Say hello to monobob. It’s another new sport debuting this year at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and the first heats were Saturday in Beijing.
Monobob follows the basics of bobsledding, but instead of two- and four-person teams, this sled run is a solo mission. It is also an Olympic event only for women. The sleds are smaller and lighter than a traditional four-person sled, but that doesn’t make it easier.
“In a four-man, you could say that on any given day, something could go wrong and you could end up on your head,” former U.S. bobsledder John Napier told The Washington Post. “Whereas in monobob, I’m saying to myself, yeah, I’m pretty darn sure I’m going to make it down. Whether I’m going to make it down clean without bumping around and skidding the walls? Well, I don’t know about that. … But that’s OK. I don’t mind bumping a wall as long as I’m not on my head.”
On Sunday in Beijing, Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor raced in the first two heats in monobob, with Humphries ending atop the standings and Meyers Taylor in fourth, with two more runs to go tomorrow.
In other events in Beijing, freeski superstar Eileen Gu, who won big air on Tuesday, was slated to compete in slopestyle qualifying, but the competition was postponed because of heavy snowfall and wind in Beijing. We’re awaiting the new schedule.
Erin Jackson will race in the 500 meters and the U.S. men’s hockey team (2-0) will take on Germany in the last preliminary-round game in the morning Eastern time. We’ve got live updates here:
In the medal hunt
Americans Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor — both three-time Olympians — are first and fourth, respectively, after two heats of the Olympic debut of monobob.
Both women have three Olympic medals already in bobsled: Humphries won gold in two-woman in 2010 and 2014 and bronze in 2018, while Meyers Taylor won bronze in 2010 and silvers in 2014 and 2018.
Meyers Taylor, ranked No. 1 in the world in monobob, had a rocky start to her Olympics when she tested positive two days after arriving in Beijing and wasn’t cleared to leave isolation until Feb. 5. She was named one of the flag-bearers for the opening ceremony but was unable to attend.
Pulling away! 💨@BobsledKaillie x #WinterOlympics
pic.twitter.com/YCoURJteqN— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 13, 2022
Humphries is competing for Team USA for the first time. After the 2018 Olympics, she switched countries, after alleging emotional and mental harassment by her head coach in Canada, Todd Hays. She received her U.S. passport in early December, less than a month before the U.S. team was named.
On Sunday in Beijing, Humphries finished her two runs in 2:09.10, giving her an enormous lead of 1.04 seconds over second-place Christine de Bruin (Canada), who had 2:10.14. Laura Nolte (Germany) was third in 2:10.32, and Meyers Taylor had 2:10.42 for fourth. All women will complete two more monobob runs tomorrow, with the medals awarded to the top three athletes with the lowest cumulative times of all runs. — Amy Van Deusen
Decision looming
Russian figure skating superstar Kamila Valieva was at a practice session Sunday, hours before the Court of Arbitration for Sport was scheduled to meet to decide whether she’ll be allowed to compete.
The meeting of CAS is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Sunday and a decision is expected sometime Monday, less than 24 hours before Valieva is scheduled to skate in the women’s short program at the Beijing Games.
Valieva has been allowed to practice since Monday, when a drug test she took in December was flagged for traces of a banned heart medication. That was the same day Valieva helped Russia win the team gold medal with a dynamic free skate in which she became the first woman to land a quad lutz in Olympic competition.
The practices have become increasingly uncomfortable, though, as Valieva continues to prepare while dozens of reporters and camera crews watch her every move. She briefly broke down in tears during her Friday session. — Associated Press
Work to do
The U.S. men’s curling team fell to 2-3 in the round-robin competition with a 10-5 loss to Canada.
The Americans have four more matches in round-robin play, with the top four in the final standings moving on to next week’s semifinals. Currently the U.S. is tied for seventh with China.
Tweet of the night
Mikaela Shiffrin had a rough night involving goldfish crackers, then a rough day when downhill training was canceled because of the snowfall. We’ll let you decide which is worse:
DH training run canceled today… which gives me way too much time to dwell on the fact that I feel asleep eating goldfish last night and woke up to a massacre of crumbs in my bed which was not only uncomfortable but I’m really not sure how my dentist is going to feel about it🤦♀️
— Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) February 13, 2022
Shiffrin will race in the downhill on Monday night ET — her fourth race of the Games. Another downhill training run is scheduled before then, and the men’s giant slalom race is still supposed to take place as planned today in Beijing.
“NOOOOO!”
“Why are you the way that you are? Honestly, whenever I try to do something fun or exciting, you make it not that way. I hate so much about the things that you choose to be.” — Michael Scott to Toby on “Casino Night.”
Michael Scott’s (Steve Carell) intense dislike for everything about Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) plays out from Season 1 to 7 of the TV comedy classic “The Office.” Michael views Toby as his sworn enemy and takes every opportunity to dismiss and/or demean Toby. Let’s call this clip, “Toby’s Revenge.”
Toby Flenderson 🤝 Skeleton
Michael Scott: “NOOO”#WinterOlympics | @theofficetv | @peacockTV pic.twitter.com/zEKU6drdLt
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 13, 2022
Event schedule (all times ET)
1:05 a.m.: Women’s curling round robin (multiple matches)
6 a.m.: Short track speedskating finals (multiple events)
7:05 a.m.: Men’s curling round robin (multiple matches)
8:10 a.m.: Men’s hockey prelim – USA vs. Germany
8:50 a.m.: Women’s speedskating (500m) final
