Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Day 7: medal count by country | news summary 11 February

And Grotheer's gold allows Germany to leapfrog Norway into first place in the medal table overnight.

Peerless policeman Grotheer wins men's skeleton gold

Not content with his country merely dominating luge, Germany's Cristopher Grotheer took gold in the men's skeleton in a peerless performance that further cemented the status of this year's German crop as one for the history books.

The 29-year-old police officer smashed through four runs along the 1,615-metre track of the National Sliding Center in Yanqing in a sensational 4:01.01.

He was 0.66 faster than his countryman Axel Jungk, a yawning gap by skeleton standards and a big leap from his seventh finish in Pyeongchang four years ago.

In skeleton, riders plummet head first down an ice track at speeds up to 130 km an hour, using slight tweaks of muscle to navigate bends with G-forces sometimes more extreme than in a rocket launch.

Germany has long been the hegemon of luge, and has vacuumed up all four golds on offer this Games. But Grotheer is the country's first athlete to receive the highest honours in the skeleton, which returned to the Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.

It was also a remarkable race for China, with Yan Wengang claiming the country's first ever medal in the sliding sports.

Considering the country's sliding programme began from scratch seven years ago when China was chosen to host the Winter Olympics, it is fast progress.

Russian anti-doping agency investigating Valieva's support team

The Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA said on Friday it was investigating Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva's support team after she tested positive for a banned drug.

RUSADA said it had received Valieva's adverse test result on Monday - the same day the 15-year-old starred in the winning Russian ensemble in the figure skating team event at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

It said the results of the test, from a sample taken in December, had been held up because of covid-19 cases at the Swedish laboratory that was analysing them.

"Due to the fact that the athlete is a minor ... RUSADA initiated an investigation into the athlete's personnel," the agency said.

"The purpose of this investigation is to identify all the circumstances of a possible anti-doping rule violation in the interests of a 'protected person'."

Photo: REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Athletes compete in a semi-final heat of the men's 5000m relay short track speed skating event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on February 11.

Schulting wins gold and breaks women's 1,000 metres world record

In winning the gold medal, Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands set a short track speed skating 1,000 metres world record in the women's quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.

Choi Minjeong (Republic of Korea) wins silver with Hanne Desmet winning the first ever Olympic medal for Belgium in short track speed skating.

Olympic mascot diehards, scalpers camp out to secure Bing Dwen Dwen doll

Die-hard fans, and scalpers, queued overnight for the chance to order anything in the likeness of the Winter Games mascot, a panda bear named Bing Dwen Dwen, as factories scrambled to ramp up production to catch up with demand.

Armed with foldable stools, self-heating adhesives and battery-operated hand warmers, hundreds of people braved the freezing temperatures outside a flagship store in Beijing's Wangfujing shopping area.

They were undeterred by a recording that blared repeatedly saying that everything, the soft toys, figurines, key chains, snow globes and blind boxes, was sold out.

"I already queued on Monday night, but there were 1,200 people in front of me, so by the time the store opened in the morning, there were none left for me," said a man in his 30s who only gave his name as Deng.

Unfazed, he queued up on Tuesday afternoon and was fifth in line when the store opened on Wednesday.

For his troubles, Deng and the other lucky first 500 customers merely got the chance to order one soft toy per person, which he can only pick up on Feb. 22, two days after the Beijing Olympics end.

Meanwhile, Deng consoled himself with a photo holding a stuffed Bing Dwen Dwen, whose name is officially translated to "ice child" but colloquially means "chubby ice child" in Mandarin, that he posed with at a supermarket display.

Games organisers blamed the tight supply of mascot souvenirs in part on the shutdown of factories during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday that ended on Feb. 6, but promised an increase in production to meet demand that surged as the Beijing Games began on Feb. 4.

A factory in Fujian province, over a 1,000 km (600 miles)from the capital, told Beijing News on Monday that it will resume production earlier than planned but would make just 4,000 products per day.

On Tuesday night, a scalper moved up and down the queue on whispering to shivering customers "Bing Dwen Dwen, current stock, any takers?" as his colleagues waited in line to secure more stock.

His asking price was 1,000 yuan ($157) for a soft toy, five times the store price.

Olympic games venues slowly add spectators - and a bit of buzz

A week into the covid locked-down Beijing Olympics, crowds at events are growing, gradually.

Organisers are not selling tickets to the general public, instead distributing them to selected groups of coronavirus-screened attendees. But they said this week they will increase what have been sparse attendance numbers so far, without giving details.

Still, the crowds appear far smaller than the 30% capacity targets cited last week by an International Olympics Committee official.

All spectators for the Feb 4-20 Games, drawn from groups such as students and state companies, are kept away from competitors and related personnel under China's strict zero-COVID approach. All must have had three vaccination jabs and not have travelled outside Beijing in the past month.

"I got a front row seat. Overall it was pretty empty," said an employee of a state-owned firm surnamed Ai, after cheering for China's Ren Ziwei as he won gold on Thursday in the 1,000 metres event in short track speed skating.

"My legs were so tired at the end of it because we were too excited," said Ai, who was invited to apply for free tickets through both her employer and the Haidian district office in Beijing where she lives. She rode special buses to venues and wore an N95 mask as required.

At the National Aquatics Centre, where curling events take place every day of the Games, spectators from outside the "closed loop" grew from 200 per match to 400 on Tuesday, venue manager Yang Qiyong said, in a facility that seats 4,600.

"The trend is to continue to grow," he said.

Skating fans sympathetic to Valieva but say she must not compete at Games

Figure skating fans on social media expressed sympathy for Kamila Valieva after confirmation  that the 15-year-old failed a drug test prior to the Olympics but said she should not be allowed to skate in Tuesday's women's singles short programme.

Valieva won gold in the team event at the Beijing Olympics on Monday, but it has since been confirmed that she tested positive for Trimetazidine at the Russian figure skating championships in December.

One of the youngest Olympic athletes to test positive for a banned substance, Valieva's medal and Games future now hangs in the balance, and many fans around the world expressed outrage over how she came to have a banned angina drug in her system.

Roeiseland roars to biathlon sprint gold for Norway

Norway's Marte Olsbu Roeiseland hit a perfect 10 out of 10 shots before roaring to victory in the women's 7.5km biathlon sprint race at the Beijing Olympics on Friday, grabbing her second gold of the Games in the process.

Swedish 22-year-old prodigy Elvira Oeberg skied a brilliant final lap to secure the silver, 30.9 seconds behind Roeiseland, with Italy's Dorothea Wierer picking up the bronze.

Starting fifth in the field, Roeiseland, who also snagged a bronze in the 15km individual race, had an excellent first lap on the skis and then hit a perfect five shouts from the prone position to take an early 10.4 seconds lead at the first shoot.

Once she got her nose in front, there was no looking back and she piled the pressure on the rest of the field by again shooting perfectly, this time from standing, to cement her lead heading into the third and final 2.5km lap of the course.

She never let up, crossing the line a whopping one minute 16.1 seconds ahead of then-leader, compatriot Tirill Eckhoff, as many in the rest of the field struggled to match her pinpoint shooting.

Oeberg, sister of 2018 Olympic champion Hanna, had other ideas, blazing through the first lap before rattling off five perfect hits and briefly taking a lead of 0.4 seconds after the first shoot.

However, that lead quickly evaporated and, though she again shot perfectly from standing, she was left to vainly chase Roeiseland's superb time of 20:44.3, coming in just over half a minute behind.

Italy's Wierer was also perfect with her shooting but slightly slower on the skis as evening crept in over the National Biathlon Centre, and Norway were soon celebrating again.

"I wanted so badly to have an incredible run," Roeiseland said. "It was so wonderful to get that last shot, it was the best feeling ever."

Sweden's Nils van der Poel is 10000m speed skating Olympic champion

Beijing Games organiser reports 11 new covid-19 cases for Thursday

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee said on Friday that a total of 11 new covid-19 cases were detected among games-related personnel on Feb. 10.

Two of the cases were found among new airport arrivals, according to a notice on the Beijing 2022 official website.

Nine others were among those already in the "closed loop" bubble that separates all event personnel from the public, five of whom was classified as either an athlete or team official, the notice said.

Shaun White bids farewell to competition at Beijing Games

American snowboarding legend Shaun White broke down in tears after his last ever competitive run at the Beijing Olympics on Friday, saying he was grateful to be leaving behind a legacy for the next generation of professional riders.

White's name has been synonymous with the sport ever since he first dropped in on an Olympic halfpipe 16 years ago and won gold at the age of 19.

Now 35, White has come far from his younger competition-obsessed days when fans nicknamed him the "flying tomato" for his long red locks.

"I'm so thrilled to turn the page," the snowboarder said on Friday, holding a black and white board designed by his own company.

"I don't want to beat these guys anymore. I want to sponsor them," he told reporters after Friday's final.

White was the oldest snowboarder at the halfpipe final, going against formidable younger competitors like Ayumu Hirano, who won gold after landing a triple cork in his final run.

Iivo Niskanen takes gold for Finland in men's 15km classic

Iivo Niskanen is set to win gold for Finland in the men's 15 km classic race at the Beijing Games on Friday, with an unassailable lead despite racers still left out on the course.

Alexander Bolshunov, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, is best placed to take the silver, with Norway's Johannes Klaebo poised to pick up the bronze medal

Shiffrin rediscovers fun in super-G

Plagued by repeated nightmares after a brutally disappointing Beijing Olympics so far, U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she found relief and even fun in skiing the super-G on Friday.

Having arrived at the Games touted as one of the main medal contenders, Shiffrin failed to finish  her first two races after passing only a handful of gates, leaving a big question mark over whether she might pull out of the Olympics altogether.

But on Friday she finished 0.79 seconds behind winner Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland in ninth place in the super-G, which is not her main discipline but where she nevertheless ranks seventh in the World Cup standings.

"I had a dream last night that was just repetitive the whole night long. And I kept kind of waking up from it, and then going back to sleep. And it just kept happening that I skied out on the fifth gate," Shiffrin told reporters.

US could prosecute Russians in Valieva doping case: USADA chief

The United States could prosecute the Russians involved in Kamila Valieva’s doping case under the American Rodchenkov Act (RADA), the head of the U.S. Anti Doping Agency Travis Tygart told Reuters on Friday.

The RADA bill was signed into U.S. law in 2020 and empowers American prosecutors to seek fines of up to $1 million and jail terms of up to 10 years, even for non-Americans if their actions affected American athletes’ results. Teenage Russian figure skater Valieva won gold on Monday but the International Testing Agency (ITA) said on Friday she had earlier failed a drug test. Olympic officials are now contesting Russia's decision to let her compete at the Beijing Winter Games.

U.S. women's team through to hockey semis with win over Cz. Republic

The US women's ice hockey side took a step towards the coveted Olympic gold as they advance to the semi-final of the competition with a solid 4-1 over the Czech Republic on Friday.

Japan's Ayumu Hirano soars tosnowboardibg halfpipe gold, White misses podium

Ayumu Hirano of Japan won gold at the men's snowboard halfpipe final on Friday at the Beijing Games, while American three-time gold medallist Shaun White missed the podium in his fifth and final Olympics.

Hirano, who won silver at the Pyeongchang and Sochi Games came out on top after he landed triple corks, earning him the top score of 96. Australian Scotty James took silver with 92.50 and Swiss Jan Scherrer won bronze with 87.25.

White, who has said this would be his final Olympics and last time competing professionally, finished in fourth place after he clipped the lip of the halfpipe and spoiled his landing in his third run, causing him to slide down the wall feet-first.

In the final, each boarder got three runs, with their ranking determined by their best score

Women's Super-G Results Olympic Alpine Skiing

The medalists are Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami with the gold followed by Austrian Mirjam Puchner winning silver and the bronze medal going to Gut-Behrami's Swiss compatriot Michelle Gisin.

First EVER Snowboard Olympic gold for Japan

Let's all tip our hat to Ayumu Hirano and his mindblowing performance in Beijing. Congratulations!

Women's Skeleton Heat 2 FINAL RESULTS

1 - Australia NARRACOTT Jaclyn

2 - Germany NEISE Hannah

3 - Germany HERMANN Tina

4 - China ZHAO Dan

5 - Germany LOELLING Jacqueline

6 - Netherlands BOS Kimberley

7 - Czech Republic FERNSTAEDT Anna

8 - USA UHLAENDER Katie

9 - Canada RAHNEVA Mirela

10 - China LI Yuxi

In a few minutes, the Men's Preliminary Group B Ice Hockey match between Denmark and ROC will begin. At the same time, the Women's Quarterfinal match between USA and Czech Republic will face off.

Curling Men's Round Robin Session 3 FINAL SCORES

Switzerland 6 - 3 Russian Olympic Committee

Great Britain 7 - 9 USA

Sweden 9 - 3 Italy

Denmark 4 - 5 China

Switzerland have finished Session 3 by winning their Curling match against ROC 6-3.

Another medal event, the Women's Alpine Skiing Super-G has begun. We will keep you posted on developments there.

The Men's Round Robin Session 3 in Curling sees Sweden beat Italy 9-3, and while other games are still to finish, the one to watch is Great Britain vs USA. They are in a real battle! They are all tied up now at 7 apiece.

In the Women's Skeleton, the first heat has just ended with Canada's Mirela Rahneva in the lead, but Australia's Jaclyn Narracott and China's Dan Zhao nipping at her heels. We'll keep an eye on the second heat and keep you posted!

The Snowboard Halfpipe has now finished and Japan's Ayumu Hirano takes the gold, with Australia's Scotty James taking silver and Switzerland's Jan Scherrer taking the bronze. Shaun White's poor third run saw him end up in fourth, just outside the medals.

Over in the Curling, Great Britain has stormed back from a 5-2 deficit to take the lead over the USA at 6-5!

A legend retires

Shaun White's final run didn't go as planned but he leaves a legacy in Olympic snowboarding that towers above all who come after him. A true legend!

Japan's Kaishu Hirano just set a WORLD RECORD!

He went 24'4" above the lip of the halfpipe!

In the Curling, Great Britain has clawed their way back into it, now trailing USA 5-4. Italy have taken one off the Swedes to bring it to 3-2 and the Chinese have moved out in front of the Danes 4-2.

Back over in the snowboarding, Shaun White's second run saw him move into second place with an 85.00!

USA has a solid lead over Great Britain now

Over in the Curling, the Swedes have taken two further games off the Italians and now lead 3-1

Snowboard Halfpipe

The event that everyone is interested in, the Snowboard Men's Halfpipe has just completed the first run, where Japan's Kaishu Hirano put up some sick air.

Shaun White had a solid first run and is in fourth at the moment. Remember that they only take your best run of three.

The first first heat in the Women's Skeleton has just gotten underway. We will bring you more news about this as it progresses.

The Men's Round Robin session in Curling is now underway.

Switzerland are leading the Russian Olympic Committee 3-0

Great Britain and the USA are tied at 2-2

Sweden and Italy are tied at 1-1

China leads Denmark 2-1

Shaun White is feeling excited. Don't worry Shaun, we are too.

Yesterday was a historic day on the snowboard halfpipe as Chloe Kim made history by becoming the first woman to win two Winter Olympics gold medals in the snowboard halfpipe event despite what she described as "the worst practice ever".

The American managed an incredible score of 94.00 on her opening run which ultimately proved enough to claim gold nearly four points clear of Spaniard Queralt Castellet (90.25), who claimed the silver, and nearly six ahead of Japan's Sena Tomita (88.25), who earned the bronze.

The 2018 gold-medallist looked to further etch her name into the history books in her second and third runs by attempting 1260s – a trick that has never been landed at a women's halfpipe event – but was unable to make it stick.

Kim, who became the youngest woman to win an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding four years ago at the age of 17, explained that her first-run performance surprised her after a difficult practice session and that her high score granted her the freedom to try the 1260s.

Read more

Friday highlights

Two Americans are the hands-down draw today: Shaun White in his final Olympic halfpipe runs, and Mikaela Shiffrin in the women's Super-G as she tries to bounce back from two surprising DNFs in the technical events.

The first skeleton medals will also be awarded in the men's event as 37-year-old Latvian two-time silver medallist Martins Dukurs hopes to become the oldest champion since Duff Gibson won Torino 2006 gold aged 39.

Snowboard

All eyes in the Men's Snowboard Halfpipe Final will be glued to the legend that is  Shaun White, as he makes a run in his final Olympics.

The American wunderkind, now 35 and a grom no longer, has been at the very heart of the event since debuting in Torino in 2006, where he won the first of his three gold medals.

An unprecedented fourth gold awaits him, but there will be lots of competition to fend off, including Australia's Scotty James and Japan's Hirano Ayumu.

Speed skating

No man has ever won consecutive gold medals in the 10000m, the longest speed skating race in the Olympics.

Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen is out to change that. The Dutch-born skater set an Olympic Record en route to winning gold in PyeongChang.

Sweden's Nils van der Poel, also of Dutch stock, was just 21 in PyeongChang, but is now entering his prime, setting a new world record in the event en route to gold at the 2021 World Championships.

The Netherlands continues to produce fine skaters and Jorrit Bergsma will look to repeat his performance from Sochi.

Hello everyone and welcome to Beijing for Day 7 of the 2022 Winter Olympics. After an action packed Day 6, Germany now leads the goal medal count with six golds and have earned a total of nine. Norway sits right behind the Germans with five and a peloton of four countries are closing in with four each. These are the headline events coming into the day.

All times are shown in Eastern Time.

- Alpine Skiing Women’s Super-G 10 p.m.
- Biathlon Women's 7.5km Sprint 4 a.m.
- Bobsleigh2-man Official Training 1:10 a.m.
- BobsleighWomen's Monobob Official Training 4:10 a.m.
- Cross-Country Skiing Men’s 15km Classic 2 a.m.
- Curling Men’s Round Robin 8:05 p.m.
- Curling Women’s Round Robin 1:05 a.m.
- Ice HockeyWomen’s Quarterfinals 11:10 a.m.
- Ice HockeyWomen’s Quarterfinals 8:10 a.m.
- Short Track Speed SkatingWomen’s 1000m 6 a.m.
- SkeletonMen’s Heat 4 8:55 a.m.
- Ski JumpingMen’s Large Hill Qualification 6 a.m.
- Snowboard Men’s Halfpipe Final 9:25 p.m.
- Speed SkatingMen’s 10000m 3 a.m.