Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who’s been the focus of intense attention as she was allowed to continue to compete despite a positive doping test in December, and who’d been heavily-favored to win the gold, stunningly finished in fourth place after falling repeatedly during the women’s free skate. Her teammates, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova won gold and silver, respectively, and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won an unexpected bronze.
Alysa Liu was the highest-finishing American, in seventh place.
U.S.-born and raised freestyle skier Eileen Gu, who competes for her mother’s native China, won gold in the ski halfpipe, her third medal in Beijing. She also won gold in freestyle big air and took silver in the slopestyle. She is the first freeski athlete to medal in three events in a single Olympics.
The defending Olympic champion U.S. men lost to Canada in the curling bronze medal game. The U.S. was playing for bronze after losing to Great Britain in their semifinal match. The British team will play Sweden for the gold, after the Swedes beat Canada in their semifinal.
