Day 4 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Dutch speed skater Kjeld Nuis defended his title in the men's 1,500m race in an Olympic record time.

Nuis finished in 1:43.21, breaking the mark set by American Derek Parra at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

The 32-year-old is the first person since 1994 to successfully defend his Olympic title in the men’s 1,500m.

This is Nuis' third Olympic gold medal. He also won the men's 1,000m at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

Silver went to Thomas Krol of the Netherlands, while Kim Min-seok of the Republic of Korea claimed bronze for the second straight Winter Games.

Sweden’s Jonna Sundling picked up her first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics by winning the women’s cross country freestyle sprint on Tuesday.

The world champion was in imperious form beating her compatriot Maja Dahlqvist by almost three seconds.

Jessie Diggins of the United States, who won gold in the women's team sprint in 2018, claimed bronze.

Freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who won gold in the big air competition on Tuesday, was asked after the event if she was still a US citizen having chosen to represent China at the Winter Olympics.

It's unclear whether Gu renounced her American citizenship – usually a requirement for Chinese naturalization – since the country does not allow dual citizenship.

The 18-year-old has never publicly commented on the status of her American citizenship, though an article on the official Olympic site referred to her "dual nationality" in January.

There will be a record number of out athletes – at least 36 – competing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing this year, according to SB Nation blog Outsports.

Among them is British curler Bruce Mouat, who has been speaking during the Games about coming out in 2014.

“It’s weird to look back and think I wouldn’t have come out eventually,” Mouat said after beating China in the mixed doubles round-robin group match on Sunday.

“I don’t know where I would be, but I’m not sure if I would have been as confident as I am right now.

“I’m a very proud person and I like to have a little joke and a laugh and be proud of who I am and who I’ve become because of it.”

Mouat and mixed doubles partner Jen Dodds missed out on a bronze in the mixed doubles after a 9-3 defeat against Sweden on Tuesday but will compete again in the men’s and women’s competitions later in the Games.

Mouat, who is 27 and competing at his first Olympics, has been seen sporting rainbow laces in Beijing in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

“Bruce is an amazing person,” Dodds said of her partner. “It doesn’t matter if he’s straight, gay, whatever, he is just an amazing friend, one of my best friends.”

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France has its first gold medal of the Beijing Games courtesy of Quentin Fillon Maillet who won the men’s 20 km biathlon event at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre on Tuesday.

The Frenchman, who is the current World Cup overall leader, came home in a winning time of 48 minutes and 47.4 seconds – this despite suffering two shooting penalties.

"Maybe it looked easy, but it was so hard today. With two misses in the shooting, I never expected the victory – maybe the podium," Maillet said.

"It's hard to relish the victory right now because the race is not finished, but I'm starting to feel the emotions of the victory. It was amazing," he added. "A lot of work, a lot of energy for this. Thank you to my family, my friends, my partner, my teammates, for all their work and all the people who helped me on my way to becoming Olympic champion."

Maillet finished almost 15 seconds clear of Anton Smolski, who wins Belarus’ first medal of the Games.

Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Bø, who won this event at PyeongChang 2018, claimed the bronze medal.

The Winter Olympics showcases some unusual sports and disciplines that you may never have heard of.

One of those is the Nordic combined, which is comprised of cross-country skiing and ski jumping and remains one of the few competitions at the Games that's yet to introduce a women's draw.

Competitors win points for the style and distance of their ski jump. The better-scoring jumpers subsequently get a head start in the staggered cross-country skiing element — the conversion of points to time is known as the Gundersen method.

The Nordic combined was the centerpiece of the Holmenkollen ski festival, which began in Oslo, Norway in 1892. Since then, the sport has garnered an international fanbase and has been an enduring event at the Games since the first Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix, France.

The competitions in Beijing take place from February 9 until February 17.

You can read more about the Nordic combined — and every other Winter Games discipline — below.

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After winning her first Olympic gold medal and China's third of the Games, freestyle skier Eileen Gu said her final trick — a 1620 — was a "testament to her character."

The Winter Olympics is home to some interesting and unusual sports ... but even in ice hockey — a sport that is extremely popular around the world — there are some terms used by commentators or pundits that you might not be accustomed to hearing.

We picked out some of the key ones and explain what they mean, so you'll be ready to impress your friends and follow the action in Beijing.

An apple: an assist.

Bottle rocket: when a goal breaks the goalie's water bottle that sits on top of the net.

Flamingo: when a player lifts one leg, standing like a flamingo, to get out of the way of a shot.

Sieve: a goaltender who allows a lot of goals, usually referred to as being full of holes.

You can read more of ice hockey's unique phrases below.

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Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu has offered her support to teammate Zhu Yi, the Chinese figure skater who received abuse on social media after her performance in the team skating event.

Zhu fell during her short program routine in the team competition on Sunday, after which the hashtag “Zhu Yi has fallen” gained 200 million views in just a few hours on social media platform Weibo.

Then on Monday, the 19-year-old Zhu fell twice during the free skate and broke down in tears as she left the ice. She later said she would be focusing on her mental health ahead of competing in the singles.

After her gold medal in the big air competition on Tuesday, freestyle skier Gu — who, like Zhu, is US-born and competing for China at Beijing 2022 — urged supporters to show compassion to her teammate.

“I think she’s amazing. Anyone who can make it to the Olympic Winter Games is already amazing,” Gu told reporters.

“Mistakes and pressure are both part of the sport. I think many athletes also fell today, as you saw.

“Therefore, we should have some sportsmanship … Of course, everybody wants her to get good results, but she especially wanted to get good results for herself.

“That’s why I hope people can try and understand her situation better. I think she’s done her best.”

The contrasting reactions to the performances of Zhu and Gu in Beijing — one attacked on social media, the other showered with praise — typifies the heavy scrutiny Chinese athletes are under during the course of the Games.

After 18-year-old Gu’s gold medal on Tuesday, the Weibo site crashed due to the millions of users celebrating the victory. Seven of the top 10 trending topics were about Gu's win, and related hashtags — such as "Gu Ailing won the gold medal" — received more than 300 million views within an hour of the result.