[OLYMPICS] Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Re-Cap: February 3rd – 7th

The opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics started the winter games off with a bang on Feb. 4th, 2022. With gorgeous designs from Ralph Lauren, Team USA looked strong, intimidating, and ready to win medals this year. 

Some of the preliminary events began on Thursday, Feb. 3rd. Events in the Alpine, Freestyle, Cross Country, and Snowboarding disciplines took place this weekend. To some people’s surprise, Team OlympicsUSA still has yet to bring home the gold in any ski-related competition. 

In case you missed this weekend’s events, read below for the scoop on what happened over the weekend in the 2022 Olympics.

Freestyle

Feb. 3rd: Men’s and Women’s Moguls First-Round Qualifier

Men and women from across the globe competed in the moguls qualifying round to advance to the final competition to hopefully take home the gold.

• • Men’s top 5 after qualifier: Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), Walter Wallberg (SWE), Benjamin Cavet (FRA), Jimi Salonen (FIN), Cole Mcdonald (USA)
  • Women’s top 5 after qualifier: Jakara Anthone (AUS), Perrine Laffont (FRA), Jaelin Kauf (USA), Olivia Giaccio (USA), Anri Kawamura (JPN) 

Feb. 5th: Men’s Moguls Second-Round Qualifiers and Finals 

Men’s qualifiers from day one come back in full swing for second-round qualifiers and finals. This competition was neck-and-neck with Michael Kingsbury attempting to protect his Olympic Games Title from 2018, but Walter Wallberg ultimately ended up on top, earning his first gold medal ever.

• • Gold: Walter Wallberg, SWE, 83.23
  • Silver: Mikael Kingsbury, CAN, 82.18
  • Bronze: Ikuma Horishima , JPN, 81.48

Feb. 6th: Women’s Moguls Second-Round Qualifiers and Finals 

Jaelin Kauf earned the US its second medal of the Winter Games with her bronze in the women’s moguls event. Jakara Anthony earned Australia its first gold medal in the Winter Olympics since 2010. 

• • Gold: Jakara Anthony, (AUS), 83.09
  • Silver: Jaelin Kauf (USA), 80.28
  • Bronze: Anastacia Smirnova (ROC), 77.72

Alpine

Feb. 6th: Men’s Downhill Finals

• • Gold: Beat Feuz (SUI) 1:42.69
  • Silver: Johan Clarey (FRA) 1.42.79
  • Bronze: Matthias Mayer (AUT) 1.42.85

This final race was extremely close, with all competitors hungry for gold. Switzerland’s Beat Feuz ended up coming out on top by just a tenth of a second.

Cross Country

Feb. 5th: Women’s 2 X 7.5 KM Skiathlon Final

• • Gold: Therese Johaug (NOR) 44:13.70
  • Silver: Natalia Nepryaeva (ROC) 44.43.90
  • Bronze: Teresa Stadlober (AUT) 44.44.20

Feb. 6th: Men’s 2 X 15 KM Skiathlon Final

• • Gold: Alexander Bolshunov (ROC) 1:16:09.80
  • Silver: Denis Spitsov (ROC) 1:17:20.80
  • Bronze: Iivo Niskanen (FIN) 1:18:40.70

The skiathlon competition begins with 15 km of classic skiing. Once skiers complete this portion of the race, they must quickly change into skate skis for the next 15 km. 

Snowboarding

Feb. 4th: Women’s slopestyle qualifying 

• • Top 5 after qualifier: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL), Kokomo Murase (JPN), Enni Rujajarvi (FIN), Anna Gasser (AUT), Jamie Anderson (USA)

Feb. 5th: Women’s Slopestyle Final

• • Gold: Zoi Sadowiski-Synnot (NZL) 92.88
  • Silver: Julia Marino (USA) 87.69
  • Bronze: Tess Coady (AUS) 84.15

Feb. 5th: Men’s Slopestyle Qualifying 

• • Top 5 after qualifier: Max Parrot (CAN), Su Yiming (CHN), Mark McMorris (CAN), Red Gerard (USA), Emiliano Lauzi (ITA)

Feb. 6th: Men’s Slopestyle Final

• • Gold: Max Parrot (CAN) 90.96
  • Silver: Su Yiming (CHN) 88.70
  • Bronze: Mark McMorris (CAN) 88.53

Team USA showed up and was fired up for medals in the snowboarding events this weekend. Crowds were excited to see veteran athletes Jamie Anderson and Red Gerard hit the slope hard this weekend, but Julia Marino was the athlete who stole the show. Marino came from behind in 28th place from qualifiers to take silver in the finals. Her medal was the USA’s first medal in the 2022 winter games. 

So far, the US currently has two medals to show from the 2022 Winter Games. 

Now that you’re caught up from this weekend see what you can watch today, Feb. 7th.

Alpine

Women’s Giant Slalom

Run 2 occurred at 1:45 a.m.

• • • Gold: Sara Hector, Sweden
      • Run 1: 57.98
      • Run 2: 58.13
    • Silver: Federica Brignone, Italy
      • Run 1: 57.98
      • Run 2: 57.99
    • Bronze: Lara Gut-Behrami, Switzerland
      • Run 1: 59.07
      • Run 2: 57.34

Men’s Super G

• • • primetime on NBC at 10:05 p.m. EST

Freestyle

Men’s Big Air Qualifier Round

• • Happened this morning at 12:30 a.m. EST
  • Norway, USA, and Sweden have the gold, silver, and bronze secured for now.

Women’s big air final 

• • Primetime on NBC at 9 p.m. EST

Snowboarding

Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom Qualifier Round

• • Watch on NBC at 9:40 p.m. EST