Winter Olympics Day 3 roundup
February 12, 2018
Talk on Monday centered more on the adverse weather conditions than the day's events, with extreme winds causing a number of crashes in the women's slopestyle final.
While the women's giant slalom was postponed until Thursday, the International Ski Federation (FIS) decided to go ahead with the slopestyle event, despite winds reaching speeds of 72 kmph.
There were a number of ugly crashes and athletes were critical of the FIS afterwards, but Jamie Anderson shook off the conditions to defend the gold medal she won at Sochi four years ago. Anderson became the first woman to win two snowboarding titles at the Olympics.
Canada's Laurie Blouin took silver while Finland's Enni Rukajarvi claimed bronze.
Not everyone was so lucky, however. Germany's Silvia Mittermüller suffered a torn meniscus during a training run after a gust of wind caught her as she was about to land. And she wasn't convinced it was the right choice to let the event run.
In happier news for Germany, Laura Dahlmeier lived up to expectations by taking out the biathlon 10km pursuit. After victory in the 7.5km sprint on Saturday, Dahlmeier started with a considerable lead in the pursuit and didn't look back.
The 24-year-old was precise, efficient and lightning fast shooting her targets, showing great composure and stamina to storm to an unassailable lead. It was her second gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games, completing the sprint-pursuit double, a first for a woman at the Olympics.
Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina won out a frantic final sprint to beat Anais Bescond of France to silver.
Dahlmeier wasn't the only Olympian to make history, the Netherlands' Ireen Wüst became the most decorated speed skater of all time after victory in the women's 1500m speed skating. That win delivered her 10th medal, after she secured her ninth with silver in the 3000m on Day 1.
Wüst overtook Germany veteran Claudia Pechstein with her efforts and only swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Carl Lewis have won more indiviual gold medals at the Olympics.
In the men's biathlon 12.5km pursuit, Germany's Arnd Peiffer started out in front after his surprise victory in the sprint. However, he faltered with his shooting, allowing Martin Fourcade to dominate the competition. Fourcade missed just one shot and powered through on the skis to claim victory.
Benedikt Doll (Germany) and Sebastian Samuelsson (Sweden) followed in silver and bronze, respectively.
In the men's moguls, Mikael Kingsbury sealed an expected gold medal, while Australia and Japan claimed their first medals of the Games. Matt Graham claimed silver with Daichi Hara grabbed bronze.
In the day's final event — the women's ski jumping — Norway's Maren Lundby produced a massive 110-meter jump to win gold. Katharina Althaus (Germany) and Sara Takanashi (Japan) also produced huge jumps over 100 meters to take out second and third.
Earlier in the day, Canada won gold in the team figure-skating, taking revenge on Russia — competing as Olympic Athletes from Russia — whom they lost to at Sochi 2014. The United States took bronze.
And in curling, Switzerland saw off Olympic Athletes from Russia and Canada defeated Norway to set up a gold medal showdown on Tuesday.
Make sure to join us again on our live blog for all the updates on tomorrow's action, with a further eight gold medals on offer!
Here's the Day 4 schedule:
- Ladies' Halfpipe (3:00)
- Men's Alpine Combined Slalom (7:00)
- Curling Mixed Doubles (1:05 Bronze and 12:05 Gold)
- Luge Women's Singles (11:30)
- Speed Skating Men's 1500m (12:00)
- Short-track Speed Skating Ladies 500m (13:09)
- Cross Country Skiing Ladies' Sprint Classic (13:25)
- Men's Sprint Classic (13:34)
As it happened
15:55 Day 3 in the bag
That's all for Day 3 of the Winter Games. We saw Ireen Wust make history with her 10th medal, while Laura Dahlmeier also put her name in the history books as the first woman to win the biathlon sprint-pursuit double.
Wind played havoc on the slopes with the women's giant slalom postponed. The women's slopestyle went ahead but the International Ski Federation came under criticism for letting the event run.
15:47 Women's Ski Jump: MAREN LUNDBY WINS GOLD
And the final round finishes as it started — Maren Lundby posts a huge jump of 110 meters (outrageous) to take the lead with a total of 264.6 points. She takes gold, followed by Katharina Althaus (Germany, 252.6 points) and Sara Takanashi (Japan, 243.8).
15:25 Women's Ski Jump: GOLD MEDAL EVENT
No idea how these women jump off such great heights. Hectic.
Sarah Hendrickson of the USA was leading with a total of 160.6 points. But Silje Ospeth just put in a massive 91.5-meter jump to push in front.
+++ 15:35 — HUGE! Chiara Hölzl of Austria with a casual 95.5 meters. She goes in the lead with 193.2 points, followed by Japan's Koari Iwabuchi and compatriot Jacqueline Seifriedsberger. But that will likely quickly change...
Heavy snow here at the moment!
+++ 15:40 — Ramona Strauss (Germany) with 98.5 meters. Slovenia's Nika Kriznar smashes that with 104 meters. It's heating up here!
+++ 15:42 — Carina Vogt (Germany) is now in the lead, she went 101.5m but her style has her in front!
+++ 15:45 — Boom! Now it's Sara Takanashi of Japan who sits in the gold spot - 243.8 points.
15:00 Women's Ski Jump: GOLD MEDAL EVENT
The final round to decide medals will begin shortly after initial delays. Top 30 will jump again, but scores from both rounds will be combined to determine the top three.
Maren Lundby of Norway leads, followed by Katharina Althaus of Germany and Japan's Sara Takanashi.
This is the final gold medal event of the day!
14:49 Women's Speed Skating 1500m: Ireen Wust makes Olympic history!
The Netherlands add another gold medal to their tally, Ireen Wust winning the women's 1500m speed skating.
She is now the most successful speed skater in Olympic history, taking her overall tally to ten medals after winning silver in the 3000m on Day 1 and victory here today. She overtakes Germany's veteran Claudia Pechstein.
Japan's Miho Takagi goes home with the silver and the Netherlands' Marrit Leenstra finished with bronze.
14:26 Ongoing: Women's ski jump and women's speed skating
The women's ski jump has been delayed due to wind - there's not enough of it this time, leaving remaining athletes still to jump at a disadvantage.
And in the speed skating, Ireen Wust of the Netherlands leads with six athletes still to come!
14:24 Men's Moguls: GOLD MEDAL EVENT
Canada has another gold medal, Mikael Kingsbury scoring 86.63 in the final run of the men's moguls.
Australian Matt Graham takes silver with a 82.57 score, followed in bronze by Daichi Hara of Japan.
That's a first medal in Pyeongchang for Australia!
13:55 Coming Up: Men's moguls and women's ski jump
The final for the men's moguls is just around the corner, with six athletes to progress to the final round. That's scheduled for a 2:10pm start.
And despite the hectic weather today, the women's ski jump is going ahead.
DW's Chuck Penfold had a look at the dangerous, windy conditions we've experienced so far on Day 3, check it out below.
13:50 Women's Speed Skating 1500m
No let up on the gold medal schedule. The women's speed skating 1500m is underway!
Nao Kodaira of Japan is leading at the moment, but the favorites are the Dutch team, who are still to race.
13:45 Curling Mixed Doubles: Switzerland through to final
Back to the curling now after that excitement in the biathlon. And Switzerland have defeated the Olympic Athletes from Russia 7-5 to seal their place in the final which will take place tomorrow. They face Canada in the gold medal match, while OAR will battle Norway in the bronze-medal playoff.
13:13 Men's Biathlon 12.5km Pursuit: Fourcade takes out gold
Martin Fourcade shot clean once again and in super quick succession. That sealed the gold heading into the final run.
Germany's Benedikt Doll raced into second, but he was pipped to the finish line by Sweden's Sebastian Samuelsson, who made up a seven-second difference.
All three athletes missed just one target, that's the difference between the haves and have nots. Fourcade makes up for his disappointment in the sprint.
Gold - Fourcade
Silver - Samuelsson
Bronze - Doll
13:13 Men's Biathlon 12.5km Pursuit: Peiffer leads!
Peiffer has been pushed all the way by Austria's Julian Eberhard. But Eberhard misses a shot and gets stung with a 150m penalty, Peiffer shoots clean to stay at the front of the pack, more than 22 seconds ahead of Eberhard now.
Germany are in first, second and fourth!
+++ 13:20 — Peiffer misses one of his shots, Martin Fourcade shoots clean and takes a substantial lead!
13:12 Curling Mixed Doubles: OAR level!
It's neck and neck here in the semi-final, Olympic Athletes from Russia tie the scores to 4-4.
13:00 Men's Biathlon 12.5km Pursuit
After watching Laura Dahlmeier sweep gold in the women's pursuit, it's now time for the men to get their skis on.
Germany are again in the front seat, Arnd Peiffer, who was the surprise winner for the sprint, leading the charge. Following him are Italy's Dominik Windisch and Czech Republic's Michal Krcmar, who won bronze and silver in the sprint, respectively.
Can Germany complete another sprint-pursuit double?
12:12 Curling Mixed Doubles: OAR vs. Switzerland
Yep, it's time for everyone's favorite winter sport, or at least mine — curling!
It's the second semi-final of the mixed doubles, between Olympic Athletes from Russia and Switzerland, after Canada went through to the final earlier today with an 8-4 victory over Norway.
+++12:30 — It's tied 2-2 here!
11.50 Coming Up: Women's luge and men's moguls
The women's luge is about to begin. It's not to determine gold, that comes tomorrow, but all eyes will be on Germany's Natalie Geisenberger, who's going for her second straight gold, and her rival and countrywoman Tatjana Hüfner. Germany already suffered heartbreak in this discipline after Felix Loch threw away gold in the men's competition yesterday.
And the second qualification for the men's moguls is ongoing, the first final will begin at 1pm, with the gold medal event starting at 2.10pm.
11:45 Women's Biathlon 10km Pursuit: Dahlmeier seals gold!
And Laura Dahlmeier has her second gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games. A superb effort. She is the first female athlete to complete the sprint-pursuit double, finishing in 30 minutes 30.3 seconds.
And there's a frantic sprint finish for silver! Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina wins outs, finishing just two milliseconds ahead of Anais Bescond of France.
11:10 Women's Biathlon 10km Pursuit: GOLD MEDAL EVENT
They're off! Laura Dahlmeier is the favorite here, she won gold on Day 1 for Germany in the biathlon 7.5km sprint.
After starting in first place, Dahlmeier hits her first five targets and now has a decent lead over Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina and Czech Republic's Veronika Vitkova.
Every shot missed means a 150m penalty, so sharp-shooting is essential!
+++11:30 - Kuzmina overtakes Dahlmeier, this is some contest!
+++11:35 - Dahlmeier shoots all five, Kuzmina misses two of hers!
+++11.37 - Dahlmeier shoots clean once again, and super fast - amazing. Kuzmina misses her first and that's got to be gold for Dahlmeier!
10:52 Women's Ice Hockey: Swtizerland all but seal quarter-final berth!
Switzerland have made it two from two after a 3-1 win over Japan. Unless Korea shock Sweden that means they're through to the quarter-finals
10:40 Skeleton: Debut for Ghana!
Akwasi Frimpong became the first Ghanaian — and the first West African for that matter — to compete in skeleton earlier this morning.
Skeleton is a great spectacle, kind of like luge but headfirst. That's hurtling down a steep ice track on a tiny sled with your chin just centimeters from a grazing. Unlike luge, however, you also kick things off with a running start. Not for the faint-hearted!
10:10 Women's Ice Hockey: Switzerland in the driving seat
Switzerland are up 2-0 against Japan in Group B of the women's ice hockey. Sara Benz potted both goals and as it stands Switzerland are through to the quarter-finals while Japan are heading home!
10:25 - Switzerland go 3-0 up through Alina Muller.
10:34 - Japan fight back! It's 3-1 now and a glimmer of hope as Hanae Kubo flicks the puck over the goaltender. With 11 minutes to go, Japan aren't down and out yet.
09:00 Summary So Far: Medal wons and to come
It's 5pm in Pyeongchang but just starting the morning here at CET time.
Jamie Anderson made it two gold medals for the United States in snowboarding, taking out the Women's Slopestyle. That follows Red Gerard's win the previous day in the men's comp.
And Canada won gold in the team figure-skating. A record-tying fourth.
And wind continued to play havoc on the slopes, the women's super giant slalom was postponed. It will now take place on Wednesday. February 14th, as will the men's downhill, which was originally scheduled for Sunday morning (CET).
That means we have another five gold medals left to be determined on Day 3! Stay tuned!
- Biathlon - women's 10km pursuit (11:10)
- Biathlon - men's 12.5km pursuit (13:00)
- Speed skating - women's 1500m (13:30)
- Freestyle skiing - men's moguls (14:10)
- Ski-jumping - women's normal hill (14:35)
08:30 Team Figure Skating: Canada wins gold
Canada won gold the team figure-skating event defeating the team of Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR), four years after having missed out on gold to the Russians Sochi.The Canadians had an unassailable lead after the men's and women's free skates before ending on 73 points for the nation's fifth gold medal in figure skating, while the OAR were on 66 and the United States third on 62 for bronze.
"We believed in ourselves," Canadian ice dancer Scott Moir said. "We are really proud about the energy we brought and it helped in winning the gold medal. I think we had a sour taste in our mouth
since Sochi. We wanted this medal for four years. It feels great."
06:50 Women's Halfpipe: Kim stomps second run!
If you thought Chloe Kim's first run was something special - and you should - then you need to check out her second ASAP!
It really isn't difficult to see why she's the favourite, nailing incredibly technical tricks with ease, whilst flowing down the halfpipe.
McTwists and 900s seem effortless!
06:30 Women's Halfpipe: Kim setting the pace in qualifying
From one snowboarding discipline to another, we now switch to the women's halfpipe.
The top 12 from the field of 24 will progress to the final and the wind shouldn't be as much of a factor here.
After the first round of runs, the field currently trail American whizzkid Chloe Kim, who laid down a stunning, risky and well executed run which earned her a score of 91.50.
05:50 Women's Slopestyle: Fuller on "tough day at the office"
Given the blustery conditions and wind gusts which led to the majority of the women not being able to complete a full run, there were genuine concerns throughout the competition regarding the safety of the riders.
Speaking to BBC after her second run, Great Britain's Aimee Fuller had this to say: "That was a tough day at the office, some of the roughest conditions I've ridden in[...] "It's the Olympic final and everyone wanted to ride. It's not what I would have expected, or how I visualised four years of preparation would end up. If you were lucky with the wind, there were some calm windows, but it wasn't a true show of women's slopestyle, which is a shame for our sport. We still have big air, so we go hard next week."
05:30 Women's Slopestyle: Mittermüller update
An emotional morning for Germany's Silvia Mittermüller culminates in an emotional tweet.
05:20 Women's Slopestyle: Anderson defends title
Reigning Olympic champion Jamie Anderson has defended her slopestyle title to claim the United States' second gold of the Games after Red Gerard took gold in the Men's event yesterday.
Canada's Laurie Blouin took silver, while Enni Rukajärvi of Finland finished in third.
In truth we were denied seeing some incredible slopestyle runs because of the raging winds which wreaked havoc from start to finish.
So few women managed to complete one of their two runs that we have been left wanting more, but it takes nothing away from Anderson's achievement.
04:50 Figure Skating Team Event: Daleman delights
Having had to settle for silver in Sochi four years ago, Canada claimed gold on Monday morning. Gabrielle Daleman finished third behind Russia's Alina Zagitova and American Mirai Nagasu in the women's event to clinch the result.
"I worked my butt off incredibly hard these past four years to get on this team," Daleman said. "We have such an incredible, strong team, and I'm proud to say we've won and I'm prouder to have been part of it."
04:30 New norovirus update
The number of confirmed norovirus cases near Winter Olympics venues has risen by 19 to 177, Pyeongchang
Games organizers said on Monday.
A statement said that three of the new cases concerned security staff staying a youth centre where most of the cases were reported. Athletes have not been hit by the virus.
04:15 Women's Slopestyle: First runs done
The first runs of the women's slopestyle finals are in the books, but most riders have nothing to show for it.
Reigning Olympic champion Jamie Anderson, one of the few ladies to complete the course, is top as it stands.
04:00 Figure Skating Team Event: GOLD for Canada
Canada have taken gold in the figure skating team event before anyone even takes to the ice for the ice dance free program.
Despite an underwhelming performance by 10-time national champion Patrick Chan in the men's free skate, Canada were in a commanding position early on the third and decisive session to claim their first gold medal of the Games.
03:50 Women's Slopestyle: Hitting the knuckle
If you've ever 'hit the knuckle' on skis or a snowboard then you know what it feels like - you feet tingle and your spine feels like someone has just tried to play the accordion with it.
Just saying the words gives me shivers.
03:35 Women's Slopestyle: Worrying trend
We're not seeing many women complete runs in the slopestyle finals.
03:30 Women's Slopestyle: Full quota of riders in finals
After several delays, we're finally underway in the women's slopestyle finals. Because the qualifying heats got cancelled yesterday, we've got a full quota of 26 riders, with each rider getting only two runs instead of three.
Now, the event is going ahead, but the wind is still a factor in these finals and gusts are making landings difficult in the bottom section of the course. Unfortunately that will likely see the women reign it in as opposed to going for the big tricks.
We've already seen Klaudia Medlova and Carla Somaini suffer nasty falls on the big kickers.
03:20 Figure Skating Team Event: Just in case!
03:15 Figure Skating Team Event: Canada in commanding position
We've seen sublime individual performances during the third and decisive session of the figure skating team competition.
Fans will be treated to the men's, women's and ice dance free programmes. Here's how things stand right now - Canada are on the cusp of clinching gold.
1. Canada 55
2. OAR 48
3. U.S. 44
4. Italy 42
5. Japan 38
02:55 Men's Bobsled: Snapshot!
I don't know whether it's the high speed nature or the link to iconic movie Cool Runnings, but the Bobsled events at the Winter Olympics have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Right now, I'm having to settle for pictures of training to scratch the itch!
02:40 Women's Slopestyle: Good news!
Wahey!
02:35 Curling Mixed Doubles: Canada claim spot in the final
The handshakes have happened, the game has been conceded. Norway knew they were beaten and Canada have guaranteed themselves an Olympic medal on the back of stretching their unbeaten streak to seven in Pyeongchang.
Canada came on strong in Ends 4-8 and will now face either OAR or Switzerland on Tuesday for the gold.
02:05 Weather update from Pyeongchang
01:40 Women's Slopestyle: Delayed
After wreaking havoc on Day 1 and 2 of the Games, the bad weather has struck again.
The women's slopestyle, which had its qualifying cancelled yesterday, has now seen its final delayed by at least an hour.
The event was due to start at 02:00 CET, but will hopefully get underway at 03:00 CET.
01:10 Curling Mixed Doubles: Spot in the final up for grabs
Canada, Switzerland, Norway and the Olympic Athlete from Russia are competing for a spot in Tuesday's final in the Curling Mixed Doubles.
You may remember that Norway had to battle it out with China in a play-off to reach the final four, clinching a deserved 9-7 win. Now in the semi-finals they're facing off on the ice with Canada, who were the strongest team during the Round Robin sessions.
Read more: Recap all the action from Day 2 of the Winter Olympics
01:00 Women's Slopestyle: Mittermüller battling on
In the other opening event, the women's slopestyle final, will hopefully have as many thrills and spills as the men's event yesterday. 17-year-old Red Gerard stole all the headlines after taking gold for the US, but who will steal the show from the women?
On a quick sidenote, we're sending all our well wishes to Germany's Silvia Mittermüller, who is a little under the weather to say the least. We're hoping the adrenaline helps!
00:50 Figure Skating Team Event: Canada on course to claim gold
The conclusion of the Figure Skating Team event gets the action underway today. Canada currently hold the lead, but Olympic Athlete from Russia are looking to repeat having taken Gold in Sochi.
00:35 Women's Giant Slalom: Weather claims another victim
We saw the Men's Downhill and Women's Slopestyle heats postponed due to high winds yesterday and we've just had confirmation that the Women's Giant Slalom has followed suit this morning.
"Due to strong winds and the weather forecast, today's giant slalom is postponed," FIS announced.
The event is expected to take place on Thursday, the same day for which the Men's downhill event has been rescheduled.
00:30 Back at it again!
Strong winds and an earthquake couldn't detract from the highlights of Day 2 as an Olympic record was set, while several nations, including France and the United States, won their first medals of the games. We're hoping the weather won't be quite as adverse today given that we have quite a session in store.
There are eight more gold medals up for grabs - I for one am really looking forward to the women's slopestyle final and the men's moguls. Here's an overview of the events we'll be keeping our eyes on (all times CET):
- Figure skating; team event free programme (01:00)
- Snowboard; women's slopestyle (02:00)
- Alpine skiing; women's giant slalom (02:15 & 05:45)
- Biathlon; women's 10km pursuit (11:10)
- Biathlon; men's 12.5km pursuit (13:00)
- Freestyle skiing; men's moguls (13:00)
- Speed skating; women's 1,500m (13:30)
- Ski-jumping; women's normal hill (13:50)