Winter Olympics LIVE: Cancer survivor Max Parrot wins gold for Canada as Mikaela Shiffrin sees shock exit

Snowboarder Max Parrot soared in men’s snowboard slopestyle on Monday, as the cancer survivor won gold for Canada.

An upgrade from the silver he earned at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, Parrot was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma- a type of blood cancer- in December 2018, forcing him to miss the whole of next season. But three years, he stands atop the Olympic podium, alongside his compatriot Mark McMorris who earned bronze.

The Russian skating team also kickstarted the day with gold win in the women’s free skating, thanks to their 15-year-old star Kamila Valieva, who topped the scoreboard with 178.92 points. Team USA secured a silver in the game, after Karen Chen out-scored China’s Zhu Yi, while Japan won the bronze.

Giant slalom saw a shock exit of two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin is out of giant slalom after the 26-year-old lost an edge on the fifth gate of the first run and skied out.

Meanwhile, Team Great Britain qualified for the semi-finals of the curling mixed doubles despite losing 6-2 to Norway in the penultimate fixture of the round robin stage. In the end, though, it didn’t matter as results elsewhere confirmed Team GB’s place in the last four.

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Key points

• Cancer survivor Max Parrot wins gold in freestyle skiing

• Gold for ROC in women’s free skating

• Chock-Bates deliver a win for Team USA in free dance

• Surprise exit for defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin

06:18 , Jack Rathborn

Here comes James Woods... His third Olympics.

Cancer survivor Max Parrot wins gold in freestyle skiing

05:48 , Namita Singh

Max Parrot of Canada- the Cancer survivor– will be the Olympic champion of this year in freestyle skiing.

Su Yiming, only 17, claimed an impressive silver in front of his home fans, while Mark McMorris won bronze, doubling Canada’s medal tally on the podium.

Defending champion Red Gerard of the Team USA finished fourth.

American figure skater Vincent Zhou tests positive for Covid

05:19 , Namita Singh

US figure skater Vincent Zhou has tested positive for Covid-19, US Figure Skating said in a statement.

“As part of yesterday’s regular COVID-19 screening, Vincent Zhou tested positive,” it said.

“Zhou is undergoing additional testing to confirm his status. If the results are negative, Zhou will be able to compete in the men’s short programme, which begins Tuesday.”

Chinese tennis player Peng denies making sexual assault accusations

05:07 , Namita Singh

Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has denied she ever accused anyone of sexual assault, adding that she herself had deleted her social media post in November that had appeared to make such a claim.

The issue had gained global attention after three-time Olympian Peng appeared to allege on social media that Zhang Gaoli, a former Chinese vice president had sexually assaulted her in past.

In an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe at a hotel in Beijing, Peng denied she had made such allegations.

“In the text we could see in Europe, you accused someone of sexual assault. What did you really write? We don’t understand,” asked the paper.

“Sexual assault? I never said anyone had sexually assaulted me in any way,” said Peng, without elaborating, reported Reuters.

It's gold for ROC in women's free skating

04:33 , Namita Singh

The ROC skater Kamila Valieva earned gold for the team in the first medal event of the day, as she topped the scoreboard with 178.92 points.

With Karen Chen out-scoring China’s Zhu Yi, she guaranteed Team USA a silver, and Japan could not be overtaken for bronze as Kaori Sakamoto secured the second spot during the event earning 148.66 points

Sweden’s Hector leads after first women’s GS run

04:10 , Namita Singh

Sweden’s Sara Hector topped the first run of the women’s giant slalom completing the run in 57.56 seconds.

She was 0.30 ahead of Austria’s Katharina Truppe and 0.42 faster than Italian Federica Brignone who came third.

Qualifier scores of first Olympic freeski big air are in

03:55 , Namita Singh

The Winter Olympics had the first-ever qualifiers in freeski big air today with Canada’s Megan Oldham topping the scoreboard. In the three runs, Oldham earned a total of 171.25 points, thereby qualifying to the finals along with 11 others.

France’s Tess Ledeux scored 171 points, landing second on the scoreboard while Norway’s Sandra Eie was a distant third with 162 points.

Chock-Bates deliver a win for Team USA in free dance

03:52 , Namita Singh

As the countries entered the third and the final day of the figure skating event, team USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates resumed Monday with the highest score in the free dance, delivering a win to their team while scoring their new personal best at 129.07.

They were followed by Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, who scored 128.17 while, Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier earned the third spot with 124.39 points.

Surprise exit for defending champion Mikaela Shiffrin

03:20 , Namita Singh

Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin was disqualified from giant slalom at the Beijing Games after she missed a gate early in the first run.

Coming around a left-turn gate, she lost her ski’s edge and fell on her side. Having arrived in China as one of the most-watched athletes in any sport at the Winter Olympics, this is the first time since January 2018, that the 26-year-old failed to finish a race.

Olympics Live: Defending champ Shiffrin out of giant slalom

Defending champions Canada eliminated

03:11 , Namita Singh

The round-robin in mixed doubles curling comes to an end with the last four matches, before the semi-finals take place in the evening.

While Norway continued their winning streak, beating Switzerland by 5-6, Italy, who are already in the semi-finals also beat the defending champions Canada by 7-8, eliminating them from the event.

Team GB bounced back from their yesterday’s defeat against Norway beating Team USA 8-4 and the Czech Republic beat the hosts finishing the match 8-6.