On Thursday night ET at the 2022 Winter Olympics, all eyes were on Eileen Gu of China as she won another gold medal, this time in the women’s freeski halfpipe. Earlier in this Olympics, she won gold in big air and silver in slopestyle.
Still to come on Friday morning ET: the second men’s hockey semifinal, between the Russian Olympic Committee team and Sweden, as well as the first two runs of the two-woman bobsled competition. Team USA has two medal contenders.
Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor — who won gold and silver, respectively, in the monobob — will pilot sleds against each other. Humphries, racing for Canada, won the two-woman event in the 2010 and 2014 Games while Meyers Taylor has won silver in the event in the last two Olympics. We’ll have live updates from the action here:
China and Russia square off in pairs skate
Pairs is generally considered the U.S.’s weakest discipline, but Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier got things going in the competition with a solid short program that scored 74.23 points. They previously helped Team USA win a silver medal in the team event.
.@TeamUSA‘s @alexa_knierim and @Brandon_F1992 came out of the gates strong with this impressive technique and footwork. #WinterOlympics
📺: @USA_Network and @peacockTV
💻: https://t.co/DaRR18atEa pic.twitter.com/F432XQMZdq— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 18, 2022
Later, the other U.S. team, Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc, will skate, as will favorites Sui Wenjing and Han Cong from China and three teams from Russia. LeDuc, 31, becomes the first openly nonbinary Winter Olympian.
Gu wins another gold
In the final women’s freeski event of the Olympics, Gu, who is one of only two women who competed in all three freeski events in Beijing, took her third medal and second gold, this time in the halfpipe. She is the first freeski athlete to medal in three events in a single Games.
After the qualifier, Gu said she had more in store for the finals, and she didn’t disappoint. She took the lead with her first-run score of 93.25. But in her second run, she went even higher on her opening-hit 900 and added more spins and technicality, including back-to-back alley-oop flat spins for her final two hits. She was awarded with a nearly untouchable 95.25, a score that held for the remainder of the contest. — Alyssa Roenigk
She said she had more tricks – well here are MORE TRICKS 💥
Eileen Gu earns a 95.25 in her second run!!
📺: @USA_Network & @peacockTV | #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/SueHuW7OQp
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) February 18, 2022
Finland 2, Slovakia 1
Finland beat Slovakia on Thursday night ET in the first of the men’s hockey semifinals. Finland has never won gold in Olympic men’s hockey — the country has gotten two silvers and four bronzes, all since 1988. That’s six medals in the past nine Olympics. Now, Finland will have a chance at its first gold Saturday night ET.
Meanwhile, Slovakia has never won any medal in Olympic men’s hockey, but will play for its first in the bronze-medal game Saturday morning ET. The second semifinal — ROC vs. Sweden, on Friday morning ET — will determine who each team plays. — ESPN Stats & Information
Humphries and Love are ready to go
Kaillie Humphries is a four-time Olympic medalist (with three golds, no less!).
Kaysha Love is a former track star who started bobsled training as a brakewoman in 2020.
The two will pair together in the two-woman on Friday ET:
Despite the above, and Love’s rookie status, it’s important to note: The duo won a World Cup in December together. They are absolutely medal favorites.
A tribute to Sarah Burke
It’s impossible to watch women’s freeskiing at the Olympics without thinking about Sarah Burke, a pioneer of the sport who fought for freeskiing’s inclusion in the Games. Burke died in a halfpipe training accident 10 years ago, two years before freeskiing was added to the 2014 Olympics.
Her influence is still felt in Beijing. Several recipients of Sarah Burke Foundation scholarships competed at these Games: Winter Vinecki, Liam Gill, Maddie Mastro, Tessa Maud, Dylan Ladd, Elena Gaskell, Megan Oldham and Kristy Muir. — Alyssa Roenigk
As always, we all #celebratesarah
— Trennon Paynter (@trennonpaynter) February 17, 2022
Jackson with a look back at her origin story
We all have to start somewhere — even Olympians — and Erin Jackson has the video to prove it. Jackson posted a video of her first time on the ice all the way back in 2016, when she decided to move from inline skating to speedskating. The initial wobbles are to be expected, but the fact that she’s looking somewhat competent not 10 minutes into her practice is something else. Some people are just built different.
6 years ago. Time flies when you are having fun! pic.twitter.com/xAPXIGaPBk
— Erin Jackson (@ErinJackson480) February 17, 2022
Mascots getting stuck in doors
As sad as it is to admit, the world was not designed for oversized mascot costumes. Most doors are not built to accommodate people wearing 5-foot-wide inflatable panda costumes. That’s just the mascot’s burden to bear — and fortunately for these two, they were able to find helping hands to get them through the worst of it.
Bing Dwen Dwen 🤝 Soohorang
Mascots getting stuck in doors
#WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/xDJqav0Izu— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 18, 2022
