IOC will not punish Ukranian skeleton athlete
The International Olympic Committee says there will be no repercussions for the Ukrainian skeleton athlete who flashed a small sign urging peace in his homeland at the end of a run.
The message Vladyslav Heraskevych displayed Friday read: “No War in Ukraine.” The sign was printed on a blue-and-yellow piece of paper, matching the colors of Ukraine’s flag.
It was possible that the IOC could have considered Heraskevych’s act a violation of Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter. That rule, in part, states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
But The IOC characterized the sign late Friday as “a general call for peace.” It considers the matter closed.
Heraskevych ultimately finished 18th in a field of 20.
Christopher Grotheer was a runaway winner in the men’s skeleton event that ended Friday night, the first German to win gold with a four-run time over two days of competition of 4:01.01.
Axel Jungk, another German, won the silver medal in 4:01.67, and Yan Wengang of China won the bronze in 4:01.77. It was China’s first Olympic medal in a sliding sport.
Olympian, coach under investigation
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by longtime coach Peter Foley and the use of racist language by Olympian Hagan Kearney, both of whom are in China this week.
Former snowboardcross rider Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, a member of the 2010 Olympic team, wrote in an Instagram post that Foley had taken naked photos of female athletes and made inappropriate comments and that Kearney repeatedly used the N-word to “intentionally get under my skin.”
Chythlook-Sifsof is from Alaska and describes herself as Yupik and Inupiaq.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard released a statement that said it “takes all allegations seriously. Peter Foley remains as U.S. Snowboardcross team head coach while all recent allegations are being investigated.”
Foley did not immediately return texts left by the Associated Press.
A message sent to the company representing Kearney, who finished 17th in men’s snowboardcross, was not immediately returned.
U.S. men’s hockey rallies past Canada
The United States took all the questions about youth and inexperience and had all the answers against Canada.
Andy Miele responded to Canada’s early goal by tying it 70 seconds later, Brendan Brisson scored his second of Olympics and the Americans beat their biggest rival 4-2 Saturday to put them in the driver’s seat to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament.
Sean Farrell also set up Ben Meyers to give him three assists and six points, and goaltender Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the U.S. improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round.
Mann had his own dose of bad goaltending on Mat Robinson’s goal for Canada 1:24 in, a shot from the boards 40 feet away that beat him clean. Mann settled in and only allowed Corban Knight’s short-handed goal the rest of the way and was at his best during a late penalty kill that included 31 seconds of 5on-3.
Schulting defends title in 1,000 meters
Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands has defended her title in 1,000-meter short track speedskating.
She set the world and Olympic records in the quarterfinals. She wasn’t as fast in the final Friday, finishing in 1 minute, 28.391 seconds.
Choi Minjeong of South Korea took silver.
Hanne Desmet of Belgium earned bronze.
Speedskating Swede breaks world record
Nils van der Poel of Sweden has broken his own world record and captured his second gold medal in Beijing with a dominating victory in men’s 10,000meter speedskating.
He crossed the line in 12 minutes, 30.74 seconds, easily breaking the world mark of 12:32.95 he set in February 2021.
Niskanen snags gold in cross country race
Finland’s Iivo Niskanen maintained his classic skiing dominance, winning gold in the 15kilometer cross country race at the Beijing Olympics.
Niskanen crossed the line and collapsed, spread eagle, with a time of 37 minutes, 54.8 seconds. It was his third Olympic gold.
Alexander Bolshunov of Russia won silver 23.2 seconds back, while Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway secured the bronze 37.5 seconds behind the Finn.
Gut-Behrami claims crown in super-G
Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland won the women’s super-G, capturing her first Olympic gold medal.
It was Gut-Behrami’s first Olympic gold.
Mirjam Puchner of Austria won silver and Michelle Gisin of Switzerland won bronze.
Roeiseland maintains biathlon dominance
Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway put in the best performance of her career for an Olympic gold medal.
Roeiseland, the overall World Cup leader and sprint leader, hit all 10 targets and finished the 7.5-kilometer women’s sprint race in 20 minutes, 44.3 seconds.
Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg also shot clean and skied to silver, 30.9 seconds back. Dorothea Wierer of Italy came in 37.2 seconds behind Roeiseland for bronze, her first individual Olympic medal.
Judges face scrutiny after Parrot’s victory
Even champion snowboarder Max Parrot knows he got away with one. Still, he’s not giving back his gold medal.
A few days after winning the Olympic slopestyle contest, the Canadian Parrot told CBC Sports he knew he grabbed his knee, not his snowboard, during his winning run.
The lead official on the judging panel told snowboarding website Whitelines that the judges weren’t provided with replays or shots of some of the angles that were showing up on social media after the contest.