Olympics

The women's snowboard cross competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics will take place without one of the top medal contenders. 

Two-time Olympic medalist and 2014 champion Eva Samkova could not recover from an ankle injury in time to make it to Beijing. 

Samkova's absence makes it easier for Italy's Michela Moioli to repeat as gold medalist in the event. 

Moioli is one of a few medal contenders who come into China off success on the FIS World Cup circuit. 

The Italian and Charlotte Bankes of Great Britain have traded victories all season, while France's Chloe Trespeuch and Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States have been in the mix for podiums since December. 

Jacobellis is looking for her first medal in the event since 2006, when she famously crashed while she was in the lead and settled for silver. 

Women's Snowboard Cross Schedule

Seeding Run: Tuesday, February 8 at 10 p.m. ET (USA)

Round of 16: Wednesday, February 9 at 1:30 a.m. ET (USA)

Quarterfinals: Wednesday at 2:07 a.m. ET (USA)

Semifinals: Wednesday at 2:28 a.m. ET (USA)

Final: Wednesday at 2:45 a.m. ET (USA)

All rounds can be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock

Event Odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Charlotte Bankes (+125; bet $100 to win $125) 

Michela Moioli (+450)

Chloe Trespeuch (+550)

Belle Brockhoff (+750)

Faye Gulini (+900)

Lindsey Jacobellis (+1100)

Preview

The women's snowboard cross gold medal should come down to Moioli and Bankes. 

The snowboarders from Italy and Great Britain have done battle across the World Cup circuit since Samkova went down with her ankle injury.

Samkova's absence can't be overstated. She won gold in 2014 and took bronze in 2018. Her injury opens up one spot on the medal podium for another competitor.

Moioli finished second to Samkova on the World Cup circuit last season, and she picked up two victories this season, both of which occurred on home soil in Italy.

Bankes won back-to-back races in Russia at the start of January and she took third behind Moioli and Trespeuch in the final competition prior to Beijing. 

Bankes comes into China as the World Cup points leader from her five podium finishes over six events. 

Trespeuch has not won a World Cup event this season, but she is second to Bankes in the World Cup standings thanks to three straight second-place marks. 

The Frenchwoman's consistency makes her one of the top medal threats. She should be one of the locks to reach the snowboard cross final. 

Australia's Belle Brockhoff and the American duo of Faye Gulini and Jacobellis are the only other podium finishers on the World Cup circuit this season. 

Brockhoff has a second- and third-place finish, Gulini took second behind Moioli in Italy in December, and Jacobellis turned in a pair of bronze-medal performances in Russia on January 8 and 9. 

It seems likely that the six podium finishers from the World Cup season end up in the six-woman final heat on Wednesday morning. Moioli, Jacobellis and Trespeuch competed in the final in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018. 

The athletes have to go through three rounds of heats to reach the final. They should all get past the qualification round and quarterfinals. A surprise or two may occur in the semifinals, but the gap between the top six and the rest of the field is significant. 

Moioli has the experience advantage over Bankes, but the British woman holds the edge in form, and that could be the boost she needs to become the fifth different winner of snowboard cross since it was introduced at the Olympics in 2006.

Picks: 1. Charlotte Bankes, 2. Michela Moioli, 3. Chloe Trespeuch 

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Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic defeated Austria's Daniela Ulbing in the final of the women's snowboarding parallel giant slalom to win the gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Tuesday.

Ledecka, who also won the event at the 2018 Games, posted the best time by over two seconds in qualifying and then took advantage of mistakes, as none of her four opponents in the elimination round were able to finish the Genting Snow Park course.

Slovenia's Gloria Kotnik beat out the Netherlands' Michelle Dekker in the third-place race to capture the bronze medal.

Ledecka, 26, stole the spotlight in Pyeongchang four years ago by winning gold medals in two different sports—the snowboarding parallel giant slalom and the Alpine skiing Super-G, which made her the first woman to accomplish the feat at the Winter Olympics.

Her run in Beijing is off to a strong start thanks to another triumph in the parallel giant slalom, and she'll once again take part in downhill skiing events later in the Games.

"It was fun. I was trying to be consistent and just staying in my line with what I was doing the whole day," Ledecka told reporters. "I made a good job, I'm very proud of my team, so thank you very much to them, especially Justin [Reiter], my American coach. They made an amazing job, and I'm happy that I was able to finish like that."

Meanwhile, Ulbing was pleased to capture silver for her first Olympic medal, and she provided a glimpse into the mindset that could help explain why all of Ledecka's opponents posted DNFs.

"I had to risk it all to try to beat Ester," Ulbing said. "That's what I did and mistakes happen, but I'm pretty happy I ended up second. I'm really happy; it's amazing. I don't know what to say more, I'm just happy."

The "small final," the name given to the bronze-medal race, also finished in anticlimactic fashion as Kotnik's victory came amid a Dekker DNF. She'd lost to Ulbing in the semifinals by just over two-tenths of a second, showcasing how intense the races can be when both athletes finish the course.

No Americans were among the 31 qualifiers in the event.

The snowboarding schedule continues Wednesday with qualification runs in the men's and women's halfpipe along with medals being awarded in women's snowboard cross.

Mikaela Shiffrin will try to bounce back from her crash out of the women's giant slalom with a strong performance in the women's slalom on Tuesday at the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

Shiffrin is ranked second in the FIS World Cup standings in the slalom event, and she has to put the failure from her first event behind her to focus on winning medals throughout the rest of her alpine skiing program. 

The 26-year-old American is expected to go head-to-head with Petra Vlhova from Slovakia for the gold medal in the women's slalom.

Vlhova leads the World Cup standings in the event and has finished in the top two places of every slalom event she entered this season. 

The slalom event is split into two runs, just like the giant slalom, but the two favorites must be strong in both runs to back up their medal potential.     

Women's Slalom Info

Run 1: Tuesday, February 8 at 9:15 p.m. ET 

Run 2: Wednesday, February 9 at 12:45 a.m. ET 

Event Odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Petra Vlhova (-110; bet $110 to win $100)

Mikaela Shiffrin (+135; bet $100 to win $135) 

Wendy Holdener (+1100)

Anna Swenn-Larsson (+1800)

Katharina Liensberger (+1800)

Preview

The women's slalom competition should be billed as a battle between Petra Vlhova and Mikaela Shiffrin.

Vlhova and Shiffrin are the only two winners of the event on the World Cup circuit this season.

Vlhova has five victories and two second-place finishes, while Shiffrin owns two wins and a trio of silver medals. 

Only two other skiers finished in the top two in the seven World Cup events, so it seems unlikely that a surprise gold medalist emerges from the event. 

Vlhova started her Olympics off with a 14th-place finish in the giant slalom, which was won by Sweden's Sara Hector. 

The Slovakian should come into the two slalom runs with more confidence than Shiffrin because she finished her runs in the opening event of the women's alpine skiing program.

Shiffrin did not make it far down the giant slalom course before she crashed out in her gold-medal defense. 

The slalom is the perfect event for Shiffrin to regain her confidence. She won the event as an 18-year-old in 2014 and took fourth in 2018. 

Shiffrin also won the World Championships in the slalom discipline on four occasions, and she finished in the top two in the World Cup slalom standings in nine of the last 10 seasons. 

Shiffrin and Vlhova finished second and third, respectively, behind Katharina Liensberger in the 2021 World Cup slalom standings. 

Liensberger and Wendy Holdener both have one second-place finish and a single third-place mark on the World Cup circuit this season. 

Those two athletes would be viewed as the dark horse gold-medal winners if Vlhova and Shiffrin do not top the standings. 

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In a potential preview of the women's ice hockey gold-medal game, Canada defeated Team USA 4-2 in a preliminary round matchup at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Both teams entered the game 3-0 in group play and held wins over Finland, the Russian Olympic Committee and Switzerland. All five teams in Group A were guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals, so Canada earned the higher seed for the quarterfinals with the victory.

Team USA was on the attack early, putting a ton of pressure on Canada's back line. But Canadian goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens was a wall in front of the net, recording 16 saves in the first period alone.

Canada's Brianne Jenner broke the scoreless tie with a power-play goal at the 14:10 mark in the first.

Things got a little wild in the second period with some offensive fireworks. Dani Cameranesi got Team USA on the board midway through the frame, and Alex Carpenter followed up two minutes later to give the U.S. a 2-1 lead.

But Canada scored three unanswered goals in the next five-and-a-half minutes to take a commanding 4-2 lead heading into the third.

Jenner scored her second of the night, Jamie Lee Rattray found the back of the net a couple of minutes later and Marie-Philip Poulin put the nail in the coffin on a penalty shot.

The United States continued to apply the pressure in the final period and had some opportunities in front of the net. Desbiens remained a stalwart in the net, though, and Canada's defense collected itself.

Team USA had a power-play opportunity midway through the period, but Canada had six blocks on the possession to maintain the two-goal advantage.

The U.S. pulled goalie Madison Rooney with 2:37 left and had a power-play opportunity. But Canada held once again to cap an impressive performance. The U.S. finished with 53 shots on goal, but Desbiens saved 51 of them.

The United States and Canada are the only two countries to win Olympic gold in women's ice hockey, with Canada winning four times and the U.S. twice. The last time the two teams met in the Winter Olympics was the 2018 gold-medal game, which the United States won 3-2 in a shootout. 

Canada has been a juggernaut throughout these Games. The team had outscored its previous three opponents 29-3. Team USA was coming off back-to-back shutout wins over Switzerland and the ROC. 

This was the ninth meeting between the United States and Canada in the Winter Olympics. Canada has a 6-3 advantage overall with a 3-2 edge in gold-medal games.

The women's quarterfinals will begin Friday. It would be a massive surprise if these two teams don't meet again in the gold-medal game.

In the men's figure skating short program at the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Tuesday (Monday ET), Team USA's Nathan Chen recorded the top score of 113.97 in a history-making performance.

It was the highest men's short program score ever across any competition, surpassing Yuzuru Hanyu's 111.82 at the 2020 Four Continents Championships.

Japan's Yuma Kagiyama came second with 108.12, while his teammate Shoma Uno finished third with 105.90. The top five was rounded out by Korea's Junhwan Cha (99.51) and Georgia's Morisi Kvitelashvili (97.98).

Chen found a way to improve on his impressive performance in the short program during the team event, which earned a score of 111.71. The three-time reigning world champion was intent on making up for his fourth-place finish in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Chen did just that with a majestic run that was perfectly executed. He pumped his fist in the air after his run in a rare show of emotion.

Kagiyama, the 2021 World Championships silver medalist, solidified himself as a dark horse for the gold in Beijing. The 18-year-old put forth a strong performance that placed him ahead of Uno.

Uno, a 2018 Olympic silver medalist, was the first skater of the night to earn a score above 100. The 24-year-old put himself in a great position to potentially earn the first Olympic gold medal of his career.

Team USA's Jason Brown was competing in his first Olympics in eight years after failing to qualify in 2018. He earned a personal-best score of 97.24 to place in sixth. Brown finished fourth at the Sochi Games in 2014.

Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu, the two-time reigning Olympic gold medalist, scored 95.15 in a surprising performance. He suffered a major setback when he missed his first jump. He said afterward that he felt his skate dig into a hole when he went for the jump. Hanyu sits in eighth place and will have an uphill battle to try to complete the three-peat.

Hanyu showed off a quadruple axel in his practice session, so it's possible that he breaks it out in the free skate. That jump is four-and-a-half revolutions and has never been landed successfully in competition.

In all, 24 skaters qualified for the final Thursday (Wednesday ET). Tuesday night's score will be added with Thursday's score to determine which skaters will earn the three spots on the podium.

Nathan Chen took the first step toward further cementing his status as the king of the figure skating world.

Chen's 113.97 score in Monday's men's short program paced the field at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and put the American in position to clinch a gold medal in Wednesday's free skate.

As if that wasn't enough, he set the record for the highest score in the history of the men's short program.

Here is a look at the top of the leaderboard, which can be found in full on the Olympics' official website. The top 24 skaters advance to the free skate.

1. Nathan Chen, United States: 113.97
2. Yuma Kagiyama, Japan: 108.12
3. Shoma Uno, Japan: 105.90

This is the second figure skating competition of the Games after the Russian Olympic Committee won gold, the United States won silver and Japan won bronze at the team event. That team event provided something of a preview for the men's competition since two of the eight segments were a men's singles short program and a men's singles free program.

Chen established himself as the headliner for men's figure skating at these Olympics by dazzling in the short program of the team competition and earning the Americans 10 points with a win. Meanwhile, Japan's Yuma Kagiyama announced himself as a contender with a victory in the free program.

Despite Kagiyama's impressive showing, the biggest storyline coming into Monday's event was the battle between Chen and Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu.

After all, Chen is the three-time defending world champion, while Hanyu is the two-time defending Olympic champion.

Chen was also looking to put a disappointing showing in the short program from the 2018 Games further in the rearview mirror with a noteworthy performance on Monday.

They both had to demonstrate some patience, though, as two of the final 10 skaters in a field that got smaller before the competition started when American Vincent Zhou announced on Instagram he withdrew because he tested positive for COVID-19.

Fellow contenders in Kagiyama and Shoma Uno, who finished in second behind Chen in the team event short program, were also in the final 10 skaters, which gave the start of the event an anticlimactic feeling.

Still, France's Adam Siao Him Fa likely earned some new fans by skating to the Star Wars score, complete with Darth Vader's famed breathing and lightsaber sound effects shortly before the ROC's Evgeni Semenenko set the bar for the big names to pursue.

Hanyu was shockingly unable to clear that bar thanks to a critical mistake when he bailed on his first jump attempt of the Games, which gave Chen a massive advantage in the head-to-head before he even stepped on the ice.

Uno, on the other hand, not only cleared Semenenko's score of 95.76—he soared past it with a brilliant skate that sent the message he would be a factor in the medal race.

Kagiyama already sent such a message during the team competition, but he remained dialed in with his showing. He posted the highest score of the three talented Japanese skaters but, thanks to his positioning in the program, remained atop the leaderboard for a matter of minutes because he skated right before Chen.

And, as has so often been the case in men's figure skating, Monday was all about Chen.

The American star unleashed a stunning and beautiful performance while living up to his nickname as the "quad king" as he flew through the air and nailed the technical component of his skate.

The pressure sat firmly on his shoulders as the clear-cut favorite that had to live up to expectations while overcoming any lingering doubts from the 2018 Game. However, he lived up to the moment in triumphant fashion.

If he does so again Wednesday, he will win gold.

The freeski big air event made its Olympic debut Monday (Sunday ET) in Beijing, with 26 women competing to reach the final round. However, just 12 women qualified for Tuesday's final (Monday ET), with Canada's Megan Oldham leading the way.

Oldham finished the qualification round in first place with a score of 171.25. France's Tess Ledeux finished second with a score of 171.00 and the ROC's Anastasia Tatalina finished third with a score of 163.25.

Darian Stevens was the best of the United States' competitors, finishing eighth with a score of 152.00. She was the only American to qualify for the final. However, Stevens had an unimpressive run and ended up finishing 11th of the 12 competitors.

The most impressive run of the day came from China's Eileen Ailing Gu, who took home the gold medal with her best score being 188.25. She captured gold with a double cork 1620 on her final run.

The 18-year-old is now the first, and youngest, freestyle skiing gold medalist in Olympic history.

Monday's run was a significant improvement for Gu, who finished the qualification round in fifth place with a score of 161.25. However, she faced significant competition from Ledeux, who finished second with a score of 187.50.

Ledeux was the leader after the first run after she landed a 1620, which is the largest rotation ever done in women's freeskiing. She had the second-best score in her second run with a 93.00, but her third and final run scored a 73.50.

Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud could have captured the silver medal, but she fell on her final run and earned a score of 26.00.

Results and Medalists

1. Eileen Ailing Gu, China: Gold (188.25)
2. Tess Ledeux, France: Silver (187.50)
3. Mathilde Gremaud, Switzerland: Bronze (182.50)
4. Megan Oldham, Canada: 178.00
5. Kirsty Muir, Great Britain: 169.00
6. Sarah Hoefflin, Switzerland: 158.75
7. Johanne Killi, Norway: 153.25
8. Olivia Asselin, Canada: 147.50
9. Anni Karava, Finland: 136.50
10. Anastasia Tatalina, ROC: 122.50
11. Darian Stevens, United States: 75.00
12. Sandra Eie, Norway: 64.50

What's Next?

The men's freeski big air final will take place Wednesday (Tuesday ET). Three Americans—Mac Forehand, Colby Stevenson and Alexander Hall—qualified for the event.

The United States experienced a disappointing start to Day 3 at the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

Two of the top American medal contenders failed to place in the top three of events in which they won gold four years ago.

Mikaela Shiffrin crashed out of the women's giant slalom on the first of two scheduled runs, and Red Gerard did not make the podium in the men's snowboard slopestyle. 

The U.S. came away with a single medal from the team figure skating event. The Americans finished second behind the Russian Olympic Committee thanks to high marks from the men's and ice dance competitors. 

The biggest non-American story from early Monday came from the men's downhill in which the average age of the three medalists was 35.3 years old. 

Medal Count Top 5

1. Russian Olympic Committee (2 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) - 7 

2. Canada (1 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze) - 6

3. Netherlands (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) - 5 

4. Italy (1 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze) - 5

5. China (2 gold, 2 silver, 0 bronze) - 4

Full medal table can be found on NBCOlympics.com.

Day 3 Medal Winners

Alpine Skiing

Men's Downhill

Gold: Beat Feuz (Switzerland) 

Silver: Johan Clarey (France) 

Bronze: Matthias Mayer (Austria) 

Women's Giant Slalom

Gold: Sara Hector (Sweden)

Silver: Federica Brignone (Italy) 

Bronze: Lara Gut-Behrami (Switzerland) 

Biathlon

Women's 15km individual

Gold: Denise Herrmann (Germany) 

Silver: Anais Chevalier-Bouchet (France) 

Bronze: Marte Olsbu Roeiseland (Norway)

Figure Skating

Team Event

Gold: Russian Olympic Committee

Silver: United States

Bronze: Japan

Short Track Speedskating

Men's 1,000 meters

Gold: Ren Ziwei (China) 

Silver: Li Wenlong (China) 

Bronze: Li Shaoang (Hungary) 

Women's 500 meters

Gold: Arianna Fontana (Italy) 

Silver: Suzanne Schulting (Netherlands) 

Bronze: Kim Boutin (Canada) 

Ski Jumping

Mixed Team

Gold: Slovenia

Silver: ROC

Bronze: Canada

Snowboard

Men's Slopestyle

Gold: Max Parrot (Canada)

Silver: Su Yiming (China)

Bronze: Mark McMorris (Canada) 

Speedskating

Women's 1,500 meters

Gold: Ireen Wust (Netherlands) 

Silver: Miho Takagi (Japan) 

Bronze: Antoinette de Jong (Netherlands) 

United States Pick Up 1 Medal in Figure Skating

The disappointment from the results late on Sunday and early Monday were met with a bit of optimism because of the results in the figure skating team event. 

The Americans took second with 65 points in the competition thanks to strong performances from the men's singles and ice dance skaters. 

Nathan Chen, the gold-medal favorite in men's singles, won the short program, and Vincent Zhou took third in the free skate. 

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won the rhythm dance, while Madison Chock and Evan Bates took first in the free dance. 

The ice dance results are a positive sign for the American medal hopes because both pairs beat out the reigning world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov in the two disciplines. The confidence gained from those skates could lead to two spots on the medal stand in the ice dance competition. 

The silver earned in the team event was the only American medal in a 24-hour span because Mikaela Shiffrin and Red Gerard did not medal in their respective title defenses. 

Shiffrin crashed out of the women's giant slalom in what was supposed to be the first of her two runs. The three-time Olympic medalist told reporters about her disappointment and how she plans to bounce back after the race, . 

"I won't ever get over this," Shiffrin said. "That heartbreak, it just builds up, and it never goes away. I'm not gonna cry about this. Because that's just wasting energy. My best chance for the next races is to move forward, to refocus."

Shiffrin has up to four chances to redeem her performance from the giant slalom. She could compete in all of the other Alpine skiing disciplines. 

Gerard struggled to match the high level thrown down by other athletes in the men's snowboard slopestyle. He finished fourth after he failed to improve on the 83.25 score he posted in the first of three runs in the final round. 

Canada earned two medals in the event. Max Parrot won gold, and Mark McMorris took bronze for the third straight time in the competition. 

History Made in Men's Downhill

Johan Clarey became the oldest man to medal in an Olympic Alpine skiing event on Monday.

The 41-year-old took silver in the men's downhill event. The previous oldest Alpine medalist was American Bode Miller, who took bronze in the 2014 Super-G.

Clarey's achievement is even more remarkable when you consider the average record he had across the major skiing events during his career. He has never won a World Cup race, and his previous best finish at the Olympics was 18th in the men's downhill four years ago in Pyeongchang, South Korea. 

The Frenchman made up one of the oldest groups of medalists you will see over the next two weeks in Beijing. 

Beat Feuz, who is a four-time World Cup season champion in the downhill, won his first gold medal by beating Clarey by one-tenth of a second. The 34-year-old detailed what the win meant after the race, per FIS Alpine's official Twitter account: 

Matthias Mayer, who won gold in the downhill in 2014, took third behind Feuz and Clarey. He was 16-hundredths off the gold-medal pace. 

United States figure skater Vincent Zhou announced Monday that he was withdrawing from the 2022 Beijing Olympics following a positive test for COVID-19.

"While it was always my dream to medal on an Olympic stage—which I did accomplish before this happened—the overarching dream was just to skate," he said in an Instagram video. "If I didn't love this, I wouldn't still be doing it. I know I love this. That passion goes a long way."

Zhou received a silver medal at this year's Games in the team event. The Russian Olympic Committee took home gold, while Japan claimed bronze. 

Zhou, who finished third in the men's free skate portion of the team event, was unable to join his teammates on the medal podium after his positive test.

"It's definitely disappointing and very sad news," U.S. figure skater Karen Chen told reporters. "I train with Vincent. I see all the work he has been putting in, and it's really unfortunate that he wasn't able to share this moment with all of us.”

Zhou was as surprised by his positive test as he was disappointed. 

"It seems pretty unreal that of all the people it would happen to myself, and that's not just because I'm still processing this turn of events but also because I have been doing everything in my power to stay free of COVID since the start of the pandemic," he said. "I've taken all the precautions I can. I've isolated myself so much that the loneliness I felt in the last month or two has been crushing at times."

Zhou said he hopes to represent the United States at the World Championships in March and wasn't giving up on his figure skating career despite this setback.

"This is not the end," he said. "This is a setup for a bigger comeback."

The 21-year-old competed for the United States at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, finishing sixth. He was also a bronze medalist at the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships and has won three silver medals at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

He was expected to compete for a medal in the men's individual competition in this year's Games alongside teammate Nathan Chen. That will remain a dream on hold, however, after his positive COVID test.