NewsBite

Winter Olympics 2018 Day 10: Russian curler’s doping charge, Daniel Greig in speed skating

There appears to be no love lost between Alex Pullin and Jarryd Hughes after an Instagram post sparked fresh debate.

25 min read
10:01AMFebruary 19, 2018.
Updated 12:57AMFebruary 20, 2018
Print
Alex Pullin. Picture: Getty Images.
Alex Pullin. Picture: Getty Images.

Welcome to live coverage of Day 10 of the 2018 Winter Olympics from PyeongChang. Jessica Rich just missed qualifying for the snowboard big air final and Daniel Greig finished 21st in the men’s 500m speed skating. See how it all unfolded below.

12.10am: Greig finishes 21st

Greig produced one of his fastest times but finished in 21st. He’ll be back in action in his pet event the 1,000m later in the week.

11.15pm: Mata and Mari miss out

Unfortunate for Aussie pair Lucas Mata and David Mari, who post their quickest time these games at 49.87 but fail to progress. That’s Australia’s second-best result in this event.

11.00pm: Greig’s quick start

Fair first hit-out for Daniel Greig, who finishes in a time of 35.22.

10.30pm: No mention of Hughes as Pullin signs off

Snowboard Cross rider Jarryd Hughes. Picture: Getty Images.
Snowboard Cross rider Jarryd Hughes. Picture: Getty Images.

Alex Pullin has signed off on his Winter Olympics campaign with an Instagram post thanking his coaches, staff, friends and family - but hasn’t mentioned teammate and first Australian to win a medal in the snowboard cross, Jarryd Hughes.

Pullin was criticised for failing to acknowledge Hughes personally after he won silver in the event on Thursday.

Olympic Winter Institute boss Geoff Lipshut later revealed there were longstanding personal issues between the pair.

In photos on his social media account, Pullin can be seen giving a high-five to friend and teammate Cam Bolton and in another he’s pictured with Bolton and the other member of the men’s team, Adam Lambert.

There are no photos or references to Hughes in the extended post. “A crazy week of racing it was! I just want to say a big thankyou to all my family and friends and everyone for all the support and messages,” he wrote before thanking coaches and staff.

Pullin finished sixth in the event after crashing in the final. Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman maintained the pair respected each other.

“I was standing next to ‘Chumpy Pullin’ ... talking to him and all of a sudden he started clapping,” Chesterman said in a subsequent media conference. “I turned around and he was clapping Jarryd Hughes going onto the podium. There’s professional respect there.”

AAP

10.11pm: Record broken

The Netherlands’ ladies team pursuit team have broken an Olympic record in speed skating, hustling their way to a time of 2:55.61. Not too shaby at all.

9.10pm: What we missed from David Morris

While we didn’t get to experience David Morris’ best in the finals of the men’s aerials last night, he’s posted a video of what he had planned for his final jump.

Shot during training in PyeongChang, Morris pulled off five twists in three flips in what would’ve heald him in good stead for a crack at the medals.

Morris failed to make the top nine after Jia Zongyang somehow progressed ahead of Morris despite crashing after his landing. Zongyang would go on to claim silver.

8.30pm: Frenchman booted for lack of team spirit

France's Mathieu Faivre. Picture: AFP.
France's Mathieu Faivre. Picture: AFP.

French alpine skier Mathieu Faivre has been sent home from the Winter Olympics after saying he didn’t care about medals won by his teammates and was concerned only with his own success.

The French Alpine team confirmed on Monday that Faivre had been kicked out for the comments he made to reporters after finishing seventh in the men’s giant slalom on Sunday.

Alexis Pinturault won bronze behind Austrian Marcel Hirscher in the race and two other Frenchmen, Thomas Fanara and Victor Muffat-Jeandet, finished fifth and sixth.

Faivre, 26, apologised for his outburst on Facebook: “I said that the performance of the team was the least of my concerns when responding to a question (about) how I felt about the French team’s overall good performance. “When asked to describe my feelings on the race 10 minutes after I had crossed the finish line, only my performance and my failure were present. “I did not want to show disrespect to anyone I was extremely proud to have represented my country and I thank those people who made it possible.” Faivre is the boyfriend of US Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin, who won gold in the women’s giant slalom.

AP

7.20pm: Ice hockey’s handshake ban

Meghan Duggan #10 of the US shakes hands with Riikka Valila #13 of Finland following their 5-0 victory. Picture: Getty Images
Meghan Duggan #10 of the US shakes hands with Riikka Valila #13 of Finland following their 5-0 victory. Picture: Getty Images

One of hockey’s most time-honored traditions is in danger of not happening at the PyeongChang Olympics.

Officials have told players to fist-bump one another rather than shaking hands to prevent transmission of norovirus, which is highly contagious. US defenseman James Wisniewski’s father tested positive for norovirus last week and is one of 49 of 283 confirmed Olympic cases still in quarantine. The US men’s team definitely isn’t shaking hands.

Women’s teams have decided to continue shaking hands, including the US and Finland after their semifinal Monday. Players know about the warning and decided the meaning behind the postgame ritual outweighs the risks.

International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel is not sure it’s necessary for players to stop but figures it’s better to be safe than sorry.

AP

7.02pm: Papadakis reacts to wardrobe malfunction

French ice dancer Gabriella Papadakis’ has described her wardrobe malfunction today as her “worst nightmare”.

The first notes of Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You had just played when Papadakis suddenly became aware that people were about to see a whole lot more of her shape than she had planned.

She calls it her “worst nightmare happening at the Olympics.” The performance was being shown live on international television, and people immediately began posting screen grabs on social media.

An NBC spokesman says the network has edited the video for future television broadcasts and online replays.

Papadakis says she’s proud of their performance despite the wardrobe malfunction.

AP

6.45pm: Russian curling athlete’s doping ban confirmed

Alexander Krushelnitsky, right, with wife Anastasia Bryzgalova after finishing third in the curling mixed doubles in PyeongChang. Picture: AP.
Alexander Krushelnitsky, right, with wife Anastasia Bryzgalova after finishing third in the curling mixed doubles in PyeongChang. Picture: AP.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has confirmed that Russian curling medalist Alexander Krushelnitsky has been charged with a doping offense at the PyeongChang Olympics.

The court said Monday that it has “initiated a procedure” involving Krushelnitsky, who won bronze in the mixed doubles event along with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.

The court says no hearing date has been set.

If confirmed, a doping violation could affect Russian athletes’ chances of being allowed to march under their own flag at the closing ceremony. It’s the second doping case of the PyeongChang Olympics after a Japanese short-track speedskater tested positive for a banned diuretic.

Krushelnitsky was not with the curling team at the arena Monday.

AP

6.30pm: Aussies in action tonight

Daniel Greig. Picture: Getty Images.
Daniel Greig. Picture: Getty Images.

Beginning his campaign tonight (at around 10.53pm AEDT) is Australia’s only long track speed skater Daniel Greig.

World No.39 Greig will contest the 500m, an event in which he fell in the opening seconds of his race in Sochi 2014 to place 39th.

His best World Cup result in the distance this season was a 20th placing in Germany last month.

Elsewhere, Australia’s Lucas Mata and David Mari will wrap up their two-man bobsleigh campaign with the final two heats at 10.15pm AEDT.

The country has endured an unsuccessful sliding campaign in PyeongChang, with Alex Ferlazzo (luge), John Farrow and Jaclyn Narracott (skeleton) failing to threaten the top 10.

5.30pm: USA into hockey final

US players celebrate their win over Finland. Picture: AFP.
US players celebrate their win over Finland. Picture: AFP.

The American women have handed Finland a 5-0 drubbing in the first semi-final. Canada play the Olympic Athletes from Russia later tonight for the other place in Thursday afternoon’s final.

5.05pm: A doping allegation... in curling?

The Olympic curling fraternity awoke today to news of a PyeongChang alleged doping scandal wondering more why a curler would cheat rather than fearful of an uneven playing field.

Russia’s Alexander Krushelnitsky, a mixed doubles bronze medallist, was the curler at the centre of allegations he had taken the banned drug meldonium - the same substance that saw Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova suspended.

The revelation sparked disbelief from Denmark women’s skip Madeleine DuPont as she pondered what advantages doping might bring in such a precision-based event.

“I was pretty shocked. ‘How can this be?’” DuPont asked. “I’m sure most people would think, ‘What do they need doping for? What’s the benefit?’- like I’m thinking.”

The stone-sliding crowd isn’t known for bulking up on muscle power, with meldonium banned for its ability to increase blood flow and thereby exercise capacity.

“I’m not even sure what you use drugs for in curling,” DuPont said. “Strength and such? It’s not really up my alley.”

DuPont said she does not see dope cheats when she competes against the Russian women and is confident of a clean playing field. “I know the Russian girls really well,” she said. “They are good and kind and a benefit to the reputation of the sport.”

Switzerland women’s skip Silvana Tirinzoni leaped to defend the fitness level of curlers, saying even the most laid-back of Winter Olympic sports requires above-average levels of strength.

“It’s not like you don’t need any muscles,” Tirinzoni said. “We have to be fit. Everyone is working out five times a week and going to the gym. It can help.” But she was as stunned as everyone else to learn about the possible doping case. “I’m sure surprised,” she said. “Things like that shouldn’t happen in curling, or any other sports.”

United States women’s skip Nina Roth backed curling as a sport requiring power as well. “You need strength but you have to do it the right way,” she said. “Any sort of doping isn’t good.”

Sweden’s Niklas Edin was equally stunned that curling had been dragged into the mire of doping. “We have stayed away from those kind of topics for a long time,” he said. “I definitely didn’t think we were going to find a positive test in this crew here... if it is a positive doping test in curling, it is just sad.”

AFP

Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky. Picture: AP
Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky. Picture: AP

4.50pm: USA go 5-0 up

The Americans score again less than a minute into the third period. Time is running out for Finland to make the final against either Canada or the Russian athletes.

3.55pm: USA go 2-0 up

The Americans have gone to a 2-0 lead in their women’s semi-final hockey match against Finland thanks to a goal from forward Dani Cameranesi.

During the first period Finland defender Ronja Savolainen went face-first into the boards and had to be carried off the ice.

Savolainen got her legs tangled with American captain Meghan Duggan inside the Finnish zone and went hard into the boards. She crumpled to the ice, while teammates surrounded her and the training staff rushed to her aid.

After a few minutes, two people helped her off, with her arm around their shoulders and her legs dangling between them. There was no immediate announcement about her condition.

Duggan was not penalized, drawing a jeer from the Finnish fans in the crowd.

AP

3.45pm: French stars suffer costume malfunction

This time affecting gold medal contenders Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France - the clasp on her halterneck came undone. They nonetheless scored 81.92 to put them in second place on the current leaderboard behind Canada’s Virtue and Moir. Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue are in third going into the free dance section of the program tomorrow morning.

Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. Picture: Getty Images
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron. Picture: Getty Images

3.20pm: Canadians Virtue and Moir score record

Canadian stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have leapt to the top of the leaderboard in the ice dance, recording the highest score ever in the short dance, 83.67, breaking their own record.

The Canadians, who won Olympic gold in Vancouver and silver in Sochi, received level-four marks on all five elements in their program. That included a dazzling midline step sequence to open the program and a rhumba sequence on which they were graded harshly during the team event. They were clearly thrilled with their routine. But their main rivals France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron are now on the ice.

Ice dancers and tricky partnership questions

3.15pm: Americans take early lead

And it’s an early first goal to the USA, forward Gigi Marvin finding the back of the net within the first three minutes of play.

3.10pm: USA take on Finland in ice hockey semi

It’s the business end of the women’s hockey competition, with the Americans playing Finland - starting now - while defending champion Canada faces Olympic Athletes from Russia just after 11pm AEDT. The women’s gold medal game is Thursday.

3.05pm: Korea, Canada on the up

Curling news: Korea and Sweden are now tied for first place in the women’s rankings, after the South Koreans continued their remarkable run by knocking off the Swedes 7-6.

South Korea's curling team after winning against Sweden at Gangneung. Picture: AP
South Korea's curling team after winning against Sweden at Gangneung. Picture: AP

Meanwhile Canada’s women curlers are fighting their way back from a shocking string of losses at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The Canadians nabbed an 8-3 win over third-placed Japan today in the women’s round robin. Japan conceded the game early after a strong performance from the Canadians left them with little chance of catching up.

Canada’s women curlers are the defending world champions and came into the games as the favorite to win gold. But they fell to last place in the standings after losing their first three games. Today’s game marks their third straight win, putting them fourth place in the rankings.

AP

2.40pm: ShibSibs skate to the lead

Getting to the big names in the ice dancing short dance, with Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani (the “ShibSibs”) just appearing and scoring 77.73 to put them at the top of the leaderboard in this part of the ice dance program.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada and France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron are the heavy favorites to win gold and are up soon.

Meanwhile, remember last week’s wardrobe malfunction couple?

The two Americans who are representing South Korea in the Pyeongchang Olympics have made the cut for the free dance competition.

Yura Min has Korean heritage, and her partner, Alexander Gamelin, passed a citizenship test to become eligible.

Min bawled when she saw the short dance numbers from the judges today. She says, “All we could ask for was to put out our best performance, and we did. It’s the most amazing feeling.” Min had a wardrobe malfunction during the team short dance, with a hook popping at the beginning of the routine. She fought through, keeping the costume up for the entire program despite having thoughts of stopping.

No such worries this time, and she’s thrilled to be remembered for something else at these Olympics.

AP

Yura Min’s costume stays intact today during her short dance with Alexander Gamelin. Picture: AFP
Yura Min’s costume stays intact today during her short dance with Alexander Gamelin. Picture: AFP

2pm: ‘You know, I’m stoked still’

Jessica Rich has told Channel Seven that just missing the big air final after her battle with injury is “bittersweet”.

“Because all I came out here to do was land my runs - I have to deal with what I got right now - and to just miss out on finals, yeah, it’s kinda sad. But you know, I’m stoked still.”

Rich said she had been in the gym for the past few weeks and her goal had been to pass the medical clearance test to compete. “So when that finally happened I could let myself think, ‘oh my god, I’m actually going to be competing’.”

1.40pm: Rich just misses big air final

It’s bittersweet news for Jessica Rich, who has just missed advancing to the big air finals, scoring a solid 74.25 that put her at 13th in the qualifying standings... the top 12 go through. Rich competed coming back from injury - a torn ACL that she sustained in training last month.

1.30pm: Rippon says no to NBC

American figure skater Adam Rippon agreed to become an NBC correspondent for the duration of the Olympic games, but then changed his mind overnight. He told NBCSN on that he was flattered by the offer, “but if I took this opportunity, I would have to leave the Olympic team and I would have to leave the (Olympic) Village.” He said his friends on the Olympic team were there for him during his events and he wanted to return the favor. Rippon attracted attention for his colorful and candid interviews, and his apparent ease with the medium.

AP

Adam Rippon competing. Picture: Getty Images
Adam Rippon competing. Picture: Getty Images

1.20pm: Gasser shows her form

Japanese jumpers Yuka Fujimori and Reira Iwabuchi - aged 31 and just 16 respectively - shot to the top of the big air table. But favourite Anna Gasser of Austria immediately responds by nailing a 1080 to score 98.00 and assert her dominance of this event.

1pm: Ouch

Big air competitors are going big on their second qualifying runs, with mixed results... Britain’s Aimee Fuller crashes out with a nasty landing but is OK.

Meanwhile New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski Synnott has jumped to the top of the qualifying leaderboard with a score of 92.00.

12.50pm: Rich lands first jump

Australia’s Jessica Rich has scored 73.50 on her first run, landing her jump with a tiny hand drag, putting her currently at 9th and inside the top 12 qualifying group. Another run to go.

12.40pm: ‘The elevators to the top can get pretty sketchy’

The top of the big air ramp is 49m high and Jess Rich says it can be daunting just getting up there. “The elevators to the top can get pretty sketchy,” she says on Seven. “We’ve had a few events where they stop and start and that gets pretty scary... this one’s been pretty good though so I’m not too worried.” Gulp.

Currently leading qualifying is Canada’s Laurie Blouin with this 90.25 score on her first jump. Medal favourite Anna Gasser of Austria has the second top score and then the US’s Julia Marino.

12.30pm: Ice dancers kick off

Ice dancing is underway at the Olympic Games with two-time medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada and France’s Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron the heavy favorites to win gold.

Three American couples have a chance at landing on the podium. Maia and Alex Shibutani (the “ShibSibs”), the siblings who helped the US win team bronze, are making their second Olympic appearance. They’re joined by Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, the reigning national champs, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the latter of whom is competing in his third Olympics.

The short dance is today, with the free dance wrapping up the competition on Tuesday.

AP

12.20pm: Korean curlers the surprise stars

Meanwhile surprising South Korea is currently leading top-of-the-table Sweden 3-1 in their women’s curling match.

The South Korean women’s curling team has emerged as the breakout star of the Pyeongchang Olympics, an overachieving underdog that has burst into medal contention in a sport that South Korea had virtually no presence in just a few years ago.

South Korea’s women’s curling team is on an exquisitely-timed hot streak. The Olympic hosts have racked up a near-perfect run of victories over Canada, Switzerland and Great Britain—three of the curling world’s four great powers. On Sunday, South Korea won 12-5 over China, which conceded with two ends to go.

Canada and Switzerland, the world No. 1 and 2, are now teetering on the verge of elimination. South Korea, on the other hand, is now tied for second place, just behind the perfect Swedish team they are taking on this morning.

How did South Korea build a giant-killing women’s curling team in a country with zero tradition of it? Partly through the persistence of four small-town women who took up the sport a few years ago, and who now rank among the best in Asia.

Their success remains something of an outlier for a country whose world ranking was too low to have qualified for the Olympics in 2011, when the Winter Games were awarded to Pyeongchang.

The sudden success of the team here is attracting new curling aficionados drawn by the sport’s hypnotic appeal.

South Korea’s women’s team is made up of five women, all surnamed Kim, though only two are related. The team’s skip, 27-year-old Kim Eun-jung, and three of the other Kims—two of them are sisters—attended the same high school in a rural county called Uiseong that is known for its garlic. The local press has dubbed them the “Garlic Girls.”

They have their own names for one another. During a tournament in Canada a few years ago, Team Korea’s five curlers adopted English nicknames over breakfast: Pancake, Sunny (for Sunny Side Up), Steak, Yogurt and Chocho.

For years, they toiled in obscurity back home. They struggled with access to practice facilities, and the team and its supporters had to pay out of their own pockets for new equipment, facilities and programs, said Kim Min-jung, the Korean team’s coach, who isn’t related to the other five Kims.

South Korea’s curling federation, meantime, was consumed with a series of distractions, including sexual harassment, a voting scandal and alleged misuse of federation funds, which led last year to a government audit.

“It’s not like Korean curling as a whole is on the rise,” said the coach, Kim Min-jung. Rather, it’s a story about a few people trying really hard to lift Korean curling to new levels.”

Amid all the chaos, the curlers have continued to focus on their game, winning global attention.

“Korea is a joy to watch,” says Colleen Jones, a retired Canadian curling star who led two women’s world championship teams.

South Korea’s success, along with that of Japan and China, which are also ahead of Canada, Switzerland and Russia so far at the Olympics, is a potential boon for a sport seeking to grow outside its traditional bases in North America and Europe, Jones added.

Like other up-and-coming curling nations, South Korea brought on a Canadian coach, Peter Gallant, to raise its game. He says that while the South Korean curlers were always technically skilled, the biggest improvement in recent years has been in their strategic prowess.

Jonathan Cheng, Andrew Jeong

The Wall Street Journal

12pm: ‘It’s basically one big jump’

Big air is making its Games debut this Olympics. Here Aussie hope Jess Rich sums it up: “It’s basically one big jump and you’ve got one chance to land your biggest trick you can do. It can be really scary.” Rich is 24th on the starting list for qualifying, which kicks off now.

11.45am: Russian may have tested positive to doping

A Russian athlete taking part in the Winter Games may have tested positive to a banned substance, said the delegation representing suspended Russia said.

“Today, our delegation received an official notice from the International Olympic Committee about a possible breach of anti-doping rules,” Konstantin Vybornov, the delegation’s spokesman, said in a statement.

“We’re not naming the athlete or the discipline until results of the B-sample are known, which normally will happen within the next 24 hours, ” he said.

Athletes typically supply two urine samples, A and B, on which tests are performed.

“On the one hand it is extremely disappointing when prohibited substances might have been used, but on the other hand it shows the effectiveness of the anti-doping system at the Games which protects the rights of all the clean athletes,” the IOC said in a statement.

A doping case involving a Russian athlete could be a major setback for the IOC, which has banned Russia from participating in the Olympic Games over a doping scandal, but has invited 169 athletes from the country saying it was confident they were clean.

A doping case would also be a blow to Russia, which is waiting for an IOC decision this week on whether it can be reinstated as a full-fledged member of the international sports family.

The office of “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” as the delegation is called by the IOC during Russia’s suspension, was closed late yesterday. On the door, someone had attached a note with adhesive tape that read: “See you in Tokyo 2020... maybe.”

—David Gauthier-Villars, The Wall Street Journal

11am: Rich to fly for Australia in big air

Coming up at noon, snowboarder Jessica Rich begins her delayed Winter Olympics campaign after being unable to compete in last week’s slopestyle.

The Australian is putting off knee surgery to be in PyeongChang after rupturing her ACL in training last month.

Deemed at too great a risk for last week’s slopestyle, the 27-year-old has been cleared to compete in big air qualification today.

Rich has three World Cup top-10s in the big air discipline - which will make its Olympic debut today - but she’s tempered her expectations for her first Games.

“It is a significant injury that will require surgery once I have finished my event,” she said.

“It has taken me a few tries at the (medical clearance) test but I’ve finally passed and have a lot of confidence in my knee.

“Obviously my goals have changed after my injury and I’m not as competitive as I would like to be due to all the time I have had off snow.

“My goal now is to land the tricks I do and just to enjoy being at the Olympics.”

-AAP

Jess Rich has been cleared to compete in big air qualification today. Picture: @jessrich_/Instagram
Jess Rich has been cleared to compete in big air qualification today. Picture: @jessrich_/Instagram

10am: Tough start for bobsleigh team

Australia’s Winter Olympic bobsleigh campaign got off to a tough start yesterday after driver Lucas Mata and David Mari were 1.53 seconds off the pace on the opening night of two-man heats.

The pair sat 22nd after clocking 49.88 seconds on their first heat, gaining one position after their second despite a 0.16-second slower run in PyeongChang on Sunday.

Sochi Olympian Mata and 22-year-old brakeman Mari were among the slowest starters and lost further time throughout their runs, but overtook Poland’s team after they finished heat two in 50.10 seconds.

The Australians will contest today’s third heat needing to improve one more place to qualify for the fourth and final heat.

They are 0.16 seconds behind the 20th-placed Olympic Athletes from Russia Alexey Stulnev and Vasiliy Kondratenko.

The pair have set their sights eclipsing Australia’s best Olympic bobsleigh result when Chris Spring and Duncan Pugh were 19th in Vancouver 2010.

Mari said their inability to improve their second start may have been due to the long wait during competition, having pushed off early in the first heat but being among the last in the second.

“The first run we pushed well but I felt that we could run a little further so the second run we did that,” he said.

“With such a long time between the heats, I think that impacted our push a little bit which is why it was a little slower.”

Spring, who now represents Canada, sits equal tenth and 0.57 seconds off the lead.

Germany’s Nico Walther and Christian Poser lead the 30-team pack with a time of one minute 38.39 seconds.

Aussie-turned-Canadian Chris Spring celebrates after heat two of the 2-man bobsleigh. Photo: AFP
Aussie-turned-Canadian Chris Spring celebrates after heat two of the 2-man bobsleigh. Photo: AFP

— AAP

9.45am: Day 10 — Aussies to watch

SNOWBOARD
* 12pm: Jessica Rich (women’s big air qualification runs)

BOBSLEIGH
* 10.15pm: Lucas Mata, David Mari (2-man, heat 3)

SPEED SKATING
* 10.53pm: Daniel Greig (men’s 500m)

9.30am: Day 9 — how the Aussies fared

FREESTYLE SKIING
* Men’s slopestyle: Russ Henshaw 19th
* Men’s aerials final: David Morris 10th

ALPINE SKIING
* Men’s giant slalom: Dominic Demschar 33rd; Harry Laidlaw disqualified

BOBSLEIGH
* Two-man heats one and two: Lucas Mata, David Mari 21st

9am: Morris reveals personal battle

Aerial skier David Morris has opened up about the struggle he faced coming to grips with his mother’s cancer battle less than two months out from the Games.

Morris, who controversially finished 10th and just one spot out of the second final at Bokwang Phoenix Park on Sunday night, had to make a tough decision in late December about whether to go to his third Games in PyeongChang.

It was then he’d discovered that his mother Margaret had lung cancer. After discussing it with his family he decided to keep training for the event. “I’ll come back and we can deal with everything as a family because we have been putting it off for months — all the emotion,” he said.

“It will be good to become more of a real person and less of a selfish athlete. “It hurts on the inside.” Morris. 33, said his mother’s illness weighed on him all the time but in many ways he used his competition strategy to block out what was happening in his personal life.

“Over the years I have learnt to just ignore things: We ignore the crowd, we ignore the music, we ignore the pressure of competition — a really sad life event is a really hard one,” he said.

“But when I am out there I just can’t afford to think of that and I told her that when I am out there I am just not going to react to this and it’s heartless and it sucks to be that person but my family understands this is important.”

Morris, a silver medallist at the Sochi Winter Olympics four years ago, was gracious despite failing to make the penultimate final in dubious circumstances. He’d landed a quad-twisting triple somersault but was marked down for the landing. Effectively only needing one more skier to falter to progress, Morris looked to have his path secured when China’s Jia Zongyang stumbled and fell after his landing.

But, to the surprise of many, the jump still scored higher than Morris’s as the fall was adjudged to have happened outside a four-metre zone after the run-out. Jia made the most of his luck to claim silver, behind the Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko while Ilia Burov won bronze under the Olympic Athlete From Russia banner.

Morris, who said he was unsure about his competitive future, questioned the decision with his coach but ultimately accepted it with good grace. “It is what it is. It’s a judged sport. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it’s in out favour. We don’t complain when it’s in our favour. And if we really have issues with it we should take up another sport that is timed so we can’t argue times,” he said.

— AAP

8.30am: US hopes on thin ice

Two-time defending champion Canada, unbeaten Sweden and undefeated Czech Republic have advanced to the men’s hockey quarter-finals with impressive victories.

Sweden, which took 2014 silver at Sochi, defeated Finland 3-1 while the Czech Republic downed Switzerland 4-1 and the Canadians blanked South Korea 4-0 to book a last-eight date.

“It’s a big win,” Sweden’s Joel Lundqvist said. “We played really well. We were just battling out there.” Together with the Olympic Athletes from Russia, seeking the first Olympic gold for Russian talent since 1992, they will enjoy a break until Wednesday’s tension-packed knockout quarter-finals.

Sweden’s Patrik Zackrisson scores a goal against Finland. Picture: Getty
Sweden’s Patrik Zackrisson scores a goal against Finland. Picture: Getty

The United States and Finland could be ousted before the quarter-finals. They are among eight teams who face knockout matches Tuesday to decide the other four spots in the quarter-finals. The Americans will face Slovakia, whom they edged 2-1 in group play thanks to two goals from Harvard University star Ryan Donato. The winner meets the Czechs in the quarter-finals.

Canada’s quarter-final foe will be the Finland-South Korea winner. Sweden awaits either Germany or Switzerland.

The Olympic Athletes from Russia will have three days off before meeting the winner between Norway and Slovenia.

— AFP

8am: Where have all the medals gone?

It was, perhaps, the defining moment for the US team at this Olympics.

Not Shaun White blitzing the half-pipe in a final run to win gold, a win that came with some baggage by itself. Or Chloe Kim delighting fans from two countries when she won her half-pipe, either.

No, it came on Friday when — within 20 seconds of each other — Nathan Chen skated his way out of medal contention and Mikaela Shiffrin faltered in the slalom she had been expected to ski away with.

And with it went any chance the US had of redeeming itself in what is shaping up as a frustrating Olympics for an American team that had hopes of ending up near the top of the medal table.

The biggest team in the Olympics — 241 athletes — has been a flop so far, winning so few medals that you can count them on both hands. Take away the new wave of snowboarding events, and you can count them with one hand. But if those waving the red, white and blue want a statistic that really stuns, consider this one: Norway, a nation of 5.3 million people is leading with 25 medals so far, or one for every 212,000 Norwegians.

The US, a nation of some 320 million people, has 10 medals or one for every 32 million Americans.

It could be worse. Russia — which won the medal count in Sochi four years ago — is still waiting for its first gold medal. But at least the Russians — who are not an official team here — have an excuse because some of its best dopers from Sochi were banned from these games. Even the partial Russian team has 10 medals overall, same as the US.

The US runs an extensive winter training program with millions of dollars spent every year to train top athletes just for this occasion. The US Olympic Committee took in more than $300 million in 2016 alone, with a big chunk of that used to train elite athletes.

That’s a lot of money with very little to show for it. Through Sunday American athletes are fifth on the medal list.

Take away the new sports added to the Olympics since 1992, and the US would have a grand total of two medals.

Lindsey Vonn finished a disappointing sixth in the women’s super G after being one of the favourites to win gold. Picture: AP
Lindsey Vonn finished a disappointing sixth in the women’s super G after being one of the favourites to win gold. Picture: AP

The Associated Press had projected the US to have 20 medals at this point, and Team USA has averaged 30 medals total over the last three Winter Olympics. With the dismal performance have come dismal ratings for NBC, which paid $963 million for the games, up from $775 million for Sochi. While the Olympics still win the prime-time battle in the US, the total audience tuning in was down 16 per cent Thursday night, with the viewership on NBC alone down 29 per cent. What should be more concerning to the network — and US officials — is the lack of star power emerging in South Korea.

Shiffrin delivered gold in her first race, but stumbled in the giant slalom and will have to rebound in the combined and downhill if she is going to become a multi-medallist in these games. White, meanwhile, may be in his last Olympics and was tarnished by reports of a civil sexual harassment suit against him. US teenagers have a lot of potential. Kim dominated in the half-pipe and could be a favourite in future Olympics, and fellow 17-year-old Red Gerard, who won gold in men’s snowboard slopestyle. The teen figure skaters Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou finished fifth and sixth, but they were the biggest jumpers in the competition and could be back with more experience.

At the other end of the experience spectrum, former gold medallists Lindsey Vonn and Ted Ligety have so far failed to deliver.

Add in the lacklustre performance of the US hockey team — which lost 4-0 to Russia on Saturday — and the absence of any medals in (non-short track) speed skating and there’s not a lot to cheer about.

The games could still be salvaged somewhat by some of the stars with more events left. Shiffrin has an outside shot at two golds in the combined and downhill and Vonn is one of the favourites in the women’s downhill. There’s a new Big Air event where Americans are competitive, and there may be a medal or two left in some of the outlying sports.

But the days when Eric Heiden could win five speed skating golds or American figure skaters could dominate appear over. Hard to believe, but the last medal for a US woman figure skater was the silver Sasha Cohen won in Turin 12 years ago.

The rest of the world has caught up, yes.

That’s little excuse, though, for what has been so far a flop of Olympic proportions.

—AP

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/winter-olympics-2018/winter-olympics-2018-day-10-jessica-rich-daniel-greig-head-aussie-charge/news-story/c93bd98d3bd0c2e9600da963804b6d65