Therase Johaug wins first gold of Beijing 2022

Therase Johaug won the first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, as Norway enjoyed a great opening day of the Games.

Johaug sealed victory in the women's 15km skiathlon to win her first individual Olympic gold, before later Norway also won gold in the mixed biathlon.

The 2021 world champion Johaug broke away at the halfway stage and by the 10km mark had a huge 26-second lead. Natalia Nepryaeva (ROC) won silver just ahead of surprise bronze winner Teresa Stadlober (Austria).

"This means an incredible amount, this is what I have been training for many, many years. It's been a dream since I was a little girl," an emotional Johaug told reporters afterwards.

Johaug won a team gold in 2010, although missed out on competing in 2018 as she was serving an 18-month suspension having tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol. Johaug claimed it was the result of using a lip ointment bought to treat sunburn.

The explanation was deemed implausible by skiing's international governing body, especially as there had been a doping warning label on the box the ointment was in.

More IOC controversy

Also competing was China's Dinigeer Yilamujiang, the first Chinese cross-country skiing medallist at any international federation-level event.

Yilamujiang finished 43rd, just a day after the IOC was criticized for selecting the 20-year-old, a member of the Uyghur people, to light the Olympic cauldron in the opening ceremony.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said Yilamujiang was an Olympian competing at the Games and was "absolutely perfectly entitled" to take part in the relay.

Human Rights Watch senior China researcher Yaqiu Wang wrote on Twitter that China was giving "a middle finger" to the rest of the world by making such a decision.

China has come under fire for its treatment of the Uyghur people, with many western nations diplomatically boycotting the Games over China's treatment of Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. China rejects accusations of abuse, describing the camps as vocational centres designed to combat extremism.

Gold medals

Hosts China registered their first gold in the last medal event of the day, the short track skating mixed team relay. A dramatic final, saw China edge out Italy. Hungary took bronze.

Sweden's Walter Wallberg shocked favorite and mogul king Mikael Kingsbury to seal gold in the men's moguls. The 21-year-old, who didn't make it past the second round of qualifying four years ago, was the last man to go down the hill but handled the pressure superbly and responded to Kingsbury's great run with a brilliant run of his own.

Slovenia won gold (and bronze) on day one in the women's normal hill individual, thanks to Ursa Bogataj. Germany's Katharina Althaus finished a narrow second.

Norway's fantastic opening day continued in the mixed biathlon as Johannes Thingnes Bo finished superbly to edge out defending-champions France and race leaders ROC in a thrilling finale. Wind caused havoc, particularly on the shooting range, but Norway's team overcame a troubling second leg to storm back.

Irene Schouten broke Claudia Pechstein's 20-year Olympic record to seal a stunning gold for the Netherlands in the women's 3000 metres speed skating. Racing in the final pair, Schouten finished in 3:56.93, ahead of her opponent Francesca Lollobrigida (Italy), who slowed late. Canada's Isabelle Weidemann won bronze, leaving a host of Dutch athletes disappointed.

Germany update

Katharina Althaus won Germany's first medal of Beijing 2022, but her silver in the women's normal hill individual was must have felt bittersweet. The 25-year-old was leading going into the final jump but had the wind in her face rather than behind her, a further reminder of tricky conditions. Perhaps had she waited for her fortune to change, things might have been different but instead Althaus had to settle for her second straight Olympic silver.

Claudia Pechstein was the slowest of all racers in the women's 3000m speed skating, but at 49 years of age, just competing was an achievement.

"I am the only woman in the whole world to be at eight Olympic Winter Games," Pechstein said afterwards. "The result of today was not so important, it was just to race and to be here... I am super proud."

The main news for Germany on opening day though, came from a non-competing athlete.

Multiple Olympic champion Eric Frenzel has been isolating since Friday after testing positive for COVID-19, and Germany's team chief Dirk Schimmelpfennig told reporters that Frenzel's isolation room is "unacceptable."

Schimmelpfennig said the conditions did not meet the standards of the athlete or the team, citing cleanliness, the quality of food and WiFi as problems.