Winter Olympics day 14: speed skating, Canada curling bronze and more – live! | Sport

In less than 15 minutes, we’ve got biathlon to enjoy: the men’s 15km mass start.

“Is society getting any better at recognising the humanity of those who walk the high wires of elite sports, where one momentary slip can undo a lifetime of work – if we define their work solely by what happens when people tune into the Olympics every four years?”

Mikaela Shiffrin’s two weeks of pain don’t detract from a lifetime of greatness, writes Beau Dure:

This time Eileen Gu didn’t leave things late. After her first two events at the Winter Games came down to nail-biting finishes, the emerging American-born superstar representing China lay waste to all-comers in the Olympic freeski halfpipe final, adding to her big air gold and slopestyle silver to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of medals in the mountains northwest of Beijing.

Speed Skating: Men’s 1,000m: Piotr Michalski, of Poland, has just gone fastest in the final. Nine pairs will skate, then they will take a break to resurface the ice, after which the remaining athletes will go for gold.

It’s over. Canada win 8-5 – the USA, having won gold four years ago, go home empty-handed. There are a few tears as Canada celebrate. The USA team just want to get off the ice.

Men’s curling bronze medal match: With a 2-0 margin at the end of the ninth end, Canada streak away to an 8-5 lead moving into the 10th and final end. The USA team look like they know this is over. But they fight on. There are smiles on the faces of the Canadian team, in contrast.

“Maybe worth contrasting the reception that Valieva got with that Nana Takagi received after crashing out of the speed skating on the final bend,” emails Daniel Howell. “And Takagi took her team’s gold medal hopes with her, not just her own …”

Very much so. The Olympic spirit. Nana Tagaki must have been so thrilled to see her sister, Miho, subsequently take gold in the 1,000m individual event.

Men’s curling: A lovely effort from Canada puts them three up in the ninth end … John Shuster, USA’s skip, clasps his face in one hand as he weighs up his options. Which aren’t great right now. Shuster goes big, trying to knock Canada’s stones away, but he leaves two for Canada. Two stones each left in the eighth.

An unusually strong intervention, as Sean Ingle writes, from the IOC president Thomas Bach on the treatment of the ROC skater Kamila Valieva:

Curling bronze medal match: Canada take two points and lead 6-5. We’re into the ninth end.

Thanks Mike. Hello everyone. Canada’s curlers are having a debate about strategy. As Mike said, they are trailing 5-4 in the eighth end. If they get this stone right the lead could change hands.

Curling: It’s getting to squeaky-bum time in the Ice Box, with a bronze medal on the line. The US still have that narrow 5-4 lead, with two stones each to throw in the eighth end. And at this point, I’ll pass over to Luke McLaughlin, who will see this one through to a conclusion, and beyond with more medals to be won in the men’s 1000m speed skating, men’s 15km mass start in biathlon and figure skating (pairs short programme).

Biathlon: Braisaz-Bouchet of France wins gold, ahead of the Norwegian pair of Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland.

It might not have been gold, but ever wondered what the secret to Norway’s success at Winter Games is? I reckon you can find the answer below:

Curling: Here’s a massive shot to make at the end of the seventh end, with Canada trailing 4-5 to the US… this could be crucial. And what a shot by Brad Gushue, who knocks out two US stones! It’s a blank for Canada, and their hopes are still alive of winning bronze. Into the eighth end we go.

The way 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva was treated by her coach after her two falls in her figure skating routine on Thursday evening was “chilling” and does not inspire any confidence in her entourage, the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has said.

In an unusually strong intervention, Bach admitted that he was shocked to see the controversial Russian Olympic Committee coach Eteri Tutberidze berate Valieva as she came off the ice, barking at her “why did you stop fighting?” even though she had been under enormous mental stress ever since her positive drugs test was revealed last week.

Read Sean Ingle’s full report below:

Freestyle skiing: Regez leads after a quick start in the big final, ahead of compatriot Fiva in a Swiss one-two. The pair open up a bit of daylight – in fact all four racers are spaced out – and there won’t be any late drama as Regez zips across the finish line and wins gold! Fiva claims silver and Ridzik of the ROC bronze for a second Games in a row. The young Swede Mobaerg finishes out of medals, but he’s a name to watch in the future.

Freestyle skiing: A bit of drama at the start of the small final as the racers are twice pulled back from the gates, which appear to be suffering from some kind of malfunction! A crack team of officials descend and the problem is fixed soon enough. Deromedis, the young Italian, flies out of the gates and never relinquishes his lead. He finishes with a bit of showboating – performing a star jump over the final jump – to end his Games in fifth place. Leman places sixth, Rohrweck seventh, and Place eighth. The medals will be decided next.

Biathlon: And we’re under way in the the final women’s event of these Games – the 12.5km mass start at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre.

Freestyle skiing: There’ll be two Swiss competitors in the final after Fiva and Regez made it through. They’ll be joined there by Mobaerg and Ridzik. The final coming right up (after the small final).

Curling: Game on at the National Aquatics Centre! The US enjoy a great fourth end and, having fallen 3-1 behind, pull back onto level terms at 3-3.

Freestyle skiing: The semi-finals are set! Run one will feature the Swiss Alex Feva, Canada’s Brady Leman, Italy’s Simone Deromedia and Sergey Ridzik of ROC. Erik Mobaerg of Sweden, Frenchman Francois Place, another Swiss Ryan Regez and Austria’s Johannes Rohrweck go in the other. There’s no place for Kevin Drury (the Canadian they’ve just called Quadzilla on the TV), and he appears a bit cheesed off at that.

Curling: Canada held a 2-0 lead after the first end, only for the US to peg them back in the second and now, in the third, Team Canada lead 2-1.

Ice hockey: Finland will contest the men’s title match – and a chance to add a first gold to the six medals they have won so far these Games. It ends 2-0 to the Finns after Harri Pesonen secured victory over Slovakia with a goal right at the death.

Freestyle skiing: Oh that’s handy, just as Oliver Davies of Britain goes in the final heat, my feed cuts out. It fires back up just as the athletes are crossing the line, with Davies in fourth. His Games is over. And that completes the men’s skicross quarter-final line-up. Four skiers now in each of the four quarters, with the top two in each going through to an eight-man semi-final stage. Then the top two from each go into the big final, with the bottom two going into the small final.

Curling: Who doesn’t love a US-Canada clash, regardless of the sport? The two old foes are staring each other down once again, this time in the men’s bronze medal match. They’re in the first end, it’s scoreless.

Freestyle skiing: The men’s skicross 1/8 finals are under way, that man Alex Fiva kicking things off in the opening heat. The US-born Swiss former alpine skier is the first man into the quarter-finals with a dominant display.

Ice hockey: A chance for the shorthanded Slovakia to pull level but the puck evades Michal Kristof by a matter of inches off the pass from Juraj Slafkovsky. And it remains 1-0 to Finland as time ticks down in the third period – just under 15 minutes remaining now.

Doping: The International Testing Agency has reported bobsledder Lidiia Hunko has tested positive for a prohibited substance. The Ukrainian returned a positive test on 14 February – the day of her monobob event, in which she finished 20th – and has been provisionally suspended. “The athlete also has the right to request the analysis of the B-sample,” the ITA said.

Ice hockey: It’s the end of the second period at the National Indoor Stadium and Finland’s narrow 1-0 lead over Slovakia remains.

Cross-country skiing: Big news from earlier today – Norway’s Therese Johaug will call time on her Olympic career after she contests the women’s 30km freestyle event that closes the Games on Sunday. Johaug, who missed the Pyeongchang Games due to a doping suspension, has already picked up two gold medals in Beijing, in the skiathlon and the 10 km classic races.

“Sunday will be my last Olympic race,” the 33-year-old said. “It [my decision] won’t happen until after the season, I’ll have to go a few rounds with myself, it could take a long time.

Johaug has one last chance to add to her collection of Olympic medals, which also includes a silver and a bronze from Sochi. “I think it will be a very tough 30k. If it has not been important previously to allocate [energy] correctly on these trails, then it will definitely be important on Sunday,” she said.

Ice hockey: Just one event in progress at the moment – it’s the men’s semi-final between Finland and Slovakia. We’re midway through the second period and Finland lead 1-0 thanks to Sakari Manninen’s first-period goal. The ROC and Sweden play in the other semi later on. Of course no USA or Canada left in the tournament.

Thomas Bach: Lots coming out of the earlier presser with the IOC president, including his thoughts on the Kamila Valieva saga. Suffice to say he has not been impressed with the athlete’s entourage. He also said the IOC did not want the ROC figure skater to continue competing, but given they lost the court case, the rule of law has to be accepted.

Anyway, my colleague Sean Ingle was there, and his report will be landing shortly. Stay tuned.

Freestyle skiing: The men’s skicross is already up and running at Genting Snow Park, with the seeding run to determine the 1/8 final line-up completed. Lots of Canadian flags in the top six – three to be precise – while Switzerland’s Alex Fiva topped the times after laying down a 1:11.94.

Freestyle skiing: The big news so far today then is that the incredible Eillen Gu has secured a second gold medal of these Games, in the women’s freeski halfpipe, to add to her big air gold and slopestyle silver. By pocketing her third medal, Gu – who has taken these Olympics by storm – became the first action-sports athlete to win three medals at a single Olympics. Here’s my colleague Bryan Armen Graham’s full report from the slopes north-west of Beijing:

Times are all in local Beijing time. For Sydney it is +3 hours, for London it is -8 hours, for New York it is -13 hours and San Francisco is -16 hours.

• 11.45am-3.10pm Freestyle skiing – after the morning’s freeski halfpipe medal battle for the women, the men do their ski cross 🥇
• 12.10pm and 9.10pm Ice hockey – the men’s semi-finals will feature Finland v Slovakia first, ROC v Sweden in the evening. 🏒
• 2.05pm and 8.05pm Curling – in the afternoon, the losers of tonight’s semi-finals will play for the men’s bronze medal. In the evening it is the women’s semi-finals 🥉
• 4.30pm Speed skating – the men’s 1,000m 🥇
• 5pm Biathlon – it is the men’s 15km mass start race 🥇
• 6.30pm Figure skating – it is the short program in the pairs ⛸
• 8pm and 9.30pm Bobsleigh – the first and second heats of the two-women bobsleigh variety