On February 11, the Beijing Winter Olympics will produce seven gold medals in snowboarding, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, speed skating, biathlon, short track speed skating, and steel frame snowmobiles. The short track speed skating arena will produce the women's 1000m champion, snowboarding, and Sean White's fourth Winter Olympic gold medal of his career. In addition, the Chinese curling men's and women's teams will play against Denmark and the United States in the round robin tournament respectively.
curling
Men's Round Robin
09:05-12:00 China vs Denmark
Women's Round Robin
14:05-17:00 China vs. USA
The Chinese men's curling team was unfortunately reversed by the Russian Olympic Committee team. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
On the evening of February 9 and the evening of February 10, the Chinese curling men's and women's teams played two rounds of competition, both of which were against each other, but both young teams showed a good mental outlook and competitive state in the competition. On February 11, the Chinese men's curling team will play against Denmark, and the women's team will play against the United States.
The Danish men's curling team is not a traditional powerhouse in the world curling world, first participating in the Winter Olympics in 1988 and finishing 6th, and in the four Winter Olympics in 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018, the ranking has always hovered from 6th to 10th, and has been playing a role as a running companion. The Danish men's curling team finished second at the World Championships in 2016 and finished only 11th at the 2021 World Championships.
In the first two rounds of the round robin, the Chinese curling men's team first lost to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics runner-up Sweden, and on the afternoon of February 10, in the case of taking the lead, it was reversed by the Russian Olympic Committee and suffered two consecutive defeats. Based on the above situation, against the Danish team, it will be a good opportunity for the Chinese curling men's team to win the first round robin tournament.
The U.S. women's curling team is a regular visitor to the Winter Olympics, participating in the Winter Olympics seven times since 1988, with the best result being 4th place at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. In the last three Winter Olympic Games, the American curling women's team has performed mediocrely, successively winning the 10th, 10th and 8th places, and has never had the strength to compete for medals.
In the Beijing Winter Olympic cycle, the American curling women's team has won the 4th place at the 2018 World Championships, the 7th place in the 2019 World Championships, and the third place in the 2021 World Championships, and the overall strength has improved, and the debut of the Winter Olympic Games has won 9-3 against the Russian Olympic Committee team. In order to squeeze into the top 4 of the round robin tournament, the Chinese women's curling team must strive to win this game.
Snowboarding Men's U-Shaped Track Final
09:30-11:00
Sean White went on to compete for his fourth Olympic gold medal of his career. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
In the men's U-shaped field qualification tournament on Snowboarding on February 9, many world famous players have already begun fierce competition, and the competition for the title on February 11 will undoubtedly be even more fierce. Of the 12 finalists, nine were in the top 10 in the world, with Pyeongchang Winter Olympic champion Sean White, runner-up Hirano Bumon and runner-up Scotty James all making it to the final.
Among the 12 finalists, including Hirano Bumon, Hirano Ryuka, Totsuru Totsuka, and Hirano Kaiju 4 Japanese players, Sean White led 3 American players, Scotty James also has an Australian teammate, 2 Swiss players, 1 German player, can be described as a super all-star team in the men's U-shaped track event of snowboarding.
As a legendary athlete in the event, Sean White won gold medals at the 2006, 2010 and 2018 Winter Olympics and finished fourth at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Sean White, who finished 4th with 86.25 points in qualifying, did have a chance to hit his fourth Winter Olympic gold medal, but was surrounded by strong opponents.
All four Japanese players have the strength to strike medals or even gold medals. Hirano is a two-time consecutive Winter Olympic silver medalist and is currently ranked No. 3 in the world, topping the qualifying list with 93.25 points. Born in 2002, Hirano is currently ranked No. 5 in the world and has scored 87 points in the qualifiers. Born in 2001, Totsuka yuto is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, scoring 84.50 points in the qualifiers.
Four years ago, at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Australia's Scotty James and Switzerland's Bill Gna won bronze medals and 5th places respectively, and four years later in Beijing, they still have the strength to impact the dominance of Hirano Bumeng and Sean White.
Short track speed skating
Women's 1000m final
Men's 500m Qualifiers
Men's 5000m relay semi-finals
19:00-21:00
Han Yutong (front) advanced to the women's 1000m rematch. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
On the evening of February 11, the Capital Gymnasium will decide the fifth gold medal in the short track speed skating event. Compared with the previous mixed relay, women's 500 meters, men's 1000 meters, men's 1500 meters, women's 1000 meters is not the key gold medal event of the Chinese short track speed skating team.
In previous Winter Olympics, the Chinese short track speed skating team has also won two gold medals in the women's 1000 meters, both from their peak period, which were won by Yang Yang in 2002 and Wang Meng in 2010. In the previous preliminary round, the Chinese team sent Qu Chunyu, Han Yutong and Zhang Chutong to participate, and all 3 female players advanced to the rematch.
According to the schedule, the women's 1000 meters competition will be held in the quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals, Han Yutong and Qu Chunyu will be divided into the first group of the 1/4 finals, and Zhang Chutong will be in the 3rd group. Qu Chunyu previously helped China win the gold medal in the mixed relay, and the women's 500 meters stopped in the semifinals, which is the third event she participated in, and she and her teammates will challenge strong opponents such as The Netherlands' Shuerting, South Korea's Cui Minjing, and Italy's Fang Tana, and strive to stand on the podium.
In addition, on the evening of February 11, the men's 500m qualifier and the men's 5000m relay semi-finals will be held. As the men's 500m champion of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing will begin to defend his title, and two teammates will participate in the men's 500m preliminary round. Shortly after the men's 500m preliminary round, Wu Dajing and Ren Ziwei also took the lead in the men's 5000m relay semifinals.
Beijing News reporter Xu Bangyin
Edited by Han Shuangming Proofreader Yang Xuli