Winter Olympics: five things to watch on Day 4 as Eileen Gu, Yuzuru Hanyu take centre stage

Tuesday could be another fruitful day for China at Beijing 2022, with golden girl Gu up in the freestyle skiing big air final
Japan’s ‘Ice Prince’ Hanyu will go for a third Olympic gold in the men’s single figure skating short programme

Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

Mia CastagnoneandHarvey Kong

Published: 6:00am, 8 Feb 2022

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Day 3 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was another action-packed affair, with more success for China on the slopes and the ice.

Snowboarder Su Yiming got off to a strong start after he bagged a historic silver medal in the men’s snowboard slopestyle final – which could have been gold, if not for a “glaring judging error”.

The Games host later won its second gold and silver in the evening, after speed skaters Ren Ziwei and Li Wenlong were awarded the top two spots on the podium in dramatic fashion.

“Snow Princess” Eileen Gu also qualified for the women’s freeski big air event after a rocky start on the snow.

Elsewhere, the Russians won gold in the figure skating team event, with the United States taking silver and Japan taking Bronze.

Day 4 looks equally promising, with Eileen Gu tackling the freeski big air finals and Japan’s “Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu competing in his first event – though Chinese-American Vincent Zhou is out of Tuesday’s men’s singles competition after testing positive for Covid-19.

Eileen Gu of China competes during the women’s freestyle skiing Big Air qualification round of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Photo: AP/Jae C Hong

1. Medal in sight for China’s golden girl Gu

After an exciting performance in the women’s freeski big air qualification round on Monday, Eileen Gu has made it into the final. She effortlessly landed her first run but on her second run a misplaced landing sent one ski flying. She managed to pull off a solid, high-scoring third run, which earned her a spot in the final.

She will face fierce competition going up against Tess Ledeux of France and Megan Oldham of Canada.

The event will kick off at 10am local time.

Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu trains at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE

2. Figure skating short programme

The men’s single skating short programme kicks off at 9.15am and fans across the world are excited to see favourite Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan go up against Team USA’s Nathan Chen and China’s Jin Boyang.

Hanyu is the two-time Olympic gold medal winner and arrived in Beijing on Sunday, after his teammate Shoma Uno took part in the team event.

Chen on the other hand has already shone at the Games after scoring 111.71 in the team event, a score which beat his 2019-20 Grand Prix final tally of 110.38.

Jin Boyang is yet to reach his full potential after two average performances in the team event, placing fourth in free skating and sixth in the short programme during the team event.

Canada’s women’s ice hockey team celebrate after beating Russia. Photo: Xinhua/Cheng Tingting

3. Ice hockey showdown

Canada’s women’s ice hockey team have shown some incredible performances at the Games, defeating Switzerland 12-1, and Finland 11-1, then wiping out the Russians 6-1 in Monday’s match – where both sides wore face masks during the game.

Team USA has also delivered phenomenal performances with three straight wins: 8-0 against Switzerland, 5-0 against the Russian Olympic Committee and 5-2 against Finland.

The US and Canada are historic rivals in the sport and they are bound to deliver a fiery match later at 12.10pm.

Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner of Italy in action during their mixed doubles curling match against Sweden. Photo: Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

4. Mixed doubles curling climax

The mixed doubles curling will be another event to watch, after the unstoppable Italians picked up their 10th consecutive win by beating Sweden 8-1 on Monday night. They will compete against Norway in the gold medal game at 8.05pm.

Sweden and Great Britain will be competing for the bronze medal at 2.05pm, after losing out to their opponents during Monday’s semi-finals.

Lian Ziwen of China takes part in a training session for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the National Speed Skating Oval. Photo: Xinhua/Wang Jianwei

5. Speed skating thrills continue

After more drama on Day 3, the gold medal for the men’s speed skating 1,500 metres event is up for grabs on Tuesday.

The women’s 1,500m event on Monday was a tight race, with the Netherlands’ Ireen Wust taking home both the gold and an Olympic record. She was joined on the podium by Japan’s Miho Takagi in second place and the Netherlands’ Antoinette De Jong in third.

Lian Ziwen, Ning Zhongyan and Wang Haotian are China’s medal hopefuls but will be up against some fierce competition from Canada and the US. The event will start at 6.30pm.

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