Beijing: Slovenian ski jumper Ursa Bogataj won the women’s normal hill individual gold medal in the Beijing Winter Olympics at Chongli, Zhangjiakou, on Saturday. After registering 118.0 points in the first round, Bogataj collected 121.0 points for her second jump to total a race-leading 239.0 points.
Germany’s Katharina Althaus, the silver medalist at the Pyeongchang 2018, was placed second with 236.8 points. Bogataj’s compatriot Nika Kriznar bagged the bronze medal with 232.0 points.
Hosts China also started their campaign with a gold medal.
China claimed its first gold in the home Olympic Winter Games from the 2,000m mixed relay of short track speed skating on Saturday.
China, consisting of Fan Kexin, Qu Chunyu, Ren Ziwei and Wu Dajing, won the gold in two minutes and 37.348 seconds. Italy and Hungary took the silver and bronze respectively.
Norway claims biathlon mixed gold
At Chongli, Zhangjiakou, the Norwegian team, including three biathletes from their 2018 squad, beat defending champions France to win the biathlon 4×6 km mixed relay title on Saturday.
The 2018 silver medalists, Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, Tiril Eckhoff and Johannes Thingnes Boe were joined by four-time Olympian Tarjei Boe as the third leg for Norway, who skied home in one hour six minutes and 45.6 seconds. Roeiseland, who won silvers in mixed relay and women’s 7.5km sprint in 2018, led the first leg at 17:18.6 to top the field.
“We did a great job, the whole team, and I’m so happy to race with such good teammates. It’s my first Olympic gold, so I’m super happy,” said Roeiseland.
Walter Wallberg of Sweden won the freestyle skiing men’s moguls gold on Saturday. The 21-year-old Wallberg garnered 83.23 points from a combination of time, air and turns, becoming the first Swedish moguls skier to win a medal at the Winter Games.
Defeating defending champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada took silver in 82.18, and Ikuma Horishima of Japan took bronze in 81.48.
Dutch skater Schouten win 3,000m gold
Dutch speed skater Irene Schouten notched a gold medal with a new Olympic record in the women’s 3,000m on Saturday. The Dutch, in quest of becoming the second female skater in history to win four golds at a single Olympic journey, clocked a winning time of three minutes and 56.93 seconds.
“There was a lot of pressure for myself and for the Netherlands and I’m so happy I made it,” the 29-year-old said. “Four years ago I did not qualify, so I wanted this one. When I was young I had a big dream to win Olympic gold and now I have it,” she added.
Italy’s Francesca Lollobrigida, who had snatched a World Cup gold in the same distance, finished in 3:58.06 to take the silver, while the World Cup silver medalist Isabelle Weidemann from Canada ranked third in 3:58.64.
Johaug wins first gold of Beijing 2022
Therese Johaug of Norway claimed the first gold of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in the women’s skiathlon at the National Cross-Country Skiing Center on Saturday.
Johaug, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic relay gold medalist, finished in 44 minutes 13.7 seconds. The reigning world champion, who missed the PyeongChang 2018 due to a doping ban, won her very first individual Olympic gold medal with a margin of 30.2 seconds in the 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon.
“I’ve trained thousands of hours for this and been away from home a lot over the years. I’ve never had an [individual] Olympic gold medal, it’s my first one. I’m so happy,” said Johaug.
Natalia Nepryaeva from the Russian Olympic Committee took the silver in 44:43.9, while Teresa Stadlober of Austria won the bronze in 44:44.2. Nepryaeva, the overall World Cup leader this season, won her second Olympic medal.
Three-time Olympic champion Charlotte Kalla from Sweden ranked 19th in 47:53.8. The 34-year-old found herself suffering from heart abnormalities during a World Cup race last season. Li Xin, who finished 33rd in 49:07.7, was the best performer among four Chinese skiers.
IANS