Olympics Overnight: Rare snowstorm causes chaos in Beijing, Steven Dubois wins another medal, plus the debut of monobob

Rise and shine, Olympics fans. Here’s what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2022 Beijing Olympics this morning.For all the Star-related Winter Games content, visit our Olympics page here.Happy Sunday from snowy Beijing! (Just kidding, I’m sitting at home in the dark in my sweatpants.) The typically dry locale of these Winter Games was hit with a rare snowstorm this weekend, causing havoc for some of the outdoor events. On the upside: there were lots of pretty photos. As usual, there was plenty of action overnight: Canada won its fourteenth medal of these Games with a bronze in speedskating, the women’s relay team just missed the podium, and Jennifer Jones dropped another game in the curling tourney. Plus, the debut of monobob.Dubois nabs a second medal for Canada. Canadian speedskater Steven Dubois sprinted to third place in the men’s 500-metre short-track race on Sunday morning. The bronze comes just days after he won silver in the 1,500-metre race. The 24-year-old from Québec will also participate in the men’s 5,000-metre relay on Wednesday, for his final appearance at the Games.Read more from the Star’s Rosie DiManno.A special victory for the Netherlands Canada fell just short of the podium in the women’s short-track relay on Sunday morning, finishing in fourth behind the Netherlands, South Korea and China.It was an emotional victory for the Dutch women, who won bronze in 2018. Two years later, team member Lara van Ruijven died suddenly aged 27. Curling: Gushue gets hot, but Jones continues to slip After falling to Sweden on Saturday, Brad Gushue and the fellas bounced back overnight, handily defeating the United States by a final of 10-5. Strap in, here comes a curling highlight:Thank goodness — Gushue, who won the gold way back in 2006, had lost the previous to games and was facing the prospect of an early exit in Beijing.“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost two in a row,” Gushue told The Canadian Press. “We were itching to get back out on the ice and get a win.”The Canadian men are now 3-2 in the preliminary tournament, and will look to shore up their position against Italy on Monday. Unfortunately, Jennifer Jones and the Canadian women weren’t able to turn things around on Sunday, losing to the undefeated Swiss team by a final score of 8-4. With a record of 1-3, Jones will have to beat Russia and Britain on Monday to avoid elimination.“We’re definitely in a hole. We’re not going to be out of it until they tell us we can’t curl anymore,” she told CBC. “We’re so close to being really, really good. That one’s on me. I just made a really bad shot in 8, but with the exception of that, I thought we had a really good game.”Monobob!We’ve got ourselves a brand new Olympic sport — and this one is exclusive to women. One of the seven new events of Beijing 2022, monobob is an individual version of bobsled that organizers say has increased female participation in the sport. The event’s debut on Sunday featured a familiar name: Three-time Olympic medallist Kaillie Humphries, who competed for Canada in Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang, but now represents the U.S.Humphries dominated the first half of the event, and currently leads Canada’s Christine de Bruin — her former teammate — by 1.04 seconds, by far the biggest halftime lead in Olympic women’s bobsled history. Both will have an excellent shot at a medal in the event’s second half, which takes place on Monday.Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah sits in 10th.You can read more from the Star’s Bruce Arthur.Snow day in Beijing!A rare winter storm hit Beijing on Saturday and Sunday, blanketing the area in snow. You’d think this would be a welcome development — it is the Winter Games after all — but the storm caused all sorts of havoc.A number of skiing events, which have so far taken place on artificial snow, were delayed or postponed “due to the snowfall.” In fairness, the conditions were pretty darn treacherous at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center. “You can’t see anything,” Italian Luca de Aliprandini told The Canadian Press after his first run in the men’s giant slalom. Many of the athletes were unable to finish the race.Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won gold in the event. Canadian Erik Read didn’t medal, but had a solid showing:Meanwhile, Eileen Gu and the rest of the slopestyle skiers will have to wait a little bit longer to start qualifying — the event was postponed until Monday due too low visibility.Flaming out?Back in Beijing, a USA TODAY photographer captured a photo of the Olympic cauldron at the medals plaza with no visible flame. “Our Bird’s Nest team said the Olympic cauldron and the flame are fine,” a Beijing 2022 spokesperson wrote in an email. “Maybe it is (the) snowing which affected the visibility.”A couple of historic appearances in the men’s giant slalolmBenjamin Alexander, Jamaica’s first-ever Olympic alpine skier, made his debut at the Winter Games on Sunday. The 38-year-old former DJ, who was raised in the U.K. and is of Jamaican herita

Feb 14, 2022 - 00:19

Olympics Overnight: Rare snowstorm causes chaos in Beijing, Steven Dubois wins another medal, plus the debut of monobob

Rise and shine, Olympics fans. Here’s what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2022 Beijing Olympics this morning.

For all the Star-related Winter Games content, visit our Olympics page here.

Happy Sunday from snowy Beijing! (Just kidding, I’m sitting at home in the dark in my sweatpants.)

The typically dry locale of these Winter Games was hit with a rare snowstorm this weekend, causing havoc for some of the outdoor events.

On the upside: there were lots of pretty photos.

As usual, there was plenty of action overnight: Canada won its fourteenth medal of these Games with a bronze in speedskating, the women’s relay team just missed the podium, and Jennifer Jones dropped another game in the curling tourney.

Plus, the debut of monobob.

Dubois nabs a second medal for Canada.

Canadian speedskater Steven Dubois sprinted to third place in the men’s 500-metre short-track race on Sunday morning. The bronze comes just days after he won silver in the 1,500-metre race.

The 24-year-old from Québec will also participate in the men’s 5,000-metre relay on Wednesday, for his final appearance at the Games.

A special victory for the Netherlands

Canada fell just short of the podium in the women’s short-track relay on Sunday morning, finishing in fourth behind the Netherlands, South Korea and China.

It was an emotional victory for the Dutch women, who won bronze in 2018. Two years later, team member Lara van Ruijven died suddenly aged 27.

Curling: Gushue gets hot, but Jones continues to slip

After falling to Sweden on Saturday, Brad Gushue and the fellas bounced back overnight, handily defeating the United States by a final of 10-5.

Strap in, here comes a curling highlight:

Thank goodness — Gushue, who won the gold way back in 2006, had lost the previous to games and was facing the prospect of an early exit in Beijing.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost two in a row,” Gushue told The Canadian Press. “We were itching to get back out on the ice and get a win.”

The Canadian men are now 3-2 in the preliminary tournament, and will look to shore up their position against Italy on Monday.

Unfortunately, Jennifer Jones and the Canadian women weren’t able to turn things around on Sunday, losing to the undefeated Swiss team by a final score of 8-4.

With a record of 1-3, Jones will have to beat Russia and Britain on Monday to avoid elimination.

“We’re definitely in a hole. We’re not going to be out of it until they tell us we can’t curl anymore,” she told CBC. “We’re so close to being really, really good. That one’s on me. I just made a really bad shot in 8, but with the exception of that, I thought we had a really good game.”

Monobob!

We’ve got ourselves a brand new Olympic sport — and this one is exclusive to women.

One of the seven new events of Beijing 2022, monobob is an individual version of bobsled that organizers say has increased female participation in the sport.

The event’s debut on Sunday featured a familiar name: Three-time Olympic medallist Kaillie Humphries, who competed for Canada in Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang, but now represents the U.S.

Humphries dominated the first half of the event, and currently leads Canada’s Christine de Bruin — her former teammate — by 1.04 seconds, by far the biggest halftime lead in Olympic women’s bobsled history. Both will have an excellent shot at a medal in the event’s second half, which takes place on Monday.

Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah sits in 10th.

Snow day in Beijing!

A rare winter storm hit Beijing on Saturday and Sunday, blanketing the area in snow. You’d think this would be a welcome development — it is the Winter Games after all — but the storm caused all sorts of havoc.

A number of skiing events, which have so far taken place on artificial snow, were delayed or postponed “due to the snowfall.”

In fairness, the conditions were pretty darn treacherous at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center.

“You can’t see anything,” Italian Luca de Aliprandini told The Canadian Press after his first run in the men’s giant slalom. Many of the athletes were unable to finish the race.

Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won gold in the event. Canadian Erik Read didn’t medal, but had a solid showing:

Meanwhile, Eileen Gu and the rest of the slopestyle skiers will have to wait a little bit longer to start qualifying — the event was postponed until Monday due too low visibility.

Flaming out?

Back in Beijing, a USA TODAY photographer captured a photo of the Olympic cauldron at the medals plaza with no visible flame.

“Our Bird’s Nest team said the Olympic cauldron and the flame are fine,” a Beijing 2022 spokesperson wrote in an email. “Maybe it is (the) snowing which affected the visibility.”

A couple of historic appearances in the men’s giant slalolm

Benjamin Alexander, Jamaica’s first-ever Olympic alpine skier, made his debut at the Winter Games on Sunday. The 38-year-old former DJ, who was raised in the U.K. and is of Jamaican heritage, first learned to ski in Canada.

Arif Khan, India’s lone athlete at these Games, finished the event in 45th place — the country’s best ever finish in the sport.

Random stuff

Canadian curler Lisa Weagle with the tweet of the day:

Figure skater Keegan Messing had some fun in the snow

Lets check in on Bing Dwen Dwen, official mascot of the Beijing Olympics.

Looking forward

Canada will take on China in men’s hockey Sunday morning at 8:10 a.m. ET.

Women’s slopestyle, featuring Eileen Gu, starts at 7 p.m. ET.

The monobob final, American Kaillie Humprhies and Canadian Christine de Bruin takes place on Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The Star in Beijing:

Bruce Arthur: Kaillie Humphries is the first-day leader in the Kaillie Humphries event, the monobob

Dave Feschuk: Canadian head coaches in women’s hockey face daunting task: beat U.S., or just beat it