By Aditi Sangal, Ben Morse, Matias Grez, Adam Renton and Helen Regan, CNN
The USA dominated the men's freeski slopestyle podium on Wednesday, with Alex Hall clinching the gold with a best score of 90.01 — his first Olympic medal.
Teammate Nick Goepper came second, scoring 86.48 at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou to repeat his silver-medal finish at Pyeongchang 2018.
Sweden's Jesper Tjader took bronze with 85.35.
From CNN's Ben Morse
The curling women's round robin is in full swing on Wednesday, with the men due up later at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing — colloquially known as the Ice Cube during the Winter Olympics.
But what exactly is curling and why has it become must-watch TV?
What is curling's format? Curling is a team sport — either men's, women's or mixed — played on ice.
Two teams take turns sliding the granite stones across a 150-foot long,15-foot-7-inch wide sheet of ice towards a target which is known as the house.
Traditional curling teams are made up of four players, with mixed teams featuring two males and two females or one male and one female if it's mixed doubles.
In team curling, each player slides two consecutive stones, alternating with an opponent, in each round — known as an end.
When did curling start? Although its exact origins can't be accurately traced, curling is a sport believed to have originated in the 16th century. While an exact date can't be pinpointed, according to the World Curling Federation, the sport was played during its early stages on frozen lochs and ponds in northern Europe.
It wasn't until 1992 that the International Olympic Committee granted medal status to men's and women's curling. It was introduced to the Winter Olympics in 1998 in Japan and has gone on to be a regular inclusion.
What is needed to play curling? Curling stones are made from a special type of granite and weigh almost 20 kilograms (about 44 pounds).
Each curler has their own brush and a specific type of shoe specialized for the sport. In each pair of shoes, one sole grips the ice, while the other is more slippery — called a slider — allowing players to slide with the stone when they're playing it.
The brush is used by players to sweep in front of the stone to warm its path, allowing it to travel further if desired.
How do you score points? At each side of the playing surface, there are a series of rings similar to a target — the house. This helps players determine which stones are closest to the center.
Once an end is completed, a team scores one point for each of its stones in or touching the house that are closer to the center than any of the opposition team's stones.
A curling game is competed over 10 ends and the team with the most points wins.
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It's Day 12 of the Beijing Winter Olympics, with upcoming battles for medals in the men's slalom and freestyle ski. Meanwhile, the short track speed skating event comes to an end.
Here's what's on tap for Wednesday:
⛷ The men's slalom is wide open: It's hard to pick a favorite today in alpine skiing following the retirement of Swedish Olympic champion Andre Myhrer. Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevåg is the world champion, but his countryman Lucas Braathen is the current World Cup slalom leader. There have been no fewer than six different race winners in six World Cup slalom races this season, including first-time victories from Braathen, Austria's Johannes Strolz and Great Britain's Dave Ryding, who at 35 years old became the oldest winner of a men’s World Cup slalom earlier this year.
⛷ Rivals riding high into men's freestyle ski: Tuesday's qualification gave us a glimpse at the spectacle that awaits in the men's freestyle ski slopestyle final. Even at -23C these riders brought the heat in qualifying. Swiss skier Andri Ragettli topped the standings at the Great Wall-inspired course, but big air gold medalist Birk Ruud was hot on his heels and USA skier Nicholas Goepper qualified third. The US team will make a three-pronged attack at the podium on Wednesday. But sandwiched between the Stars and Stripes was Sweden's Jesper Tjader who is also eyeing up the medal positions.
⛸Short track speed skating's grand finale: Two finals wrap up today: the men's 5,000m relay and the women's 1,500m. The latter event sees reigning Olympic champion and world record holder Choi Minjeong of South Korea go up against teammate Lee Yubin, who has won two of the four 1,500m World Cup races this season. Dutch superstar Suzanne Schulting is the reigning world champion in the event, and has already won two gold medals and a silver at these Games. Meanwhile, Canada's Charles Hamelin, a five-time medalist competing at his fifth Games, will skate in his final Olympic short-track race. No matter the outcome, he will leave behind a legacy as his country's greatest ever short track athlete. Also in the men's 5,000m relay, Hwang Dae-heon leads the impressive South Korean team.
Heading into Day 12 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, here's where the teams rank in the medal standings:
Hosts China are in sixth position with six golds, four silvers and two bronzes — the host team's best ever Winter Olympics return.
Embattled teen skater Kamila Valieva topped the leaderboard after her short program on Tuesday and China is enjoying its most-decorated Winter Olympics.
Here's what you need to know about Day 11:
⛸ Russian skater's emotional show: Kamila Valieva is through to the free skate medal event after posting the top score in Tuesday's short program. Valieva broke into tears as she posted an 82.16 just days after learning she'd be permitted to compete despite a December failed drug test,
🛢Chinese skater rebounds: "Add oil," is the Chinese equivalent of "go go" — and it's just what figure skater Zhu Yi needed to hear as the 19-year-old landed all of her jumps and earned a respectable score of 53.44. A series of falls in previous skates unleashed fury against Zhu on Chinese social media. But after solidly rebounding, she allowed a smile to cross her face. She finished 27th and didn't qualify for the medal event.
🥇 China's best Winter Olympics haul: The host nation cemented it's most-decorated Winter Games as teen snowboarder Su Yiming earned gold in the big air event. China has six gold medals, passing the team's previous high of five at Vancouver 2010. At age 17, Su is China's youngest-ever Winter Olympic champion.
⛷ Mom knows best: Eileen Gu's Olympic dreams were sinking fast. So the 18-year-old did what many teens might: she phoned home. After plummeting into 8th position, and with a podium finish seeming unlikely, the skiing sensation reached out to her mom. "My mum knows me very well and she knows the way my brain works with pressure," Gu said. She then put her mom's advice into action, ripping off a remarkable final run, good enough to get her back into contention. She'd ultimately earn silver in the women's freeski slopestyle, proving once again, that "Mom knows best."
From CNN's Selina Wang in Beijing
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who is at the center of an ongoing Olympic doping case, had three substances that can be used to treat heart conditions found in her testing sample, according to an exhibit filed Sunday in a hearing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cited by the New York Times.
Two of those substances, Hypoxen and L-carnitine, are not banned.
The exhibit is part of a court application allegedly filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in its case against the 15-year-old skater. The Dossier Center, an investigative website run by an exiled Russian businessman, published the WADA document online and it was reviewed for CNN by Travis Tygart, head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The Dossier Center did not publish the doping control form exhibited in the case, and CNN has not reviewed it.
USADA tried to ban Hypoxen in 2017 due to its performance-enhancing capabilities, but that ban was not implemented, according to documents provided to CNN by Tygart.
"It raises a whole host of questions that have yet to be determined and what appears to be the case of a pretty deliberate attempt to use substances in order to enhance performance," Tygart told CNN on Tuesday.
Tygart is not involved in the investigation but has reviewed the documents. He noted that Valieva declared on her doping control form the use of Hypoxen and L-carnitine.
Supradyn, which can be used as an immunity boosting supplement, was also listed on Valieva's doping control form, according to the document published by the Dossier Center.
The document also said Valieva tested at a "2.1 nanograms per milliliter level" for trimetazidine which Tygart described as "not a trace level."
"It's certainly consistent with an intentional use," he added.
"The picture it paints is, you've got a 15-year-old. Does she have the wherewithal and the knowledge and the financial resources to find two drugs ... to use to increase endurance reduce fatigue? It's clear there was an effort to use substances and drugs to increase performance," Tygart added.
"I don't think for a second this young athlete had the financial resources or knowledge to take these three substances to increase performance, or where to even get these three substances."
Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in December, which is commonly used to treat the heart condition angina.
"It's using the three that showed the intent of trying three different routes that ultimately give the same impact on performance: increased endurance, reduced shortness of breath, tiredness," he said.
CNN has reached out to the CAS and the parties involved in Valieva's arbitration hearing to confirm the validity of the document published by the Dossier Center and has yet to hear back.
CNN has also reached out to the WADA-accredited lab in Sweden that tested Valieva's sample from December for comment.
This post has been updated to add details and include attribution of Valieva's test results.
From CNN's Ben Morse
Teenager Su Yiming is used to fast-paced action, but he's really taken things up a notch at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The 17-year-old Su is a former child actor, appearing in the 2014 action movie "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" when he was 8, alongside superstars including Tony Leung, before deciding to drop acting for snowboarding.
And his time at the Winter Games has read more like a movie script, with twists and turns galore.
Last week, the Chinese snowboarder narrowly missed out on a gold medal in the slopestyle event to Canada's Max Parrot, eventually claiming silver.
However, unbeknownst to the judging panel at the time, the Canadian had grabbed his knee instead of his board during a trick — a mistake which would have resulted in a points deduction.
"We judged from the media angle that we were given," Iztok Sumatic, Head Judge for Olympic Snowboarding, told CNN Friday, stating that "from that point of view ... we saw a clean execution."
"Afterwards, when the score was already in, the TV replay showed the trick from another angle, where it was clearly shown that Max grabbed the board for a split second, but then let it go and just grabbed his knee," added Sumatic, who likened the moment to the infamous Diego Maradona 'Hand of God' goal against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
While it is difficult to know if Su would have come out on top, Sumatic acknowledged that "the score might have been different."
"It's been very tough, there were a lot of hateful comments," said Sumatic, referring to the backlash from fans.
Despite missing out on first place in such circumstances, Su showed no signs of being effected, bouncing back to win his own gold in the big air event on Tuesday.
"I had many dreams when I was a child," Su said. "To be an Olympic champion was one of them, and today, I already realized my dream.
"There will be more and more challenges in the future. I will be more concentrated on my goals. All I need to do is to deliver all my efforts to achieve my goals."
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From CNN's Simone McCarthy
Russian figure skating star Kamila Valieva broke into tears after she posted an impressive performance in the women's short skating program in her first appearance since the controversial doping ruling allowed her to continue competing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
There was a slight stumble on her opening jump, a triple axel, but she held it together well until the end to post the top score of the women's short program: 82.16. The result means she qualifies for Thursday's free skate medal event.
The crowd were audibly getting behind Valieva, perhaps more so than any other skater, according to CNN staff in the arena.
As soon as she finished, she broke into tears on the ice as the emotions of the past few days appeared to catch up with her.
Weight on her shoulders: When Valieva first skated onto the Olympic ice at Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, she was carrying more than the usual pressure of a top-ranked athlete hoping to make the best of under three minutes on the ice.
The 15-year-old is at the center of a doping scandal that has inflamed mistrust of the Russian athletic establishment, pressed sports organizations and athletes around the world to call for reform, and seen the International Olympic Committee (IOC) postpone medal ceremonies for any event that could place Valieva on the podium.
Officials are still investigating whether Valieva or her entourage broke anti-doping rules, after a test she took in December was found to be positive for a banned substance.
Grandfather's medication: On Tuesday, an IOC official said Valieva is blaming the doping violation — in which she tested positive for a heart medication that experts say can improve stamina — on contamination from her grandfather's medication. Her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, told Russian state news agency Tass they are "absolutely sure" she is innocent.
Despite the drug controversy, a top sports court on Monday cleared Valieva to participate in the women's singles competition, one of the most high-profile events of the Winter Olympics and one the young skater sees as a chance for solo gold.
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From CNN's Wayne Sterling
European athletes dominated most medal events scheduled for Tuesday. Here's a recap of the gold medal wins on Day 11 of the Winter Games.
Alpine skiing: Switzerland's Corinne Suter captured the top spot on the podium for the women's downhill event.
Biathlon: Norway took the gold in the men's 4x7.5km relay.
Bobsled: Francesco Friedrich won gold to enhance his legend status in the sport on an all-German two-man bobsled podium.
Freestyle skiing: Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud clinched the gold in the women's freeski slopestyle event.
Nordic combined: Jørgen Graabak of Norway won the individual Gundersen large hill/10km cross-country event in an event filled with drama.
Snowboard:
Speed skating:
