Olympics

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) took home the gold medal in the figure skating team event at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The ROC scored a total of 74 points for its second-ever victory in the team event.

The United States won the silver medal with 65 points, and Japan was awarded bronze with 63 points.

15-year-old Kamila Valieva's win in the women's free skate closed the night and wrapped up the win for the ROC. Valieva overcame a fall in the middle of her run and scored 178.92 with a history-making performance:

Five countries were competing for spots on the podium on Sunday night. The ROC entered the day leading with 45 points followed by the United States with 42 points. Japan was third with 39 points, and Canada (30) and China (29) rounded out the top five.

The night started with the pair free skate, won by Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov with a score of 145.20 to give the ROC 10 early points. Mishina and Galliamov had a scary fall near the end of their run but still impressed enough to earn the top score.

Team USA's Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier finished last with 128.97, which widened the gap with the ROC and added more pressure for the next two events.

The free dance was next, and the pair of Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered for the United States with a big win.

Chock and Bates' score of 129.07 slightly edged the 128.17 by the ROC's Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov, the reigning world champions. But the nine points they earned were enough to virtually wrap up the win for the ROC before the final event.

In the women's free skate, 22-year-old Karen Chen solidified the second-place finish for the United States, scoring 131.52 with a strong performance that made up for her struggles in her earlier run in the short program.

It's just the third figure skating team event at the Winter Olympics since it was implemented in 2014. Russia won that year, with Canada taking silver and USA finishing third. In 2018, Canada took gold, followed by Olympic Athletes from Russia and USA once again in third.

Next up will be the individual figure skating events, beginning with the men's short program on Monday night.

The skaters from the Russian Olympic Committee captured the first figure skating gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but the skaters of the United States joined them on the podium as the silver medalists.

Sunday was the final day of the team competition that included eight different overall segments.

Three of those segments happened on the last day, and the Americans finished in fifth place in the pairs free skate (Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier), first in the ice dance free skate (Madison Chock and Evan Bates) and fourth place in the women's singles free skate (Karen Chen) to clinch the silver.

Japan earned the bronze to complete the medals.

Here is a look at how the event unfolded from the Americans' perspective.

Team Event Format

The team event started with 10 countries ready to compete in eight segments: a short program and a free skate for men's singles and women's singles, ice dance and pairs. However, the field was trimmed down to five after the short programs with the ROC, United States, Japan, Canada and China advancing.

The winner of each event earned 10 points for their country, while second place received nine, third place received eight and so on for the rest of the competitors.

After the eight segments, the points across the events were added up and the country with the most was the gold-medal winner.

Coming Into Sunday

The United States found itself in second place heading into the final day of competition with 42 points.

It trailed the ROC (45 points) and was ahead of Japan (39 points), Canada (30 points) and China (30 points).

It looked as if the Americans could be on their way to gold after Nathan Chen earned 10 points with a brilliant performance in the men's singles short program that may foreshadow his individual competition later in the Games. The Red, White and Blue maintained that momentum when Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won 10 points in the ice dance short program.

However, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier finished in third place in the pairs short program, which is where Vincent Zhou placed in the men's singles free skate as well.

Karen Chen also disappointed on the way to fifth place in the women's short program. While it was unrealistic to expect her to keep pace with the dazzling performance of the ROC's Kamila Valieva, finishing outside of the top three put the United States in comeback mode entering Sunday's slate and made winning the gold medal quite the daunting task.

Sunday's Results

Pairs Free

1. Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov, ROC: 145.20 (10 points)
2. Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara, Japan: 139.60 (9 points)
3. Peng Cheng/Jin Yang, China: 131.75 (8 points)
4. Vanessa James/Eric Radford, Canada: 130.07 (7 points)
5. Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier, United States: 128.97 (6 points)

If a gold medal for the ROC wasn't inevitable before Sunday's first event, it was after it.

Despite a hard fall, Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov paced the field in the pairs free skate thanks to the overall technical difficulty of their program. That wasn't the only troubling news for the Americans, as Knierim and Frazier finished in last place.

That dropped the United States into a tie for second place with Japan as its early momentum from the opening two wins in the team event faded further into the background.

Ice Dance Free

1. Madison Chock/Evan Bates, United States: 129.07 (10 points)
2. Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov, ROC: 128.17 (9 points)
3. Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier, Canada: 124.39 (8 points)
4. Wang Shiyue/Liu Xinyu, China: 107.18 (7 points)
5. Misato Komatsubara/Tim Koleto, Japan: 98.66 (6 points)

The Americans needed a big performance from their team co-captains if they wanted to win silver after the disappointing showing in the pairs free, and they got just that in dramatic fashion.

Chock and Bates outperformed even the ROC's Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov to win the ice dance free event and earn 10 critical points to create some much-needed separation from Japan.

It took some of the drama away from the women's singles free skate since the medals were all but decided, but it was also a memorable showing from the couple—both on and off the ice—in the face of Olympic pressure.

Women's Singles Free

1. Kamila Valieva, ROC: 178.92 (10 points)
2. Kaori Sakamoto, Japan: 148.66 (9 points)
3. Madeline Schizas, Canada: 132.04 (8 points)
4. Karen Chen, United States: 131.52 (7 points)
5. Zhu Yi, China: 91.41 (6 points)

All Chen had to do to clinch the silver was avoid a last-place finish in the women's singles free skate, and she bounced back from her short program with a clean skate.

While Valieva was an unbeatable force once again and completed a head-turning quad, the American was visibly thrilled with her showing as she put the finishing touches on the overall showing for her country.

The result was a spot on the podium and a silver medal after a performance that included plenty of highs and victories in the men's singles short, ice dance short and ice dance free.

In a recent interview, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai denied saying that a former Chinese political official sexually assaulted her and called the situation "an enormous misunderstanding."

According to the Associated Press' John Leicester, Peng spoke to French newspaper L'Equipe, which agreed to pre-conditions for the interview, such as publishing her comments verbatim and submitting questions in advance. An official for the Chinese Olympic Committee also "sat in on the discussion and translated her comments from Chinese."

Peng was asked about a November social media post from her verified Weibo account that said former Communist Party official Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex despite her repeated refusals. Peng said the message of her post was misconstrued.

"Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault," Peng said.

She continued, "This post resulted in an enormous misunderstanding from the outside world. My wish is that the meaning of this post no longer be skewed."

Peng largely had been out of the public eye since writing the post, per Andrew Keh of the New York Times. Her disappearance from public life prompted concerns about her safety and well-being. Last month, some fans wore "Where is Peng Shuai?" shirts to the Australian Open.

The International Olympic Committee announced Sunday that Peng met with IOC President Thomas Bach in Beijing during the Winter Olympics. The IOC's statement made no mention of Peng's allegations.

IOC member Kirsty Coventry joined Bach and Peng. The statement said that Peng was at the Olympics and attended some events, including a curling match between China and Norway on Saturday night with Coventry.

"Kirsty Coventry and Peng Shuai also agreed that they would remain in contact," the statement said. "And all three agreed that any further communication about the content of the meeting would be left to her discretion."

Peng also discussed her disappointment in not qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics last summer. She added that she intends to travel to Europe when the COVID-19 pandemic is over. She also accepted an invitation to visit the IOC and the Olympic Museum.

Mikaela Shiffrin's 2022 Beijing Olympics did not get off to an ideal start.

The American star competed in the first of what could be five events at these Games in the women's giant slalom on Sunday but missed a gate and fell in the early going of her first run. That meant she was eliminated from the competition, which consists of two runs for the gold.

Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports noted Shiffrin's received a did-not-finish (DNF) status for a giant slalom race for the first time since January 2018, ending a 30-race streak and underscoring her overall consistency in the event.

She wasn't the only one who fell and was eliminated in the first run, as Italy's Marta Bassino did the same as the skiers struggled with the initial steepness of the hill.

Fortunately for Shiffrin, she will have a number of opportunities to bounce back from Sunday's disappointing showing.

She could compete in the women's super-G, downhill, combined and slalom later in these Games. CBS Sports' Shanna McCarriston noted Shiffrin entered the Olympics with a chance to challenge the record of four alpine skiing medals in a single Games by potentially competing in five events.

Alas, Shiffrin will not go five-for-five thanks to her unexpected exit in her opening event.

The three-time Olympic medalist was unable to defend her giant slalom gold from the 2018 Games, but her resume still includes 11 world championship medals, three World Cup overall titles and 73 career race victories.

Only Ingemar Stenmark (86) and Lindsey Vonn (82) have more career race wins.

Shiffrin will look to close the gap later in the Beijing Olympics even if she was unable to out of the gates.              

The United States earned their first two medals of the 2022 Winter Olympics on Day 2 of competition in Beijing. 

Julia Marino and Jaelin Kauf took silver in their respective events to put the Americans on the medal board.

Marino and Kauf were both in the lead of their competitions with one athlete left. The final run in the women's moguls and women's snowboard slopestyle produced the gold-medal winners. 

The United States are one of eight nations to have two medals through two days of competitions. 

Eighteen countries earned a medal in Beijing so far. The Russian Olympic Committee leads the medal count with five. 

Medal Count Top 5

1. Russian Olympic Committee (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) - 5

2. Norway (2 gold, 0 silver, 1 bronze) - 3 

3. Austria (0 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) - 3 

3. Italy (0 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) - 3 

5. Sweden (2 goals, 0 silver, 0 bronze) - 2 

Full medal leaderboard can be found here on NBCOlympics.com.

Day 2 Medal Results

Cross-Country Skiing

Men's 30km Skiathlon

Gold: Alexander Bolshunov (ROC)

Silver: Denis Spitsov (ROC)

Bronze: Iivo Niskanen (Finland) 

Freestyle Skiing

Women's Moguls

Gold: Jakara Anthony (Australia)

Silver: Jaelin Kauf (United States)

Bronze: Anastasia Smirnova (ROC)

Luge

Men's Singles

Gold: Johannes Ludwig (Germany)

Silver: Wolfgang Kindl (Austria) 

Bronze: Dominik Fischnaller (Italy) 

Ski Jumping

Men's Individual Normal Hill

Gold: Ryoyu Kobayashi (Japan)

Silver: Manuel Fettner (Austria)

Bronze: Dawid Kubacki (Poland)

Snowboarding

Women's Slopestyle

Gold: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (New Zealand)

Silver: Julia Marino (United States) 

Bronze: Tess Coady (Australia) 

Speedskating

Men's 5000m

Gold: Nils Van der Poel (Sweden)

Silver: Patrick Roest (Netherlands) 

Bronze: Hallgeir Engebraaten (Norway) 

Julia Marino Earns 1st American Medal 

Julia Marino produced the first American medal in Beijing by taking silver in the women's snowboard slopestyle. 

Marino took the lead in the contest with her second run. She produced a score of 87.68 points. That held up until the final run of the event. 

New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott dropped the best score of the competition. She earned a 92.88-point score to take over for Marino on top of the leaderboard. 

Marino was more than pleased with her result, which came four years after she took 11th place in PyeongChang. 

"This hugely makes up for 2018," Marino said, per ESPN.com's Alyssa Roenigk. "This was four years of redemption."

Marino was one of three Americans to reach the women's slopestyle final. Jamie Anderson, the two-time champion in the event, finished in ninth place and Hailey Langland took 11th. 

Marino is the first American snowboarder other than Anderson to win a medal in the slopestyle event since it was introduced in 2014. 

Jaelin Kauf Takes Silver in Women's Moguls

Jaelin Kauf also came one run shy of earning a gold medal for the United States. 

The 25-year-old skier was in medal contention through every round of the women's moguls final.

She produced a fourth-place mark in the first round, then she took second in the 12-person second round and turned in one of two scores over 80 points in the superfinal round with six competitors. 

Kauf lost out on the gold to Australia's Jakara Anthony, who turned in an 83.09 score to secure Australia's first gold medal in the women's moguls event. 

Kauf became the first American woman to win a moguls medal since Hannah Kearney in 2014. She became the third United States skier to take silver in the event. 

The medal was the second earned by the Americans, who should increased their medal total in the next 24 hours through Mikaela Shiffrin in the women's giant slalom, Red Gerard in the men's snowboard slopestyle and the team figure skating event. 

The 2022 Beijing Olympic hockey tournament continued Sunday, with two games on the slate as teams continued to battle for berths in the knockout tournament. 

Below, we'll break down the day's scores and recap the action. 

Scores

United States def. Switzerland, 8-0

China def. Japan, 2-1

Recap

The United States won its third straight game in Beijing, blowing out Switzerland, 8-0, behind strong performances from Hilary Knight (two goals), Kelly Pannek (two goals, one assist) and Jesse Compher (two goals). 

Cayla Barnes, Megan Bozek and Jincy Dunne each posted two assists apiece. 

The United States has now beaten Finland, the Russian Olympic Committee and Switzerland by a combined score of 18-2. Only Finland have managed to score against the Americans. 

But the real test for the United States comes Monday, when they'll face rival Canada with the top seed in the quarterfinals up for grabs. The Americans and Canadians have faced off in the last three gold-medal games, with the United States winning the tournament at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. 

Canada claimed every gold medal between 2002-14, however. 

Meanwhile, China continued its solid efforts in Beijing with its second straight win, a 2-1 victory over Japan in a shootout. 

Baozhen Hu scored China's lone goal in regulation, while Akane Hosoyamada found the back of the net for Japan. 

Goalie Jiaying Zhou was the hero for China, saving all five of Japan's shots in the shootout. China's Le Mi scored the lone goal in the shootout, earning China the win.

Japan still moved on to the knockout phase of the tournament with the point after winning their first two games. China, meanwhile, is still in contention for a knockout berth after Sunday's result. 

The United States women's hockey team improved to 3-0 at the 2022 Winter Olympics with an 8-0 win over Switzerland.

Hilary Knight, Kelly Pannek and Jesse Compher each scored two goals for Team USA on Sunday at the Wukesong Sports Centre in Beijing, helping the squad cruise to an easy win.

It was 5-0 after the first period alone, and Switzerland never made it competitive, as 12 different United States players earned at least one goal or assist. 

The Americans clinched at least second place in Group A, with Tuesday's upcoming battle against rival Canada likely to determine the final standings. Both teams have already secured a spot in the knockout stage, but the seeding could create an easier path to the finals.

Knight kicked off the scoring for Team USA with a power-play goal in the first six minutes of the game:

After Compher made it 2-0, Knight scored her second goal just nine seconds later with an unassisted effort:

The four-time Olympian already has five points through three matches and remains an elite weapon.

It helped open up the floodgates for the United States, which easily netted goal after goal against Switzerland:

Switzerland made a goalie change after Saskia Maurer allowed five goals in the first period, but it wasn't enough to make a difference as the Americans continued to run up the score.

On the other end of the ice, Alex Cavallini made her first start in goal for Team USA in Beijing and earned a shutout while making 12 saves. 

Team USA was able to take care of business without looking ahead to Canada. The North American teams battled in each of the last three gold-medal games, with the United States winning in 2018.

The upcoming contest won't be for a medal, but there will be no shortage of drama in the group-stage game.

Red Gerard, Sean FitzSimons and Chris Corning will try to keep the men's slopestyle Olympic gold medal within the United States snowboarding team on Sunday. 

Gerard and Sage Kotsenburg are the two winners of the event since it was introduced in 2014. The Americans took all four golds in the men's and women's slopestyle events in the 2014 and 2018 Olympics. 

Gerard's title defense and FitzSimons' and Corning's quests for gold will be tough among a loaded 12-man final field that includes all of the medal winners from the first two Olympic slopestyle events. 

That dozen will each get three runs in the final round. The best score from all three of those runs will be counted toward the medal standings. 

Men's Slopestyle Final Info

Date: Sunday, Feb. 6

Start Time: 11 p.m. ET

Live Stream: NBCOlympics.com and Peacock

Preview

The three-man American contingent took third, fifth and 11th in the qualification round of the men's slopestyle. 

Sean Fitzsimons produced the best run of the trio to finish in third behind Su Yiming of China and Mark McMorris, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist from Canada.

Gerard began his gold-medal defense with a fifth-place mark in qualifying, but all that mattered is he advanced to the final.

Corning qualified in 11th place among the 30 competitors. The Colorado native needs to improve on his scores to be in medal contention alongside FitzSimons and Gerard. 

The American trio could have a hard time gaining separation on the leaderboard among the loaded final field. 

Norway's Staale Sandbech and Canada's Max Parrot are silver medalists in slopestyle, while McMorris just took the Winter X Games title in Aspen, Colorado, before coming to Beijing. World Cup leader Sebastien Toutant from Canada qualified eighth. 

Toutant won one of three buildup events to the Olympics in January. He won the FIS World Cup slopestyle event in Calgary but was off the medal stand at Mammoth Mountain in California the following week. Gerard captured first at Mammoth Mountain, but the field for that event was not as stacked as it is in Beijing. 

McMorris won the final tuneup event at the Winter X Games. The other two X Games medalists failed to reach the final. 

In 2018, Gerard waited until his final run to lay down the gold-medal score. Parrot did the same to win the silver. 

The same thing happened in the women's slopestyle contest Saturday, as New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott took first on the final run of the event. 

The men's slopestyle will not be won on the first of three runs, but it could be lost if an athlete crashes or loses confidence on a failed trick or two. The level of difficulty should be raised as the final goes on, and it would not be a surprise to see the gold medal won in one of the final runs down the course in China. 

On Thursday, the United States jumped out to an early lead in the figure skating team competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. But by the time Saturday was over, the Americans had fallen to second, as the Russian Olympic Committee took over the top spot.

With five events complete in the team competition, there are only three still to take place, all of which will happen Sunday night (Monday morning in Beijing). The Russian Olympic Committee, which holds a 45-42 lead over the U.S., will look to secure the gold with strong performances in pairs free skate, free dance and women's free skate.

Five teams that advanced to the third and final day of the figure skating team competition: the Russian Olympic Committee (45 points), the United States (42), Japan (39), Canada (30) and China (29).

The team competition will end with the women's free skate, which will be the second women's figure skating event of the Winter Games. On Saturday, 15-year-old Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee finished first in the women's short program.

Here's the remaining schedule for the figure skating team competition, along with a closer look at the women's free skate competition that will take place Sunday night (Monday morning in Beijing).

Sunday Figure Skating Schedule

Team Event: Pairs Free Skate, 8:15 p.m. ET

Team Event: Free Dance, 9:30 p.m. ET

Team Event: Women's Free Skate, 10:35 p.m. ET

Watch live on NBC or stream live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.

Women's Free Skate Preview, Predictions

The women's free skate competition Sunday is part of the team event, not the individual event. So not all of the top skaters will be competing, as each of the remaining teams will send only one woman to the ice, and it's likely to be somebody who didn't participate in Saturday's short program.

Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee arrived in Beijing as the favorite to win the women's gold medal. And if her impressive performance in Saturday's short program was any indication, she seems a shoo-in to be crowned the Olympic champion.

On Sunday, though, the Russian Olympic Committee is likely to send another woman to the ice to conclude the team event, giving another one of their skaters a chance to get in a performance. It's possible the ROC will have already secured the team gold medal by that point depending on its performances in the pairs free skate and free dance.

The other two Russian female figure skaters competing are Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova. The pair of 17-year-olds are likely going to fare well in the individual event, and whoever takes the ice for Sunday's women's free skate will have a strong chance of finishing first.

Valieva did her part in trying to help the Russian Olympic Committee capture team gold. She had a score of 90.18 in the women's short program, while no other competitor had a score better than 74.73.

"I'm obviously happy that we're in the lead at the moment, and I hope that continues in the free skate as well," Valieva said, per Dave Skretta of the Associated Press.

Before the women's free skate, the United States will be looking to prevent the Russian Olympic Committee from pulling away in the standings in the pairs free skate and free dance. If the U.S. still has an opportunity to win gold by the time the women's free skate arrives, it will need a stronger showing than it had in Saturday's women's short program.

Karen Chen competed for the United States in the women's short program, placing fifth with a score of 65.2. Of the first five team events, that's the only one in which an American didn't finish third or better.

It seems either Mariah Bell (the 2022 U.S. women's national champion) or Alysa Liu will perform for the United States in the women's free skate. They are both talented skaters who have the potential to cap off the team competition in strong fashion for the U.S.

However, will it be enough for the United States to overtake the Russian Olympic Committee?

The prediction here is that the United States will come up just short and end up with the silver. Either Shcherbakova or Trusova will place in first in the women's free skate, which will allow the Russians to hold off the Americans and win the gold in the figure skating team competition.

Prediction: Russian Olympic Committee wins women's free skate and captures team gold.