Winter Olympics: 5 things to watch on Day 10 with Eileen Gu and Su Yiming back in action
- Fan favourites and good friends Gu and Su will lead China’s medal charge again on Monday
- Chinese ice dancers Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu will also strut their stuff in the free dance
Day 10 of the Winter Olympics will see a jumbled-up schedule, with Sunday’s freeski slopestyle and women’s aerials rescheduled because of bad weather.
However, this also means that fan favourites and good friends Eileen Gu and Su Yiming will be competing on the same day.
As the Games edge well into their second week, some familiar sports will be wrapping up with medal rounds on Monday, with the snowboard big air kicking off with men’s and women’s qualification rounds.
Chinese ice dancers Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu, bobsledders Huai Mingming and Yang Qing, and the men’s ski jumping team will all be gunning for medals, too.
Here are five unmissable events on Monday:
Su back at it
Su Yiming will re-emerge on the slopes today as snowboard’s final event kicks off.
After winning a silver in snowboard slopestyle a week ago, Su will be competing in the qualification round of big air.
He faces stiff competition from snowboard slopestyle champion Max Parrot and 2021 world cup champion Jonas Boesiger from Switzerland.
Hopes are high for Su this time, and he’ll be up at 1.30pm.
More gold for Gu?
Eileen Gu’s attempt to win a second gold medal in Beijing will finally begin, after Sunday’s weather-induced rescheduling of the freeski slopestyle.
Gu took her disappointment to Instagram, where she vented her frustration at the change of schedule.
Gu will be up against familiar rivals. Big air silver medallist Tess Ledeux and bronze medallist Mathilde Gremaud are both back again, along with Swiss skier Sarah Hoefflin and Megan Oldham from Canada.
Fellow Chinese skier Yang Shuorui will also be competing.
In slopestyle, skiers complete a specifically designed obstacle course with rails, ridges, and slopes. Performances are judged by style, execution and difficulty.
The event starts at 10am.
Bobsleigh all the way
The Monobob event, the one-seater version of the regular bobsleigh competition which is exclusive to women, will continue.
The 26-year-old Huai Mingming and 25-year-old Ying Qing will be representing the host country. The former came fourth in the Women’s Monobob World Series event in Sigulda, while the latter came fifth.
They will compete twice, with runs starting at 10.15am and 11.50am.
Competition is tough as Huai is currently ranked fifth after the second run, with Yang Qing eighth. In first place is Kaillie Humphries of the US, a two-time bobsled Olympic medallist.
The two-man bobsleigh teams will also be competing twice in the evening, at 8.05pm and again at 9.40pm.
Dancing on ice
China’s Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu will be showcasing their steadfast partnership again, after qualifying for the free dance segment today with 73.41 points in rhythm dance.
They’re currently ranked 12th out of 20 teams.
The duo, who trained in Canada with international top teams, wowed fans on Saturday performing to an Elvis Presley medley.
Unlike the previous round rhythm dance, where athletes’ background music has to be within a set tempo range, athletes can choose their own music with no limitations on tempo in free dance. Athletes aim to present a technically demanding yet moving dance routine in the competition.
Wang and Liu will appear ninth on the ice. The event begins at 9.15am.
Men’s team ski jumping
Of all Winter Olympics events, ski jumping is perhaps the one that comes closest to having humans fly.
This event challenges aerodynamic limits as athletes stretch their bodies after skiing down a slope in a crouched position, aiming to land a jump as far as possible.
The first round starts at 7pm, with the finals following at 8.06pm.
