The 2022 Winter Olympics are officially underway in Beijing. The opening ceremony began the festivities, and the first day of action saw some upsets and big finishes.
American Jamie Anderson began her attempt at a three-peat in women’s snowboard slopestyle, qualifying into the finals alongside teammates Hailey Langland and Julia Marino.
Snowboarding legend Shaun White announced these would be his last Olympic Games. The 35-year-old has three Olympic gold medals to go along with 18 individual Winter X Games medals.
“I’m sort of pinching myself, with how lucky I am to still be here at this age,” he said.
Here’s some of the day’s action:
USA dominates ROC in hockey
Team USA’s women’s hockey team notched its second preliminary round win of the Olympic tournament with a 5-0 win over the Russian Olympic Committee team.
Hilary Knight’s goal 8:51 into the second period gave Team USA some critical breathing room against ROC, increasing their lead to 2-0 despite outshooting their opponents 36-6 after two periods. Grace Zumwinkle’s goal 3:57 into the third period allowed them to exhale.
ROC goalie Maria Sorokina kept her team in the game against Team USA for two periods. But the Americans opened the flood gates in the third period, scoring three goals in 4:47 to take control of what had been a closer game than many expected. USA outshot ROC 60-12 in the 5-0 win.
USA will face Switzerland next, followed by Canada to close prelim play. — Greg Wyshynski
It’s the NO LOOK PASS from @HilaryKnight. 👀#WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/EXajExqzNC
— Olympic Hockey on NBC (@NBCSportsHockey) February 5, 2022
🤝@Savannah_Harmon & @HilaryKnight connect again!#TeamUSA | #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/3F5fZTekxu
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 5, 2022
🤯 What a feed from @DaniCam9 to @gracezumwinkle!#WinterOlympics | #TeamUSA 🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/QxeBRr4pox
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 5, 2022
Another FIRST!
This time it’s @JessComph7 scoring her first Olympic goal. #WinterOlympics
📺: @USA_Network & @peacockTV pic.twitter.com/hAMTsnIIyF
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 5, 2022
It’s a party in the U-S-A! 🇺🇸@carpy05 gets her third goal of the #WinterOlympics. pic.twitter.com/3twrPcVHyS
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 5, 2022
An upset on the moguls
Sweden’s Walter Wallberg scored an upset in the men’s moguls as he edged past favorite Mikael Kingsbury, of Canada, to take gold on Saturday. Japan’s Ikuma Horishima took bronze.
Wallberg, 21, had the final run of the day and needed to better Kingsbury’s score of 82.18. Kingsbury had taken gold at Pyeongchang 2018, but Wallberg put in a sublime run to record 83.23 to knock the Canadian out of first place.
It was a remarkable feat for Wallberg, who just two years ago suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury. There were fears at the time it would be career-ending, but he battled back only to then tear his meniscus. After further rehabilitation, he recovered from that to win Sweden’s first-ever gold medal in freestyle skiing. — Tom Hamilton
Walter Wallberg wins Sweden’s first-ever moguls medal!
He edged Canada’s Mikael Kingbury for the gold medal victory. 🥇 pic.twitter.com/PkdEUfhwoQ
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 5, 2022
Elana Meyers Taylor cleared
American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor has been cleared to leave isolation after twice testing negative for COVID-19, she told NBC’s Today Show.
Meyers Taylor was originally slated to carry the U.S. flag at the opening ceremonies, but tested positive on Jan. 29 and was placed in isolation. She has medaled in the last three Winter Olympics and will go for gold in monobob.
Prior to the announcement, Meyers Taylor showed off her training inside her hotel room.
Today’s isolation hotel workout with my new barbell! @NBCOlympics #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/9MpmkM0kmc
— Elana Meyers Taylor OLY (@eamslider24) February 5, 2022
Slopestyle redemption
Jamie Anderson began her bid for a third straight snowboard slopestyle gold Saturday morning in Beijing, leading three American women into the finals Sunday with a fifth-place finish in qualifiers. Two-time Olympians Julia Marino (sixth) and Hailey Langland (ninth) will join Anderson in the 12-woman final.
“I wanted to qualify higher, but I’ll take what I can get,” Anderson told NBC shortly after taking her second run. “The course is really challenging, and the young girls have been motivating me and making me work harder. I’m trying to genuinely be proud of myself for just being here.”
Three members of @TeamUSA have advanced to the Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle final! #WinterOlympics | #WatchWithUS pic.twitter.com/3ExR45Ligh
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 5, 2022
The story of slopestyle in Beijing, however, isn’t about any one woman. It’s about redemption for every rider in the contest. Four years ago, the women dropped into the Pyeongchang course in treacherous conditions. High, gusty winds made it difficult for the riders to attempt their biggest tricks, and few women landed a full run. The sport had progressed so much in the four years since its debut in Sochi, but the contest didn’t showcase that progression.
That changed Saturday. Even though the women didn’t throw their biggest tricks, saving them for Sunday, their riding was already far superior to what they were able to do on the course in South Korea.
“We got burned with that contest,” Langland told ESPN earlier this year. “Everyone was super fed up with the results from last time and we want to prove to the world that we are stepping it up. There’s been so much progression and we can’t wait to show it.”— Alyssa Roenigk
Canada dominates in women’s hockey, again
The silver medalists in 2018, Canada showed its medal-contender status with yet another lopsided game on Saturday in Beijing. Canada bested Finland 11-1 — just one goal fewer than the team’s 12-1 victory over Switzerland on Thursday.
The game also included this amazing goal. Keep your eye on the puck at all times:
OH CANADA! 🤯
How did this go in?! #WinterOlympics
TV: USA & @peacockTV | #WatchWithUS pic.twitter.com/RSdOwcNgQ6
— Olympic Hockey on NBC (@NBCSportsHockey) February 5, 2022
The best Olympic photo so far?
V.I.E.W.S. 📸 pic.twitter.com/l5GlO5msV2
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 5, 2022
Sporting the colors
Two of the most iconic American buildings — the White House and the Empire State Building — will be showing support for Olympians. The White House will feature red, white and blue lights while the New York City skyscraper will rotate colors of competing nations.
Tonight the White House is lit up in red, white, and blue in support of all the Olympians and Paralympians proudly representing our country. Go Team USA! pic.twitter.com/tegcrcCoqs
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 4, 2022
Honoring the 2022 athletes in Beijing with lights rotating in the flag colors of all participating countries tonight. #ESBright pic.twitter.com/cKbfzGR7yh
— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) February 4, 2022
Hometown heroes
The New England Patriots and Boston College Eagles supported Olympians with ties to the area. Among them is BC grad Alex Carpenter, who was a member of the 2014 ice hockey squad that won a silver medal in Sochi.
Team USA is looking to defend its gold medal from the 2018 Games that came against rival Canada in an overtime shootout.
Good luck to our New England athletes and all of @TeamUSA!#ForeverNE | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/9kevJNRTEy
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 4, 2022
Gonna tell my kids this was the Dream Team 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rm5ztUJ0XU
— BC Men’s Hockey (@BC_MHockey) February 4, 2022
