Winter Olympics curling LIVE: Eve Muirhead’s GB women defeat USA in crucial round-robin match

Team GB are taking on USA in the women’s curling round-robin phase hoping to improve their record of two defeats from the opening three games.

After 12 years of hurt, team USA secured a stunning win against Canada in the preliminary round match. This was the first time since 2014 Sochi Games when the two North American countries face-off against each other, a game that Canada won 1-0. The Americans had last secured a win over their neighbouring North American country in the preliminary round of the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The United States also won gold in the inaugural snowboard cross mixed team event at the Beijing Games, with Lindsey Jacobellis edging past Italian Michela Moioli in a nail-biting final race. This is the second gold for Jacobellis, 36 who teamed with 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner to win the title. She had taken gold earlier on Wednesday in the women’s snowboard cross title. Canada, whose female rider had crashed in the final race, caught up to win bronze.

Follow the latest update below:

Key Points

• After 12 years of hurt, US beat Canada in Olympic ice-hockey match

• US takes gold in snowboard cross mixed team event

• US snowboard coach, rider being investigated for misconduct

• What is the hammer in curling? Explaining the rules of Winter Olympics sport

• Eve Muirhead leads GB to crucial curling win over USA

Team GB take curling victory over USA!

14:33 , Dan Austin

Team GB’s women have beaten the USA in their round robin curling fixture!

The USA have conceded defeat after losing three more points in the final ending, meaning their 100 percent winning record is now gone and Britain have taken their second win from four matches.

The USA were having to play their shots quickly in the ninth end as the shot clock ticked down towards zero, and Becca Hamilton and Nina Roth and struggled to place their guards correctly midway through the end, ceding momentum to GB.

Tabitha Peterson failed to sweep a red zone out of the house with her penultimate shot, and the need to rush was costing the Americans big.

With one shot each left to play, Team GB had two stones in the eight-foot. Peterson made another huge error, overshooting her final shot beyond the house and leaving an open goal for Team GB, which Eve Muirhead took advantage to take the score to 10-5.

This was by far the best performance of Team GB’s tournament so far, and will give them a huge confidence boost going into tomorrow’s matches.

USA stay alive in curling match against Team GB

14:21 , Dan Austin

It’s another tense end at the National Aquatics Centre but the USA come out marginally on top to reduce the score by one and keep themselves alive in this round robin match,

Before the skips play the final two shots of the end, the USA’s Nina Roth makes an error by sending a stone of her own out of the house while leaving four British reds unchallenged in and round the button.

Tabitha Peterson manages to shift two away while keeping her own shooter in the house, before Eve Muirhead tried to guard the path to the button with a guard out front with her final stone of the end.

Peterson plays an absolutely superb final shot of the end to slide past the guard and sit in a slightly better position inside the four-foot than the British red, ensuring the Americans one point.

Great Britain still leads 7-5 with two ends to play.

Team GB capitalise on USA curling errors

14:01 , Dan Austin

Team GB have capitalised on a poor end from their American opponents to take a big lead in the final stages over their curling fixture.

The USA make a big mistake with their penultimate shot, Tabitha Peterson overshooting first of all before her colleagues over-sweep, knocking their own scoring stone too far away from the button and giving Team GB a great chance to score well.

They are lying two with the final shots left to play, and another poor effort from Peterson means Eve Muirhead has a chance to secure three points. She can’t quite make it work though, knocking one American stone away successfully but sending her own out of the house in the process.

That’s two more points, then, and a 7-4 lead with three ends left to play.

USA reel in Team GB in curling

13:44 , Dan Austin

Having had a four point lead in the early stages, Team GB have now been reeled in by the USA and their advantage is down to one point.

In the sixth end a much stronger USA side was able to control proceedings, setting the end up well and shifting the momentum to put the British team on the back foot, before stealing two with their final stone.

USA have now scored four points in the last three end, to Team GB’s one.

GB still lead 5-4 with four ends to go.

Team GB extends lead at halfway stage

13:24 , Dan Austin

We’re heading into the half-time break at the National Aquatics Centre, and Team GB have extended their curling lead over the USA to 5-2.

Eve Muirhead has the final stone of the end and needs only to draw into the house to score, managing it with minimum fuss.

The USA have a perfect record in the tournament so far, while the British women have lost twice and won once, underlining high level of performance GB are operating at here.

Vicky Wright in particularly has impressed, while Becca Hamilton has struggled for the USA and skip Tabitha Peterson has hit some uncharacteristically poor shots too.

USA reduce curling deficit vs Team GB

13:09 , Dan Austin

Team USA have brought themselves back into the match against team GB by taking two points in the fourth end.

Eve Muirhead tries to tap away an American stone with her final shot of the end, but inadvertently leaves it lying shot by pushing it forward half an inch.

American skip Tabitha Peterson then lands her final stone expertly in the house to ensure her side’s deficit is halved.

Great Britain still lead 4-2 with six ends left to play.

Lindvik wins ski jump large hill gold!

12:56 , Dan Austin

The men’s large hill ski jumping event has been taking place in Zhangjiakou, and Norway’s Marius Lindvik has won gold!

The 23-year-old, who has six wins on the World Cup tour, set an immense score of 296.1 to take victory over Ryoyu Kobayahsi of Japan in second.

The bronze medal went to Karl Geiger of Germany.

Team GB maintain advantage over USA

12:51 , Dan Austin

The USA are really struggling in this curling fixture against Team GB so far, and the deficit remains four points at the culmination of the third end.

The issue the Americans have is that they’re struggling to set up the end early doors and are left scrambling to salvage something in the latter stages. Becca Hamilton in particular is struggling so far as the third, placing her shots poorly just as the pattern of play begins to take shape, and ceding ground to the British women.

With two stones each left to play the house is entirely empty, and both sides see the end out sensibly, meaning neither is able to score.

GB lead 4-0 with seven ends to go.

Kamila Valieva to find out on Monday whether she can stay in Winter Olympics

12:41 , Dan Austin

Teenage Russian figure skating sensation Kamila Valieva will find out whether she can skate for Olympic gold on Monday.

The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, sitting in temporary session in Beijing, will hear her case tomorrow evening and issue their eagerly-awaited judgement the following day.

Valieva, 15, tested positive for Trimetazidine, a medication for angina on the sport’s doping banned list since 2014, at December’s national championships but was cleared to compete by Russia’s anti-doping agency last week.

You can read the full story here:

Kamila Valieva set to find out on Monday whether she can stay in Olympics

Team GB extends curling lead vs USA

12:38 , Dan Austin

This is a brilliant performance from the Team GB so far, and they have extended their lead over the USA by another two points.

Eve Muirhead uses her final stone of the end to guard the four-foot, which contains two scoring British stones, and USA skip Tabitha Peterson is powerless to respond.

Vicky Wright has been particularly impressive so far, while the USA’s Becca Hamilton has struggled with her shot placement.

We’re at 4-0 to Great Britain now, with eight ends remaining.

Team GB take lead in curling vs USA

12:20 , Dan Austin

It’s a very strong start for the British women as they steal two points to take the lead as the USA in curling.

It’s a particularly strong end for NHS nurse Vicky Wright, who with her first effort bats away two of the opposition’s yellow stones and opens the house back up.

From there GB are in control. and Eve Muirhead uses the final shot of the end to clip a US stone on the nose and sit her alongside another towards the back of the house.

With nine ends to play, Team GB lead 2-0.

Team GB underway against USA in curling

12:06 , Dan Austin

Team GB are now in action again in the National Aquatics Centre, as the women’s curling team faces the USA.

Eve Muirhead and co. have endured a difficult start to the round robin, losing two of their opening three fixtures, while the Americans have a 100 percent winning record.

With only the top four in the standings progressing to the semi-finals, GB could really do with a win here. If they suffer a third loss, reaching the next round would be a very difficult task indeed.

GB take on USA in women’s curling round-robin

12:05 , Lawrence Ostlere

Next up for Team GB is an important curling meeting against USA. The US have three wins from three matches, while GB have lost two of their opening three and have it all to do to fight back for a place in the semi-finals at the end of the round-robin stage. Dan Austin will take you through the key game for Eve Muirhead’s team.

Tingyu Gao dedicates gold medal to China

11:55 , Lawrence Ostlere

“I’m quite a slow person,” Gao said through a translator. “But for speedskating, I really love speed. I also like the sound of air beside my ear when I skate. It feels exciting. It felt like I was riding a roller coaster. When I finished my race, there are 16 people behind me and all of them are great. I felt some pressure until the last group of people.”

Gao knew he had at least a medal for the second straight Olympics after the next-to-last pair crossed the line. But the real celebration began when the final group finished.

Gao took bronze in the 500 at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. “This is different from four years ago,” he said. “This time it comes to our home country. I felt excited and nervous. I think this is a good mentality for the competition, especially for such a big event.”

Zhang Hong had been China’s only speedskating gold medalist. She won the women’s 1,000 eight years ago in Sochi. Now, she’s got company. “I want to give my medal to my country,” Gao said.

Golden oldies deliver US glory

11:32 , Lawrence Ostlere

Lindsey Jacobellis won her second gold medal of the Olympics as she teamed with 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner for the title in the new event of mixed snowboardcross.At 40 years, 57 days, Baumgartner, a concrete worker-contractor from Michigan, becomes the oldest snowboarder to win an Olympic medal. At 36 years, 177 days, Jacobellis, the author of a children’s book, is the second-oldest.“You’re never too late to take what you want from life,” Baumgartner said.

Parrott: McMorris said sorry for judging remark

11:21 , Lawrence Ostlere

Slopestyle gold medalist Max Parrot said fellow Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris apologised Saturday for saying Parrot only won because of questionable Olympic judging.Parrot acknowledged to The Associated Press that he failed to fully execute a grab on the first jump of the slopestyle course Monday and said he was lucky the judges didn’t see it. He maintains he still had the best run of the day and earned his first Olympic gold.McMorris finished third but told CBC on Friday he deserved to beat Parrot and Chinese silver medalist Su Yiming. Parrot said there were no hard feelings over McMorris’ comments. “He actually came to me earlier today and he apologised for his non-sportsmanship,” Parrot said. “I told him no worries.”

Winter Olympics 2022

11:04 , Lawrence Ostlere

Team GB’s Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale after their sixth-place finish in the inaugural mixed team snowboard cross. Before the team event, Bankes finished ninth in the women’s individual snowboard cross on Wednesday, whilst Nightingale finished 30th in the men’s.

On their performance: “We knew it was going to be tough today. Huw did a good run, certainly at the start. It meant I just needed to try and get into the draft, just focus on my stance at the start and try and catch as much time as possible.

“I had the Russian on my heels as well, so I was just trying to generate as much speed until the end. I pushed as hard as I could to try and get as close as possible.”

On the disappointment of the individual event: “I’m not quite over it but I’ve been coming out here with the team today and the team’s worked amazingly well to get me back on it. It was good motivation to just have a good race today and not focus on what’s happened beforehand.”

Winter Olympics: Finland complete semi-final line-up

11:02 , Lawrence Ostlere

Finland have thrashed Japan 7-1 in the women’s ice hockey competition and they are heading to the semi-finals, where Canada, USA and Switzerland all await.

No medal for Bankes at Winter Olympics

10:48 , Lawrence Ostlere

Charlotte Bankes exited the Beijing Winter Olympics without a medal after finishing fifth in the mixed team snowboard-cross competition with team-mate Huw Nightingale at Genting Snow Park on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Bankes arrived in the Chinese capital as reigning world champion and one of Britain’s best medal hopes but fluffed her lines in the individual event and was knocked out in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Bankes also missed out in her second chance despite her and Nightingale successfully negotiating their initial quarter-final heat of the event, in which the women follow the men with handicapped start-times.

No medal for Charlotte Bankes after fifth place in mixed team snowboard cross

Winter Olympics: China’s Gao Tingyu wins 500m gold

10:15 , Lawrence Ostlere

The roof is raised as Gao Tingyu clinches 500m gold with a time of 34.32sec, edging out Korea’s Cha Min Kyu by 0.07. Japan’s Wataru Morishige takes gold, with Britain’s self-funded Cornelius Kersten finishing 25 out of 30 competitors. He will go again in his favoured 1000m.

Kamila Valieva: Spotlight turns on 15-year-old Russian skater’s Olympic entourage after failed drug test

09:44 , Lawrence Ostlere

Attention has switched to Kamila Valieva’s controversial coaching team as the bewildered teen’s Olympic ambitions hang by a thread.

The 15-year old practiced again at Capital Indoor Arena while, just a few miles away, the International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency were challenging a decision to allow her to compete at the Games.

The Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS), which has set up a temporary base in Beijing, is expected to announce its decision ‘imminently’, the pressure on to make a ruling before Valieva is due to compete again on Tuesday.

“There is the practicality of an event that is coming up, I really hope this is sorted out as quickly as possible,” said International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams.

“It takes time but it will go as speedily as it is possible to do. There will be a resolution of this case - whether the suspension will be lifted - before the women’s competition, I’m certain as I can be of that.

“We want to see due process and we want to see it as quickly as possible, which is why we’ve asked CAS, with partners, to challenge this.”

Valieva tested positive for banned substance Trimetazidine, a medication for angina on the sport’s doping banned list since 2014, at December’s national championships but was cleared to compete by Russia’s anti-doping agency.

Kamila Valieva: Spotlight turns on 15-year-old Russian skater’s Olympic coaching team

Winter Olympics: China’s Gao Tingyu sets 500m speed skating record

09:27 , Lawrence Ostlere

GB’s Cornelius Kersten is currently competing in the 500m speed skating final, but the man to set the stadium alight is Gao Tingyu, the Chinese star who have just set a new Olympic record to lead the time standings. Kersten’s time is 12th in the standings, so no medal for the British skater.

Switzerland secures a place in ice-hockey semis

07:16 , Namita Singh

Switzerland women’s ice hockey team secured a place in the semi-finals alongside Canada and the US, after they beat ROC 4-2 in the quarter-finals play-offs.

The fourth team to qualify would be decided later in the day after the match between Finland and Japan.

After 12 years of hurt, US beat Canada in Olympic ice-hockey match

06:46 , Namita Singh

Team USA beat Canada in an ice hockey olympics match for the first time in 12 years. Brendan Brisson,20, scored his second goal of the tournament and goaltender Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the United States beat Canada 4-2 in men’s hockey at the Olympics.

The Americans and Canada faced off at the Olympics for the first time since the semifinals at the 2014 Sochi Games, the last time NHL players participated. Canada won that game 1-0 on the way to a second consecutive gold medal.

Spotted: Shaun White enjoying the Games

05:27 , Namita Singh

US snowboard coach, rider being investigated for misconduct

05:22 , Namita Singh

US Ski and 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.

US Ski & Snowboard released a statement that said it “takes all allegations seriously. Peter Foley remains as US Snowboardcross team head coach while all recent allegations are being investigated.”

Heavy snow a welcome 'problem' for Beijing venues

05:15 , Namita Singh

While athletes have been competing on artificial snow throughout the Beijing Olympics, organisers are now dealing with the logistical challenge of clearing away the real thing after heavy snowfalls in the mountains of Zhangjiakou on Saturday.

Brown scrub and brush on the hills around some of the mountain venues have made for underwhelming TV images during the Games but the snowfalls have blanketed the area white, while posing some issues for crews at local venues.

“In heavy snow weather, one must not wait, it’s a process of clearing as it snows,” Shu Wen, deputy director of maintenance services at the Genting Snow Park, told reporters.

“It’s all about preventing the use of snow-melt agents.

“Whether it is an environmentally friendly or non-environmentally friendly snow-melting agent, it all has a certain impact on roads and snow tracks. Our aim is to ensure that the entire stadium is clean and tidy.”

Genting is the location for many of the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events at the Beijing Games, where a sound, predictable surface is a requirement for the breath-taking tricks and high-speed racing of the athletes.

Weng said his team are prepared for the heavy snow and freezing temperatures forecast for the middle weekend of Olympic competition.

“According to the weather forecast, we’re expecting a blizzard today and tomorrow, and heavy snow,” Weng said. “This situation happens frequently in our snow venue operations. We have a professional, top-tier team to make sure all goes well.”

Probe into role of Valieva's entourage would be welcomed by IOC

05:09 , Namita Singh

Olympic officials on Saturday said they would welcome an anti-doping investigation into the Russian doctors, coaches and family members in the entourage of gold medal winning teenage skater Kamila Valieva.

Valieva’s future at the Beijing Olympics hangs in the balance after the stunning revelation she had tested positive for a banned substance before winning the team event on Monday, but that the positive drug test report took more than six weeks to be made public.

Fans of figure skating, athletes and anti-doping advocates have expressed outrage over a teenager being dragged into the centre of an Olympic doping controversy with a positive test for an angina drug. Many have questioned the role of the adults around the 15-year-old skater.

On Saturday, International Olympics Committee spokesman Mark Adams said: “Entourage has been overlooked in the past.”The delay in Valieva receiving her positive drug test result also loomed large on Saturday as Olympic and anti-doping officials sought to reinstate her ban.

Valieva was suspended by the Russian anti-doping body after the positive test report, but the suspension was lifted a day later after she appealed, allowing her to continue to compete. Her next event, the women’s single, is on Tuesday.

More than six weeks went by between Valieva’s sample being taken on 25 December and 8 February when she was notified by a lab in Stockholm, Sweden that she had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine.

US takes gold in snowboard cross mixed team event

03:45 , Namita Singh

Lindsey Jacobellis has won her second gold medal of the Olympics, teaming with 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner for the title in the new event of mixed snowboardcross. The Italian team of Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli came in second and the Canadian duo of Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine finished third, taking home bronze.

Australian Brockhoff taken off course on stretcher after 'awkward fall'

03:13 , Namita Singh

Australia’s Belle Brockhoff was taken off the snowboard cross course by stretcher on Saturday after she fell during the mixed team quarter-final at the Beijing Games.

The Australian Olympic Committee said on Twitter Brockhoff was being treated on the course after an “awkward fall”.

Asked whether the boarder was badly hurt, one of the staff members from the Australian team said she was okay as the athlete was seen being put into an ambulance on a stretcher.

A member of the rescue team told Reuters the Australian athlete was conscious.

Brockhoff fell as she was chasing American Lindsey Jacobellis in the quarter-final after their boards clipped each other.

The event resumed after a brief delay.

Heavy snow began to fall in Zhangjiakou ahead of Saturday’s final, covering the course with a layer of powdery snow. Air temperatures fell to -11 degree Celsius (12.2°F) and visibility was lower than normal.

ROC at the Winter Olympics: Which country is it and what does it mean?

02:01 , Graeme Massie

For a second successive Winter Olympics, Russian athletes will not compete under their nation’s banner at Beijing 2022.

In December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) levied a four-year ban from international sport against Russia for running what it found to be a state-sponsored doping scheme.

ROC at the Winter Olympics: Which country is it and what does it mean?

What is the hammer in curling? Explaining the rules of Winter Olympics sport

00:53 , Graeme Massie

Curling is one of the most popular sports at the Winter Olympics an event of considerable skill and strategy, requiring steady nerves and intense precision.

There are three medal events at Beijing 2022, each entered by ten nations, with 114 competitors set to take part.

What is the hammer in curling? Winter Olympics sport rules explained