Austria’s Benjamin Karl wins gold in men's parallel giant slalom
From CNN's Aleks Klosok
Austria's Benjamin Karl celebrates winning the gold medal at the men's parallel giant slalom final. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
After a silver in Vancouver in 2010 and a bronze in PyeongChang in 2018, it's finally gold for Austria’s Benjamin Karl after the 36-year-old triumphed in the men’s parallel giant slalom in Beijing.
Karl defeated Slovenia's Tim Mastnak in the final, adding Olympic gold to his five world championship titles in the same discipline.
"I can't describe with words, I'm just happy and satisfied," said Karl of his victory. "I'll enjoy it during the rest of the day."
The Russian Olympic Committee’s Victor Wild claimed bronze — his third Olympic medal after two golds at Sochi 2014.
3:24 a.m. ET, February 8, 2022
Life inside the bubble is getting a little tedious
From CNN's Tom Booth in Beijing
A man jogs inside the closed loop of the Beijing Olympic Village Tom Booth/CNN
At one of the "closed loop" hotels, we see a man who decided to brave the 17.6 degrees Fahrenheit (-8 degrees Celsius) evening temperatures to run small laps of the hotel car park.
Under the closed loop system, you can only move between your hotel, media center and competition venues.
This must all be done in official closed loop buses or special vehicles — and there is a noticeable lack of outdoor space.
The hotels have closed most facilities in order to adhere to strict Covid restrictions and to maintain social distancing.
Beijing has been experiencing a spell of clear blue sky weather this past week, but unfortunately, most of the thousands of people inside the loop can’t experience it.
Instead, days are spent peering out of hotel windows, working in the basement of the media center and shuttling to a competition venue — if you are one of the lucky ones.
3:43 a.m. ET, February 8, 2022
Czech Republic's Ester Ledecka golden again in women's parallel giant slalom
Czech snowboarder Ester Ledecka competes during the women's parallel giant slalom qualifications on Tuesday. (Roman Vondrous/CTK/AP)
Ester Ledecka retained her Olympic title in women’s snowboarding parallel giant slalom on Tuesday to become only the second Czech woman to win three Winter Olympic golds.
Ledecka shocked the sports world four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games when she won the same event and also took gold in the alpine skiing Super-G.
Daniela Ulbing of Austria wins silver, while Gloria Kotnik of Slovenia takes bronze.
"I was so concentrated until the end that I didn't even know if we had to go up one more time or not, so I was not celebrating it at all," Ledecka said after her final run.
It's still not sunken in."
"I'm super happy, but in my head, I'm just still a little bit in the race."
"I made a good job, I'm very proud of my team, so thank you very much to them, especially Justin (Reiter), my American coach," she added.
"They made an amazing job and I'm happy that I was able to finish like that."
2:30 a.m. ET, February 8, 2022
Olympians pushed to their limits over uncompromising Beijing Covid-19 controls
From CNN’s Simone McCarthy and Hannah Ritchie
A health worker prepares to collect swab samples from a participant of the Games in Beijing on January 25. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
Weeks-long isolation, repeat stints in quarantine and sub-par meals — these are conditions that some Olympic athletes snared in Beijing's stringent system for controlling Covid-19 say they are contending with, and some are pushing back.
Finnish ice hockey head coach Jukka Jalonen on Sunday accused China of "not respecting human rights" for keeping his star player Marko Anttila in isolation for more than two weeks, leaving the athlete, who tested positive for the virus, out of commission into the first weekend of the Beijing Winter Games.
"We know that he's fully healthy and ready to go and that's why we think that China, for some reason, won't respect his human rights and that's not a great situation," Jalonen told reporters Sunday, adding that according to his team doctor, Anttila was no longer infectious after first testing positive 18 days earlier.
Beijing pushes back: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stressed controls put in place by the organizing committee for the Beijing Games were meant "to reduce the risk of infection as much as possible, and ensure the safe and smooth running of the Games as scheduled," while safeguarding the health of all those involved and in the host city.
The hockey star is one of 159 athletes or team officials who have tested positive for Covid-19 in Beijing as of Tuesday morning local time. Overall, some 393 Olympics-related personnel and other stakeholders have received that result, picked up in arrival screenings and daily tests — a key pillar of Beijing's Olympic's bubble.
Rules a shock for some: For athletes coming from parts of the world that have begun to shift their approaches to "live with the virus" after large portions of their populations received vaccines, China's rules can seem jarring.
And for some, the virus and its controls have meant giving up Olympic dreams.
Polish short track speed skater Natalia Maliszewska missed her first competitive event due to being placed back in isolation within hours of her initial release.
Nathan Chen says world record performance was "close to my best"
From CNN's Nectar Gan in Beijing
Nathan Chen landed a series of flawless quadruple jumps in the men's single skating short program at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Tuesday. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Team USA’s Nathan Chen achieved a world record score in the men’s short program Tuesday, placing him in pole position for his first Olympic gold.
The three-time world champion, 22, finished with a score of 113.97, breaking the previous record set by Japan’s “Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu — his chief rival.
Skating to “La Boheme” in a black tuxedo, Chen landed a series of flawless quadruple jumps, then pumped his fists into the air at the end of his routine in a rare show of triumph.
“Looking back I almost never do stuff like that, I guess it’s just indicative of how I felt in that moment — very happy,” Chen told reporters afterward. “I’d say it’s pretty close to my best. Obviously there are always things you can improve on, there are always things you can do a little bit better, but overall I’m very happy.”
"Ice Prince" needs something special: Hanyu, the reigning two-time Olympic champion, finished eighth with a score of 95.15 after missing his first jump.
“I didn’t feel anything bad until takeoff. When I took off, I was under some hole, maybe (caused by) some other skater’s toe (loop) or flip or something,” he told reporters.
The mistake leaves Hanyu with it all to do heading into Thursday’s free skate program. But he said he was still determined to attempt the quadruple axel — the most challenging jump in figure skating and never completed by anyone in competition.
“I have one more chance. I have lots of time with the music and many jumps in there, so I (can) be my best.”
2:07 a.m. ET, February 8, 2022
How Jakara Anthony went from beach kid to Winter Olympics champion
From CNN's Coy Wire in Beijing
Jakara Anthony became Australia's first Winter Olympics gold medalist in 12 years, capturing the women's moguls title on Sunday.
The 23-year-old spoke to CNN about how a kid from a beach town grew up to become an Olympic champion of the snow.
"It's just mindblowing" she said. "People think we're a bit of an underdog in winter sports but we've actually proven that we're pretty strong in the World Cup field, World Championships and Olympics in the past."
Born in coastal Cairns — probably best known for the Great Barrier Reef — Anthony said of her skiing: "it's pretty bizarre."
"I wouldn't really pick someone from where I live to be so successful at winter sports."
Watch the interview:
1:46 a.m. ET, February 8, 2022
Teenage Olympic sensation Eileen Gu wins gold. And crashes the Chinese internet
From CNN's Jessie Yeung and Beijing Bureau
Fans across China temporarily crashed the country's leading social media platform on Tuesday, as tens of millions rushed online to celebrate teenage freeski sensation Eileen Gu winning her first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
Gu, 18, jumped into the top position at the women's big air competition with her third run,scoring 94.5 with a 1620 and a perfect landing — making her total score 188.25 in the event's debut at the Winter Olympics.
"That was the best moment of my life. The happiest moment, day, whatever — of my life. I just cannot believe what just happened," said Gu after her win, according to the Olympic site. "Even if I didn't land it, I felt it would send a message out to the world and hopefully encourage more girls to break their own boundaries," she added. "That was my biggest goal going into my last run. I reminded myself to have fun and enjoy the moment and that, no matter what, I was so grateful to even have this opportunity to even be here."
Fans filled the stands to cheer for Gu, who was born in the United States but decided in 2019 to compete for China. Known as the "snow princess" in China, Gu — already a reigning world champion — has become the unofficial face of China's Olympic ambitions, and saw her popularity skyrocket in the lead-up to the Games.
Social media site crashes: Gu's victory sparked joyous scenes online. The topic dominated searches on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo, where seven of the 10 top trending topics were all about Gu's win. Fans on her Weibo, where she has 2.6 million followers, left more than 90,000 comments in less than 30-minutes after her win.
Related hashtags, such as "Gu Ailing won the gold medal," received more than 300 million views within an hour — eventually crashing the entire Weibo site due to the massive number of users.
Canada beats big rival USA in women's ice hockey preliminary
Canada's Jamie Lee Rattray, left, celebrates after scoring a goal against the United States on Tuesday. (Harry How/Getty Images)
Canada beat the United States 4-2 in a fiercely contested women's ice hockey preliminary round match at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing on Tuesday.
Though both teams had already secured spots in the quarterfinals, it was still one of the most highly anticipated matchups of these Winter Games.
It was also both teams' final games in the preliminary round before the seeds are determined for the quarterfinals, which begin Thursday.
In the latest instalment of the rivalry, Canada – despite being outshot by the US 53-27 – had the upper hand.
Four years ago at Pyeongchang, the US beat Canada in a penalty shootout in the final to win Olympic gold. Between them, the two teams have won every Olympic gold medal in this sport.
Canada leads Group A with four wins out of four, with the US in second.
And the two big rivals could meet again in Beijing — if they progress to the finals.
Referee Cianna Lieffers sustained an injury during the game. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Even the referees are tough in ice hockey: The officials weren't spared from the rough and tumble on the ice Tuesday — referee Cianna Lieffers had to take time out after a US player accidentally hit her in the face with her stick, leaving her bleeding from her mouth.
1:17 a.m. ET, February 8, 2022
Eileen Gu avoids questions on dual citizenship, says her mission is "to use sport as a force for unity"
From CNN's Hannah Ritchie
China's Eileen Gu makes her final run in the big air competition on Tuesday. (Phil Noble/Reuters)
China's gold medalist Eileen Gu sidestepped questions about the status of her US citizenship during a news conference Tuesday after winning the freeski big air competition in Beijing.
Reporters pressed the 18-year-old on whether she holds dual passports, as her Beijing 2022 profile says she "renounced her United States citizenship" in 2019 "to represent China at the Winter Games."
“I definitely feel as though I’m just as American as I am Chinese. I am American when I am in the US, I am Chinese when I am in China, I’ve been outspoken about my gratitude to both the US and China for making me the person I am,” Gu told reporters when asked whether she still held her US passport. "Both have been incredibly supportive of me and continue to be supportive of me because they understand that my mission is to use sport as a force for unity, to use it as a form to foster interconnection between countries and not use it as a divisive force, so that benefits everyone and if you disagree with that that’s someone else’s problem."
Gu, who is a San Francisco native, was born in the United States to a Chinese mother and American father.
China only allows dual citizenship in exceptional circumstances, with the government cracking down in recent years on people secretly holding two passports.
Gu has never publicly confirmed whether she renounced her US citizenship to compete for China.
