Erin Jackson has won the 500m speedskating gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first American to win the event since 1994. Elsewhere, USA men’s hockey booked a bye to the quarterfinals with a win over Germany.
Earlier in the action, monobob made its Olympic debut.
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.
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.
We have live updates here:
Jackson makes history
Team USA’s Erin Jackson won a brilliant gold in the women’s 500m speedskating Sunday.
Jackson, 29, went in the penultimate pair, and her time of 26.71 seconds was enough to see her take gold ahead of early leader Takagi Miho. She started quickly, beating Takagi’s first split by 0.02 seconds. She maintained that to end up winning by 0.08 seconds.
It was a remarkable performance from Jackson in what is the United States’ first speedskating gold since Shani Davis won the men’s 1000m at Vancouver 2010.
U.S. hockey stays perfect
The U.S. won Group A and earned a bye into the medal round quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over Germany in their men’s ice hockey preliminary round finale on Sunday.
The Americans entered the game needing only a win or a regulation tie to secure the top seed in their group. They finished with a 3-0-0 record and won’t play again until Wednesday, Feb. 16. — Greg Wyshynski
Nathan Smith is on the board! 🇺🇸#WinterOlympics | #TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/Qd91MFqjKu
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 13, 2022
“THEY SCORE, @Matthew_Knies!” 🗣️@usahockey leads 2-1 in the second period. #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/9q0Je0DJ20
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 13, 2022
Team USA answers with a power play goal of their own! #WinterOlympics
📺: @USA_Network and @peacockTV
💻: https://t.co/hGNASPOhqW pic.twitter.com/tZ3eHMtnrf— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 13, 2022
Germany connects early on the power play!@TeamUSA vs. Germany – NOW.
📺: @USA_Network and @peacockTV
💻: https://t.co/hGNASPwG2m pic.twitter.com/TXsW24ooVg— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 13, 2022
In the medal hunt
Team USA’s Kaillie Humphries holds a commanding overnight lead in the women’s monobob heading into the final two heats.
Humphries clocked 2:09.10 across her two heats in the inaugural Olympic monobob competition and leads Canada’s Christine de Bruin by 1.04 seconds with two heats remaining.
Humphries, 38, hopes to add a third Olympic gold to her collection, having taken gold at both Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 for Canada in the two-woman bobsleigh.
Pulling away! 💨@BobsledKaillie x #WinterOlympics
pic.twitter.com/YCoURJteqN— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 13, 2022
“Today was a good day. I’m happy with the pushing and the driving, but there’s still more that I can do,” Humphries said.
“I’ve won and I’ve lost in this position. Tomorrow is a brand new day, and so I need to focus on having the best pushes, and the best drive that I can do. … But I can’t control what other people do and how people show up tomorrow. I continue to put my best foot forward. It’s four runs, which is what’s cool about the Olympics — consistency is the key.”
Germany’s Laura Nolte is in third, and it could be a potential double medal for USA with Elana Meyers Taylor lying in fourth, at 2:10.42. She also holds the start record for the event, clocking 5.61 seconds in both her heats. — Tom Hamilton
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. Valieva will also testify at the appeal hearing.
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.
How’s this for Olympic spirit?
After crossing the finish line to win his third Olympic gold medal, Finnish cross-country skier Iivo Niskanen waited for the last man to complete the course. That was Colombian skier Carlos Andres Quintana, who finished with a time of 55 minutes, 41.9 seconds, nearly 18 minutes behind Niskanen.
After finishing last in the #CrossCountrySkiing 15km, Carlos Quintana 🇨🇴 was embraced by #Gold medallist Iivo Niskanen 🇫🇮.
“All athletes must respect each other, everyone has worked hard to be here,” said the Olympic champion during the press conference.
What a moment ❤️ pic.twitter.com/PZHyGWQdcM
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 12, 2022
‘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
