Nathan Chen dazzles his way to gold

After failing to win gold in the 2018 Games, Nathan Chen secured the men's figure skating gold medal for the USA after a dazzling performance to the sound of Elton John's "Rocket Man."

The 22-year-old scored 218.63 points, with Japan's Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno ending up with the silver and bronze medals.

Defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu finished 4th, and also failed in his attempt to make history by landing the first quad axel in competition.

"It means the world. I'm just so happy," Chen said. "It's a whirlwind right now. I had a blast out there."

It was redemption for Chen, who arrived at the Pyeongchang Games four years ago as the favorite for gold. But at the age of 18 he failed to land a single jump in his short programme.

This year, he showed the world his exceptional talent, backing up three consecutive world championships with Olympic gold.

Doping controversy

Kamila Valieva made history when she landed the first-ever quadruple jumps by a woman at the Beijing Olympics on her way to winning a gold medal.

But reports from Russian media claim she has returned a positive test for a banned medication before the Games. There has been no confirmation from the IOC that Valieva is indeed the athlete at the center of the controversy.

The 15-year-old was part of the Russia Olympic Committee (ROC) team that finished first in the figure skating team event ahead of the United States and Japan.

However, the medal ceremony was postponed for what an International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman labeled as "legal consultation."

Valieva's age provides further complication to the case, as the World Anti-Doping Agency's code says it isn't obligatory to name minor athletes under the age of 18 who are caught with a doping violation.

According to reports in Russia, Valieva's positive sample was taken two months ago. The substance in question is said to be cardiac drug trimetazidine which, according to Russian journalist Vasily Konov, doesn't enhance performances in any way.

"There is no doping in the conventional sense. No! This cardiac drug has no impact on ... performance,” he wrote on his Facebook page. "Now leave Kamila in peace."

The Russian Olympic Committee has so far not made a significant response to media requests.

Figure skating is considered a prestige sport in Russia. The country takes pride in its Olympic and world championships record, and stripping the figure skating team of their medals would likely result in a national outcry.

Russian athletes are competing in Beijing without their flag and anthem due to previous doping violations.

Gold medals

The United States claimed its second gold of the day after Chloe Kim won the women's snowboard halfpipe final with a score of 94.00 points. The 21-year-old said that she also had to overcome a "mental battle” to secure gold, saying she was "not in a good place" before the event. The silver medal went to Spain's Queralt Castellet, while Japan's Sena Tomita claimed bronze.

Austria’s Johannes Strolz secured the gold medal in men’s alpine skiing combined, thus emulating his father Hubert, who won the same event at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, of Norway, secured silver, while the bronze medal went to Canada's James Crawford. 

Another Austrian, Alessandro Hämmerle, narrowly claimed men's snowboard cross gold. This is Hämmerle’s first Olympic medal, with Beijing 2022 being the 28-year-old's third Olympic Games. This is Austria’s first ever gold medal in a snowboarding event. Eliot Grondin, of Canada, and Italy’s Omar Visintin took silver and bronze respectively.

 

Germany update

After gold in the men's, women's and doubles events, Germany combined the athletes from those teams for a fourth luge gold in the team relay event.

Natalie Geisenberger, Johannes Ludwig and the doubles team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt finished in 3 minutes, 3.406 seconds at the Yanqing Sliding Center, 0.080 seconds ahead of silver-medalist Austria and 0.948 seconds ahead of bronze-medalist Latvia.

"That's a great performance," German coach Norbert Loch said. "And now, beer. We earned it.''