Day 9 of Beijing 2022 was affected by poor conditions, with heavy snowfall and variable winds forcing multiple events to abandon the schedule. It didn't stop other sports, as multiple athletes claimed a second medal for the Games.
Among the highlights today were the longer distance events, as Biathlon and Cross Country skiing came to the fore.
Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
1 | Norway | 9 | 5 | 7 | 21 |
2 | Germany | 8 | 5 | 1 | 14 |
3 | United States of America | 6 | 5 | 1 | 12 |
4 | Netherlands | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
5 | Sweden | 5 | 3 | 3 | 11 |
16 | Australia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Aerials fails to get off the ground
Qualification for the Women's Aerials in Freestyle skiing was delayed, as the week of good weather came to an end. In heavy snow and variable winds, the qualification runs scheduled for Day 9 were cancelled.
The event will now run in full on Day 10, with qualification, semis and finals all together tomorrow. Australians Laura Peel, Danielle Scott and Sophie Ash will compete, with Peel and Scott genuine hopes of a medal.
Odermatt the Giant Plus in the Slalom
Marco Odermatt took home the gold medal with a brilliant second run in the Men's Giant Slalom. The Swiss star held off Slovenian Zan Kranjec and Frenchman Mathieu Faivre who took home the minor medals.
The race had just 46 finishers, with treacherous conditions playing a big part. Just 16 of those skiers were within 5 seconds, as many finished after losing time with a fall.
Australian Louis Muhlen-Schulte finished in 23rd, just under ten seconds behind Odermatt.
The slowest finisher was Jamaican Benjamin Alexander, over a minute behind. He did better than seven skiers, who did not finish, and one who was disqualified. 35 skiers didn't start the second run, after striking out on the first run.
Downhill training a no-go too
The Women's Downhill was also affected by heavy weather. The training did not go ahead in poor conditions, ahead of the event in coming days.
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ROC dominated Relay in Cross Country Skiing
The Russian Olympic Committee's team of Alexey Chervotkin, Alexander Bolshunov, Denis Spitsov and Sergey Ustiugov come home to win gold in a time of 1:54:50.7 in the 4x10km Cross Country relay.
The team came in over a minute ahead of the Norwegian team of Emil Iversen, Paal Goldberg, Hans Christer Holund and Johannes Floehot Klaebo.
Bolshunov and Klaebo were each taking their second medals of the Games, after Bolshunov took silver in the Men's 15km, and Klaebo took bronze earlier in the week.
The French group of Richard Jouvre, Hugo Lapalus, Clemente Parisse and Maurice Manificat took out bronze.
The ROC team led at every change. The French started in fifth at the first change, but worked their way through the field. The Norwegians were in the podium spots all the way through the race.
French upset the Norwegian order in the Biathlon
The Women's 10km Biathlon continued the Norwegian streak of gold medals. Marte Olsbu Roeiseland took gold, to make it her third gold, and fourth medal of the Games. Just one shooting penalty gave her the momentum to be able to build a lead over Swede Elvira Oeberg.
It was Oeberg's second silver medal of the Games, as she came in 1:36.5 behind Roeiseland. Tiril Eckhoff came in third to take bronze, adding to her collection from earlier, where she won gold as part of the Norwegian mixed relay.
There was an upset in the Men's 12.5km biathlon, as Quentin Fillon Maillet took gold, after reeling in two silvers already during the Games. It broke a streak of Norwegian dominance in the Biathlon events, as he finished 28.6 seconds ahead of Tarjei Boe, who now has a gold, a silver and a bronze for the Games.
Fillon Maillet put in a perfect shooting performance to secure his victory, with Boe's single shooting penalty costing him a chance at the win. Eduard Latypov of the ROC came in third, just a few seconds behind Boe, and also with a solitary shooting penalty.