country to try figure skating,” Carrillo said following a practice the day after the Opening Ceremonies. “I think it’s possible to find a boy who will fall in love with the sport like I did.”
Opinion: Why I’m watching the Winter Games
I love winter sports — yes, even curling — but I’ve agonized for months over whether to tune in to these Olympics.
The fascist regime in China certainly has no business hosting the Games while perpetrating a genocide against the Uyghurs, repressing Hong Kong and Tibet, threatening Taiwan, disappearing Peng Shuai and subjugating even the ethnic majority in ways George Orwell couldn’t have imagined.
The International Olympic Committee, which sees no evil in any host country, is plagued by scandals related to corruption, cheating, doping and sexual abuse. NBC, which paid billions of dollars for exclusive broadcast rights, is profiting from the exploitation while keeping human rights abuses on the periphery of its coverage.
President Biden was right to order a diplomatic boycott, and some of my colleagues have argued thoughtfully against tuning in. But my decision to watch the competition starts with an affirmative answer to this question: If the 1936 Olympics in Berlin had been televised, would I have regretted not seeing Jesse Owens, a Black American, win four gold medals in track and field? Owens’s victories over German runners humiliated Adolf Hitler in a stadium he built for the occasion.