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Winter Olympics 2018 Day 3 live coverage: Matt Graham takes silver

Australia’s Matt Graham has taken moguls silver as Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury proved why he’s the world’s best to take gold.

Nicole Jeffery and Paul Johnson
22 min read
1:12AMFebruary 13, 2018.
Updated 1:24AMFebruary 13, 2018
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(L-R) Australia's Matt Graham, Canada's Mikael Kingsbury and Japan's Daichi Hara celebrate on the podium during the victory ceremony after the men's moguls final. Picture: AFP
(L-R) Australia's Matt Graham, Canada's Mikael Kingsbury and Japan's Daichi Hara celebrate on the podium during the victory ceremony after the men's moguls final. Picture: AFP

1.03pm: Hard work pays off for Aussie Olympic medalist

Matt Graham has claimed Australia’s first medal of this Winter Olympics with a silver in the men’s moguls behind Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury who nailed a flawless performance to claim the gold medal four years after winning the silver in Sochi. Japan’s Daichi Hara (82.19) claimed the bronze.

Graham, who’s first sporting dream was to be an Olympic sailor, said he was “just really happy to put it down when it counted’’.

“I was skiing a different line to most people so it stayed really nice and I was able to execute the plan. It’s a lot of hard years coming to fruition tonight.

“It’s a whole life of of hard work and it comes down to 25 seconds and one bad turn and you could be out of it. “A lot of big guys went down, a couple of Japanese guys, the

Kazakhstan guy and the course is quite challenging, really catchy today so I was just watching them go down and thinking, just put it down, keep it smooth and you will be through.”

He paid tribute to his coach Steve Desovich, who has masterminded all three Australian medals in this event, and has coached Graham since he was 13.

There was a podium ceremony on the course after the event but Graham won’t receive his medal until the official ceremony tomorrow. “I’m just going to enjoy it and go up there with a big smile on my face and I can’t wait to get that thing around my neck,’’ he said.

He hailed Kingsbury as “the greatest in our sport and one of the greatest sports people in the world’’.

“I put down a run that he couldn’t really afford to make too many mistakes or I would have got him, but he really put it down when it counted and that just goes to show that he’s the greatest, .

“Credit to Mikael, he’s a great friend and a great skier and he’s pushed me so much over my career and I can’t wait for this rivalry to keep going.”

12.21pm: Graham takes silver

Matt Graham has claimed Australia’s first medal of this Winter Olympics with a silver in the men’s moguls.

Graham threw down the gauntlet with a smooth run for a score of 82.57 but he was pipped by arguably the greatest moguls man of all-time as Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury nailed a

flawlessperformance to claim the gold medal four years after winning the

silver in Sochi. Japan’s Daichi Hara (82.19) claimed the bronze.

Australia has now won three medals in four Games in the men’s moguls as Graham follows his mentor Dale Begg-Smith (gold in 2006 and silver in 2010) onto the Olympic podium.

Graham and Kingsbury are close friends and the Canadian has stayed at the Australian’s house on the NSW central coast in past years.

12.15pm: Graham into gold medal position

It was a clean run for Matt Graham as he threw down the gauntlet to the remaining competitors. The 23-year-old from Gosford in control the whole way down the hill to record and 82.57 ansd set it up for a showdown with star Canadian Mikael Kingsbury.

11.59pm: Graham into final six

Matt Graham produced a clean run when all others around him were losing their heads to push himself into the final six of the men’s moguls and a genuine chance to claim Australia’s first medal in PyeongChang.

Graham qualified fourth for the final six with a score of 80.01 to join world No.1 Mikael Kingsbury of Canada, who put down a 82.19 to qualify second with Japan’s Daichi Hara doing best with a score of 82.30

Joining them are America Casey Andrunga, Norweigan Vinjar Slatten and another Canuck Marc-Antoine Gagnon.

Japan’s Sho Endo also crashed out late on after Horishima and Choi crashed heavily.

11.50pm: World Champ Horishima crashes out

And now world champion Ikuma Horishima has gone down as well as the moguls course claims the big names.

11.42pm: Korean hope down in huge crash

Korea’s only hope left in the men’s moguls final Jae-Woo Choi came down in a huge crash off the second jump.

His skis appeared to split as he went up over the ramp and as he rotated sideways off the jump he only managed to land square on his stomach as he hit the snow in what looked like an incredibly painful landing.

11.19pm: Graham gets it going

Matt Graham didn’t muck about in his opening run of the final and put himself directly into the top 12.

The Australian world No.3 went huge from the get go and nailed the second best score of the men’s competition with a strong score if 81.39 points.

Only Japan’s Sho Endo (82.72) put down a better run while gold medal favourite Mikael Kingsbury of Canada went through in fourth place (81.27) after making a small error landing his first jump. Olympic debutant James Matheson, from Sydney, finished 14th (75.98)

and did not progress to the second final (top 12).

After his run Canadian Phillippe Marquis appeared to injure himself midway through his run and pulled out of it.

11.03pm: Matheson goes bigger in final 1

James Matheson put the first run of the final together going for a tremendous backflip with a full twist off the first jump before flying down the course in an improved run to finish with a corkscrew 720.

He recorded a score of 75.98 in front of some of his mates who braved the minus 10.5 degree conditions in Pyeongchang with their shirts off in support of their mate.

Matheson needs to finish top 12 to make the next round.

James Matheson's friends bared the conditions in PyeonChang. Picture: Twitter
James Matheson's friends bared the conditions in PyeonChang. Picture: Twitter

10.01pm: Matheson makes top 20

he had to wait till the final man went down the slopes but James Matheson has held on to make the men’s moguls final.

The 22-year-old put down a 74.61 on his second run and had to watch the last four competitiors try and beat him before he found out he had qualified and edged out Swede Walter Wallberg by .14 points.

There he will join world No.3 Matt Graham but Rohan Chapman-Davies couldn’t, finishing a close 12th.

9.45pm: Summers suffers knee injury

Moguls skier Brodie Summers has become the second Australian athlete to withdraw from Winter Olympics due to a knee injury.

Summers, who had a knee reconstruction last September, passed a fitness test to take his place in the team last week but tweaked his knee in training before the first qualifying round on Friday.

He was advised to withdraw from the first qualifier to give his knee further time to recover but he was forced out of the second qualifying round tonight.

After an on-snow assessment before the competition, Summers decided he did not have enough mobility to compete and he did not want to risk further injury.

Teenaged snowboarder Tess Coady was withdrawn from the national team yesterday after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in training before the slope style qualification

9.33pm: Matheson throws down solid run

Rohan Chapman-Davies has led off the Aussie men’s adsault on the moguls in the second qualification round and failed to improve one his ranking of seventh with the top 10 going through to the finals.

Early on he looks unlikely to hold on and make the final after a fairly messy run through the middle of the course.

Fellow Aussie James Matheson then went out and put down a very solid run and while his time of 27.88 seconds was slow his technique through the run was rewarded as the 22-year-old moved himself into eighth, one spot ahead of Chapman-Davies.

8.11pm: Koreas have to sort themselves out now

President Thomas Bach says the IOC has done its part getting North Korea and South Korea together at the Pyeongchang Olympics. He says it’s “now up to the political side to use this momentum” generated from having both Koreas competing with and against each other in the chilly mountains of South Korea.

The unified Korean team gathers in a group before the women's preliminary round ice hockey match between Switzerland and the Unified Korean team during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic. Picture: AFP
The unified Korean team gathers in a group before the women's preliminary round ice hockey match between Switzerland and the Unified Korean team during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic. Picture: AFP

Speaking at The Associated Press office at the Olympics, Bach acknowledged that “sport cannot create peace. We cannot lead their political negotiation. We have sent this message that negotiations can lead to a positive result.” Bach says he’s hopeful the detente continues “after the Olympic flame has been extinguished” during the closing ceremony on Feb. 25.

Bach has been emotional about the Koreas and their presence together. He was born in West Germany and won a gold medal in fencing for a divided Germany. Bach says “now it’s for politics to take over.”

7.38pm: Sorrow shadows success for Russians

Russian Olympic figure skating team captain Ekaterina Bobrova paid an emotional tribute to the 71 victims of a plane crash near Moscow, saying that despite securing a silver medal “it’s a dark day for us”.

The 27-year-old led the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) to silver in the team event behind Canada, their second medal of the Games.

“For me it’s difficult to say the following as we are very happy that we won but in our country there was an air crash last night - 71 people perished,” she told AP.

Her voice cracking she continued: “As team captain and on behalf of all the coaches I would like to convey my sincere condolences to the families, it’s a great sorrow for our country.

“With this tragedy it’s a dark day for us, a day of sorrow.”

5.50pm: Triple treat

Russian Alina Zagitova won the women’s free skate, topping even her performance in taking the European title last month with a season-best 158.08 points - more than 20 ahead of American Mirai Nagasu.

Nagasu had a personal-best 137.53 points, narrowly edging Canada’s Gabrielle Daleman, who had 137.14, for third. Nagasu became just the third woman to land a triple axel at the Olympics, and the first American woman.

5.40pm: More from the halfpipe

5.20pm: Ice (cream) in her veins

Halfpipe star Chloe Kim set Twitter ablaze when she mentioned she’d like a cold treat ... while she was moments away from competition.

Korean-American Kim is heavy favourite in this event, and she duly delivered in her first run, notching a score of 91.5 to lead China’s Liu Jiayu (87.75) and fellow American Maddie Mastro (83.75).

She backed it up with a 95.5 to qualify for the final in top spot.

Australia’s Emily Arthur also advanced, scoring 66.5 on her second run to finish eighth out of the top 12 to progress. Fellow Australian Holly Crawford just missed out, placing 13th with a best score of 57.50.

Kim couldn’t compete in Sochi because she was too young. Just 17, she is the only X Games athlete to win three gold medals before the age of 16.

4.55pm: Organisers face hard questions

Numerous falls in the women’s slopestyle snowboarding event have raised the question as to whether the event should have gone ahead in the vicious winds that dominated the event

Britain’s Aimee Fuller, who finished down in 17th after crashing, called it some of the toughest conditions she had competed in and said she had “no chance” of landing her last jump when she was caught by one strong gust.

Laurie Blouin with her black eye. Picture: Getty
Laurie Blouin with her black eye. Picture: Getty

“Conditions today were definitely a challenge. It was for sure not what I wanted, not what I expected, not what I dreamed of for my Olympic final,” said the 26-year-old, who was unhurt in the fall.

“There were huge gusts of wind -- I’ve decided to call it the Pyeongchang Gust. “Unfortunately it wasn’t the best day for our sport. Some people got lucky -- and I didn’t.”

In the build-up, Britain’s Katie Ormerod and Australian Tess Coady both suffered competition-ending injuries on the slopestyle course, which features high rails and huge jumps to negotiate in the swirling winds.

When the delayed competition finally got under way, a number of athletes hit the deck before Anderson, Blouin -- who sported a black eye -- and Rukajarvi filled the podium.

It came a day after 17-year-old Coady, the youngest member of the Australian team in South Korea, was forced out after wrecking her left knee in training.

Coady ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), ending her first taste of an Olympics and leaving her facing several months on the sidelines.

The young Australian blamed the wind for the crash, writing on Instagram: “Well Olympics came to a screeching halt today for me... got picked up in the wind on the bottom jump in practice and my ACL was not a big fan!” Ormerod was sidelined after breaking her heel in training -- after earlier fracturing her wrist on the Pyeongchang course.

4.30pm: ‘A win for determination’

Ice dance stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir inspired Canada to the figure skating team title to secure the Winter Games heavyweights’ first gold at these Games.

The Russians, with their teenage ice starlets Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova, took their first silver of the Games. The US team were third.

The Canadian, featuring dual 2014 silver medallist Patrick Chan, fulfilled their promise as favourites to beat Olympic Athletes from Russia, after coming second to the 2014 Games host nation in Sochi.

They took command on Friday, despite Chan tumbling in his men’s short program. Competing in their third Olympics, Virtue and Moir earned a maximum 10 points for their short program, and matched that in the concluding free with an exhilarating four-and-a-half minute performance to the music of Moulin Rouge.

Canada finished on 73 points, with OAR on 66 and the US a further four points behind.

Three-time ex world champion Chan said “determination” was the added ingredient that had made the difference between Sochi silver and Korean gold.

“We had determination this time around. We saw the potential we had in Sochi and didn’t capitalise on it. This time we really want to nail it into the coffin and win this thing.”

Italy came in fourth with Japan last of the five that went through to the final five segments of the competition which was held over three days.

4.10pm: Kiwi’s brave showing

New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has finished 13th in a crash-filled women’s slopestyle at the Winter Olympics.

The 16-year-old made several mistakes on her two efforts, scoring 26.7 and 48.38 in heavy winds as only a small number of the 25 riders were able to land their runs in a poor advertisement for the sport.

American Jamie Anderson took gold with a best run awarded 83 points, ahead of silver medallist Laurie Blouin of Canada and Finn bronze winner Enni Rukajarvi, a day after qualification was cancelled and all riders progressed to the final.

New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in action. Picture: Getty
New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in action. Picture: Getty

4pm: Overtime required?

It’s only Day 3, but the International Olympic Committee is already getting asked if the PyeongChang Games will have to be extended.

High winds have postponed the first two Alpine events. The games close Feb. 25 — almost two weeks away.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams laughed at the notion of an extension. He says, “There’s plenty of time. There’s reserved space in the competition. It’s just a touch premature at this stage.” Adams describes the delays as typical for Alpine skiing. He says the IOC would never “take a decision that would put into jeopardy the safety of athletes.” Organising committee spokesman Sung Baik-you says the frigid temperatures and gusty winds will moderate later in the week.

3.40pm: Back-to-back gold

Jamie Anderson defended her title in Olympic women’s slopestyle snowboarding, surviving blustery and treacherous conditions at Phoenix Snow Park to give the US its second gold medal.

Anderson was one of the few riders in the final to navigate the tricky series of rails and jumps safely as the wind wreaked havoc on the field. She posted a score of 83.00 in the first of her two runs, then watched it hold up as rider after rider either crashed or bailed.

Even Anderson wasn’t immune. She washed out in her second run with the gold medal already wrapped up. Laurie Blouin of Canada finished second, with Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi third. Anderson is the first woman to win multiple gold medals in women’s snowboarding at the Olympics.

3.30pm: Pence tries to clear air with US athlete

Adam Rippon said he would be prepared to meet US Vice President Mike Pence after making history on Monday when he became the first openly gay US man to compete at a Winter Games, AFP reports.

Rippon had criticised the choice of Pence as leader of the US delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

A report in USA Today last week suggested the 28-year-old had rejected an overture from the vice president to discuss Rippon’s accusations that Pence supports gay conversion therapy.

But after pumping the air in exhilaration following his free skate in the figure skating team event Rippon replied “Yes of course” when asked by AFP if he would accept a meeting with Pence.

The American vice president had sought to clear the air with the skater over his perceived homophobic stance when he tweeted his full support to Rippon last Thursday.

“@Adaripp I want you to know we are FOR YOU,” Pence wrote. “Don’t let fake news distract you. I am proud of you and ALL OF OUR GREAT athletes and my only hope for you and all of #TeamUSA is to bring home the gold. Go get ‘em!” Rippon was on cloud nine after his first appearance on ice in his words “finally becoming an Olympian”.

“It felt worth the 28 year wait,” he beamed.”

The winner of the US men’s title in 2016 reached his first US Olympic squad after finishing fourth in this year’s trials.

Mike Pence has tried to sort out a snub by US athlete Adam Rippon.
Mike Pence has tried to sort out a snub by US athlete Adam Rippon.

3pm: Getting better with age

Finland forward Riikka Valila, who followed her brothers into hockey at age seven, is now a mother of three and the oldest women’s hockey player in Olympic history at age 44.

In Finland’s 3-1 opening round-robin loss to the United States on Sunday in their opener, Valila also became the oldest Winter Olympian in Finland history, replacing figure skater Ludowika Jakobsson-Eilers, who was 43 in 1928.

“To be able to do it once again, to be able to do it in that age, I’m very thankful,” Valila said.

“After Sochi, I felt good in my body and I still felt that I can improve, I can be better on the ice. I don’t have to prove anything to myself or anybody else. I just enjoy playing ... I’m getting better and I can help the team.

“After this season is over, if everything feels good, then I continue.”

Valila, who has played on six bronze-medal world championship Finnish teams, helped Finland to Olympic bronze in 1998 in women’s Olympic ice hockey debut. She was also on the 2002 squad that placed fourth but retired in 2003 to start a family.

She now has two sons and a daughter with husband Mika, a 1990s pro hockey player in Sweden and Finland, and after a decade off returned in 2013 and played in Sochi 2014.

Riikka Valila during Finland’s match against the US. Picture: AFP
Riikka Valila during Finland’s match against the US. Picture: AFP

2.30pm: Figure skating update

Three-time ex world champion Patrick Chan kept Canada on target to win the figure skating team event at the Olympics on Monday.

Chan came out top on the men’s free dance segment and with Gabrielle Daleman third in the women’s free dance it gave the Sochi 2014 silver medallists a commanding five-point lead going into the concluding ice dance.

In second came Olympic Athletes from Russia who were kept in the race by Alina Zagitova.

The 15-year-old European champion produced a season’s best to follow her compatriot Evgenia Medvedeva’s world record short program 24 hours earlier.

In third came the United States on 53 points after Adam Rippon, the first openly gay US male Olympian, took third behind Chan and the Russia’s Mikhail Kolyada.

The concluding ice dance features Canadian 2010 ice dance champions Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue.

2.15pm: Blown away

Competitors in the women’s slopestyle event are struggling to stay upright amid tricky conditions at Bokwang Phoenix Park. This is the event in which Australian Tess Coady suffered a serious knee injury while practising in windy conditions.

The weather isn’t much better today, and the first run of the final has been a test of survival.

1.45pm: Canada cruises

Canada will compete for an Olympic gold medal after sweeping to an 8-4 victory over Norway in the mixed doubles curling semi-final.

Canada went into the seventh end, or round, of today’s match leading 5-4 after a tight game. Canada’s Kaitlyn Lawes then threw the defining shot of the game, knocking Norway’s stone out of the centre of the house and leaving three Canadian rocks close to the target. That gave Canada an 8-4 lead, and Norway was unable to come back from the deficit.

Switzerland and a team of Russian athletes will face off later today in a semi-final match. The winner of that game will play Canada in a gold medal match on Tuesday. Norway will play the loser for bronze.

Canada's John Morris shouts instructions as Kaitlyn Lawes brushes the ice surface in their semi-final against Norway. Picture: AFP
Canada's John Morris shouts instructions as Kaitlyn Lawes brushes the ice surface in their semi-final against Norway. Picture: AFP

1.35pm: When an 8-0 loss is a win

The unified Korean women’s ice-hockey team was given a drubbing by Switzerland but you wouldn’t know it by reading the North Korean media — Read here

1.30pm: US skater ‘robbed’

Viewers of the men’s figure skating have reacted in disbelief after American Adam Rippon could manage only third place despite a flawless routine today, while his Russian rival finished second after two falls.

Television commentators were effusive in their praise of Rippon in the free skating routine, but he was edged out by Mikhail Kolyada and Canada’s Patrick Chan in first place.

It sparked outrage on social media, and #Adam Rippon was soon trending on Twitter, along with numerous conspiracy about the Russian official on the figure skating judging panel.

It was also pointed out that judges take into account how risky a routine is, rewarding those who try something bold and fall, rather than a safe, clean routine that fails to test the boundaries of figure skating.

Changes to the scoring system were made after a controversial final in 2010, in which American Evan Lysacek rode a relatively vanilla routine to gold while his competitors went for it, but fell short due to imperfect performances.

1pm: Go figure

Patrick Chan, Gabrielle Daleman and ice dance dynamos Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are aiming to deliver figure skating team gold for Canada when the event concludes today.

Heading into the men’s, women’s and ice dance free programs, the Canadians had 45 points, six ahead of the Russians. The US were third with 35 points, one ahead of Italy.

Teams were required to submit their final line-ups after Sunday’s competition. Alina Zagitova will handle the free skate for the Russians, while Mikhail Kolyada tries to rebound from his dismal short program. Dmitri Soloviev and Ekaterina Bobrova will do the ice dance.

The US team is making two substitutions with Mirai Nagasu taking the baton from Bradie Tennell and Adam Rippon replacing Nathan Chen. Alex and Maia Shibutani will be back for the dance.

12.30pm: Delay ‘a wise decision’

Today’s delay of the giant slalom will delay American Mikaela Shiffrin’s pursuit of a swag of medals.

In addition to the giant slalom, Shiffrin will begin her slalom title defence on Wednesday and the super-G on Saturday, with the downhill, combined and team events to come in the second week of competition.

The 22-year-old Shiffrin could realistically target four of five medals at the Games, but will face stiff opposition from the likes of France’s Tessa Worley, the reigning world giant slalom champion.

“I’m a little surprised,” Worley said of today’s postponement. “They told us that the Olympic giant slalom was going to be held. I was really stoked for it.

“No matter how windy it was outside, I was ready.”

Romain Velez, head coach of the French women’s team, said snow conditions were “very good”. “But there’s an enormous amount of wind. It was dangerous because it was moving the gates around. It was a wise decision.”

Conditions at the giant slalom course, where strong winds forced the postponement of competition. Picture: AP
Conditions at the giant slalom course, where strong winds forced the postponement of competition. Picture: AP

12pm: Brooms out!

The curling mixed doubles semi-finals today feature teams from Canada, Norway, Switzerland, plus a Russian combination.

11.30am: Aussies want probe after Coady injury

Snowboarder Tess Coady has confirmed wind was a factor in the Winter Olympics training crash which resulted in her ruptured ACL as Australian officials call for an investigation.

The 17-year-old rising star’s PyeongChang Games ended without competing when she fell heavily practising a jump in high winds before slopestyle qualification on Sunday.

Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman wants snowboarding’s governing body FIS (Federation Internationale de Ski) to look into whether the event should have been cancelled prior to training.

The men’s event had been completed earlier in the day but the women trained as conditions worsened at Bokwang Phoenix Park before qualification was cancelled and all competitors were progressed to the final.

“Well Olympics came to a screeching holt (sic) today for me,” Coady said on Instagram.

“(I) got picked up in the wind on the bottom jump in practice and my ACL was not a big fan!”

Her comments are likely to vindicate experienced sports administrator Chesterman’s concerns.

“I think that is something that definitely needs to be reviewed,” he said. “I don’t think anyone can say for sure that’s (high winds) what caused this accident but I think it certainly needs to be reviewed.

“I think the international federation need to at some point review whether or not training should have taken place. They obviously cancelled the event.”

An FIS spokeswoman did not respond directly to AAP’s inquiry about safety during women’s training.

“The training runs were held directly following the successfully completed men’s competition,” she said.

“As the wind strengthened, FIS officials made the decision that it would not be possible to proceed with the qualification round.”

The youngest of Australia’s Winter Olympics team, Coady was coming off a bronze medal at the World Cup event in Snowmass, Colorado, last month. She is a junior world champion in both slopestyle and big air.

11.15am: ‘US can’t beat us fairly’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says accusations of a state-sponsored doping conspiracy which led to his country’s Olympic banishment were orchestrated by the US because they “can’t beat us fairly”, AFP writes.

“I think it’s a form of competition without scruples because the US team, obviously, are not capable of beating us fairly at sport,” Lavrov said in an interview broadcast by Rossiya-1 TV and published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Russia has been banned from taking part in the ongoing PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed a large group of Russians deemed clean to take part as “Olympic Athletes from Russia”.

Lavrov, meanwhile, accused the United States of engineering the ban as a means for them “to find and keep their place as indisputable world leader in sport”.

“All rivals must be pushed to one side,” he added. “All means are good (in a) campaign which is anti-Russian.”

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Picture: AFP
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Picture: AFP

11am: Spellbound by the enemy

North Korea’s Games delegation, in particular the 200 hand-picked cheerleaders, have become objects of fascination in PyeongChang — Read more here

North Korea’s cheerleaders at the women’s ice hockey. Picture: Getty
North Korea’s cheerleaders at the women’s ice hockey. Picture: Getty

10.45am: Canada keep rolling

Four-time defending women’s hockey champion Canada have stretched their Winter Olympic win streak to 21 games, blanking the Olympic Athletes from Russia 5-0 in their PyeongChang Games opener.

It was Canada’s first Olympic start since edging the United States 3-2 in the 2014 final, with 2018 captain Marie-Phillip Poulin netting a last-minute equaliser and over-time gold decider in that thriller.

The world champion Americans were tested in another round-robin opener but Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Kendall Coyne netted second-period goals to rally the US women past Finland 3-1 despite 39 saves from Finnish goaltender Noora Raty.

Melodie Daoust, No.15, scores a goal against Nadezhda Morozova. Picture: Getty
Melodie Daoust, No.15, scores a goal against Nadezhda Morozova. Picture: Getty

10.30am: Wind plays havoc with schedule

America’s Mikaela Shiffrin will have to wait to kick off her bid for multiple Olympic medals after the opening women’s giant slalom was postponed on Monday because of strong winds, AFP reports.

The men’s downhill was also postponed on Sunday because of high winds and an unfavourable weather forecast, which also saw the cancellation of Monday’s downhill training for the men’s combined event.

The men’s downhill was rescheduled for Thursday, which remains a strong possibility for the women’s giant slalom.

The forecast for the Yongpyong course, where the women’s giant slalom would have been held, was for another bitterly cold day on Monday, with temperatures of -16C. That will be accompanied by winds gusting at up to 18m/s, lending a truly glacial chill.

“The weather forecast is not great in terms of wind,” Atle Skaardal, chief race director for women’s FIS races, admitted Sunday as he ran through initial planning for the giant slalom.

At the Jeongseon course used for speed events, the winds were so strong that the gondola used to take racers and officials up the mountain could not run for safety reasons.

The women are also reliant on a gondola, the 3.7km-long Rainbow lift.

2018 Winter Olympics
Sami Kennedy-Sim of Australia holds a cardboard cutout of herself with mother Jenny (left) following the Women's Ski Cross Final, at Phoenix Snow Park, during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, in PyeongChang, South Korea, Friday, February 23, 2018. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY
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10am: Taking down a king

Matt Graham is adamant the greatest moguls skier can be beaten - it’s just that no one has regularly been able to do it, AAP writes.

Canadian Mikael Kingsbury has dominated the bumps like no other skier before him, winning six consecutive World Cup titles, 48 individual events and seven world championship medals.

In a judged sport his strike rate has been phenomenal, to the point where he went through 13 World Cup meets over 2017/18 undefeated.

Yet in among all that there are a few rays of hope for the 23 year-old Australian, who’ll compete in Monday’s final.

Graham, who missed the super final by one spot in finishing seventh at Sochi, beat Kingsbury on home turf at Perisher in a non-World Cup event last year. He also edged the Canadian for World Cup gold in Calgary at the start of 2017. And for all Kingsbury’s success since 2010, there’s no Olympic gold medal on his mantle piece yet - his breakthrough came after the Vancouver Games and he was second in Sochi.

“Mikael is an exceptional athlete. He is ultra-consistent and that’s what makes him so great. He is able to put runs down day in, day out that are really high quality,” Graham said.

“A bad run for him is second or third place, which not many people can really say.

“But for us he is beatable. I know I can beat him and a bunch of other guys can beat him.” Graham’s 2017/18 season has included three thirds and a second at World Cup level, suggesting a medal is definitely in reach on his day. He showed his steel in a World Cup event in Utah last month, coming off a drip in hospital in the lead-up to claim a bronze medal.

Games recap

How day two unfolded at PyeongChang

• The campaign of Australia’s 17-year-old medal hope Tess Coady is over after she ruptured her ACL in snowboarding’s version of the event on Sunday.

Coady crashed heavily in her final jump in practice and is expected to spend much of this year out of the sport.

• Australia’s mogul skiers Britt Cox and Jakara Anthony illustrated the agony and the ecstasy of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on the moguls hill at Bokwang, both just shy of winning a medal.

• Andy Jung adopted an aggressive ­approach for the Olympic 1500m event — and it paid off, with ­several sharp moves propelling him further in the competition than he expected.

• This is the first Winter Olympics at which figure skaters can choose to perform to music with lyrics. The only problem is all of the competitors seem to be choosing the same song.

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