Winter Olympics 2018 Day 14: Ivanka Trump arrives for Closing Ceremony
US President’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, arrives in South Korea as top North Korean general confirms closing ceremony attendance.
- Ivanka Trump arrives in South Korea
- Alina Zagitova: Gold medal at 15
- Broken pole strap costs Aussie
- PB for figure skater Kailani Craine
- Lindsey Vonn’s emotional farewell
Welcome to live coverage of Day 14 of the 2018 Winter Olympics from PyeongChang.
1.40am: Men’s ice hockey upset
Germany has upset Canada 4-3 in the semifinals of the men’s hockey tournament at the PyeongChang Olympics.
Canada trailed 3-0 and 4-1 before battling back to cut the deficit to one in the third period Friday. Canada played the second half of the game without goal- scorer Gilbert Brule, who was ejected for a brutal hit to the head of Germany’s David Wolf at centre ice.
Brooks Macek, Matthias Plachta, Frank Mauer and Patrick Hager all scored for Germany.
Kevin Poulin started for Canada because of a shoulder/collarbone injury to No. 1 goaltender Ben Scrivens. Poulin allowed four goals on 15 shots but was less to blame than Brule and other players who took several undisciplined penalties. Germany will play the Russians in the finals Sunday.
1.38am: Nuis bags second skating gold
Kjeld Nuis won his second gold medal in speedskating, and he had Mika Poutala’s Olympic spirit to thank for it. The Dutchman became the first speedskater to win two golds at the Gangneung Oval, but it is Poutala who deserves a special medal.
With Nuis going full out on the final straightaway in the men’s 1,000 meters on Friday, Poutala could easily have held him up on the crossover and denied him the title. But the Finn realised his chances for a medal were waning and instead of aggressively seeking the middle of the lane he stayed left, keeping the Dutchman’s path clear.
“Mika Poutala just saved my life,” Nuis said after adding the 1,000 title to his 1,500 gold. “If he would have thrown himself in front of me, I would have been the fool. He didn’t. That is so beautiful.” As a result, Nuis kept his pace and finished 0.04 seconds faster than Havard Lorentzen, who was anxiously watching from the infield. The Norwegian, himself the 500 champion, was also chasing a second gold.
Nuis ended up winning in 1 minute, 07.91 seconds. Kim Tae-yun of South Korea took bronze.
“I have two of these things around my neck, and that is why I came here,” said Nuis, who failed to make his country’s national team for the last two Olympics. In comparison, Poutala only had a 16th-place finish to show for his efforts, having been slowed by the crossover. At least he will be holding his head high. “I didn’t want to take any chances and ruin his race,” Poutala said. “I was afraid that I would mess his race and I knew he was battling for the win.” Nuis said Poutala came up to him after the race and said: “I just did what I hope someone else would do for me.” The gold also meant a lot for the Netherlands. After a week without an Olympic title in long-track speedskating, the Dutch had to do something to change things.
Nuis delivered, reinforcing the Dutch dominance at the top of the speedskating medal standings. They orange-clad skaters now have seven gold medals and 14 overall in 12 events, with two mass starts to come on Saturday. The country’s latest champion held his new medal tight after receiving it on the stand - the first time medals were handed over in the Gangneung Oval - and sang the Wilhelmus anthem with a heaving chest.
Nuis was also the first man to win gold after racing in the final pairing at the PyeongChang Games. And beyond the sheer power in his legs, he also had to hold his nerve while watching all his rivals go first.
When Lorentzen became the first man to break the 1:08 mark, the pressure intensified and it became clear that Nuis would need to have the race of his life. He false-started once, and knew a second one would lead to disqualification. But because the 1,000 is a sprint race, he could not hold back.
And he didn’t.
“Mentally, he was very tough,” Dutch coach Jac Orie said. “That’s why he won.”
Australian Daniel Greig finished 22nd.
11.30pm: Broken pole strap costs Sami
Australian Sami Kennedy-Sim is ruing a broken pole strap after a poor start ruined her chance to race for a Winter Olympic medal in the women’s ski cross. The 29-year-old finished about two seconds behind the two qualifiers of her semi-final in PyeongChang after being unable to make up ground from a slow push- off.
After showing promise by leading her quarter-final from start to finish on Friday, Kennedy-Sim finished eighth after losing in the four-woman small final. “Unfortunately I had a bit of bad luck with breaking my pole in the start and getting stuck,” she said.
“(I was) exercising my fitness and my strength by having to squat my way up the wu-tang, which didn’t feel very good.
“That was an element that wasn’t really in my control. For me, I’ve got to focus on the controllables and that’s my process.
“Yeah OK, I can be diligent with checking my equipment every night but it’s the first time it’s failed.” Ninth after the previous day’s seeding run, Kennedy-Sim only had to avoid crashing out of her 1/8 final after Italian Lucrezia Fantelli pulled out of the three-woman heat, with the top two progressing.
In her quarter-final, she held off Swedish world No.10 Lisa Andersson to win easily but she fell well behind with a shot at a medal for the taking in the four-woman semi-final.
There was a glimmer of hope she could progress to the medal race after moving up one spot into third when Andersson crashed midway through before the Sydneysider crossed third.
Kennedy-Sim held third place for most of her minor final but was pipped at the line by 0.1 second by Switzerland’s Sanna Luedi.
“It’s hard not to be disappointed with an eighth because you know it means you were fourth in the small final,” she said.
“But that was a solid battle and a step up for me and the best result that I’ve had all season and I’m going to build on this.” The result improves on her Sochi 2014 placing of 28th.
Kelsey Serwa continued Canadian dominance of ski cross by winning the final. Serwa’s teammate Brittany Phelan took the silver with Fanny Smith of Switzerland claiming bronze.
11.20pm: Scandi style rules the biathlon
The biathlon relay is under way and Norway and Sweden are neck-and-neck at the shoting range.
A shooting masterclass from #SWE and #NOR
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
They are neck and neck in the biathlon relay! Watch live: https://t.co/5HDGT7gk34 pic.twitter.com/rIHXpI8BeO
10.45pm: Greig finishes 22nd
Aussie speed skater Daniel Greig has finished just outside the top 20 in 1000m men’s event, with a time of 1:09.99.
The gold medal went to the Netherland’s Kjeld Nuis (1:07.95) silver to Havard Lorentzen of Norway (1:07.99) and bronze to Kim Tae-Yun of South Korea (1:08.22)
1 0.30pm: Russians finally celebrate gold
After two weeks of Olympic competition, the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” finally have a gold medal.
Alina Zagitova won the women’s figure skating title Friday to become the first Russian to win a Winter Olympic event since the doping-hit 2014 Sochi Games. “I was trying with all my strength to ignore it but I couldn’t,” Zagitova said of Russia’s lack of gold. “I was really worried because I knew I didn’t have the right to make a mistake. I had to skate clean and show my maximum, but I’m so happy I could.”
The Russians have one gold, five silver and eight bronze medals at the PyeongChang Games as of Friday, putting them behind Belarus and Italy on gold medals (the key measure used in Russia), and behind France on total medals. For a traditional winter sports superpower that prided itself on topping the Sochi medals table - even if many athletes were later accused of doping - the wait for gold has been unfamiliar and unpleasant.
Zagitova, who was only 11 during the Sochi Olympics and has never been suspected of doping, didn’t hear the Russian national anthem at her medal ceremony. Instead, the Olympic anthem was played and the Olympic flag flew because Russia is officially suspended from the games.
The International Olympic Committee instead invited some from the country to compete in neutral uniforms, which is why Zagitova accepted her medal in a muted gray coat with the inscription “Olympic Athlete from Russia.” To many Russian fans, that status is degrading. To many of Russia’s critics over doping, it’s a symbolic punishment for a country which should have been banned entirely.
Asked about whether she would be sad not to hear the Russian anthem play, Zagitova avoided the issue.
“Can I not answer that question?” she said.
The Russian medal count at the PyeongChang Games has been low because of the IOC vetting process, bad luck, and - once again - doping. Curler Alexander Krushelnitsky and his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova, won bronze in mixed doubles, but gave up the medal Thursday after Krushelnitsky failed a doping test. Russia sent 168 athletes to South Korea, making it one of the largest teams at the games. However, the team didn’t contain some top athletes, including world cross-country ski champion Sergei Ustyugov and short-track speedskater Viktor Ahn. The IOC said it couldn’t be confident they were clean. On the day of the opening ceremony, it won a key legal battle upholding that argument.
10pm: Greig feels pinch after fast start
Australia’s Daniel Greig left nothing to chance in his bid for a medal in the men’s 1,000m speed skating event, winning his pair but tiring in the closing stages after a lightning start.
Greig set a lightning first split of 16.35 seconds which put him 0.10 seconds inside the leading time of the USA’s Mitchell Whitmore.
Heading into the final lap, Greig was just 0.12 outside of Whitmore’s leading time ... but the pain was beginning to show on the Aussie’s face.
He held on to beat Belarussian Ignat Golovatsiuk in a time of 1:09.99, 0.82 seconds outside Whitmore’s mark.
There are six pairs remaining in the competition, meaning Greig won’t be able to jag a top 10 placing but he’s still in contention for the top 20.
Well done 🇦🇺 @greigdaniel, that was quick! 1:09.99
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
His time lands him in 9th place in the men's 1,000m #SpeedSkating ðŸ‘#pyeongchang2018 pic.twitter.com/N5wV9yT17B
9.30pm: Russian bobsledder tests positive
A Russian bobsledder at the PyeongChang Olympics has tested positive for a banned substance.
The president of the Russian Bobsled Federation says a bobsledder whose crew finished 12th in the women’s competition has tested positive for a banned substance.
Alexander Zubkov says a drug-test sample that pilot Nadezhda Sergeeva gave on Sunday was positive for a banned heart medication.
The women’s race was on Wednesday. Zubkov says Sergeeva says she took no such medication and the team says she was not issued any medication. Zubkov did not say which substance was found, saying Russian officials were working to clarify the situation.
A doping probe from February 18 “contained traces of a medicine for the heart, which is on the list of banned medicines”, according to an RBF statement cited by TASS news agancy.
However Zubkov said it was not meldonium, the substance for which Russian curler Alexandr Krushelnitckii was stripped of a bronze medal on Thursday. Sergeeva’s result is the second positive from a Russian at the Games after Krushelnitckii’s.
— Reuters, AP, DPA
9.15pm: Russia eyes ice hockey gold
Veteran goaltender Vasily Koshechkin stopped all 31 shots he faced to put the Russians into the gold medal game at the Olympics with a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic.
Koshechkin is 3-1-0 after getting the nod to start over NHL prospects Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shestyorkin and will almost certainly start the final on Sunday against either Canada or Germany, who play tonight in the other semifinal.
It is the Russians’ first trip to the gold-medal game since 1998. The Czech Republic has a chance for its first bronze medal since 2006.
— AP
8.55pm: Need to know — Alina Zagitova
Five things to know about 15-year-old Alina Zagitova, the newly-crowned women’s figure skating champion at the PyeongChang Olympics today.
NO NAME: Her gold medal triumph in PyeongChang will make Alina Zagitova a household name. Strangely enough, she spent the first year of her existence without a first name. Born on May 18, 2002 in the Western Urals, her parents couldn’t make up their minds on what to call the baby girl until she was one. They finally settled on Alina, after celebrated Russian gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
BEST ‘TIL LAST: Her free dance calling card is backloading all her jumps into the second half of her program. This has come under fire from some quarters, including a well-known US figure skating columnist who urged the judges in South Korea to penalise her “strategic” ploy to garner extra points. Zagitova answered her critics at Friday’s post-competition press conference: “My program is very harmonious, I begin to slow music, and towards the end it changes to become more dynamic, it speeds up, and this is where I put my jumps. I skate and jump to the beat of the music, and to end it like I do captivates the crowd, makes them want to watch to the end.”
POOR ATTITUDE: A while back when thoughts of Olympic glory were a distant dream, Zagitova’s coach, Eteri Tutberidze, sent her packing over her poor attitude. “At one point my coach told me to leave the school and go home. She wanted to let me go because I wasn’t working hard enough, I didn’t appreciate the seriousness of it all. I cried a lot, for three days I didn’t practise, it made me realise how much I loved skating. The coach then said ‘let’s try again’, I was very happy, I had butterflies in my stomach. If it wasn’t for that moment maybe I wouldn’t be here.”
SERIOUSLY: It’s easy to forget Zagitova is just 15 when you see how she conducts herself. Quizzed about her maturity and serious nature Zagitova replied after her record-breaking short program on Wednesday: “I am very calm, I don’t show emotions, I don’t splash them around.” Then almost apologetically she added: “This is how I am, it’s my nature.”
YOUNGEST, ALMOST: Zagitova carved her name in Olympic folklore aged 15 years and 281 days. But she missed becoming the youngest ever women’s figure skate champion by 26 days. That record is held by Tara Lipinski, the American skater who was 15 years and 255 days when she won gold at in 1998, in Nagano, Japan. Fittingly, Lipinski was at the rink on Friday to watch Zagitova in her capacity as part of US network NBC’s Olympic coverage. With her career, health permitting, stretching far into the future Zagitova spoke in awe of Carolina Kostner, the 31-year-old Italian star who was competing on Friday in her final Olympics. “For me Carolina is the best role model, lots of medals, lots of competitions. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to achieve the same success but I know very well if I manage to do it right then why not?”
— AFP
8.10pm: US plays its Olympic Trump card
US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka arrived in Seoul this evening as she prepares to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics closing ceremony, where a top North Korean general will also be present.
“We’re very very excited to attend the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, to cheer for Team USA and to reaffirm our strong and enduring commitment with people of the Republic of Korea,” she said after arriving at Incheon airport on a commercial flight.
The White House said Trump had asked his eldest daughter — who is also one of his top advisers — to travel to Pyeongchang to lead up a “high level delegation”.
The North will send an eight-member delegation Sunday headed by Kim Yong Chol, a top general who oversees inter-Korean relations for the ruling Workers’ Party, Seoul’s unification ministry said.
The Games have seen a flurry of cross-border diplomacy, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister and US Vice President Mike Pence both attending the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang earlier this month.
But officials in both Seoul and Washington say there will not be a meeting between Ivanka Trump and Kim Yong Chol.
— AFP
7.45pm: Norway’s humble haul
Norway’s stunning medal haul has been the talk of the Olympics and, with 13 golds and three days of competition left, they could beat the record of 14 by one country at a Winter Games.
Surpassing that mark, set by Canada in 2010, might be cause for celebration on the streets of Oslo, but the Norwegian delegation in PyeongChang is staying humble.
“I was not expecting this level. I’m positively surprised by this fantastic group that I’m leading,” Norway’s chef de mission Tore Oevreboe said.
“The main thing is that we are very happy. And we are proud but we’re not bragging. That is very important because this is how we do it in Norway.”
Oevreboe has watched stunning performances by his athletes across the disciplines, with the added bonus of cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen becoming the most-successful Winter Olympian by claiming a record 14th medal. For the Norwegians, who have also plundered 12 silver and 10 bronze medals, fun and friendship come first.
From veterans like Bjoergen and Alpine skier Axel Lund Svindal to prodigious young talents, cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo and biathlete Johannes Thingnes Boe, the Norwegians have delivered in PyeongChang.
— Reuters
7.15pm: Women ride to USA’s rescue
When the US women’s hockey team beat Canada to win gold, they did more than just get one over their old rivals — they helped rescue Team USA’s Olympics.
Up to that point, PyeongChang was beginning to look like a bit of a bust for the United States.
Several big American names had fallen short of expectations, and the biggest team at the Games was headed for its least successful Winter Olympics in 20 years.
Skier Mikaela Shiffrin was attempting multiple gold medals, but she finished with one gold and one silver — and also yielded her 2014 slalom title, vomiting in the process.
Highly decorated fellow skier Lindsey Vonn, in her Olympic farewell, had to settle for bronze in the downhill and finished sixth in the super-G.
Speed skater Heather Bergsma, another American heavily fancied for gold, finished well outside the medal places in all three of her individual events.
By Wednesday morning South Korean time, with five days of competition to go, America were sixth on the medals table with five golds.
After the early excitement of the 17-year-old snowboarders Red Gerard and Chloe Kim each winning gold, American media were growing alarmed.
But at its darkest hour, Team USA struck gold.
Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randall pulled off a shock win in the women’s team sprint free, becoming the first Americans to win an Olympic cross-country event.
David Wise, after falling twice, produced a clutch final run to win the freestyle skiing half-pipe.
And then the crowning moment, when the US women’s ice hockey team beat four-time defending champions and arch-rivals Canada 3-2 in a dramatic penalties shootout.
Team USA consequently jumped up to fourth in the medals table with eight golds — five of them won by women.
— AFP
6.45pm: Good, not quite great Aussie Winter Games
COMMENT
Glenn Cullen, AAP
The fact Australia is one podium finish away from its biggest medal haul at a Winter Olympics speaks in part about the external factors that come into play in snow sports.
Lots of judged elements, crashes caused by others and a brutal injury toll can all weigh on performances.
On another day and before different judges, aerial skier David Morris could have taken that medal.
If only Belle Brockhoff hadn’t had a recent knee operation — she looked in the kind of form to finish first or second in PyeongChanng a year ago. But Australia’s tally of two silver and a bronze also speaks for the fact expectations are now higher than ever and in terms of medals this will probably finish one short of a strong result.
The 2010 and 2014 Games each delivered three medals and with five logged at the 2017 freestyle skiing and snowboarding world championships, four podium finishes at these Olympics looked quite achievable.
He may have only taken bronze but Scotty James finishes as the Australian star in PyeongChang: knowing when to give an opinion, understanding when to hold back and then going on to deliver one of the spectacles of the Games in the snowboard half-pipe.
Matt Graham, 23, skied well to grab silver in moguls and like James with Shaun White, was in the queue behind the greatest athlete his sport has seen in Mikael Kingsbury.
No shame there.
Snowboard cross has exceptional depth in Australia and the group was rewarded with a silver to Jarryd Hughes.
For all the talk about a fractured relationship with teammate Alex Pullin — and clearly there was and is one — the coaching structure works well as evidenced by having three men finishing in the top 10.
Adam Lambert, 20, crashed out in his first heat but good judges suggest he may ultimately may yet go on to be the best of the group.
But there were also disappointments.
The aerial skiing team — so often the bedrock of Australian winter sports performance — couldn’t jag a medal.
It was the first time since 1998 and with Lydia Lassila’s retirement, Morris no sure thing to continue and no full-time development program in the sport there may be more fallow Games to come.
Moguls skier Britt Cox, who had the most dominant season of any Australian athlete in winter sports in 2016/17 with seven wins and a world championship, just couldn’t bring that form into this season and finished fifth. Jakara Anthony’s fourth — a best result for the 19 year-old, suggests good things to come.
Elsewhere there were hits and misses and sometimes at the same time. Snowboarder Tess Coady tore her ACL in the slopestyle while teammate Jess Rich hobbled into the big air. Slopestyle skier Russ Henshaw couldn’t use the stairs before his competition; Anton Grimus fractured his clavicle in ski cross. It was situation normal in sliding sports; the investment required to make them successful looks to be a bridge too far, Australia’s dalliance with a program in skeleton over some years ago.
Figure skating was solid if not spectacular; perhaps people misunderstanding where Harley Windsor and Ekatarina Alexandrovskaya were actually at in the senior levels of the sport.
Yet as world junior champions there’s every suggestion they could go on to achieve a best ever Games result for Australia in years to come. With just the weekend to go and no more medals in sight, this is where Australia should finish.
That’s good but no great — and given New Zealand has the top qualifier for the men’s snowboard big air on Saturday, there’s some chance the Kiwis could top us on the medal tally for the first time since 1992.
It’s another external factor the Australians can’t control but one that would hurt nonetheless.
5.30pm: Craine’s mixed Olympics debut
Slight errors on two of her jumps mean Kailani Craine has been unable to gain on her figure skating rivals in the Winter Olympics women’s program. The Australian went into Friday’s free skate 16th after a solid short short program, but dropped one place after under-rotating a triple lutz and triple salchow on an otherwise clean skate.
She was scored 111.84 for her free skate for a total of 168.6, almost 71 points behind Olympic Athlete From Russia gold medallist Alina Zagitova in PyeongChang. Evgenia Medvedeva, also under the Olympic Athlete From Russia banner, claimed silver with a 238.26 total and Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond bronze (231.02). A 19-year-old Olympic debutant with a second-tier Nebelhorn Trophy title to her name, Craine could not generate enough points to threaten the top 10 when she went for safety with her short program.
Her free skate was more daring as she combined additional variations of triples, earning a strong technical score of 57.89.
But her components’ score (53.95), including aspects such as transitions, composition and interpretation of the music, was at the lower end of the scale. Craine’s 17th placing wraps up an Australia’s figure-skating campaign in which Brendan Kerry finished 20th in the men’s event and Harley Windsor and Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya 18th in the pairs.
AAP
5pm: ‘This flag means we are all one’
A group of high school students plan to keep their new flags all their lives, as a souvenir of this historic political and Olympic moment that they traveled across their nation to witness. They joined thousands of others at a women’s hockey game, waving their unified Korean flags - white rectangles with the light-blue silhouette of the Korean Peninsula, the North and South together.
“This flag means we are all one,” 19-year-old Kim Na Yeon said of this seemingly simple expression hope, of the power of sport to transcend dangerous political friction and bring the world together for two weeks every two years. Except: The teenagers point to tiny blue dots, no bigger than strawberry seeds, off to the right.
The spots represent a group of islands controlled by South Korea but also claimed by Japan. Their inclusion on this flag delights the Korean teenagers and infuriates the Japanese government.
These barely visible yet controversial specks - erased on the version approved by the International Olympic Committee - embody the delicate dance Olympic organizers must do to manage the political implications of the flags that represent each nation.
They are piece of cloth, yes - rectangular symbols. But embedded in its threads, the cloth carries generations of political baggage and competing interests.
AP
4pm: Russian one-two in figure skating
It’s a one-two finish for Olympic Athletes from Russia in the women’s figure skating, with with 15-year-old Alina Zagitova edging 18-year-old Evgenia Medvedeva by just 1.31 points to win the gold medal.
Zagitova and Medvedeva had identical scores of 156.65 for their flawless free skates, with only their short program separating the skaters. Zagitova finished with a total of 239.57 to win gold from her friend and training partner Medvedeva (238.26) and Canadian bronze medallist Kaetlyn Osmond (231.02).
In her Olympics debut, Australia’s Kailani Craine finished in 17th overall with a season’s best total score of 168.61.
STUNNING. Just...stunning.
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
15-year-old Alina Zagitova dazzles in free skate for an AMAZING 156.65 points 🔥🔥🔥#Olympics pic.twitter.com/si4IvKFyRP
3.38pm: Bronze medal goes to Norweigans
Norwegian pair Magnus Nedregotten und Kristin Skaslien should get the reallocated mixed doubles curling bronze medal before Sunday’s end of the Pyeongchang Winter Games, International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said.
“We are still working on the modalities,” Adams told reporters today, adding he was “confident” that the Norwegians would get their medals before the closing ceremony.
Nedregotten and Skaslien are set to get bronze after the original third-place finishers, Olympic Athlete from Russia Alexandr Krushelnitckii and his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova, were disqualified after Krushelnitckii failed two doping tests.
The reallocation could take at the curling venue or at the medals plaza along with ceremonies for other events. It would also be theoretically possible at the closing ceremony.
The IOC aims to redistribute the medals in an appropriate setting as most of past reallocations — mainly over doping cases — have taken place outside the Games.
The curling bronze would be the first reallocation during Olympics. Last year the ruling athletics body IAAF reallocated medals from past world championships during its worlds in London, with athletes getting their new medals on the podium and in a full stadium.
— DPA
3.15pm: Greig back on the ice tonight
Australia’s Daniel Greig is our sole representative in the men’s 1,000m speed skating, to begin at 9pm (AEDT).
The Australian record holder in the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m, Greig was 21st in the 500m last week and will be hoping to improve in the longer event.
While the Dutch dominate in speedskating, they did not win gold medals in the team pursuit. They will, however, have a three-pronged attack on the event, with Kjed Nuis, Kai Verbij and Koen Verweij all considered strong medal chances.
Expect to see a lot of orange in the stands as their enthusiastic fans wave the color of their royal family.
Also in action in the event is US star Shani Davis, the first African-American to make the US speedskating team and a gold medal winner at this distance in 2006 and 2010.
Davis, however, has been more prominent at these Olympics for what’s happened off the ice. He strongly criticised team officials when he lost a coin toss with luger Erin Hamlin to be the US flagbearer for the opening ceremony.
The coin toss happened after they tied 4-4 in a vote by fellow athletes.
A tweet from Davis’s Twitter account said Team USA “dishonorably” used the coin toss to make the decision and he added the #BlackHistoryMonth2018 hashtag. Davis is black and Hamlin is white.
Another tweet from Davis’s account a few hours after the opening ceremony read: “It has been such an honor to have represented the greatest, most diverse country in the world at the last five Winter Games during the same month as #blackhistorymonth #goTeamUSA Watch ‘Origins of Black History Month.”’
Davis has since made his Twitter account private.
2.30pm: Who’ll win figure skating gold?
With Australia’s Kailani Craine having completed her figure skating free skate with a season’s best combined score of 168.61, our eyes now turn to the battle for the medals.
The Russians have a good shot at winning their first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics when teenager figure skaters Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva take to the ice later this afternoon.
Zagitova and Medvedeva were in first and second place, respectively, after the women’s short program, where they had the highest scores ever. First, Medvedeva broke the record she’d set the week before during the team competition, then Zagitova broke that record.
Americans Bradie Tennell, Mirai Nagasu and Karen Chen are unlikely to medal after struggling in their short programs.
— AP
1.50pm: Broken pole strap costs Aussie
A broken pole strap was behind a horror start which cost Australia’s Sami Kennedy-Sim a chance to force her way into the final of the women’s ski cross.
Speaking to Channel 7 after her fourth in the small final for an overall eighth-place finish, Kennedy-Sim revealed her disappointment at the malfunction which saw left her trailing the field in her semi.
“My pole strap broke and my thumb got stuck in the start gate. And that is a perfect demonstration of why skiers squat, why we’re really really strong. We spend a lot of time in the gym to make it up that steep Wu-Tang face and continue on,” she said.
“There was about 25 seconds there that I thought I was going to catch them again ... just had a couple of little mistakes and narrowly missing the Swede when she fell over. All you can do is try all the way to the finish line and that’s what I did.”
"All you can do is try all the way to the finishing line, and that's what I did!"
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
A broken pole strap busted her start in the semi, but #AUS @samikennedysim powered on anyway.
Great effort, Sami ðŸ‘#PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/nsqe4ibWto
1.38pm: Hollywood legend’s support for Craine
Australia’s Kailani Craine has moved into fourth overall in the women’s figure skating after her free program scored 111.84 points for a total of 168.61.
It’s a new season-best score for Craine, who skated to the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge, earning a special mention from acclaimed director Baz Luhrmann in the process.
Best wishes from the whole #MoulinRouge team for @kailanicraine, our Aussie contender at @pyeongchang2018! 🇦🇺⛸ #pyeongchang2018
— Baz Luhrmann (@bazluhrmann) February 23, 2018
In a mistake-free performance in her Olympic debut, 19-year-old Craine earned 57.89 for technical elements and 53.95 for her presentation, with no points deducted.
Take a bow, @kailanicraine!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
So much joy, intensity and passion 🇦🇺💫
She scores 111.84 in the free skate, goes into fourth place#Olympics pic.twitter.com/YSubGd32n8
Kazakhstan’s Elizabet Tursynbaeva currently leads the competition with a 177.12 total, but most of the medal favourites are yet to hit the ice.
They include Russian rivals Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva, the friends and training partners who go onto the ice today with a slender 1.13 points between them following the short program.
1.25pm: Kennedy-Sim eighth
Australia’s Sami Kennedy-Sim has finished officially eighth in the women’s ski cross after a fourth-place finish in the small final.
After bungling the start in her semi-final, Kennedy-Sim came out with her rivals and by halfway through the course had moved into second position.
Eighth overall for #AUS @samikennedysim!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
Great effort from the Aussie, with #FRA Baron, #SWE Andersson and #SUI Luedi taking 4th - 7th overall.#PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/eJEUcojr0A
She dropped back to third in the closing stages and in a blanket finish found herself fourth of the four competitors at the finish.
Canada dominated the big final with a one-two finish, with Kelsey Serwa taking gold and Brittany Phelan taking silver from Swiss bronze medallist Fanny Smith.
Serwa’s gold adds to the silver medal she won in the same event in Sochi in 2014.
Oh #CAN-A-DAAAA! #CAN @kelseyserwa and @britt_phelan take #gold and #silver with #SUI @SmithFanny in #bronze.
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
An unbelievable display of skiing.#PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/WOHxPDG1R9
1.05pm: Kennedy-Sim out after bungled start
It was over before it started for Australia’s Sami Kennedy-Sim in the women’s ski cross semi-final.
Aiming for a top two position in her semi to earn a chance at a medal in the big final, Kennedy-Sim bungled the first jump and found herself in a distant last position in the four-woman field.
Semifinal one is done, and it's #SWE Naeslund and #SUI Smith who move into medal contention.#AUS @samikennedysim fought back valiantly but she's finished third to move into the small final. #PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/0Dcf2T1gwx
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
As world champion Sandra Naeslund and Switzerland’s Fanny Smith cleared out in front, Kennedy-Sim moved into third after a fall from Sweden’s Lisa Anderson.
But Naeslund and Smith made no mistakes in the run to the line earn their place in the medal round.
Kennedy-Sim will have to content herself with a spot in the small final, in which the skiers will race for positions 5-8.
It's a #CAN 1-2 in semifinal two!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
The big final is set and it's #CAN Kerwa, #CAN Phelan, #SWE Naeslund and #SUI Smith who'll be racing for #gold, #silver and #bronze. #AUS @samikennedysim, #FRA Baron, #SUI Luedi and #SWE Andersson to race for 5-8th. #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/Pu3vsX1bI9
12.41pm: Kennedy-Sim into semis
A great result for Australia, with Sami Kennedy-Sim winning her quarter-final in the women’s ski cross and advancing to the semi-finals.
Ninth seed Kennedy-Sim made a fast start and led throughout, holding off Sweden’s 17th seed Linda Andersson to win comfortably, with eighth seed Andrea Limbacher (Austria) and 16th seed Talina Gantenbein (Switzerland) eliminated.
Kennedy-Sim will earn a chance at a medal if she can finish in the top two in her upcoming semi-final.
You beauty! #AUS @samikennedysim through to the semifinals after finishing 1st in the quarterfinal!#SWE Andersson joins her in the semis.#FreestyleSkiing #PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/JLW77gOEsR
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
12.29pm: Pixner through by a pixel
While the heats were easy work for Australia’s Sami Kennedy-Sim, it was far from that for Italy’s Debora Pixner, who very nearly through away a quarter-final berth in heat five of the women’s ski cross.
Comfortably in second position coming into the final jump, Pixner competely misjudged her landing and fell as she approached the finish line.
What a finish! #ITA Pixner has a massive stack over the line and JUST edges out #OAR Zavadovskaya who was charging home. #PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/UnoJhFd93l
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
Her momentum from the heavy fall was enough to carry her over the line just a metre ahead of Olympic Athlete from Russia Victoria Zavadovskaya, when it seemed just seconds earlier she’d cruise home in second place.
There was also a delay after heat six, with Canada’s India Sherret coming down heavily and failing to finish.
Another crash! #CAN Sherret hits the snow hard, seeing #GBR Sarsfield fly through to second with #FRA Baron first. #PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/UaY20QdxgW
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
12.08pm: Easy work for Kennedy-Sim
Sami Kennedy-Sim is through to the quarter-finals of the women’s ski cross ... and she’ll never have an easier passage than she did in her heat today.
Kennedy-Sim, the ninth fastest qualifier from yesterday’s seeding round, was drawn with eight-ranked Canadian Andrea Limbacher and injured Italian Lucrezia Fantelli, who took no part in seeding and as a result was the 24th and final seed.
With Fantelli again unable to participate today, that left just Kennedy-Sim and Limbacher contesting the heat ... and with the top two qualifiers advancing to the final, they needed only make it down the hill to advance to the final 16 of the competition.
Kennedy-Sim led early in the heat before conceding to Limbacher, both skiers taking it nice and easy in the run to the line.
#AUS @samikennedysim is through to the quarterfinals!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
With only two competitors in the race, Sami and #AUT Limbacher progress at an easy pace.#PyeongChang2018 #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/oxux0gtfwo
11.35am: All about the dresses for Kailani
For Kailani Craine, getting into figure skating wasn’t about gold medals — it was all about the dresses.
Speaking to Channel 7 in the lead-up to her women’s figure skating free program appearance today (event starts at 12pm AEDT), Craine said an invitation to an ice rink birthday party provided her introduction to the ice.
“I first got into figure skating in 2007. I went to a birthday party and I just wanted to pick up lessons straight away,” she said.
“Honestly, what drew me in at that age was the dresses. I loved getting new dresses! That was my favourite part of it, it was a brand new dress and walk into the birthday party and I had this beautiful — I remember exactly what it was like, it was purple and it had a black skirt, had a little bit of glitter on it — I just felt amazing.”
At 19, Craine’s best years are still ahead of her. As the 16th ranked qualifier for today’s free program, she’s not expected to medal today but just being at PyeongChang in 2018 already exceeds her wildest dreams.
“I would love to have always gone to the Olympics but I didn’t see myself being able to compete against ladies like that.,” Craine said.
“I mean, they’re amazing. I was just watching some home videos of myself the other day and just, it makes me cry to see how far I’ve come ... the fact that I will be a part of it is just absolutely incredible.”
Craine’s social media following is already off the charts. She has 135,000 followers on Instagram and no doubt that will continue to rise after her appearance on the ice today.
“I’m 19 now and I have an amazing social media following, especially on Instagram,” she said.
“My friends don’t really understand, they’re like ‘oh you’re like kind of secretly famous’, especially when they introduce me to people. They kind of just know me as the girl that has a lot of Instagram followers.”
Day 14 at the #Olympics and it's two #AUS athletes who headline the action at #PyeongChang2018.#Figureskating star @kailanicraine takes to the ice for the ladies' free skate, while @samikennedysim braves the slopes in the ladies' #freestyleskiing ski cross! #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/viBm2FGppm
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 23, 2018
10.25am: Trump congratulates ice hockey team
US President Donald Trump is known to watch a lot of television ... and while the Winter Olympics doesn’t seem to have taken his fancy in the past two weeks, he’s obviously a big ice hockey fan.
“On behalf of an entire nation”, Trump yesterday tweeted his congratulations to the USA women’s ice hockey team for their gold medal performance.
On behalf of an entire Nation, CONGRATULATIONS to the U.S. Women's Hockey Team on winning the GOLD! #GoTeamUSA #Olympics pic.twitter.com/3cUZwLVGua
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
The American women defeated Canada 3-2 yesterday to win the a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games.
Canada had won the past four Olympic gold medals, including four years ago in Sochi, Russia, when the team rallied from a two-goal deficit to shock the Americans.
Trump has said little about the Winter Olympics. He is sending Ivanka Trump, his daughter and senior White House adviser, to represent the US at Sunday’s closing ceremony.
9.50am: Happy ending for unlucky Brit
Briton Elise Christie’s wretched Pyeonchang Olympics ended on a high when her boyfriend helped Hungary make history with their first Winter Games gold on Thursday.
Christie was dubbed Britain’s unluckiest Olympian after the short track speed skate world champion crashed twice and was penalised to pile on the misery following her three Sochi 2014 disqualifications.
But her woes were swept away as with her right foot in a cast she climbed over the side barrier to embrace boyfriend Sandor Liu Shaolin after he was part of the four-man Hungary team that won 5,000m relay gold.
Hungary — Csaba Burjan, Victor Knoch, Shaoang Liu and his older brother, Christie’s partner Sandor — did it in style, setting a new Olympic record of 6min 34.510sec.
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º Hungary took out the Men's 5,000m Relay in incredible fashion.
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 22, 2018
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º 🥇
🇨🇳 🥈
🇨🇦 🥉#Pyeongchang2018 pic.twitter.com/NC4wqpvOYq
— AFP
9.17am: James goes back to school
One Australian who won’t be at Sunday’s 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony is bronze medal-winning snowboarder Scotty James, who is already back in the country and giving back to the people who helped get him to Seoul in the first place.
James yesterday visited students at his old school, Tintern Grammar, located in the suburb of Ringwood East, about 30km to the east of Melbourne’s CBD.
James picked up another medal while at Tintern Grammar — the school made him a gold medallist in the “Person Reflecting The Tintern Compass” for displaying the school’s values and being an ambassador on the world stage.
8.38am: Kiwi 16-year-olds create history
After going 26 years without a Winter Olympics medal, rugby-mad New Zealand toasted a pair of fresh-faced schoolchildren on Thursday as they captured bronze in snowboard and freestyle skiing.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous, both 16, reached the podium to emulate countrywoman Annelise Coberger, who skied her way to a silver medal in slalom in 1992 — well before they were born.
At 16 years and 353 days, Sadowski-Synnott became New Zealand’s youngest Olympic medallist after finishing third behind Austria’s Anna Gasser and American Jamie Anderson in yesterday’s inaugural snowboard Big Air competition.
But with social media in New Zealand already fritzing out over Sadowski-Synnott’s feat, along came Porteous to break the age record again in the men’s freestyle ski halfpipe a little over an hour later.
After watching team-mate Byron Wells tumble out, Porteous vomited as the nerves got to him. But a superb run put the teenager right in the thick of it.
American David Wise won the gold with a clutch final run from countryman Alex Ferreira, but Porteous claimed bronze at 16 years and 91 days — and broke the internet back home all over again.
“That was the best run I’ve ever done in my life. For me to do the two best runs of my life back to back, that’s insane,” Porteous said.
— AFP
8am: Germany’s record gold haul
So much for that stoic, businesslike reputation that seems to follow German athletes. At the Pyeongchang Olympics, they’re letting the emotions fly.
And for good reason, too.
The struggles of Sochi 2014 are forgotten for the Germans, who already have 13 gold medals at Pyeongchang — the most that the country has ever claimed at a Winter Games — and are heading into the final weekend of Olympic competition second behind only Norway in the overall medal standings with 25 total medals.
“I don’t know what to say,” said biathlete Laura Dahlmeier, already a winner of three medals for Germany in Pyeongchang. “Woo-hoo!” That sentiment needs no translation.
It’s not like the Germans embarrassed themselves in Sochi, where they won eight golds and finished sixth in the overall medal standings — at an Olympics where the real medal numbers are undeniably skewed by the Russian doping scandal. But the Germans came to Pyeongchang seeking redemption anyway, and they’ve delivered.
No matter what happens in four-man bobsled this weekend, Germany will leave the sliding track with at least as many golds — no fewer than five — as the rest of the world won in skeleton, luge and bobsled combined. They’ve won six medals in biathlon and five more in Nordic combined, both of those totals better than any other country in these games.
— AP
7.20am: Vonn’s emotional farewell
Lindsey Vonn came to South Korea with the goal of taking home an Olympic medal and leaving something even more special behind. She did both.
The American ski great said yesterday she recently scattered some of the ashes of her grandfather, who served during the Korean War, on a rock near the mountain where the downhill races were run.
“I know that it would mean a lot to him to be back here, a part of him is in South Korea always,” Vonn said.
Vonn said she sprayed parts of Don Kildow’s ashes “just a few days ago” on a rock that she was told was special when she visited South Korea last year to be named a PyeongChang Olympic ambassador. She described the location as “right by the men’s downhill start.”
Vonn burst into tears when she was asked about her grandfather during a news conference in PyeongChang this month before the Olympics. He died in November.
“I miss him so much,” she said. “He’s been such a big part of my life. And I really had hoped that he would be alive to see me (at this year’s Olympics). But I know he’s watching, and I know that he’s going to help me and I’m going to win for him.”
Vonn won a bronze medal in the downhill, but skied out of yesterday’s slalom leg of the Alpine combined in what was likely her last Olympic race.
Later in the day, a group of elderly South Korean men gave her family some gifts and a letter of thanks to mark her grandfather’s service during the 1950-53 Korean War.
“To be able to race for him in these Olympics was very special for me. And I tried everything I could to win for him,” Vonn said. “I got a bronze, which, you know, to me was very special. And I think he would be proud of that.”
— AP
7.15am: Bobsleigh team cleared after crash
Australia’s four-man bobsleigh team have been cleared to compete after crashing in training but there was no surprise when a Russian curler was stripped of his PyeongChang bronze medal for doping.
The Australian team — consisting of driver Lucas Mata, David Mari, Lachlan Reidy and Hayden Smith — made a mistake entering corner 12 of the track, resulting in their sled tipping over into corner 15.
The sledders suffered ice burns and scrapes but passed medical tests to return to the track on Friday for their final two training heats.
The sled took on only cosmetic damage ahead of Saturday’s competition, where Australia will chase their best four-man result since finishing 20th at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
7.10am: Plot thickens over Russian curler
Alexander Krushelnitsky, who took mixed curling bronze with his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova last week, has been sanctioned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and his case could now impact Russian athletes’ hopes of marching under their own flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony.
Russians competing in South Korea have done so under the Olympic flag after the country’s Olympic committee was suspended because of widespread doping.
Krushelnitsky and his wife have already flown back to Moscow but attendees at Sunday’s showpiece should include a North Korean delegation as relations with the South continue to thaw as a result of the Games.
— AAP
7.05am: Upsets galore on Thursday
Swiss skier Michelle Gisin snatched Olympic combined gold amid a slew of unexpected winners yesterday.
Gisin has never won on the World Cup circuit but left US star Mikaela Shiffrin in second place while Lindsey Vonn skied out in what is set to be her final individual Winter Games race.
The shrieks of victory and disappointment.
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 22, 2018
🇨ðŸ‡Michelle Gisin reigned supreme in the ladies' alpine combined, whilst 🇺🇸 @lindseyvonn's extraordinary career ended in tears. #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/b7A8rFli6G
Gisin’s older sister Dominique, now retired, won downhill gold in Sochi four years ago and was on hand to look after her 24-year-old sibling following a crash in the finish area in Thursday’s downhill.
“She helped me a lot. She put me to bed, took my phone away, answered the urgent messages, organised my physio,” the younger Gisin said.
“So I really had no stress at all.”
There was also an unexpected result in the men’s alpine skiing slalom with favourite Marcel Hirscher, seeking a third gold in South Korea, skiing out and allowing Sweden’s Andre Myhrer to become the oldest Olympic gold medallist in the discipline at 35.
ICYMI: In a massive upset the oldest men's slalom competitor 🇸🇪 Andre Myhrer gets gold 🥇!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 22, 2018
🥈🇨🇠Ramon Zenhaeusern 🥉 🇦🇹 Michael Matt #PyeongChang2018 #AlpineSkiing pic.twitter.com/Uww2fPWLWS
Belarus grabbed a first-ever Olympic women’s biathlon relay medal but it was a fourth career Games gold for Darya Domracheva.
What a moment for Belarus! 🇧🇾
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 22, 2018
They win 🥇 in the women's #biathlon relay. Sweden take 🥈 and France 🥉#PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/ECpiJzQvpy
China won its first gold in the men’s 500m short-track speed skating when Wu Dajing broke his own world record and Suzanne Schulting took gold in the women’s 1000m for the Netherlands.
Hungary then followed that up by claiming a first speed skating medal when their foursome triumphed in the men’s short track 5000m relay.
WHAT A FINAL!
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) February 22, 2018
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º Hungary take out the Men's 5,000m Relay in incredible fashion.
ðŸ‡ðŸ‡º 🥇
🇨🇳 🥈
🇨🇦 🥉#pyeongchang2018 #ShortTrack pic.twitter.com/UdSHKNs0f1
The United States defeated Canada 3-2 following a shootout in the final of the women’s ice hockey, ending a run of four straight golds for Canada, who had beaten the US in three of the last four finals.
— AAP
7am: Day 14 — Aussies to watch
(All times AEDT)
FIGURE SKATING
• 12pm: Kailani Craine (women’s free skating)
FREESTYLE SKIING
• 12pm: Sami Kennedy-Sim (women’s ski cross)
SPEED SKATING
• 9pm: Daniel Greig (men’s 1,000m)
Magnay gets gong despite freeze
Jacquelin Magnay was awarded the Harry Gordon Memorial Award for Olympic Journalism at the AGM.
Mogul Matt eager to improve
Matt Graham is already plotting the downfall of Olympic champion Mikael Kingsbury.