Olympic organizers yesterday closed the ski slopes, then shortened the cross-country course by 40 percent as the weather turned wild in the mountains around Beijing.
Gusts of wind up to 65kph prompted delays and disarray at several outdoor events, with wind chills down to minus-32°C, making athletes miserable on the penultimate day of competition.
Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s hopes for a medal-worthy ending at what has been a maddening Games for her were pushed back a day when the mixed team parallel event was postponed.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Shiffrin, a two-time gold medalist, has gone 0-for-5 hunting another medal in Beijing, but is hoping to win one in her sixth race, a team event making its second appearance at the Winter Games.
Shiffrin’s haul from past Olympics includes two golds, but her best showing in five individual events in Beijing was ninth place in the super-G.
Wind led to the announcement of two one-hour delays for the mixed team event before the International Ski Federation eventually said it would not be possible to hold the competition at all yesterday.
Photo: AFP
About 75 minutes later, after what the ski federation called a meeting “to discuss the potential rescheduling of the event,” the race was shifted to 9am today, 11 hours before the closing ceremony.
The men’s 50km cross-country mass start was delayed and then trimmed to 30km.
Alexander Bolshunov sprinted to his third Olympic gold medal.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Russian was part of a five-man breakaway in the final 1km.
He pushed ahead on the final climb into the stadium, taking the title in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 32.7 seconds.
Russian teammate Ivan Yakimushkin crossed the line 5.5 seconds behind for silver and Simen Hegstad Krueger of Norway took bronze, 7 seconds behind the winner.
There was chaos at an indoor event, too.
Defending champion Nana Takagi crashed out in the women’s mass start semi-finals, the second time the Japanese speedskater fell while leading a race in Beijing.
Takagi stumbled and her left hand touched the rinkside padding before she slid on her side into the outer padding.
Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won the final, with Canadian Ivanie Blondin taking silver and Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy claiming bronze.
Bart Swings of Belgium took gold in the men’s mass start, with silver and bronze going to South Korea’s Chung Jae-won and Lee Seung-hoon respectively.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to