Day 5 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Wednesday marked the fifth day of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. If you’re just reading in now on the action — most of which happened in overnight US hours — here’s what you need to know:

⛷ Mikaela Shiffrin slips up … again

Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympics nightmare continued Wednesday, as the American skiing sensation failed to finish her second straight event in Beijing.

Shifrin “slipped up” during her first run of the women’s slalom — an event she took Gold in in 2014 — lasting less than five seconds, and failing to make it past five gates.

The 26-year-old — who was seeking to become the first American skier to capture three medals in a single Games — admitted to feeling “pretty awful” and “pretty low” after coming up empty in her second straight event.

Shiffrin also failed to finish her giant slalom run on Monday, meaning her top two events yielded nothing more than heartbreak.

A two-time Olympic medalist, Shiffrin has a pair of speed races still on her Olympics agenda, the downhill and super-G.

🥇 Olympic veteran brings home first Team USA gold

Sixteen years ago, American Lindsey Jacobellis opted for pizzaz when she needed poise, trying a flashy maneuver despite having a comfortable lead in the women’s snowboard cross competition at the 2006 Olympic Games. The choice cost her: she fell and was forced to settle for silver. It was a mistake she wouldn’t make again.

On Wednesday, the 36-year-old finally captured the elusive gold medal she’s been seeking since her Turin topple, outperforming the field, and earning the US’s first gold in Beijing.

⚖️ “Legal consultation” delays team figure skating medal ceremony

Though the figure skating team competition has been over for more than 48 hours, the medals remain on ice. An International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson says the medal ceremony is being held up amid “legal consultation” as a result of what’s being described as an “emerging issue.”

As it stands right now, the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) captured gold in the event, with the US and Japan earning silver and bronze respectively.

The goal is to get the issue sorted post haste, though the IOC spokesman noted that “legal issues can sometimes drag on.”

🏂 Shaun White hunting for one more gold

Shaun White’s Olympics victory lap was nearly done before it started. Competing in his fifth and final Games, the three-time Gold Medalist fell during his first men’s halfpipe run, putting his Beijing future in doubt. However, the man once dubbed the “Flying Tomato” rallied in his second attempt, turning in an 86.25, good enough to advance him to Thursday’s event final.

At 35 years old, White — who has competed in every Winter Olympics since 2006 — is the oldest-ever Olympic male halfpipe rider. He is seeking one final medal to add to a trophy case already bursting at the seams.

👚 Suited … then booted: Wardrobe malfunction leads to skiing sadness

Two centimeters. That’s what separates Olympic glory from a devastating disqualification.

Sara Takanashi’s massive 103-meter effort seemed poised to vault Japan into medal contention in the mixed team ski jumping event. However, Takanashi’s suit was ruled to be too wide — by two centimeters — around her thighs, thus resulting in a disqualification.

After the ruling, Takanashi posted on Instagram: “I am very sorry that the chance of winning a medal has been taken away from the Japanese team.”

The Japanese competitor was not alone in her disappointment, as teams from Austria, Norway and Germany also suffered disqualifications resulting from suit violations.

🚑 From a hospital bed to the medal stand

A 2016 car accident nearly cost American Colby Stevenson his life. He underwent a pair of major surgeries, suffered fractures to his skull, ribs, jaw, neck and an eye socket, and doctors feared he might not be able to walk out of the hospital. Nonetheless, he was back on skis five months later, and now he’s an Olympic medalist.

Stevenson brought home the silver in the men’s freeski big air competition on Wednesday, bringing to conclusion a comeback six years in the making.

“I’ve never been in such a grateful state and just so full of love, I guess, for the sport,” Stevenson said following his medal-winning performance.

“I think that was the secret in the end for me, just doing it out of love,” he added.

As Day 5 of the Winter Olympics wraps up, take a look back at some of the best photos from Wednesday in Beijing.

See more of the best photos from the Games so far.

Weeks-long isolation, repeat stints in quarantine and sub-par meals: these are the 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, which kicked off on Friday.

Jalonen told reporters Sunday that, according to his team doctor, Anttila was no longer infectious after first testing positive 18 days earlier.

Beijing has pushed back on the characterization, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday stressing 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.

The bubble completely cordons off the more than 10,000 athletes, media and other participants joining from around the world in a “closed-loop” system, where they live, eat, work and travel between Olympic venues some 111 miles (180 kilometers) apart, all without coming into contact with people or areas in the capital city outside.

The ambitious scheme, run by thousands of Chinese volunteers and staff, is meant to minimize the spread of Covid-19 inside the Games and prevent it from spilling into the Beijing. Its rigorous testing regimes and isolation requirements for positive cases are also meant to ensure that any infections that do enter the bubble are picked up quickly, before they can cause an outbreak and disrupt the Games.

Pulling off the Games without a major outbreak in the midst of a critical phase in the pandemic is also a high-stakes matter for China. The government has touted as a political win its ability to keep Covid-19 largely under control with its ‘zero-Covid’ strategy throughout much of the pandemic, even as the virus raged overseas.

But 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, the rules can seem jarring.

And for some, the virus and its controls have meant giving up Olympic dreams.

Read the full story here.

Nathan Chen is on course to win his first Olympic gold medal after setting a new short-program world record in the men’s figure skating event on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old’s near-flawless performance was rewarded by judges with an unprecedented 113.97 points, sending him over five points clear at the top of the rankings with the deciding free skate final to come on Thursday.

Chen’s rise to the top had been predicted … by Chen himself.

At just 10 years old, he said on national TV that he would make the 2018 US Winter Olympic figure skating team. Four years ago in PyeongChang, that became a reality.

Despite the fulfillment of a dream in 2018, an 18-year-old Chen ultimately left South Korea disappointed following a 5th-place finish in the individual event.

But the experience has only served as motivation and he’s in the perfect position to secure Olympic glory this week.

The Games also holds an added personal element for the Yale student with both of Chen’s parents born in China.

“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,” Chen said ahead of Thursday’s finale.

Read more here.

For the Olympics, China built a winter wonderland like it was in the metaverse.

This mountainous area used to be brown and barren. It’s cold enough, but it’s dry like a frozen desert.

More than 100 snow generators and 300 snow-making guns pulled off an impressive feat — even allowing folks to show off their creative side by building snow sculptures.

At the Genting Snow Park, dragons seem to be the most popular. Some have oranges for eyes while others run along stairways leading to offices. Intricate details head-to-toe bring these snow creatures to life.

There’s even a tiger whose whiskers are wooden sticks.

Despite the lack of precipitation so far at these Games, there’s still room to play. TechnoAlpin, the company providing the snow-making systems, told CNN that it began shipping a full arsenal of snow guns, fan-driven snow generators and cooling towers to Beijing in 2018 to start creating the artificial surfaces on which the snow-sport Olympians are competing.

More than the snow, there are thousands — if not tens of thousands — of trees that weren’t here before. In theory, planting pines amid the massive mounds of artificial snow would be the cherry on top of this winter creation. However, some of the trees are oddly placed and hardly doing the trick.

The slopes have received mix reviews.

Two-time snowboard slopestyle gold medalist Jamie Anderson called the course “gnarly,” saying, “It’s not quite ideal, but I would say we’re all making the most of it. You definitely don’t want to fall. It feels like bulletproof ice.”

CNN spoke to gold medalists Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand, Australia’s Jakara Anthony and Canadian Max Parrot, and they all spoke highly of the surfaces.

Team USA’s Julia Marino said, “The course was perfect.”

Great Britain’s cross-country skier James Clugnet told reporters, “The course is super, super slow… It’s so cold, and it’s a bit like a desert next to the track. So when it’s windy, the sand comes into the track. You have to reach a certain speed and then you’re all right, but when you’re going slowly, it feels like you’re standing still.”

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Two years ago, Maame Biney almost walked away from speed skating but says she’s arrived at her second Olympics stronger than ever.

The US skater said before the Games that “so many things were not going my way” after PyeongChang 2018 – where she made history as the first Black woman to compete for the United States short track speed skating team at an Olympics – and found the sport less enjoyable.  

Arriving in Beijing, Biney’s expectations are to “race and have fun and be happy and be confident” – goals that are no doubt fueled by her positive attitude and infectious smile.

“The world needs more laughter,” she told CNN before the Games.

Biney placed 13th in the 500m short track speed skating event on Monday and won her 1,000m heat on Wednesday to qualify for the quarterfinals on Friday.

Hear more from Biney here.

Six gold medals were at stake on the fifth day of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Here’s a list of who won and how the competition is shaking out so far:

Here is the official Olympic medal count so far.

Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt made history on Wednesday by becoming the first luge doubles team to win three consecutive Winter Olympic gold medals.

The pair edged out compatriots Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken by just 0.099 seconds to claim the historic gold with Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller picking up bronze for Austria.

It is the fifth Olympic gold medal for Wendl and Arlt after they were also victorious in the team relay event in Sochi 2014 and four years ago in Pyeongchang.

And the German duo could add yet another gold medal to their haul when they compete in the team relay event at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre on Thursday.

The pair have competed together since they were 13 and are powerhouses in the sport having won countless World and European Championships.

Beijing 2022 has been particularly difficult for Mikaela Shiffrin.

The US ski star has crashed out of two events in the first Olympics since her father, Jeff, died suddenly from an accident in February 2020.

After her second DNF on Wednesday, Shiffrin’s thoughts immediately turned to her dad.

“It does give me perspective but right now, I would really like to call him,” she said. “So, that doesn’t make it easier. He would probably tell me to get over it, but he’s not here to say that, so on top of everything else I am pretty angry at him too.”

It is a given in the skiing world that few families are as tight as the Shiffrins.

During the season, her mother is frequently seen alongside Shiffrin on the race hill and her father is rarely far from her mind.

“Skiing is something that my entire family shares. And my dad, he loved skiing, he loved it … I found being on the mountains was like being close to him.”

Read more about Shiffrin at Beijing 2022 below:

YANQING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 07: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Alternate crop) Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States crashes during the Women's Giant Slalom on day three of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at National Alpine Ski Centre on February 07, 2022 in Yanqing, China. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Related article Mikaela Shiffrin aims to bounce back from crash and make Winter Olympics history at Beijing 2022

Doubles luge is one of the more… visually interesting events of the Winter Olympics. American pair Zachary DiGregorio and Sean Hollander are hoping for a medal in the final, which is currently being contested.

South Korean speed skater Hwang Dae-heon won gold in the men’s 1,500 meter short track speed skating at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old finished in a time of 2:09.219 to earn his first Olympic gold medal. At the 2018 PyeongChang Games, Hwang placed 14th in this event.

After the final, Hwang said, “I can’t find words for my feeling right now. It was the most intense race ever. I am really proud of myself, accomplishing gold in such a race. I am especially proud for being able to add another medal for my country. What a beautiful day.

“The result was achieved by all of us. I want to thank my teammates, my coaches, my family and my people. They have been cheering for us and giving us so much strength. Thank you.”

This is South Korea’s first gold of the 2022 Winter Games and fourth in six holdings of the event in Olympic history, including in 2018.

Silver went to Canadian Steven Dubois, with Semen Elistratov of the Russian Olympic Committee claiming bronze.

The mascot has long been an important element of the Olympic Games with the often feathered or furry friend encapsulating the host city’s culture and history.

According to the International Olympic Committee, the role of these quirky characters is to help spread a “festive atmosphere” and embody the exuberant spirit of the event.

From snowmen to cowboy-hat-wearing bears, the Winter Games has seen it all since the first mascot was created in 1968 by designer Aline Lafargue.

The designs are often selected and finalized years before the event takes place and finding a worthy representative requires plenty of work.

Read more about the cartoonish characters that have graced the Games throughout history here.

Complaints about the food inside the “closed loop” have been mounting, with athletes, media and other personnel posting on social media about the lack of quality, variety, or healthy choices at the available restaurants, including the canteen at the Main Media Centre (MMC).

One hotel manager even admitted to CNN that the food in one of their own restaurants is “disgusting.”

Fresh fruit is hard to find, and no snack items or hot food are allowed to be delivered to guests into the bubble from outside. The only shop in the MMC sells low-quality packaged snacks, a small number of toiletry items, and Chinese beer – and the shelves are often half-empty.

Those who were able to visit Beijing before the pandemic have lamented their disappointment about the poor choices available in a city that is famous for its excellent food.

Even the much-touted, robot-powered restaurant at the MMC is often overcrowded with people taking videos for social media, and they warn customers that it could take 40 minutes to be served.

And despite the robot-powered food delivery system – which lowers plates of food via a wire from purple pods that slide along the ceiling – the rest of the operation still runs in a far less futuristic way, with customers paying in cash or credit card at the till and staff in some sections hand-delivering the trays of lukewarm dumplings that were made by the robots.

The robot cocktail bar is often closed, and on several visits, the machines had run out of ingredients, so the staff on site reverted to making the drinks the old-fashioned way.

The dinner buffet at the Shangri-La Hotel – which includes good quality Chinese dishes and international options – and the restaurant at the Marco Polo Hotel are among the only places inside the “closed loop” escaping major criticism of their food. But they come at a cost – notably a price tag of more than $60 per head for the Shangri-La buffet.

When Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won New Zealand’s first ever gold medal at the Winter Olympics last week, the reaction wasn’t just about the 20-year-old’s performance in the snowboard slopestyle, but also her dad’s viral interview back home.

“He’d definitely had a few too many beers,” Sadowski-Synnott told CNN, having watched the interview from Beijing.

“I just cracked up laughing because it was so him,” she added.

Watch Sadowski-Synnott speak with CNN’s Coy Wire about her gold medal — and her dad’s response — here:

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Team USA’s Lindsey Jacobellis says she felt a pressure to be the “golden girl” during her career before winning an elusive gold medal at Beijing 2022.

The 36-year-old claimed victory in the women’s snowboard cross competition on Wednesday — her country’s first gold medal of the Games.

Success was redemption for throwing away a gold medal in the 2006 Turin Games, where Jacobellis had the win in the bag before she fell after opting for a flashy move on a jump.

She finished with the silver 16 years ago and had come to terms with the possibility that she may never experience Olympic glory before she retired.

“That’s definitely something that the media doesn’t always understand and you don’t realize how young some of these athletes are,” she added.

Jacobellis suffered injuries and required surgery during her long career but pushed through a tricky season to make it to Beijing 2022.

She says she has no desire to slow down and wants to continue competing at the highest level.

“I can’t really remember last year, but my body was allowing me to keep racing,” she said. “I’ve had surgeries, I’ve had injuries, and it’s just day by day and season by season. It seems like you blink your eye and another four years have gone by.

She added, “Maybe I’ll blink again and I’ll be back the next Olympics, but I want to say that I’m really excited with how things are happening right now so I’m going to try to live in this moment a little bit longer.”

Read the full story here.

We’ve seen some thrilling performances from teenage athletes in Beijing – including 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva and 18-year-old freestyle skier Eileen Gu – but it would be remiss to overlook the competitors at the other end of their sporting careers.

Introducing Claudia Pechstein, the German speed skater who turns 50 later this month.

At the age of 49 years and 348 days, Pechstein became the oldest woman to compete at a Winter Olympics when she took to the ice on Saturday, making a record-equaling eighth appearance at a Winter Games.

Having already won nine Olympic medals, Pechstein – who served a two-year doping ban earlier in her career – had more humble ambitions heading to Beijing: “To be negative for Covid,” she joked on Friday.

She placed 20th in the 3,000m event last week as Dutch skater Irene Schouten won gold and broke Pechstein’s 20-year-old Olympic record.

Norwegian curler Torger Nergaard is the oldest male athlete in Beijing, aged 47 and competing in his sixth Winter Olympics.

But who was the oldest Winter Olympian ever? That distinction goes to another curler: Sweden’s Carl August Kronlund, who at the age of 58 years and 155 days, competed at the 1924 Chamonix Games and won a team silver in the process.

Walking into the Shangri-La Hotel in Beijing’s Olympic bubble, it’s immediately clear that Covid-19 prevention measures are being taken to the next level – even in the context of one of the strictest places in the world.

Guests are sprayed from head-to-toe with a mist of disinfectant in a neon-lit walkway upon entering the building, and guests walk through a roped-off alley surrounded by half a dozen staff wearing full hazmat suits.

Temperatures are also checked, N95 or KN95 face masks are mandatory, and hand sanitizer is dispensed from hands-free containers – as with all locations within the “closed loop.”

Airport-level security is also employed at building entrances, with the Olympic accreditation identification scanned through the security gates, so people can be traced at all times.

Preventing Covid-19 from spreading within the “closed loop” – or more importantly, escaping into the rest of the population – has been a key priority for Olympic organizers.

Even the restaurant at the Shangri-La takes an extreme approach to safety. The famous northern Chinese dish of Peking duck was hand-rolled by a member of staff wearing a hazmat suit, who spread out the wafer-thin pancakes, adding the plum sauce, juicy duck and spring onions, all while wearing surgical gloves.

The Olympic personnel, media and other guests staying at the dozens of hotels inside the “closed loop” are tested for Covid-19 every day, a mandatory process which has to take place before 11pm (local time.) If anyone tests positive within the “closed loop,” staff will come to remove them from the hotel and transfer them to an isolation facility or a hospital until they test negative twice.

The Covid-19 testing staff at CNN’s hotel are stationed outside in temporary metal shelters, unable to leave their station for hours on end, relying on layers of clothes under their hazmat suits to protect them from the sub-zero temperatures. Guests at some hotels have received warnings for forgetting to take their Covid-19 tests on time and have been warned that they will be banned from leaving the hotel until they do their test.

So far, the strict containment measures have prevented an outbreak of Covid-19 within the “closed loop,” with only five cases reported on Tuesday.

The medal ceremony for the figure skating team event has been delayed due to “legal consultation,” International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams told a press briefing on Wednesday.

The ROC clinched the gold medal with the United States taking silver and Japan bronze in Monday’s event.

The ceremony was due to be held on Tuesday evening local time but was removed from the events list.

Adams said the situation arose at short notice, adding that it was an “emerging issue,” which requires “legal consultation with the International Skating Union.”

When asked whether the legal issues will be resolved in time before the athletes leave Beijing, Adams said everyone is doing “absolutely everything” to sort the situation out as soon as possible as it includes athletes who won medals.

“We will be doing our level utmost to make sure it is resolved as quickly as possible, but as you know, legal issues can sometimes drag on,” he added.

Flying head first down a narrow ice track at speeds of over 100km/h (about 62mph) might not be everyone’s idea of a good day out but it’s certainly fun to watch.

Skeleton has been a fan favorite at the Winter Olympics since it first appeared in competition but it’s had a love hate relationship with the Games ever since.

After British and American holiday goers constructed the first toboggan run in 1882 in Davos, Switzerland, a new steel sledge was built ten years later — which became known as the skeleton.

It fell in and out of the Olympic program for a number of years, before it was reintroduced at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.

In Beijing, there will be six gold medals across the discipline with athletes participating on the same track across two days, getting four runs each, which are then added together.

The competitor who gets to the bottom of the track in the quickest cumulative time wins the event.

Great Britain and the United States are two of the powerhouses in the sport but, given the nature of the event, anything can happen on the day.

The skeleton takes place from Thursday, February 10 to Saturday, February 12.

You can learn more about the events at this year’s Games in CNN’s event guide here.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is in contact with Peng Shuai “all the time,” its president Thomas Bach told reporters at the Beijing Games on Wednesday.  

Bach said that the governing body has been regularly communicating with the Chinese tennis star since their first video conference with her in November last year. 

“Since then, we have been all the time in contact and this is why also because we wanted to keep this contact up that we invited her for the first meeting, for a meeting here, to show everybody it’s not only just a one off effort, but it is a continuous effort … and we will keep this contact up,” Bach told reporters. 

“Now, we are continuing by having invited her to come to Lausanne and maybe also to visit other places in Europe, so that whenever she wants, she can travel, and in all the conversations, we have assured her that we will support her, whatever she decides,” he continued. 

Bach held an in-person meeting with Peng on Saturday inside the Olympics “closed loop” system, which separates athletes, stakeholders, and staff from the public in Beijing. On Tuesday, the two then watched China’s Eileen Gu take home gold in the big air freestyle skiing competition. 

Bach said Peng’s various appearances show that “she is enjoying the Games and enjoying being among athletes and the public.”

The IOC Chief ended by telling reporters he will not see Peng again during this trip, as the tennis star will soon leave the Games’ “closed loop” system. 

Team USA’s Lindsey Jacobellis won the women’s snowboard cross competition Wednesday, finally claiming an elusive gold medal in her fifth Olympics.

It’s the first gold medal for the United States at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

In the 2006 Turin Games, Jacobellis had the gold medal in the bag when she went for a flashy move on a jump and then fell. She finished with the silver.

The 36-year-old, who has been chasing gold since then, beat France’s Chloe Trespeuch, who took silver, and Canada’s Meryeta O’Dine who earned bronze.

According to sports data site Gracenote, Jacobellis is the second US athlete to win a Winter Olympics medal at least 16 years after her first.

Belarusian skier Darya Dolidovich has fled her home country after being barred from competing in the Winter Olympics over accusations regarding her involvement with the country’s opposition movement. 

The 17-year-old cross-country skier’s International Ski Federation (FIS) code – which is required for athletes to compete in events run by the governing body – was changed to “not active” approximately three weeks ago. It followed a decision from the Belarus Ski Union, according to Reuters.

Dolidovich told Reuters in December that the ban – which precluded her from competing in the Beijing Winter Games – came after sports officials accused her of “supporting” the country’s opposition.

CNN has reached out to the Belarus Ski Union and the Belarus Cross-Country Skiing Federation for comment on Dolidovich’s case.

In a statement to CNN, the FIS said: “FIS has reached out to the Belarus Ski Association to ask the reason why the status was changed, but has not yet received an update.”

Family flees: Her coach and father, Sergei Dolidovich, is a seven-time Olympian who has spoken out publicly against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and took part in street protests following the disputed presidential election in August 2020, which opposition groups say was marred by fraud.

Darya confirmed that her family had relocated to Poland during a video interview with Reuters Wednesday. 

Her father told Reuters the family had been targeted over their political views, and that his daughter had been “stripped” of her right to compete. 

Some background: Dolidovich is one of several Belarusian athletes who have been banned from competing or forced to flee the country in the past year, due to their criticism of sporting authorities or Lukashenko’s regime. 

Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya received a humanitarian visa from Poland in August, following her abrupt departure from the Tokyo Summer Olympics after she said team officials tried to forcibly send her home over her public criticism of national sporting authorities. 

Japanese ski jumper Sara Takanashi issued an apology on Tuesday for a suit violation that dashed Japan’s hopes of a medal in Monday’s Olympic mixed team ski jumping event.

Takanashi recorded a huge jump of 103 meters to launch Japan’s campaign as the mixed event debuted at the Beijing Games.

But her hopes of medaling were quashed when she was disqualified as her suit was 2 centimeters wider than permitted around her thighs, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

“I am very sorry that the chance of winning a medal has been taken away from the Japanese team,” Takanashi posted on Instagram.
“It is an undeniable fact that my disqualification changed everyone’s lives. Even if I apologize the medal will not be returned.”

Austria, Germany, and Norway also suffered disqualifications on Monday due to suit violations.

Slovenia won the gold, while the Russian Olympic Committee claimed silver and Canada took bronze. Japan finished fourth at the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Center.

After claiming silver in the men’s freeski big air, US skier Colby Stevenson said it was “all so unexpected.”

“It is a total miracle for me to get on the podium today. I was just thinking of my friends and family screaming at the TV, so I am happy I was able to perform for them,” he said.

Stevenson said he tried to not let the pressure get to him, knowing his medal hopes rested on his final jump.

“There was a lot going through my mind. I was trying to decide which trick I was going to do,” he said. “I was doing a good job of not overthinking the situation and the world stage I was on.” 

Car crash recovery: The 24-year-old has had a long journey to overcome a near-fatal car accident six years ago, in which he sustained a fractured skull, ribs, an eye socket, jaw and neck.

“I feel like everything happens for a reason. I think it is a good way to look at life and to think positively and come out of dark times like that,” he said.
“Each day I try to focus on the little things in life. It helps me stay in the moment and be grateful for the little things. Out here today, it was the same kind of mentality. I was focusing on the beauty of where we were and being with my friends in such an amazing venue. It helps you ski your best when all of these outside things are not clouding your thoughts. It’s just important to focus on the things you do have. And that helps you ski your best.”

Following his gold medal win in the men’s freeski big air, Birk Ruud showed the cameras a bracelet he was wearing during the competition.

The 21-year-old told reporters after the event that the bracelet was from his father, who died of cancer last April.

“I think he would be happy. He never cared about results, he cared about me being happy. If he saw me now, being happy, achieving my goals then he would be really happy. And I would be happy to see him happy.”

Ruud, who clinched the gold in his Winter Olympics debut, said he had dreamed of this moment since he was 13. “I just had to focus on my skiing and put down those tricks. I am really proud of myself that I was able to do those,” he said.

Flag bearer: Knowing he had already won the gold before his final jump, Ruud carried his country’s flag as he completed the jump.

“I didn’t know we had that flag. I wanted to put on a good show for Norway and everybody. There is a lot of stuff happening in the world, so to be able to put on a good show for the people is what I wanted to do. I am very happy about that,” he said.

Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova won gold in the women’s slalom on Wednesday, claiming her first Olympic medal.

Austria’s Katharina Liensberger won silver and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener took bronze.

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin was eliminated after missing a gate in her first run, and new giant slalom champion Sara Hector of Sweden crashed out on her second run.

After crashing out on his first effort, US snowboarding legend Shaun White laid down a strong second run in the men’s halfpipe competition, with a score of 86.25.

That blistering second run puts White in fourth on the leaderboard and guarantees him a spot in the finals on Thursday, where he is aiming for a fourth Olympic gold.

He joins 11 others, including Japan’s Ayumu Hirano who leads the field, and Australia’s Scotty James in second.

Many athletes from Western countries were stunned by the stringent Covid-19 restrictions they met upon arrival in Beijing for the Winter Olympics in recent weeks. Some were placed in isolation for weeks after testing positive, while others complained about the bland food served in quarantine.

The measures were a violation of human rights, one Finnish coach argued. But for 1.4 billion people across China, the conditions inside the Olympic bubble present something of a microcosm of the country during the pandemic.

China is one of the few places still adhering to a strict zero-Covid approach, whereby snap lockdowns, mass testing, contact tracing and tight border restrictions are deployed in a bid to stamp out all traces of the disease.

New variants and increasingly frequent outbreaks have raised questions about how sustainable this strategy is. But with thousands of athletes and support staff flying in from around the world — many from countries still seeing high cases after deciding to “live with Covid” — Beijing is taking no chances.

The contrast could not be more stark: Athletes coming from places like the United States, where the effectiveness of face masks is still debated, are now facing daily Covid tests inside the “closed loop” that separates Olympic participants from the rest of the capital.

Some of the measures are merely an inconvenience. For instance, athletes must wear plastic gloves when loading up their plates at the cafeteria. When one CNN reporter ordered steak at a hotel, she was told it could only be served well done — cooked so dry it looked like jerky — as a Covid precaution.

But other measures have taken a heavier toll: More than 160 athletes or team officials have tested positive for Covid and been placed into isolation, with several forced to miss their competitions — a devastating blow for those who have spent years training for this moment. They aren’t allowed to return to the bubble until all symptoms disappear and they return two consecutive negative test results.

Editor’s Note: A version of this post appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.

Snowboarding phenomenon Chloe Kim qualified for the finals of the women’s halfpipe competition on Wednesday.

She landed a cab 900 and a switch backside 500 in her first run, scoring 87.75 — putting her top of the leaderboard. Kim fell on her second run.

Kim joins 11 others in the finals, including Japan’s Mitsuki Ono and China’s Cai Xuetong.

At 21, Kim already boasts five X Games gold medals, two world championships and, four years ago in Pyeongchang, announced herself to the world with a near-perfect score to win her first Winter Olympic gold medal at age 17.

But Kim admitted she struggled to deal with the fame that came with her success. When she attended Princeton University afterward, “everyone was kind of staring at me, taking pictures,” she told CNN in 2021.

After taking a break from competitive snowboarding while at Princeton, Kim is now hungrier than ever to get back on the Olympic slopes and defend her crown.

Read more about Chloe Kim’s Olympic campaign here.

Snowboarding legend Shaun White fumbled a jump on his first run at the men’s halfpipe qualifying competition on Wednesday, as he chases one last epic moment at his final Olympic Games.

He opened his run with 1080 jumps, before attempting his signature double cork 1260, a move he unveiled at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. However, he overbalanced on the landing and fell on the icy halfpipe, before skating down to the bottom.

White has one more run in the qualifying, which will determine who advances to the final.

An icon of the sport: Beijing is the 35-year-old’s fifth Olympics, after he competed in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. When he hit the halfpipe on Wednesday, he became the oldest male halfpipe rider from any nation in the history of the Games — and he has the chance to become the sports’ oldest Olympic champion.

Once dubbed the “Flying Tomato” because of his flowing red hair, White is one of the sport’s most iconic figures. Even if he doesn’t win gold, taking home any medal will make White — already a three-time gold medalist — the most decorated men’s snowboarder ever.

Ahead of his competition, White said that he would retire after the Games, citing a spate of injuries.

“I won’t be worried about some kind of competition,” he told reporters last week. “I’ll just purely be here to enjoy the resort, maybe check out other runs besides the halfpipe for once.”

This post has been updated to show how many runs White has left in qualifying. It is one.

Take a look back at Shaun White’s illustrious career.

US freestyle skier Colby Stevenson nearly died in a car accident six years ago. On Wednesday, he won silver at the men’s freeski big air competition — his Olympic debut.

Stevenson, 24, suffered a fractured skull, ribs, an eye socket, jaw and neck in his 2016 accident. He underwent two major surgeries, and doctors at the time weren’t sure if he would walk out of the hospital.

But five months after the crash, he was back on skis, according to the official Olympics site. He still faced pain and a long recovery ahead — but he was able to return to competition in 2017. He missed the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang because of a torn muscle in his shoulder.

“I’ve never been in such a grateful state and just so full of love, I guess, for the sport,” he told the official Olympics site.  
“I think that was the secret in the end for me, just doing it out of love rather than trying to win or to make money to pay for my travels and all the other stressors that weighed on me before the crash.”

Norway’s Birk Ruud won the men’s freeski big air in the event’s Winter Olympics debut on Wednesday with a score of 187.75.

Knowing he had already clinched the gold, the 21-year-old held the Norwegian flag in his hand as he completed his final jump.

Team USA’s Colby Stevenson took silver with a score of 183 and Sweden’s Henrik Harlaut won bronze.

The Beijing Olympic Committee identified five new Covid-19 cases among Olympics-related personnel on Tuesday, it said in a statement Wednesday.

Of the new cases, three were found among airport arrivals and two from people already inside the “closed loop” system, which keeps Olympic athletes, stakeholders and staff separate from the public.

Three of the new cases involved athletes or team officials, two of which were already inside the closed loop.

Since the closed loop system officially began on Jan. 23, 398 Olympics-related personnel and stakeholders have tested positive. Of those, 162 have involved athletes or team officials.

Covid in China: On Tuesday, China reported 73 local symptomatic cases — 72 in the southern region of Guangxi and 1 in northeastern Liaoning province, according to the National Health Commission.

The Guangxi cases were all found in the southwestern city of Baise. Authorities locked down the entire city on Monday, banning its 3.5 million residents from leaving their homes.

American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin said she’s feeling “pretty awful” after tumbling out of the first run of the women’s slalom.

“I was pushing out of the start. I had full intentions of skiing as hard as I could,” she said, following the run.

“I slipped up a little bit on one turn and I just didn’t give myself room to make any kind of error like that. I was planning to go on the most aggressive line, the most challenging line to ski.”

Shiffrin said she knew that line was also the fastest: “I didn’t make it past five gates, so I guess that’s what happened,” she added.

The two-time Olympic medalist said she is feeling “pretty awful.”

The two races Shiffrin skied out on — the giant slalom on Monday and the slalom today — are by far her favorite. They are known as “technical” races and were her best chances at a medal.

The 26-year-old — who was hoping to become the first US skier to win three medals at a single Games — is also scheduled for the upcoming speed races, the downhill and super-G.

Thousands of staff, volunteers, journalists and other Olympics personnel are confined to a “closed loop” system in Beijing, designed to prevent Covid-19 from spreading at the Games.

Inside the bubble, the Covid restrictions can sometimes seem a touch overzealous.

On Monday, our taxi driver prevented us from winding down the car window to take a photo while approaching the big air venue, saying we were “breaking the bubble.”

And at one of the closed loop hotels, Covid restrictions have even reached diner’s plates.

Anyone ordering steak for lunch after a cold day out at the snow events was told by staff the only way they can cook the meat is well done — due to Covid concerns.

It’s unclear what the exact logic behind the charred beef is, but the jerky-like texture is a chewy reminder of how nearly every aspect of life within the bubble is adjusted for Covid risks — whether perceived or genuine.

Defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of the women’s slalom course early, another shock for the American who crashed out of the giant slalom on Monday.

She was favored to win the slalom event, but instead missed a gate early in the first run and was seen sitting on the sidelines of the course with her head in her hands.

The US Ski and Snowboard team said on Twitter she, “is ok, but disappointed.”

After many of the medal events at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the top three athletes will stand on the podium and receive a miniature replica of Beijing 2022’s Bing Dwen Dwen mascot.

But what about the medals?

It’s been a tradition at the Winter Games to award the medals in a separate ceremony, called the victory ceremony.

The medals are then presented in these ceremonies that are held much later after the events have finished.

According to the Olympics website, this has been the case at the Winter Olympics since Nagano 1998.

In Beijing, China has built two medal plazas — one near the Bird’s Nest National Stadium and one in Zhangjiakou, where many of the snow events are held.

Some events, like the bobsleigh, skeleton, luge and curling, have the medals presented at the venue.

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin has had her hopes dashed again after crashing out of the highly-anticipated women’s slalom and posting a Did Not Finish.

The Olympic gold medalist and three-time overall World Cup champion was hoping to rebound from a similar upset in the giant slalom.

Shiffrin, favored to win the slalom, missed the podium in this event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games after winning gold in Sochi in 2014.

Winter Olympians are accustomed to performing their awe-inspiring feats against the backdrop of spectacular snow-capped mountains.

But Beijing’s Big Air Shougang Olympic venue is drawing attention for its much edgier, urban setting.

Behind the skiers launching themselves off the 60-meter-high (196-foot) ramp are furnaces, tall chimney stacks and cooling towers on the site of a former steel mill that for decades contributed to the Chinese capital’s notoriously polluted skies.

The mill, founded in 1919, ceased operations more than 15 years ago, as part of efforts to clear the air in the capital ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

That left a large stretch of prime city center land, ripe for rehabilitation and regeneration, says engineering and design company ARUP, which transformed the site into a bustling hub for tourism and art exhibitions.

The rusty, aging remnants of the mill were never demolished — not even for the big air jump at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Instead, the old mill has been incorporated into Big Air Shougang’s design. One of the cooling towers even bears the logo for the Games.

The jump has captured the attention of social media users, in part for the mountains of fake snow generated to host the event, but also intrigue of what these towers are and why they’re still standing, right behind the jump.

Some Twitter users wondered if it might be a nuclear plant.

“The Big Air stadium at the Olympics seems to be right next to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant,” a user by the name of @jlove1982 wrote.
Another, @LindsayMpls, wrote: “Feels pretty dystopian to have some kind of nuclear facility as the backdrop for this Big Air skiing event.”

The Shougang Big Air is the world’s first permanent big air venue for long-term usage. It sits on the bank of the Qunming Lake, on the west side of the cooling towers at 88 meters (288 feet) above sea level, according to architecture firm TeamMinus, which designed the jump.

Read the full story here.

This post has been updated to reflect the events that take place in Shougang.

More athletes will be aiming for gold on Day 5 of the Beijing Winter Olympics, with medal events in women’s slalom, men’s freeski big air, luge, speedskating, Nordic combined and speed skating.

Here’s some key moments to look out for:

Podium contenders:

As Day 5 of the Beijing Games begins, here’s a look at the medal standings, according to the official tally.

Sweden continues to top the medal board with four golds, one silver and one bronze. The Netherlands is second with three golds, three silvers and one bronze. Hosts China and Germany are joint third with three golds and two silvers apiece.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has the won most medals overall, with 10 in total.

And the USA ended Day 4 yet to win a gold through 31 of 109 total medal events. It has never taken this long (by events) for the US to win its first gold at a Winter Olympics.  

Despite her crash in the giant slalom on Monday, Mikaela Shiffrin will still have her eye on a piece of American Winter Olympics history when she takes to the slopes again on Wednesday.

With the 26-year-old set to compete in all five individual skiing events, Shiffrin will be hoping to become the first US skier to win three medals at a single Games.

Though she is widely considered the most dominant skier of her generation — and will go down as one of the greatest ever when she eventually retires — even securing one medal is by no means a certainty, given the quality of her opposition.

Shiffrin will be among the gold medal contenders in the combined — an event she won silver in four years ago in Pyeongchang and also won at last year’s World Championships — although Monday’s DNF in the giant slalom is proof that nothing is a given in alpine skiing.

The Colorado native also created an interesting pre-Olympic wrinkle in the lead up to Beijing, beating heavy favorite Petra Vlhova in the slalom in Schladming, Austria.

It was a record-breaking 47th World Cup slalom win for Shiffrin, who became the skier with the most victories in a single World Cup discipline, breaking Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark’s previous record of 46 giant slalom wins.

The win was certainly something of a shock, as Vlhova had dominated the slalom this season with five wins and two runner-up finishes.

The rescheduling of three of the five events in Pyeongchang due to high winds forced Shiffrin to pull out of super-G and downhill and the compacted schedule impacted her preparation for the slalom, leading her to fall agonizingly short of a medal in fourth place.

However, external factors permitting in Beijing, Shiffrin should have a legitimate shot at claiming a trio of medals.

Read the full story.

Day 4 of the Beijing Winter Olympics upped the drama from the day before, with a freeski superstar winning gold and rivalries reigniting on the ice.

Here’s a recap of the action:

Finland’s women’s ice hockey team all wore masks while competing against the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team on Tuesday, after several ROC players tested positive for Covid-19.

On Tuesday, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that a forward for the ROC team, Polina Bolgareva, had tested positive.

Last week, six other members of the ROC team were placed in isolation after testing positive. 

On Monday, a match between the ROC and Canada was delayed by an hour after the ROC’s Covid-19 test results had not arrived on time, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation said. Both teams eventually played the match while wearing masks. 

Finland’s decision to wear masks came after discussing the matter with the International Hockey Federation, the team said in a statement. 

The Finnish team went on to beat the ROC 5-0.

When asked about the decision to wear masks, Finnish player Minnamari Tuominen said it was only a minor impediment. 

“I didn’t realize it when I was on the ice. I didn’t feel it, and it wasn’t bothering my vision or anything, but after a long shift on the bench it was kind of a little bit difficult to breathe and it was difficult to drink our water,” Tuominen said.

A spellbinding routine from Nathan Chen set a new short-program world record in the men’s figure skating event in Beijing on Tuesday, lifting the American to the top spot and within sight of a dream first Winter Olympic gold medal.

The 22-year-old’s near-flawless performance was rewarded by judges with an unprecedented 113.97 points, sending him over five points clear at the top of the rankings with the deciding free skate final to come on Thursday.

Chen’s score broke the previous world record of 111.82 set in 2020 by two-time Olympic defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu.

Many had tipped the Japanese icon to be the main barrier to Chen’s pursuit of gold, but an uncharacteristic error early in Hanyu’s routine left him in eighth with a score of 95.15.

After winning bronze in the team event at Pyeongchang in 2018 and silver in the same category yesterday, Hanyu’s mistake further boosts Chen’s chances at an as yet elusive gold, but the American said he is taking nothing for granted.

“When I heard that [Hanyu’s score], I [thought], ‘Stick to my game plan, nothing changes, focus on what I can do, try to do the best that I can,’” Chen said.
“You certainly can’t ever count him out. He’s two-time Olympic champion for a reason. Also, no matter what he does in the future, he will always, always be a true figure skating icon, one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest ever.”

Read the full story.

Eileen Gu fans temporarily crashed China’s leading social media platform on Tuesday, as tens of millions rushed online to celebrate the teenage freeski sensation winning her first gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

American-born 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.

She narrowly beat out France’s Tess Ledeux, who took silver with a score of 187.50. Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud won the bronze.

“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.”

Read the full story.