Tue, Feb 08, 2022 page16

• Wust claims gold, Taiwan’s Huang 26th

  • AP, BEIJING
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  Ireen Wust yesterday added to her haul as the most decorated speedskater in Olympic history with another gold at the Beijing Games, while controversial Taiwanese speedskater Huang Yu-ting finished 26th out of 30 competitors in the 1,500m.

  The 35-year-old Dutch skater defended her title by setting an Olympic record with a time of 1 minute, 53.28 seconds.

  Miho Takagi of Japan claimed the silver in 1:53.72, while the bronze went to Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands in 1:54.82.

  

  Taiwan’s Huang Yu-ting competes in the Winter Olympics women’s 1,500m speedskating at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing yesterday.

  Photo: Reuters

  Huang was 7.50 seconds behind Wust after clocking 2:00.78.

  It was another Olympic disappointment for Brittany Bowe. The 33-year-old American again came up short in the quest for her first individual medal, fading badly at the end to finish 10th in 1:55.81.

  Wust has now won 12 medals over her career, including six golds. That makes her the most decorated athlete in the history of the sport.

  

  Canada’s Max Parrot competes in the Winter Olympics men’s snowboard slopestyle final at the Genting Snow Park H & S Stadium in Zhangjiakou, China, yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  Amazingly, Wust has medaled in the 1,500m at the past five Olympics. She has won the gold three times, to go along with a silver and a bronze.

  Additional reporting by staff writer

  ALPINE SKIING

  Reuters, YANQING, China

  Switzerland’s Beat Feuz won gold yesterday in a thrilling men’s downhill, while 41-year-old Frenchman Johan Clarey became the oldest Olympic medalist in Alpine skiing with silver.

  Feuz, the winner at Kitzbuehel last month, powered down the steep slopes of “The Rock” in 1:42.69, with Clarey in the silver medal position just 0.10 seconds behind.

  The 34-year-old Feuz won bronze in downhill and silver in super-G four years ago in Pyeongchang, but his determined and skilful run finally brought him gold.

  “It was perfect weather, no wind, and I was just standing perfectly on the skis. A dream came true,” Feuz told reporters. “The Olympics are a big thing, and today it worked for me. Four years ago I was second and third, but today everything came together. It means the world to me. I can’t think of anything more beautiful than flying home with a gold medal around my neck.”

  It was a fine day for veterans of the sport, with Clarey replacing Bode Miller as the oldest Olympic medalist in Alpine skiing. Miller won bronze in super-G at the 2014 Sochi Games aged 36.

  Austria’s Matthias Mayer, who won gold medals at the past two Games, had to settle for bronze.

  There was no medal for Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, the World Cup downhill leader and pre-Games favorite, who was 0.51 seconds behind Feuz in fifth place.

  “I had high expectations for sure. It’s been a great season and in the Olympics, when you stand there as a favorite, you want to deliver,” said the Norwegian, whose girlfriend Mikaela Shiffrin also suffered a disappointing day, crashing out in the first run of the giant slalom.

  SNOWBOARD

  AFP, ZHANGJIAKOU, China

  Three years ago, Max Parrot was in hospital fighting cancer — yesterday he won men’s snowboard slopestyle gold.

  The Canadian, who said chemotherapy left him “at zero percent” when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2018, beat 17-year-old Chinese home favorite Su Yiming to win gold with a score of 90.96.

  “Exactly three years ago I was lying in a hospital and I had no energy, no muscles, no cardio,” said the 27-year-old Parrot, the silver medalist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. “It was the hardest moment of my life and to be standing here three years later at the Olympics again, doing my passion, laying down the best run I’ve ever done and winning gold — it’s insane.”

  Parrot took the lead on the second run and held on despite a tenacious challenge from Su, whose high-flying antics thrilled the small, but enthusiastic crowd at Genting Snow Park.

  Su claimed silver on 88.70 points, giving China their first ever medal in men’s snowboard.

  “It’s a dream come true, for sure,” said Su, who has only competed in six events on the World Cup circuit. “It’s my first time at the Olympics, and in my hometown — I’m so happy to put my runs down today and share the podium with my idols.”

  Canadian Mark McMorris, took the bronze with 88.53 points.

  LUGE

  Staff writer

  Taiwan’s Lin Sin-rong was in 32nd place out of 35 competitors after the first run of the women’s singles at the Yanqing National Sliding Center yesterday, after she finished 3.205 seconds behind leader Julia Taubitz of Germany, who clocked a time of 58.345 seconds.

  The second run was due to take place later yesterday, with the third and fourth runs scheduled for today.
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