After the seemingly non-stop action of the past week we have a more sedate day in Beijing, which is certainly a welcome change. As a result, our usual blog has been replaced by this rolling story, with longer updates but on a less frequent basis. Chinese athletes do not appear on Saturday until 2.05pm, when the men’s curlers take to the ice for their round robin match against Italy. The women’s team, meanwhile, take to the ice this evening to face Sweden. The first gold of the day has gone to the US in mixed team snowboard cross, and it means Nick Baumgartner becomes the oldest snowboard Olympic medallist and champion. It is Baumgartner’s first medal in four Games, while teammate Lindsey Jacobellis has claimed her second gold. Canada’s Eliot Grondin and Meryeta Odine also win their second medals, taking bronze. Italy bagged the silver medal. Later, there are medal events in Biathlon, cross-country skiing, skeleton, ski jumping, and speed skating. Gold for Gao Gao Tingyu emerged as China’s new sporting hero on Saturday after a stunning victory in the men’s speedskating 500m final, claiming the host nation’s fourth gold medal of the Beijing Winter Games and setting an Olympic record on the way. Gao, who came third in men’s 500m at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games to become the first Chinese man to win a speedskating Olympic medal, clocked in a time of 34.32, smashing the previous record of 34.41 set by Norway’s Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen four years ago in Pyeongchang. See the full story here . While there are no medals to be won today in the ice hockey, in the men’s hockey USA pull off a major upset and defeat Canada for the first time in 12 years. With snowboarding great Shaun White cheering from the sideline, Team USA end the game 4-2. In other matches Swiss men get a solid 4-2 win over ROC. China will face Germany later this afternoon. AND THAT'S GAME! 🇺🇸 #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/OHyVVQqqMv — Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 12, 2022 In the women’s curling, there have been a series of close matches. World No 1 Sweden beat Canada, the fifth ranked team, 7-6, while South Korea downed ROC 9-5. Men’s curling China have scored a victory of 12-9 against Italy in men’s curling. The Chinese scored three points in as many ends and held its lead in total points for the entire game. Italy have lost all three games it played in group stage, while China won two games and lost another two. The top four teams will qualify to the semi-finals. If you missed any of yesterday’s action, our dedicated Beijing Winter Olympics site had stories about Hong Kong Olympian Sidney Chu’s debut , the ongoing doping scandal surrounding a 15-year-old Russian figure skater , plus a full recap of the day’s main events . Most gender-balanced Games ever This year’s Olympics has seen a greater balance between men and women , and several new mixed team events. Competitors had said the events’ introduction “means a lot” and helps drive up standards in women’s sport. Marion Thenault, who helped Canada win bronze in the inaugural freestyle skiing mixed aerials event on Thursday, told AFP that it was “really great” to have athletes of different genders competing against each other. “It means that your team has to be strong on the men’s side and the women’s side, and it just pushes the sport for both genders,” she said. Mixed team snowboard cross This high-octane race involves a course with banked turns, jumps, and drops usually consisting of four to six riders per race. Unsurprisingly, there has already been one crash, with Australia’s Belle Brockhoff taken off the course by stretcher after she fell during a quarter-final. The Australian Olympic Committee said on Twitter Brockhoff was being treated on the course after an “awkward fall”.