NEW ZEALANDWINS1ST GOLD

BY EDDIEPELLS

Zoi Sadowski Synnott captured New Zealand’s first gold medalin WinterOlympichistory, stompingdowna pressurepacked run onherlasttrip down the mountain late Saturday (SanDiego time) to win thetitlein women’s slopestyle.

The20-year-old was oneof the very few to putdown a clean run on a supersized course where hardpackedsnow and bone-coldwind chills made things difficulton all 12 finalists, including two-time defending champion JamieAnderson, who finishedninth.

SadowskiSynnott wentinto her last ofthree runstrailing American Julia Marinobut cameupbig.

She landed a double-cork 1080on thesecond-to-last jump, including a solid grabofthe middleofthe board,andheld it long enough forthe judges to see itclearly Andthen she repeatedthe double cork in a differentdirection the way shedid in hervictory at the WinterX Gameslastmonthwhenshebecame the first woman to pullit off. She raisedher hands in the air after landing,knowingwhat she’d done Marino, who won silver, andthird-place finisher TessCoadyof Australia knew it, too. They tackledheratthe finishline to celebrate.

Afew minuteslater, the scoreboardconfirmedtheoutcome,and New Zealandhadits first WinterGamesvictory— qualifyforhis fifth Olympics,and this was not easy Sincewinning histhird gold at the2018 Winter Games, White haslingeredonthe periphery ofthesport’s hierarchy. Injuriesand age have kept him fromhisformer dominance. Enteringthelastqualifying event before Beijing,the LaaxOpen in Switzerland,heneeded to perform well to bolsterhis WorldCup ranking and justify U.S.Ski and Snowboard makinghim a discretionary pick.

He finished third.Good enough.

Heisthird on the four-man U.S. team,behind Taylor Gold andChase Josey and ahead of newcomerLucas Foster whois 13 years youngerthan White.Hehas labored to find consistency But he’s alsoShaun White,with 13X Gamessnowboard goldmedals, andwhenheisonandthe run is smoothandnothinghurts,he stillcanpropelhimselfinto the air in tightly wound twists that make himbelieve hesomehow willleave China with one last Olympicmedal.

Littleinthepast yearsuggests thiswillhappenwhenqualifying is conducted Tuesdaynightand the final runsfollow Thursday evening (bothSanDiego time).

But a part of White’s successhas come fromhisimpudence Heis almostalwayscertain he will win. Theonlytimehe wasn’t was at the2014 SochiOlympicswhen he finishedfourth a resultthat gnawedathimforthenextfour yearsuntilhe won goldat Pyeongchang.Heloves thebuzz thatfollowshimaroundthehalfpipes, the hum of expectation thatheis going to dosomething big every timehearrives atan event. Most would view thisas pressure Heseesitasinspiration. “Idon’tknow ifthat’s something that’s justlike inmeor what,”hesaysofthisassuredness. “Ifeel I justfeltthat way aboutthesport— aboutcertain things whenit’s mymoment to shine, I feel likeI know itand I can walkthatpath.” Thistimefeelsdifferent, though.Theinjurieshave slowed him.Hedoesn’thave thesame staminahedidinhis20s.Hehas learned to practicelessthanhe

BEIJING Olympic favorite Kamila Valieva nearly eclipsedher own world record in the short programofthe team figure skating event at theBeijing Olympics. ThatsentherRussian teaminto thelead headinginto themen’s free skate later Sunday(Beijing time).

The 15-year-old Valieva’s score of90.18 points to “In Memoriam” bytheRussian pianistand composer KirillRichter at the BeijingGames was justoffthe record of 90.45pointsset just weeksagoattheEuropean championships.

TheRussians moved into first place with 36 points, two aheadof Day 1 leader TeamUSAandseven aheadof Japan.

KarenChen tooktheicefortheAmericans but made a coupleof mistakes,including a fallon hertripleloopnearthe endofthe program.Thatleft herin fifth place intheshort programand costher teamvaluable points.

WakabaHiguchi was second,pushing her Japanese teaminto podium contention brought homeby an Australianbornshredder withan American motherand a Kiwifather. Theymoved to Wanaka, New Zealand,when Zoi was six. For thesecondstraight Olympics,this was not the finestshowcaseof women’s talent onsnowboards. In Pyeongchangfour yearsago,a harsh,shifting wind turned the contestintoa demolitionderby.

Anderson anAmerican, somehow survivedthatdayand came awaywithhersecond gold despite usingtricks that were far fromstate ofthe art.

Four years later the wind wasn’t a factor, butthesuperhard snowpackandthesizeof didinthepast.At 35 hisbody can’ttake the constantpounding ofboard crashingonice.

White used to power through practices, workingforhours to get landings justright. “Four yearsago, we used to dreaddays off,”his coach J.J. Thomassays. Days off meant more time to think,more time to let doubt chisel away at the certainty. Now, White needsdays away He’s learned to appreciate whathis 21year-oldprotege Toby Miller describes as“quality overquantity.” He’s learned to bepatient.He’s learned to relax.

Lastfall was filledwithimperfection White never expected.He losthis first event,theGrand PrixatColorado’s Copper Mountain,whenhesays “thenerves got to me,”causinghim to stumblein the final. A weeklater duringthe Dew Touronthesamemountain, his binding broke in his first finals run,causinghim to finishseventh.

Momentumhasbeenhard for him to find.Hisknee andankle keep hurting.He getstired.He’s had a perpetual coldsincethe start ofthefall.He coughsashe talks.It’s a horrible,hacking coughthatsoundslike thestarteronanoldjalopy. He was certainit was COVID but the tests kept comingbacknegative. Then,rightbefore thenew year, the cough camebackstronger. Thistime,the test was positive. More practicescanceled. More delaysinthepursuitoftheperfect run thatwillbring himback. “It’s justlaughable,”hesaid.

Breakinginvisibleceiling

Snowboarding changed over 10 dayslastOctober.

That’s when four Japanese snowboarders,including White’s rival, AyumuHirano beganlanding frontside triple cork 1440s— four complete rotations and three off-axis flips inpractice runs.Thoughthetrickhadbeen aroundfor years White worked onitwhen he was trying to compete inslopestyle as wellashalfpipebefore the2014 Olympics— thetriple cork hadbeen a kindof invisibleceiling.

Andwhilethe Japaneseriders were landingonairbags forsafety theprecisionwithwhich they were doingtheirtriple corks meantthatsnowboardinghad leapedintoa new phase, a younger higher more dangerousspace

BRONZE—Teresa Stadlober, Austria

FREESTYLESKIING Men’s Moguls GOLD—Walter Wallberg, Sweden SILVER—Mikael Kingsbury, Canada BRONZE—IkumaHorishima,Japan

SKIJUMPING

Women’s NormalHillIndividual GOLD—UrsaBogataj,Slovenia SILVER—KatharinaAlthaus,Germany BRONZE—NikaKriznar,Slovenia

SPEEDSKATING

Women’s 3000m

GOLD—IreneSchouten,Netherlands SILVER—Francesca Lollobrigida,Italy

BRONZE—Isabelle Weidemann, Canada

SHORTTRACKSPEEDSKATING the course— dottedwithiceblock replicasof TheGreat Wall and evena pagoda-roofed “guard house” to run rails off— madeit tough on everyone. Evenwiththesun shining it was3 degrees Fahrenheit witha minus-13 wind chillatthestart ofthe contest. Ofthe 36 runs,25 were abortedeither because offalls orspeedissuesthatmadethe hardest jumps too risky to navigate Sadowski Synnott’s winningscore of 92.88 was theonly mark over90.

It was only two weekendsago inperfect conditionsinAspen, Colo.,thatSadowski Synnott becamethe first woman to land thatnolonger resembled the world White haddominatedfor solong.Thomas,who was there, said he couldhearthepingingof people’s phonesatthehalfpipeas videosofthetriple corks circulated.

“Thesport leapedmore than ithadin 10 years,” Thomassays.

“It’s gone to anotherlevel,andit’s going to beat a differentlevel fromnow on.”

White says the Japanese riders triple corkswere onhismind amonth laterin Austria Thefact they were onthe verge oflanding onein competition,which had never beendone (Hiranohitone attheDew TourinDecember), wasanothermessagethatit was time to retire.

Butthesignshave been everywhere.Recently hehasnoticed howmanyofthe rebelphotographerswho chronicledsnowboarding’s early risenow have grayintheirhair Heseesformer competitorshis own age standinginthecrowd,hoisting their kidsontheirshoulders.

“Idon’tknow how you keep doing this at yourage,”people keep tellinghim.

He’s notthe goofykidanymore. Instead,he’s anagingmillennialin a Gen Z world, constantlywritingthoughts,ideas and remindersinbrown Moleskinenotebooks thatheordersin packs ofthree Still, White insistshehasthe tricks to win a medalinBeijing.

“I’mnot,like, going to just handit over,”hesays. “I’m not going to walk away I’m going to give it everythingI have atthis Olympics.It’s mytitle to defend.”

“Butknowingwhat was lying ontheother sideof thisOlympics kindof gave me a secondwind,” he continues. “And we’re like: ‘OK, well,ifthisisthe choiceand thisisthe decision, I canletthis crumblemeandI’llcrawl away and give up’orlike,‘Hey thisis yourlast go: Let’s besafe;let’s do thisthing;but let’s pushit to the pointofbreaking.’”

Transformativemoment

There was somethingelse aboutthatday White cried onthe chairlift:His decision to retire wasn’tmadeforhim.

“No one calledmeinto an office and was like ‘Oh, you got traded, you’re done,it’s over,’ ” he says. Healwayshashad a needfor

SCOREBOARD back-to-back double cork 1080s aspart ofher gold-medalperformance She won bigair, as well andwillhave the chance to dothesameattheOlympics— that contest issetfor Feb. 15. She won bronzeinthat event four years ago. control, to understandwhatis goingon, to bein charge And whilehisriseincludedfalls— including anarrestfortrashing part of a hotel room and thesettlingof a sexualharassmentsuit filedby a woman who was inhis band he alsohasbecomeone of thebiggestnamesinaction sports,withclothinglinesand board deals.

For now, though there’s plenty to celebrate in New Zealand which longhasserved asa trainingbaseforriders inthe Northern Hemisphere who need toget work in during June, Julyand August. So, yes,ithassnow, and halfpipes,and mountain resorts. And now, a goldmedal, too.

Pellswrites for The Associated Press.

Whenhe won in Turinheinstantlybecame a sensation the way-out,pimpled,bandanawearingface of Burton snowboardsandwhoever else wanted to write him a check.Hebecame whatthemarketingindustry likes to call “adeliverable,”handedscriptsfor commercials written bypeoplewhodidn’tknow him yet knew what theythought heshouldbe.

Fora while heplayed along until finally,a few yearsinhe told themarketingpeoplehe wanted to control the way he wassold.It wasa transformative moment, hesaid.Butitalsoforcedhim to ask questions henever hadbefore.

“How do I portraymyself? How dootherssee me?Isthat good?”

Helearnedthathelikedmaking decisions, andhelping to design clothes unleashed a creative side.Hediscoveredsatisfaction inseeingpeopleathalfpipe events wearingclothes from the linehehelpedinvent.Itmade himmore than theFlying Tomato

Recently, White starteda clothing company with his brother Jesse, called Whitespace. Withhiscareer nearing an end,heimagineshemight usehis new company to domore than sellclothes. Whatifthey could have a teamofriders? Maybe he couldbethenext Jake Burton launching a new generationof riders onto mountains.

“I don’t know there’s justso manyfunopportunities,andit meanssomuch knowingI’m retiringandstartingthis thingsimultaneously,”hesays justbefore hangingup. “It’s kindof like theendingof somethingandthebeginningof somethingelse.”

TheAssociated Presscontributed to this report.

Carpenterwrites forthe Washington Post.

Reigning goldmedalistCanadasurvived the cutoffthanks to a strongperformance from MadelineSchizas,while China claimedthelastspotinthe free skatesbywinninga tiebreaker with Georgia.

U.S. womenblank Russia

Goalie Nicole Hensley was finewith the UnitedStateshaving difficulty findingitsoffensethrough two periodsbefore finallypulling awaywith a 5-0 win over the Russians.

Solong as Hensley keptstopping every shot,theoutcome wasn’tin jeopardy forthedefendingOlympic champions.

“Theymadeit a reallyhard game, really frustratingforus,”saidHensley, whostopped 12 shots inher 2022 tournamentdebutattheBeijingGames, adding,“Ifanything it’s just going to bringus closer together.”

The U.S.(2-0)nextplaysSwitzerland (0-2) today.

Hilary Knight had a goal and assist, withherno-lookbackhandpassthrough thecreasesettingup Savannah Harmon’s opening goalinthe firstperiod.

Knight scoredinthesecond, and the U.S.broke things openwiththreegoalsin afive-minute spaninthethird.

China records first gold Chinaekedoutits first goldmedalof the BeijingGames,winningtheOlympic debut of mixed team relay in short track speedskating.

Wu Dajing edged Pietro Sighel ofItalyby .016 seconds orhalf a skate blade —to claim gold.Hungary earned bronze.

Qu Chunyu Fan Kexin and Ren Ziwei joined Wu forthevictory.

“It wasa huge relief,” Wu said “Now we finally realized our dream on the first day.”

Norway startsmedalhunt Norwayissailing towarda second straight turnatopthe WinterGames medal countaftera goldenstart.

Cross-country skier Therese Johaug won the first goldmedaloftheBeijing Olympicsinthe women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon,and JohannesThingnesBoe moved aheadofhisFrench andRussian rivalsin the final metersofthe mixed relay to give Norway goldinthe firstbiathlonrace.

Notable

Irene Schouten gave themighty Dutch a goldmedalinthe firstspeedskating event of theGames breaking a 20year-oldOlympic record inthe women’s 3,000meters.

Schouten turnedin a blazing finallap to post a winningtimeof 3 minutes, 56.93 seconds.Thatbroke theprevious Olympicmark of 3:57.70, setbyGermany’s Claudia Pechstein atthe2002Salt Lake City Games.

In a fittingbookend to the event,Pechsteinskatedinthe openingpair to becometheoldestfemaleathlete in Olympichistory at49 TheGerman finishedlast.

Walter Wallberg ofSwedenupset “TheKing to take homethe goldmedal inthemen’s moguls. Wallberg lookedin shock whenhis score of83.23 flashedon the board,edging defendingOlympic champion MikaelKingsbury ofCanada.

Notable

U.S.bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor saidshe was about to leaveisolation and couldstart preparinginearnest to competeattheBeijingOlympics. MeyersTaylor, anOceansidenative, revealed Tuesdayshehad testedpositive for COVID-19 isha;AbzalAzhgaliyev),2:42.575 (QB).

SATURDAY’S OLYMPICMEDALISTS

BIATHLON Mixed Relay4x6km(W+M) GOLD—Norway (Marte Olsbu Roeiseland, Tiril Eckhoff, TarjeiBoe,Johannes ThingnesBoe) SILVER—France (AnaisChevalier-Bouchet, JuliaSimon,EmilienJacquelin,Quentin Fillon Maillet) BRONZE—ROC(UlianaNigmatullina,Kristina Reztsova,Alexander Loginov, EduardLatypov)

CROSS-COUNTRYSKIING

Women’s 7.5km+ 7.5kmSkiathlon GOLD—ThereseJohaug,Norway SILVER—NataliaNepryaeva ROC

Mixed Team Relay

GOLD—China(Kexin Fan,ChunyuQu, Yuting Zhang,Ziwei Ren, Dajing Wu) SILVER—Italy (Arianna Fontana,Martina Valcepina,Arianna Valcepina,Andrea Cassinelli, Yuri Confortola,PietroSighel) BRONZE—Hungary(PetraJaszapati, Zsofia Konya,John-HenryKrueger,ShaoangLiu,Shaolin SandorLiu) SATURDAY’S OLYMPICRESULTS CURLING Mixed Norway 10 Australia4

Sweden6, Switzerland1 United States 7, China5 Britain8, Czech

Finland1

Republic3, Sweden1

States

ROC0

U.S.SUMMARY United States 5, ROC0

States1 13 —5 ROC 000—0 First Period—1,United States,SavannahHarmon(HilaryKnight,HannahBrandt),12:29(pp). Penalties—Alexandra Vafina, ROC(hooking); Yelena Provorova, ROC (tripping).

Period—2,United States,HilaryKnight (SavannahHarmon, KendallCoyneSchofield), 28:51. Penalties—HayleyScamurra,United States (tripping);NinaPirogova, ROC (tripping); Polina Bolgareva, ROC (cross-checking);AbbeyMurphy, United States(illegalhit). Third Period—3,United States,Grace Zumwin- kle(Dani Cameranesi,MeganBozek),43:57. 4, United States,JesseCompher (AbbeyMurphy, HayleyScamurra),46:15. 5, United States,Alex Carpenter (Amanda Kessel,SavannahHarmon), 48:44. Penalties—MariaBatalova ROC (tripping); Maria Pechnikova, ROC(boarding);AbbeyMurphy, United States (roughing);AnnaShibanova, ROC(illegalcheck to theheadorneck). ShotsonGoal—United States19-17-26—62. ROC 2-4-6—12. Goalies—United States,NicoleHensley, Alex Cavallini. ROC, DariaGredzen,MariaSorokina. Referees—TijanaHaack,Germany;Anniina Nurmi, Finland;AnnaHammar, Sweden;Jenni Heikkinen, Finland.

Short TrackSpeedskating Mixed Team Relay Quarterfinal3

1.Hungary(PetraJaszapati; Zsofia Konya; ShaolinSandor Liu;John-HenryKrueger),

2:38.396 (Q).2. ROC (Sofia Prosvirnova;Ekaterina Efremenkova;SemenElistratov KonstantinIvliev),

2:38.445 (Q). 3. U.S.(KristenSantos;Maame Biney;Andrew Heo;RyanPivirotto),2:39.043 (q).

4. Japan(Yuki Kikuchi;Sumire Kikuchi; Kazuki Yoshinaga; Kota Kikuchi),2:39.112. Semifinal1

1. Canada (CourtneySarault; KimBoutin;JordanPierre-Gilles; PascalDion),2:36.808 (QA).2. Italy (Arianna Fontana;Martina Valcepina;Pietro Sighel;Andrea Cassinelli),2:36.895 (QA).3. Kazakhstan(YanaKhan;Olga Tikhonova;DenisNik-

Semifinal2

1.Hungary(PetraJaszapati; Zsofia Konya; ShaoangLiu;ShaolinSandorLiu),2:38.052 (QA).

2.China (QuChunyu;Zhang Yuting; Wu Dajing; RenZiwei),2:38.783 (QA).3. ROC (Sofia Prosvirnova;ElenaSeregina;SemenElistratov; KonstantinIvliev),PEN.

3. U.S.(K.Santos;C. Stoddard;A.Heo; R. Pivirotto),PEN.

FinalA

1.China (QuChunyu; Fan Kexin; Wu Dajing; Ren Ziwei),2:37.348.2.Italy (Arianna Fontana;Martina Valcepina;PietroSighel;Andrea Cassinelli),

2:37.364.3.Hungary(PetraJaszapati; Zsofia Konya;ShaoangLiu;ShaolinSandorLiu),2:40.900. 4. Canada(FlorenceBrunelle; KimBoutin; Steven Dubois;JordanPierre-Gilles),PEN. FinalB 1.Netherlands (SuzanneSchulting;Selma Poutsma;SjinkieKnegt;Jens van Wout), 2:36.966.2. Kazakhstan(YanaKhan;Olga Tikhonova; AdilGaliakhmetov;DenisNikisha),2:44.148.

TODAY’SSCHEDULE ALPINESKIING Women's