Day 16 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

By Helen Regan and Sofia Mitra-Thakur CNN

Updated 8:37 PM ET, Sun February 20, 2022
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8:20 p.m. ET, February 19, 2022

Norway leads the Winter Olympics medal table with a historic haul of golds

Gold medallist Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe poses on the podium during the biathlon men's 15km mass start victory ceremony on February 19.
Gold medallist Norway's Johannes Thingnes Boe poses on the podium during the biathlon men's 15km mass start victory ceremony on February 19. (Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images)

The most successful Winter Olympics team of all time is dominating the medal table in Beijing on the final weekend of action, with a record number of golds.

  1. Norway leads the standings with a record 15 golds among 35 medals overall.
  2. Germany is in second with 11 golds and 24 total medals.
  3. Host China is in third with nine gold medals and 15 medals in total.
  4. Team USA in in fourth with eight golds and 24 medals in total.

8:13 p.m. ET, February 19, 2022

It's 9 a.m. in Beijing. Here's what's coming up on Day 16 of the 2022 Winter Olympics

Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States skis during the Women's Alpine Combined Downhill on February 17.
Mikaela Shiffrin of Team United States skis during the Women's Alpine Combined Downhill on February 17. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

The final day of the Winter Olympics brings a last chance for some athletes to medal. Here are the names and events to look out for on Sunday:

⛷️ Mikaela Shiffrin (still) has one more shot: High winds forced organizers to postpone Saturday's alpine mixed team parallel race until Sunday, the final day of the Winter Games. The decision meant some teams had to rearrange flights and accommodation, but all 15 nations entered in the competition are set to participate. The team event is the last chance for American Mikaela Shiffrin, alpine skiing's biggest star, to win a medal. One of the rare skiers who competes in all events of alpine skiing, Shiffrin has so far ended up with a ninth place in the super-G, 18th in the downhill, and three Did Not Finish results. Switzerland is the defending Olympic champion in this event. The Norwegians enter as the reigning world champions, and were also on the podium four years ago with bronze in PyeongChang. 

 🏒 Ice hockey final: Finland vs. ROC: One of the highlights of the final day is set to be the men's ice hockey final, where reigning Olympic champions Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) will try to defend the title against Finland. Russia have not retained the title since the glory days of the 'Big Red Machine' when a Unified Team won gold at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games, after the former Soviet Union took the honors at Calgary 1988 and Sarajevo 1984. Finland have made regular appearances on the podium, returning home with a medal from five of the previous seven Games, but are yet to reach the top step. Finland is the most successful hockey nation without an Olympic gold medal, with 10 silver or bronze medals between the men’s and women’s teams.  

🥌 Curling: Can Great Britain's women go one better than the men? Twenty years after Rhona Martin skipped Britain to victory in Salt Lake City, the women's curlers are in the running to win gold in Beijing after Eve Muirhead led her team to the final. They hope to go one better than the men, who finished with silver after falling short against Sweden on Saturday. Team GB face Japan, who finished fourth in the standings, but upset Switzerland at the National Aquatics Centre to reach their first ever Olympic final in the sport. This happens to be a rematch of the 2018 Olympic bronze-medal game, which was won by Japan for its first curling medal. Britain had not picked up any medals at these Beijing Games until the men guaranteed themselves at least silver, ending concerns there would be no podium finish for the first time since 1992. 

🛷 Germany goes for further glory in the bobsled: Germany is poised to win a ninth gold medal in 10 sliding events. A four-man bobsled driven by Francesco Friedrich leads Johannes Lochner’s four-man sled by 0.03 seconds after the first two of four runs, which is a closer battle than anticipated. Friedrich, bidding to become the first driver to win two- and four-man gold at multiple Olympics, won 14 consecutive international four-man races up until a runner-up at the last World Cup. Starting in 2017, Friedrich has won the last five Olympic or world championships four-man titles. 

 

8:12 p.m. ET, February 19, 2022

Catch up: Here's what happened at the Winter Games on Saturday

USA's Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman compete in the 2-woman bobsleigh event on February 18.
USA's Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman compete in the 2-woman bobsleigh event on February 18. (Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images)

Saturday — the penultimate day of the Winter Olympics — was a busy day in Beijing, with more medals and a place in Olympic history for Elana Meyers Taylor.

Here's a recap of the biggest Olympic moments that happened on Saturday:

🛷 US bobsledder makes history: USA's Elana Meyers Taylor extended her medal record, in possibly her last race, grabbing bronze for the fifth medal of her Olympic career (the most by any women’s bobsledder at the Olympics). In the process, the American bobsledder also became the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history. Before leaving China, Meyers Taylor will serve as Team USA’s flag bearer during the closing ceremony. She had initially been set to walk alongside curler John Schuster as a flag bearer at the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony, but had to drop out after testing positive for Covid.

⛸️ Chinese figure skaters put host nation ahead of US on medals: China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong captured the Olympic gold medal that eluded them by a razor-thin margin four years ago, this time winning the pairs figure skating program by nearly as narrow an edge. The duo finished with a world record total score of 239.88, while silver went to Russian Olympic Committee's (ROC) Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov. The ROC also won bronze. Wenjing and Cong's win gave China its ninth gold medal at these Beijing Games, nearly double its previous Winter Games best of five, and put it ahead of the US on the medal table. The host's current tally of 15 medals in total is their best in Winter Olympics history.

🥈US figure skaters' medal appeal dismissed: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed the appeal filed by Team USA figure skaters for a ruling that would have awarded them the Olympic team event silver medal from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before the conclusion of Sunday's closing ceremony. Team USA finished second in the figure skating team event on Feb. 7. The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) claimed gold with Kamila Valieva becoming the first-ever woman to land a quadruple jump in an Olympic competition. However, the next day, Valieva was notified she had tested positive for a banned substance in December. As a result, the medal ceremony was postponed. The IOC later said it would “not be appropriate” for the medal ceremony to take place at the Beijing Games until Valieva’s case had concluded. 

📺 Most watched Winter Olympics in history: Two billion viewers worldwide have tuned into the Beijing 2022 Olympics, making it the most-watched Winter Games ever, a Chinese official said on Saturday. The 2008 Beijing Summer Games saw the largest TV audience for an Olympics on record, with 4.7 billion viewers, according to Guinness World Records.

8:09 p.m. ET, February 19, 2022

Here's who won gold on Saturday at the Beijing Winter Games

Niklas Edin of Team Sweden competes against Team Great Britain during the Men's Curling Gold Medal Game on February 19.
Niklas Edin of Team Sweden competes against Team Great Britain during the Men's Curling Gold Medal Game on February 19. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

There were seven gold medals up for grabs on Saturday at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Here's a breakdown of who took home gold for their delegations on day 15 of the Games.

Bobsleigh

  • Germany’s Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi captured gold in the two-woman bobsleigh.

Cross-country skiing

  • Men's 50km Mass Start Free: Russian Alexander Bolshunov won his third gold medal at Beijing 2022 as he claimed victory in the men's cross-country skiing mass start for the ROC.

Curling

  • Sweden won gold in men’s curling after defeating Great Britain 5-4 in an extra end on Saturday — as Niklas Edin and Sweden finally became Olympic champions. 

Figure skating

  • Chinese pair skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong won gold in pairs figure skating with a world record total score of 239.88.

Freestyle skiing

  • New Zealand freeskier Nico Porteous won gold at the men's halfpipe, following a difficult final filled with painful falls and poor weather conditions.

Speed skating

  • Belgium's Bart Swings won gold in speed skating on Saturday, finishing first in the men's mass start final. It was Belgium's first gold medal at a Winter Olympics in 74 years.
  • Dutch skater Irene Schouten won gold in the women's mass start.

Read more stories from this year's Winter Olympics here.

7:19 p.m. ET, February 19, 2022

American Elana Meyers Taylor becomes most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history

From CNN's Homero DeLaFuente

American bobsledders Elana Meyers Taylor, left, and Sylvia Hoffman pose with their medals during the flower ceremony for the two-woman event on February 19.
American bobsledders Elana Meyers Taylor, left, and Sylvia Hoffman pose with their medals during the flower ceremony for the two-woman event on February 19. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor became the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history after she won the bronze medal in the two-woman bobsleigh on Saturday.

The medal is the fifth for Meyers Taylor, who passed Shani Davis’ four medals. The 37-year-old also is now the most decorated woman Olympic bobsledder of all time.

When asked about passing Davis’ record, Meyers Taylor said:

“That is overwhelming. It's so crazy to hear that stat and to know that I'm part of a legacy that's bigger than me. Hopefully, it just encourages more and more Black athletes to come out to winter sports — and not just Black athletes, winter sports for everybody," she said.

“We want everybody to come out regardless of the color of your skin. We want winter sports to be for everybody, regardless of race, regardless of socio-economic class. I think the more diversity we have, the stronger our sport can be. So hopefully this is just the start of more and more people coming out and trying winter sports,” she added.

The four-time Olympian is a three-time silver medal winner (at Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022) and a two-time bronze medalist (at 2010 Vancouver and Beijing 2022). 

Meyers Taylor, who nearly missed the Olympic Games after testing positive for Covid-19 upon her arrival, hinted this would likely be her last Olympics.

“I'm going to take some time to really think about this. It's going to be really hard to top this Olympics. Two medals and now closing it out with flag bearer, it's going to be really, really hard to top that,” she said. 

She will conclude the Beijing Winter Olympics as the flag bearer for the US at the closing ceremony Sunday.

7:20 p.m. ET, February 19, 2022

US figure skaters' appeal to have team event silver medal awarded is dismissed

From CNN's Wayne Sterling

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by Team USA figure skaters that sought a ruling that would have awarded them the Olympic team event silver medal from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before the conclusion of Sunday's closing ceremony.

"The decision of the IOC Executive Board of 14 February 2022 not to hold the medal ceremony for the figure skating team event during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 stands," CAS said in a statement.

Team USA finished second in the figure skating team event on Feb. 7. The Russian Olympic Committee claimed the gold with Kamila Valieva becoming the first-ever woman to land a quadruple jump in an Olympic competition.

Japan claimed the bronze. However, the next day, Valieva was notified she had tested positive for a banned substance before the games started in December. 

As a result, the medal ceremony was postponed. The IOC later said it would “not be appropriate” for the medal ceremony to take place at the Beijing Games until Valieva’s case had concluded.

The 15-year-old finished in fourth place in the women's individual figure skating event on Thursday, leaving the ice in tears after falling and faltering during jumps in her routine, despite having previously been the favorite to take gold.