Czech Curling: Win vs Sweden, 8th Place Finish | ČT sport

The curlers ended the Olympics victoriously

Skipper Lukáš Klíma’s team finished eighth with a record of three wins and six defeats at the premiere under the five rings, behind a trio of teams that had won four times in Italy. To advance to the evening semi-finals, it was necessary to win at least five matches, leaving Switzerland, Canada, Norway and Great Britain in the fight for medals.

The Czech team completed its activity at the tournament with its third win in a row and followed up the triumphs over China and Germany. Before that, he lost successively to the USA, Switzerland, Norway, Great Britain, Italy and Canada.

The Czechs started the final match against the Swedes, who also had no chance of advancing, better. After the third end, they gained a 3:1 lead, and immediately after a mistake by skipper Niklas Edin, their lead even increased to 5:1.

The Swedes resorted to changing the skipper and gradually reduced the deficit to a difference of one point. But the Czechs scored two points in the seventh end and added three more in the eighth, after which the match ended prematurely.

In the semi-finals, Great Britain defeated Switzerland 8:5, and Canada defeated Norway 5:4 after an additional end. The women’s semi-finals are played on Friday, with Sweden – Canada and USA – Switzerland.

Jílek did not add a third medal in the fifteenth division, Ning Chung-yen won

Nineteen-year-old speed skater Metoděj Jílek did not win another Olympic medal in Milan on his supplementary track of 1,500 meters. The winner of the 10,000 meters and the silver medalist of the five finished sixteenth. China’s Ning Chung-yen won by 77 hundredths of a second ahead of American Jordan Stolz and Dutchman Kjeld Nuis.

Twenty-six-year-old Ning Chung-yen won in a new Olympic record of 1:41.98 and won his first gold in Milan after two bronze medals. Stolz, who won all the World Cup races this season at 1,500 meters, had to settle for silver, and at the Olympics he was aiming for his third triumph after sprints at 500 and 1,000 meters. At 15 years old, Nuis won the previous two Games in PyeongChang and Beijing.

Jílek started in the seventh heat with Henrik Dombek. He beat his German rival in a head-to-head battle with a time of 1:46.08 and placed fourth. Later, twelve other speed skaters got ahead of him, Jílek lost 4.1 seconds to the winner.

“The race is not one of my best. I definitely had more to do, but it will probably be the setting in my head. I lost it even before I stood on the starting line,” said Jílek. “I focused too much on the details, I thought too much about the race. I didn’t get into my rhythm and setup. That got me,” said the native of Prague, whose highest finish in the World Cup on this track so far is fifth place.

Jílek should finish his first Olympic Games on Saturday in a race with a mass start. The day after, Martina Sáblíková will symbolically be the flag bearer of the Czech expedition at the closing ceremony, together with her colleague from the speed skating ovals.

Team members took eighth place in the relay, Oftebro also won the third gold

Norwegian Jens Luraas Oftebro also dominated the pair sprint with Andreas Skoglund and has his third gold. Zytrval and Konvalinka defended eighth place in the relay after the jump, losing more than two and a half minutes to the winner.

In persistent heavy snowfall, the Germans were the best in the jumping part on the big bridge in Predazzo, but they still did not win their first association medal at these games.

Together with Japan, they fell out of the five-member leading group after Vinzenz Geiger fell twice in quick succession in the eighth of ten 1.5-kilometer circuits.

In the fifteen-kilometer run, each of the team members completed five circuits. The torrent of snow did not stop, and during the raid into the last sections, the trio of Norway, Austria and Finland, i.e. the medal countries from the individual races, were fighting for victory.

Austrian Stefan Rettenegger fell in the penultimate circuit, took the loss, and his partner Johannes Lamparter, after two silvers, went this time for bronze.

In the finish, Oftebro, who also has a team Olympic triumph and individual silver from the previous Games in Beijing, surpassed Finn Eero Hirvonen.

Home Italians Aaron Kostner and Samuel Costa moved to fourth place from 11th place after the jump. On the way, they also passed the Czech representatives, who kept eighth place after the jump. The ninth French, who were sixth after the jump, beat Vytrval with Konvalinka by three quarters of a minute.

American team player Benjamin Loomis narrowly escaped a serious accident during the jumping part of the Olympic doubles sprint. The 27-year-old competitor was hit on the bridge by one of the helpers with a snow blower, which he was using to prepare the approach track. However, Loomis faced the situation and continued the raid. “I was lucky it only hit me in the shoulder. If it had hit me in the face, it would have been different,” Loomis told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

USA women’s hockey players have the gold, beating Canada 2:1 in overtime

USA hockey players beat Canada 2:1 in overtime in the final. The return to the throne after eight years and the third Olympic gold was secured by Megan Keller with a goal in 64:07.

The Canadians led from the start of the second period when Kristin O’Neill opened the scoring 54 seconds into the period. At 57:56, even in a game without a goalkeeper, Hilary Knight, the captain of the American team, equalized thanks to a run, and Keller completed the turnover.

The American women entered the match as unprecedented favorites. The result of the mutual duel in the group, which they clearly dominated 5:0, also contributed to this. But the Canadian women were more dangerous in the first period. First, despite a good chance, they did not use the power play, then in the 14th minute, Staceyová shot from a corner at the finish line, but goalkeeper Frankelová was able to block her well-aimed attempt. Just before the break, Carpenter answered for the Americans with a power play, but she sent the shot wide of the goal.

Right at the beginning of the second part, however, in the continued weakening, Stacey and O’Neill got into a two-to-one renumbering, who opened the scoring with a lightning bluff into the backhand. Bilkaová could have equalized, but she did not aim accurately from a good position.

In the 28th minute, the Canadian goalkeeper Desbiensová distinguished herself by stopping Winnová’s shot into the open goal. The Canadian women, led by captain Maria-Philip Poulin, who decided the final duels in 2010, 2014 and in Beijing 2022 and was playing for her fourth gold, then had several chances to jump to a two-goal lead.

But Frankel was against it. Poulinová herself could have decided in the end, but she failed. At 57:37, the American women started the game without a goalkeeper and after 19 seconds they celebrated the equalizer after Knight’s excellent run. The Canadian players had the first chances in the overtime, but then Heise found the onrushing Keller, whose backhand ended the match.

The American women, who played in the Olympic final with their rivals from Canada for the fifth time in a row, won their eighth medal. In addition to three gold, they have four silver and one bronze. The Canadian women also played in the eighth final – they triumphed five times, now they have added a third silver.

Swiss women’s ice hockey players take bronze, defeating Sweden in the last minute of overtime

Swiss women’s ice hockey players won bronze medals at the Olympic Games in Milan. In the match for third place, they beat the Swedes 2:1 in extra time, Müllerová decided at 69:09. The same player also scored the winning goal 12 years ago in Sochi, where the Swiss also defeated Sweden 4:3 in the bronze medal match. Müller was then 15 years old.

The Swiss lost the match. The slightly more active Nordic women faced a penalty kick in the 27th minute, but goalkeeper Svensson Träff caught Wey and in the 32nd minute, Jungaker gave Sweden the lead with a nice shot.

However, her team only had a narrow lead for a short time. Exactly four minutes later, Leemann equalized after a pass from Marti and a close-range finish. 8,243 spectators had to wait until extra time for the next shot. The Swiss won it 7:2 on shots on goal, and Müller ended it after a beautiful interplay 51 seconds before its expiration.

The Swedish women have also won two Olympic medals in the past – they were bronze in 2002, but since the silver in Turin 2006 they are waiting for another place on the podium.

Cardona and Fattonová won the Olympic premiere of ski mountaineering

The premier Olympic winners in ski mountaineering are the Spaniard Oriol Cardona and the Swiss Marianne Fattonová. They won in Bormio in front of sold-out stands and the sprint in Chumelenice. Silver-winning Nikita Filippov won a medal as the first neutral athlete at the Games in Italy.

Cardona’s golden sprint lasted only two minutes and 34 seconds, while the victorious Fatton was the only one under three minutes in the final. The second and last race for ski alpinists will be a mixed relay race on Saturday.

Fattonová, the daughter of former Czechoslovak cross-country skier Anna Janoušková, confirmed her role as the main favorite in the eighteen-member starting field.

Behind the reigning world champion in the six-man final, Frenchwoman Emily Harropová, queen of the last years of the World Cup and number one in the rankings, finished second. Spain’s Ana Alonso won the bronze only a few months after a knee injury.

The men’s final belonged to world leader Cardon. Filippov defended the silver with a loss of a second and a half, who can start at the Olympics as a neutral during Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Frenchman Thibault Anselmet finished third.

Slovak Marianna Jagerčíková, the oldest participant at the age of 40, did not advance to the fight for medals, as she was eliminated in the semi-finals. After climbing the stairs, she delayed putting on her skis and fell from the leading rung to last, sixth.

While the skiers whizzed down in Bormio in the previous days, the ski alpinists first run uphill. After the start and a straight passage, they zigzag between the so-called diamonds to the stairs, of which there are 42, and climb them with skis on their backpacks.

They then put them on again, continue to the top of the route, take off their seatbelts in the second depot and descend the ski cross course between the goals with a small jump to the finish line.

Liu won the figure skating gold – the first American woman in 24 years

World champion Alysa Liu became an Olympic champion in figure skating – the first American woman since 2002. After the short program, two Japanese women were in the lead, somewhat unexpectedly led by only seventeen-year-old Ami Nakai, who finished third. Her compatriot and three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto won silver.

Twenty-year-old Liu ended the reign of Russian figure skaters who won three Olympic Games in a row starting in Sochi 2014. This time they were represented only by Adelija Petrosjanová in neutral colors, who finished sixth after an unsuccessful attempt at a quadruple toeloop.

Liu attacked from third place after the short program and reached the top with the best free ride of the Milan evening. She scored a total of 226.79 points, beating Sakamoto by 1.89 points.

Acrobatic jumpers will compete only on Friday

Persistent snowfall postponed the Olympic race in Livigno for acrobatic ski jumpers, including Nicholas Novák, from Thursday to Friday. Originally, the qualification was supposed to start already on Tuesday, but the weather was also bad in the mountain resort.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) has announced that the start of Friday’s qualification will be at 10:30 a.m. There are 25 acrobats at the start, twelve will advance to the finals. Novák has starting number ten.

Unfavorable weather also forced a change in the qualification of skiers in the U-ramp. The organizers also moved it in the program to Friday, when there will also be an evening finale.