In the final night (ET) of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Jessie Diggins earned silver in the 30km cross-country race — her third Olympic medal overall.
Mikaela Shiffrin, River Radamus, Paula Moltzan and Tommy Ford ended up just off the podium in the mixed team alpine event in a down-to-the-wire finish in tough conditions. Finland won its first Olympic hockey gold medal, and Germany dominated in the four-man bobsled.
The Beijing Games officially end on Sunday morning (7 a.m. ET) with the closing ceremony. We’ll have live updates on it all here:
Diggins wins final U.S. Olympic medal
Nordic skier Jessie Diggins — a gold medalist in 2018 in team sprint — ended the Olympics in style for Team USA, earning silver in the 30k. It’s the last Olympic medal the U.S. will win at these Games, and it gives Diggins the full complement of gold, silver and bronze in her Olympic career. (Earlier in Beijing, she placed third in the individual sprint.) She was already the most decorated American cross-country skier in history.
After the race, she revealed that she’d had food poisoning only 30 hours before, and her legs were cramping for the last 17km. “I don’t know how I made it to the finish,” she said.
“That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my whole life.”
Jessie Diggins reveals she had food poisoning 30 hours before winning Olympic silver 😳#WinterOlympics | @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/5Fx7HDgIAw
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) February 20, 2022
Therese Johaug of Norway won the gold comfortably with a time of 1:24:54.0, with Diggins finishing less than two minutes behind at 1:26:37.3.
The bronze medal, though, was a fight until the very end. Ebba Andersson (Sweden) was in third for much of the race, but fell to eighth in the final moments. Kerttu Niskanen of Finland ended up with the bronze, and American Rosie Brennan — who also made a push for bronze — finished sixth. — Amy Van Deusen
Shiffrin and Team USA finish fourth
Mikaela Shiffrin’s hopes for an Olympic medal at the 2022 Games were dashed on Saturday night (ET) as Team USA missed out on bronze to Norway in the mixed team parallel event.
“My teammates are what carried me through this Olympics.”@MikaelaShiffrin on the strength and perseverance of the @usskiteam.#WinterOlympics | #WatchWithUS pic.twitter.com/UiDhZ6nC4G
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 20, 2022
Shiffrin skied four clean races in each of the rounds, winning against Slovakia’s Rebeka Jancova and narrowly losing the other three on the slower red course.
During the individual races at the Olympics, Shiffrin recorded a rare “Did Not Finish” during the slalom, grand slalom and in the combined event. She finished in ninth place in the super-G and 18th in the downhill.
‘@MikaelaShiffrin gives @TeamUSA its first point of mixed team parallel! #WinterOlympics | #WatchWithUS
📺 : @USA_Network and @peacockTV
💻 : https://t.co/DaRR18atEa pic.twitter.com/PJcR1HvwRS— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 20, 2022
The team competition, which pits a skier from each country in a head-to-head slalom race, made its Olympic debut in 2018. The event was originally scheduled to take place on Friday night (ET) but was delayed multiple times due to the dangerous weather conditions before eventually being rescheduled to Sunday.
Austria won the gold medal and Germany earned the silver. Switzerland, the defending gold medalists, was eliminated in the quarterfinals. — D’Arcy Maine
History-making night for Finland
Finland won its first Olympic men’s ice hockey gold medal with a 2-1 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee — with Finland forward Hannes Bjorninen scoring the game-winning goal just 31 seconds into the third period. He added an assist on Ville Pokka’s goal in the second period that tied the game after the ROC opened the scoring in the first period.
For the first time ever, Finland takes GOLD in Olympic men’s hockey!#WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/TZ7SAKRp4S
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 20, 2022
This was the 18th Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament appearance for Finland. The nation won silver in 1988 and 2006, and captured bronze four times (1994, 1998, 2010, 2014).
“Great team. Great effort. It wasn’t easy for us, but we found a way to win every game,” said forward Marko Anttila, whose team was undefeated in Beijing. “We found a way to win these tough games.” — Greg Wyshynski
Germany reigns supreme in bobsled
Germany concluded its reign of bobsled dominance on the final day of competition with a 1-2 finish in the four-man event. The sled piloted by Francesco Friedrich earned the gold, with Johannes Lochner’s sled earning the silver.
Germany is golden again! 🥇
Pilot Francesco Friedrich leads his four-man bobsled team to victory and captures his second gold medal of these #WinterOlympics.
📺 @nbc and @peacockTV
💻 https://t.co/QIXpI24jno pic.twitter.com/4gVWgFlSa8— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 20, 2022
Canada took the bronze, narrowly holding off a third German team and preventing the podium sweep. The country won seven of the 12 total bobsled medals in Beijing.
Jamaica, the beloved global favorites, did not qualify for the fourth and final run, and finished in 28th place out of 28 teams. They paid homage to “Cool Runnings” after their final run by kissing a lucky egg, as the Jamaican team did in the movie.— D’Arcy Maine
Gold Britain
Eve Muirhead led Britain to the Olympic women’s curling gold medal — the first for the sport’s homeland since 2002 — pulling away with a four-ender in the seventh on Sunday for a record-setting 10-3 victory over Japan.
After an incredible final, Great Britain has won #Gold in the women’s #Curling.
They’ve captured their second gold medal in this event, 20 years after their historic victory at Salt Lake City 2002.
Congratulations! #Beijing2022 | @TeamGB pic.twitter.com/VysNeZjCci
— Olympics (@Olympics) February 20, 2022
One day after the British men took silver, losing to Sweden in the final, the women picked up two points in the first end and controlled the scoreboard from there. They essentially clinched it in the seventh after Japanese skip Satsuki Fujisawa failed to keep her last stone in the scoring area.
The Brits win their first medal since 2014 when they won the bronze — and it is the nation’s third women’s curling medal overall.
