Day 9 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

At the Winter Olympics, perhaps no venue has been more coveted than the souvenir store.

The store, located inside the main press center, has boasted long lines every day since the Games began. One staff worker told CNN the store only opens at 10 a.m. — but today, people began lining up outside by 6 a.m., hoping to be the first ones in to snatch up fast-selling items.

When CNN stopped by the store in the afternoon, one person in line said he had waited more than two hours the last time he visited.

Signs were plastered outside the window, warning that it had sold out of stuffed toys of the Olympic panda mascot Bing Dwen Dwen — who has become an unexpected star during the Games. The panda's merchandise has sold out in both online and brick-and-mortar stores across China, according to Chinese state media.

The staff worker told CNN the souvenir store has already restocked the doll twice in the past week — but each time, the little panda was sold out within half an hour.

Inside the store on Sunday, the only Bing Dwen Dwen merchandise left were small pins showing the panda on skis and playing ice hockey. Other items on offer include sports apparel neck cushions, teapots and tea cups, bags and thermoses.

The Beijing Olympic Committee identified three new Covid-19 cases among Olympics-related personnel as of Saturday, it said in a statement today. 

Among the three cases, two were found in a group of new airport arrivals and one from people inside the “closed loop” system, which separates Olympic athletes and participants from the Beijing public. 

Two of the three new cases involved athletes or team officials.

With these new cases, organizers have now recorded 429 Olympics-related cases since the closed loop launched on January 23, including 182 cases involving athletes and team officials.

In that same period of time, organizers have conducted more than 1.3 million Covid tests for 13,492 arrivals, according to the statement. Daily Covid tests are mandatory for participants in the bubble.  

The women's freeski slopestyle qualifiers were supposed to take place this morning — but were rescheduled due to poor weather, and will now take place tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., according to the official Olympics site.

The women's final and men's qualifiers were supposed to take place tomorrow, but will now also be shifted forward 24 hours.

The big name to watch will be Eileen Gu, the US-born Chinese freeskier. She won gold already at the big air event — and will be looking to add another medal to her count.

Beijing is being coated in real snow for the first time these Olympics — sending volunteers and staff into a flurry.

One volunteer at Zhangjiakou, where many of the snow events are being held, sculpted a snow-panda on Sunday in the middle of the snowstorm, imitating the beloved Olympic mascot Bing Dwen Dwen.

In Yanqing, where the men's giant slalom competition is being held today, workers this morning made their way through the course on skis holding hoses of paint, spraying bright blue lines in the snow to help guide skiers in the low visibility.

Elsewhere in the Chinese capital, workers wielding shovels and brooms swept snow off sidewalks and sporting venues. Others used leafblowers to blow snow off spectators' seats.

The Chinese capital is one of the driest regions in China, with typically very little snow in the winter — and has relied almost completely on artificial snow to coat its slopes and halfpipes.

The women's monobob had its Olympic debut today, with Team USA's Kaillie Humphries leading the heats.

Humphres has a major lead on the other competitors, recording a combined time of 2:09:10.

The Covid comeback: Fellow American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor came fourth in the heat, as she returns to competition after spending the start of the Olympics in Covid quarantine.

Two days after she arrived in Beijing, the 37-year-old tested for positive -- and was placed into an isolation hotel.

Those who test positive must present two consecutive negative tests before they can be released. She did so several days later, and was cleared for release on February 5.

During that time, her competitors were able to take training runs at the course -- but Meyers Taylor was forced to train inside her hotel room, using weights and equipment her teammates brought her.

Taylor is now hoping for gold, after having won two silvers and a bronze at previous Olympics -- though she faces tough competition from Canada's Christine de Bruin and Germany's Laura Nolte, who came in second and third at today's heat.

What is the monobob? The monobob is an individual version of bobsleigh exclusive to female athletes. The bobsledders have to push, drive and brake the sled, which weighs at least 162 kilograms (more than 357 pounds) all by themselves.

The men's giant slalom is ongoing, with alpine skiers hurtling downhill through tough conditions during the first run this morning.

Heavy snow is hindering visibility, especially in the middle part of the course, where the air is a thick white haze — making it difficult to make out the contours of the terrain.

It's also freezing, at just -13 degrees Celsius (about 8.5 degrees Fahrenheit) on the mountain in Yanqing, according to the official Olympics site.

Among the competitors are a number of new faces — Haiti and Saudi Arabia are participating in their first ever Winter Olympics, both with skiers competing in this event.

The second run will take place in the afternoon.

Chinese freeskier Eileen Gu was supposed to take to the slopes again today for the slopestyle qualifying competition, with the finals scheduled for Monday -- but heavy snow and poor weather conditions have forced organizers to postpone the event.

"Due to weather conditions, today's women's freeski slopestyle qualification has been called off," said the official Olympics site. It did not provide a new time for the rescheduled competition yet.

Beijing is getting snow today for the first time since the Games began — and weather conditions in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, where most of the snow events are being held, have affected multiple events.

The women's freeski slopestyle qualifiers, which were scheduled for the morning in Zhangjiakou, have been delayed and will now not happen before noon, according to the official Olympics site.

The qualifiers will feature home favorite Eileen Gu, who won gold at the big air competition last week.

The women's downhill alpine skiing training run, set to take place today, has been canceled due to the heavy snowfall in Yanqing. Another training run is scheduled for tomorrow, ahead of Tuesday's race.

On the ninth day of the Winter Olympics, Beijing is waking up to a dusting of snow.

A blanket of white now covers roofs, sidewalks, carparks and pedestrian bridges across the city, the first in the world to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Games.

It's the first time Beijing has snowed since the Games began. The city has relied completely on artificial snow to cover its slopes and venues — which environmentalists and critics say is a huge drain on energy and water resources.

The Chinese capital is one of the driest regions in China, with typically very little snow in the winter.

The city itself is only hosting the indoor ice events (apart from the freeski big air, located in an industrial park in the west of the city). The snow events are mostly taking place in the suburb of Yanqing and the neighboring city of Zhangjiakou, where temperatures are about 10 degrees Celsius lower, and which have seen natural snowfall last week.

To coat the ski slopes, about 300 snow cannons have to blast out artificial snow on those brown mountains. But at least today, they can have a break.