Geoff Lemon
And that, my friends, is that. Another Olympic day done. Tomorrow? The ski aerials, which got postponed from today. The snowboard slopestyle, good fun. The women’s and men’s team sprint medals in cross-country. Hockey quarter-finals. Women’s biathlon relay medals. The business end of the men’s team curling. And short-track skating medals in the 3000m relay for the women and solo 500m for the men.
As the hockey ref said, you’re outta here. I’m outta here. We’re all outta here. Until tomorrow.
Winter Olympic round-up for Day 14
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Norway continued their dominance at the top of the medal table with 14 golds, adding the Nordic combined and the men’s ski big air
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France won the biathlon relay gold
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Italy won the men’s team pursuit speed skating, while Canada won the women’s
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Germany filled the podium for the two-man bob
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The tussle is tight in the men’s team curling
Sweden are about to advance beyond Latvia in the men’s hockey qualifier, by the by.
Chiba Mone is the last skater up, and Japan go one, two, four in the standings, with Alysa Liu of the USA in third.
Chiba looks to be having a lot more fun out there than most, skating to Donna Summer rather than something super serious and operatic and vast like so many skaters, and has a cheerful expression on her face the whole time. She’s tiny, and flings herself around the ice, going for a double axel and a triple lutz, no deductions, and banking a 74. There’s a slight judge query on one of the elements.
So it’s an exceptional round for the Japanese team, but the story of it is Nakai Ami, the most junior member, who produced the only flawless performance, and did so with such style. Could she possibly back that up in the free skate? Is that wishful thinking?
Schizas, Safonova, Variakojyte, Feigin, and Spours are the five who’ll miss out on progressing to the free skate, which will be on Thursday.
Amber Glenn as the second-last to skate, the USA superstar, and I’m never going to argue with someone’s choice of Madonna, she uses Like a Prayer. Great performative value, artistic ambition, she starts her routine like Nakai Ami with a triple axel that she absolutely plants. But there’s a triple loop in there that she only lands as a double, so despite the quality of the skate otherwise, that’s an invalid element, and it’ll bring down her score sharply.
She’s in tears as she comes off. It’s a harsh sport. She scores a 67. That’s not a bad score, and she’ll comfortably qualify for the free skate, but it makes it hard to challenge for a medal.
Subcontinental flair for Anastasiia Gubanova, the Georgian skater using San Sanana from the Bollywood movie Asoka. Scores high, 71+.
The Japanese skaters have really been the ones to watch this year though, and Sakamoto Kaori is no exception. Three-time world champ, she has already said that this will be her last Games, so with that in mind she skates to Time To Say Goodbye, and uses its emotive power. Her triple axel and triple toe jumps cover so much ground, she has such speed coming into them compared to other skaters. And her step sequence is so precise, the blades flashing like a chef’s knife. Magnificent spins…
and she still can’t pip her 17-year old teammate! Not quite. A 77.23, a point and a half behind Nakai Ami, but still a fine score. A slight technical query on one jump, I think. What a performance though.
Isabeau Levito, the other USA competitor, does her tribute to Sophia Loren. Best wardrobe of the night, a blood-crimson sparkling number with matching gloves, it’s effortless style, and she uses it well. Lovely spins, a couple of minor deductions again thought for quarter turns on the jumps. Such small margins. She’s in the top five with a 70.84.
Gorgeous from Alysa Liu, the USA skater who won the world champs in Boston late year, a sensitive and gentle music choice via the Icelandic singer Laufey, and her skate matches it, finishing with a graceful and aesthetic series of spins that has the audience sighing with pleasure.
She’s into second place with a 76.59, a couple of technical deductions keeping that score down from where it might have been.
We have six skaters to go in the women’s singles, and they are going to be spectacular.
Sweden leading 3-1 now in the hockey qualifier against Latvia, second period.
Fifth in the standings for Niina Petrokina, from Estonia – excellent wardrobe to start with, a deep claret piece with matching gloves, that stands out, and another really strong routine, scoring just shy of 70. Remember that all of this round of skating is about setting up the competitors for the second round on a subsequent day. Lay a good base here from which to challenge for the main title on combined points.
Lara Naki Gutmann misses one of her jumps, an invalid element, so that tanks her score closer to 60.
I said no more clowns! Belgium’s Nina Pinzaronne uses Send in the Clowns as her backing music. Yuck. Mesmerising skate, that was, despite the artistic choices that are not in this observer’s wheelhouse. The wardrobe, too, super schmaltzy. Get this athlete a better support crew!
She scores a 68.97, which is good by the standards of her career, I expected a higher score though given her composure on the ice. Her compatriot, Loena Hendrickx, scored a 70.93 before that.
Let’s get back to the figure skating, and what an Olympic arrival for Nakai Ami, the 17-year-old prodigy from Japan. On debut at this level, she was so focused in the warm-up, practising her spins, then she launches into senior skating with a triple axel, about as difficult as one can attempt, and nails it on the first attempt. She breaks out into a huge smile just on landing that first jump, can’t help herself. Then a triple lutz and triple toe, and gets those just as clean, and again that brief burst of a smile breaks out. Now she can get on with the rest of the business of her routine, using the Italian theme La Strada from a Fellini film, and working with a kind of Italian clown theme… and even then I don’t hate it. Keep clowns away from everyone.
But holy hell, this is a perfect skate. Her spins are divine, her form there immaculate. And she goes top of the list with a 78.71, I think that’s both a PB for her and one of the highest individual scores of the season overall.
Welcome.
In the hockey, Sweden lead Latvia 2-0 in the men’s qualifier match for a spot in the knockouts.
Germany get the full podium in the two-man bobsleigh
It’s a full house! Lochner and Fleischhauer finish it off, gold for themselves and a full deck for Germany. They don’t just hold their lead, they extend it with a fast final run of 54.91 seconds, almost half a second faster than their next few rivals. It’s comprehensive for that team, and comprehensive for the German program.
USA fourth, Romania and Switzerland the next couple in line, Italy, Latvia, Austria, France round out the top ten.
Friedrich and Schuller do their part with 55.33, the last three runs all clocking within two hundredths of a second of one another, and this pair hold onto a likely second spot.
Ammour and Schaller make no mistake, clocking 55.35, which is only one hundredth slower than the Americans, but their other three runs were faster. So they’re in top spot, the Germans, and can’t finish lower than third.
In the bob, a lot of bash ‘em crash ‘em on the USA’s run down the chute, but del Duca and Williamson still hang on to go to top spot. With only the three German pairs to go, the Americans are in position to pounce on a medal if something goes wrong.
Italy beat USA in the curling, and the curling crowd is going feral as they always do. Great Britain have gone down to Canada, and Sweden did indeed beat Norway. So here’s the state of play for the men’s team event.
Nine matches in the round robin, top four qualify for semis.
Switzerland lead and have qualified with seven wins and two to go. Canada have qualified with six wins.
Italy now jump up to third spot, Norway fourth, Great Britain fifth, and USA sixth, but all of them have four wins. Italy and Norway have two games in hand, USA and GB have one game in hand.
But Italy and Norway both have to play the top two sides, while GB and USA play each other.
So if Italy and Norway both lose both their remaining games, there are still chances for USA and GB to get through. Or if Italy or Norway lose one and win one, then the winner of GB-USA would depend on head-to-head results to go through.
Not a good final run for GB in the bob, as Hall and Greenwood clip some sides, so they drop three spots in the end, and are on track to finish 12th unless one of the upcoming teams has a real mare.
A bit of movement in the early stages of the bob, with Chinese pair Li and Ye jumping a few spots, and the Swiss Follador and Rolli making ground, though all of these will finish well out of the medals as we go through the field.
The final heat in the two-man bobsleigh has begun, with four runs completed out of 20. The last three spots, as in those with the fastest times across their first three runs, are all German pairs.
What’s up at the curling? Men’s round robin. The Swiss have qualified in top spot by beating Germany. The Germans might stay alive, though, if Norway lose to Sweden, which they’re currently on track to do by trailing 7-3, and then lose to Canada later, because if Germany and Norway are tied on points, Germany beat Norway earlier in the group stage and would go through on that basis.
The USA are trailing Italy, who could jump them into the top four, especially as Canada are leading Great Britain 7-5 at the moment.
At the figure skating we’ve had 17 skaters so far in the women’s singles, and still nobody has passed Petrosian’s score from the second skate of the night. Another dozen to go.
Tormod Frostad snatches gold on the last jump
It is the biggest score of the night to close things out! Sit tuck, far left of the ramp as he takes off, nose butter, bio, 1620, and immaculate on the switch landing. There is a long wait with the three podium skiers at the bottom of the run. Forehand has one hand on gold, has held it for a couple of minutes, but then it changes possession. The score is 98.5 for Frostad, to follow 97 on his second jump and 95.25 on his first.
Forehand clocked two 95s and a 98.25, scores that would have got him gold almost anywhere, anytime, aside from tonight.
Then Svancer had a 91 and two 95s to take bronze, and he is absolutely delighted with it.
Norway, USA, Austria the podium, but seeing the composure and ambition from those final three skiers to do what they did when required, with no more chances… what a performance.
Forehand is into gold! Forget silver! It’s a 98.25. Nose butter triple 21 with safety grab, perfect rotations, perfect landing. “Oh my god!” yells Forehand at the bottom of the run, hands on his head, and that’s before the score comes out. He knew it was good, but did he know it was that good?
Frostad has one more jump to snatch what was his gold back…
Three out of three jumps for Matej Svancer. Switch take off, switch landing, skis tightly together as he comes down, maybe missed the nose butter takeoff, the rotations were a 19…
and he’s scored a 96! Second biggest score of the night, and jumps from bronze to silver, unless Mac Forehand can take it back.
Three jumps to go. Who’s getting which medal?
No joy for New Zealand in the end, as Harrington stays upright on the landing but loses his form, one ski dragging sideways as he skews around. He knows that’ll scotch any chance of a big enough score, and has to settle for a 66. The 2025 world champs winner is done.
Troy Podmilsak nails a huge jump, three flips, 2160 rotation, scores a 94, and even that can only get him into fourth. It’s been a big night for the numbers.
The defending champ is out. Birk Ruud won gold in this event in 2022, and gold in the slopestyle this time around, but can’t land his third attempt tonight.
Seven jumps to go. Konnor Ralph lands the 21! Maybe for the first time in competition for him? That’s six full rotations! Wild. Lands it, maybe a little rough on touchdown, scores 91, which puts him fourth for now. “Aaaahhh,” he says as the leaderboard comes up, but it’s good natured, he’s beaming at having landed that one.
France’s night is done, Matias Roche losing his line and ending up way to the left of the course before skidding out on landing. Deschamps, the Canadian, gets massive distance, lands beyond the last blue line, but he bailed out of that jump halfway through. Missed his grab, gave up on the rotations and just concentrated on landing safely, knowing he wouldn’t get the points he wants after that error.
The lowest scorers so far will start the third round. Those who are out of the running to begin, who had a couple of falls. Nordqvist first, a nice double flip 900, just to land one and feel good about it. A double backflip for Sivignon, who smiles broadly as he waits for his score, then visits his supporters at the barrier.
Samnoey only had one fall, though even a perfect 100 wouldn’t get him onto the podium here. He goes for a huge trick, gets huge distance, and can’t quite stick the dismount.
Another huge finish to the round. The Austrian, Matej Svancer, is pumped with a 95.25 score after a 1980 rotation jump. Then Mac Forehand matches that rotation, matches the landing, scores slightly under with 95 flat, but with his first-round score it sneaks him past Svancer into second place. Svancer in the bronze spot ahead of the third jump.
Highest score of the comp for Frostad! He’s the lower profile of the Norwegians behind Birk Ruud, but maybe not for much longer. Huge amplitude, tail butter on takeoff, safety grab, the rotation is a 16, and he sticks the cleanest landing to rack up a 97 after a 95.25 first up. That is a very likely gold-medal position, even without the third round.
Ruud falls on his second jump.
Nice work from the other Frenchman, Matias Roche. Sit tuck down the slope to get speed up, nose butter take-off, and way out on the very furthest edge of the ramp, all the way out on the right, so much so that his skis clip the warning flag as he rotates into the air. Switch landing, sticks it, scores an 85 after a first-jump fall.
Harrington for NZ stacks his second landing, so he’ll need a big third to make the most of his big first score.
The third Norwegian, Samnoey, stays in the comp with a safe jump on his second, scoring an 84 to give him a fallback, but Sivignon is out, the Frenchman falling on landing.
Second jumps are on, Konnor Ralph and Martin Nordqvist both falling. Ralph clocked a solid score first run, so he’s still in with a chance, but Nordqvist did not, so he’s out of the running.
Podmilsak almost loses his trick on landing, he’s hanging over the back of his skis trying not to toboggan down the slope on his butt, and just stays up. Only scores a 73, in the circumstances.
Then Deschamps, the Canadian who snapped a ski on his first jump, gets a new set and tries the same trick again: left triple 1680 from a switch beginning, and he lands it clean as a whistle. Scores 91 on his second jump, that has him in contention if he can land his third.
Huge scores in this first round! Thought that Luca Harrington might be locked in up top after the first jumps, but he’s all the way down to fourth after the Norwegians both nail a big one after him, first Tormod Frostad and then Birk Ruud with a 95.25 and a 95 flat respectively, before Mac Forehand also lands a 95 for the USA.
All the fresh snowfall must be making the ramp really fast. So many jumps already have ended way down the ramp, on or beyond the fifth marked line where normally you’d see skiers landing well within those.
The US in top two spots so far, Troy Podmilsak with a huge 90.5, that provides a big floor under his tilt for the podium from here.
We’ve got falls for Deschamps of Canada, Samnoey of Norway, and Roche of France, while the other French skier Timothe Sivignon misses his tail grab and loses a bunch of points there. He’s still third, until Luca Harrington goes a double grab on a switch right triple and scores 94! Goes to the top, the New Zealander.
The biggest of big air, Martin Nordqvist of Sweden gets way more distance than I think he was intending. Huge trick, left triple 19, gets the rotations but his landing is so far down the ramp that he’s got more distance to fall, and it messes up his ability to get back on the ground securely.
“That landing was absolutely monstrosserous,” says our commentator, which is inventive.
The men’s freeski big air is go. Still snowing, but not too heavily, and we’ll get a start. Konnor Ralph for the USA lands a big score to start! A switch left triple 18 that nets 86+.
The GB men’s curlers really need a win over Canada today, their second-last match. They’re tied on points with the USA in the group, sitting fourth and fifth, and those teams will play each other last. Fourth spot will make a semi-final, fifth will be done. Italy or Germany could still jump either of those teams too, with a couple of wins and other results going their way.
There’s a weather delay on the men’s freeski big air, though it’s clear enough that some of the entrants are having practice jumps. They’ll review the start time 15 minutes after it was scheduled.
Heat 3 of the two-man bobsled is rattling along, with the Great Britain pair of Greenwood and Hall well back in the order. The three German teams are leading, but there are plenty of third races yet to be run. There will be four heats in total, and the times will be combined.
Curlingpalooza has begun with another men’s round-robin session: Germany playing the Swiss, the USA against Italy, Canada and Great Britain, and Sweden versus Norway.
Don’t double touch, anyone!
Five entrants so far at the women’s figure skating, Viktoriia Safonova with a pleasant routine to start, and the 18-year-old Zhang Ruiyang scoring a 59.38 in a promising performance for the future. Adeliia Petrosian, the other neutral Russian skater, has the confidence to try something different, and a lot of sass in the routine as well as hitting a higher technical level than her teammate, although it is puzzling how celebratory work still gets made about Michael Jackson despite all we know about the other parts of his life – all of that gets brushed off so that people can enjoy movies, stage shows, and currently an Olympic skating routine reflecting his dress and his music. Petrosian lodges the first really big score of the round at 72.89.
Kristen Spours for Great Britain is fifth in the order, and puts down a strong performance but for an invalid element in the middle that drops her technical score, a costly miss as she comes in behind the others at 45.54.
Czechia through to the quarter-finals after a frenzied final flurry from the Danes, forcing a couple of saves, another shot wide, as they kept smashing the puck into the thickets of players around goal. But disciplined defence from the Czechs meant that the shots were at longer range, and nothing found its way through. The Danish men’s team leave the tournament here.
The Danish goalie is subbed out, with two minutes to go, leaving the goal empty so they can have six attackers versus five.
Five and a half minutes to go in the hockey, and Denmark keep pressing, but can’t make up that one-goal deficit yet. Still trailing 3-2.
Figure skating is about to get going again, we’ll have the women’s singles program first round event, which is the short program. A big field today, 29 skaters of whom 24 will qualify for the second round, the free skating.