Britain’s Gus Kenworthy walks away from a nasty fall in men’s freeski halfpipe final

Great Britain’s Gus Kenworthy had a bumpy start to the men’s freeski halfpipe final, landing several tricks before falling on his first and second runs.

On his second run, he landed right on the edge of the halfpipe on his way down from the first trick — a painful landing that threw off one of his skis.

He has one more shot — the competitors each get three runs, with the best score taken as their final result.

The skiers are facing strong winds today, with several commenting on the difficult conditions after their runs.

This is Kenworthy’s final Winter Olympics. The two-time US Olympian won silver in slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Games before switching sporting allegiances to compete for Great Britain in Beijing.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach on Friday rebuked a Chinese official over comments she made that appeared to violate Olympic rules of keeping political neutrality.

Bach’s remarks came after Yan Jiarong, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), spoke about Taiwan and Xinjiang at a Thursday news conference.

Comments on Taiwan: On Thursday, when the IOC spokesperson was asked whether the Taiwan delegation would attend the closing ceremony, Yan said “there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an indivisible part of China.”

“The IOC has 206 members, including members of nations such as the People’s Republic of China and members of regions such as Taiwan,” Yan said — then quickly corrected herself to “China Taipei,” before finally correcting it to “Chinese Taipei,” the official name for the Taiwan team at the Olympics.

Xinjiang allegations: Yan also jumped in after the IOC spokesperson answered CNN’s question about whether the Olympic uniforms were made by forced labor in China’s western Xinjiang region, saying the allegation is “a lie made up by forces with ulterior motives, and the relevant organizations have provided large amounts of facts to dispute that.”

Beijing has long denied claims of rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang, claiming its policies are part of a program of mass deradicalization and poverty alleviation.

Olympic neutrality: Yan’s comments seemed to have violated Rule 50 of the Olympic charter, which prohibits any kind of “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda.”

The organizing committee, BOCOG, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on this matter.

The penultimate day of the Winter Olympics brings a packed schedule — and for some athletes, a last chance to medal. Here are the names and events to look out for on Saturday:

⛷️ One more shot: Team USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin will compete for the sixth and final time at these Games at the alpine skiing mixed team event today. Shiffrin, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has had a difficult run these past two weeks, crashing out of three events. She finished two others, but placed ninth and 18th, far from the podium. “Why do I keep coming back? Gosh knows it hurts more than it feels good lately,” Shiffrin tweeted Thursday after failing to finish the combined event, calling out some of the online abuse she has received.

 🛷 Last race before closing ceremony: Four-time Olympic bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor from the US will compete in the two-woman bobsleigh, hoping to score a gold before attending the closing ceremony tomorrow as a flag bearer. She had originally been elected as a flag bearer for the opening ceremony, but was forced to miss it after testing positive for Covid. After the first two heats for the race today, Meyers Taylor is in third, with Germany’s Laura Nolte and Mariama Jamanka taking first and second.

⛸️ Chinese stars on ice: The final figure skating competition will be the pairs free skate today, with China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong looking to score another victory. The event combines the scores of the free skate with the short program — and the pair are already top of the leaderboard with a score of 84.41 following a short program that has been described as “the greatest ever,” eclipsing their previous world record, set less than two weeks ago.

 🥌 Reigning champions defend title: Sweden and Great Britain are facing off for gold in the men’s curling final today. Three-time defending world champion Sweden got off to a 7-0 start at these Olympics and was the first team to qualify for the semifinals — but lost their final two games in the round-robin play. Meanwhile, Great Britain hasn’t been in the gold medal game since 2014.

 ⛸️ Start your engines (or skates): Speed skating concludes today with the mass start events for both men and women, meaning two semifinals of 15 skaters in each discipline, with eight athletes from each skate advancing to the finals. This mass start is unusual — and has been described as “NASCAR on ice.” USA’s Joey Mantia is the reigning men’s world champion, but is still searching for his first individual medal. In the women’s event, Japan’s Nana Takagi is looking for redemption after losing out on gold in the team event, and Dutch skater Irene Schouten could score a medal in all four of her events.

Teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva has become one of the faces of Beijing 2022, but as the Winter Olympics nears its conclusion the spotlight is likely to remain on the 15-year-old and her entourage for the foreseeable future.

A blame game has already broken out between the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over the drugs test controversy surrounding Valieva, who completed her competition run at the Winter Olympics on Thursday.

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

Before being cleared to take part in the women’s individual figure skating competition, Valieva was suspended by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) on Feb. 8, although the body lifted her suspension the next day following a hearing.

WADA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Skating Union (ISU) then subsequently filed an appeal against the lifting of the ban.

However, CAS cleared Valieva for competition, saying she would suffer “irreparable harm” if not allowed to compete, citing the “exceptional circumstances” of her being a minor.

Given the pressures she was facing, many commentators have questioned why she was cleared to skate, with former US Olympic figure skater Polina Edmunds saying it was “devastating that she was put in this situation.”

CAS published a 41-page document on Thursday outlining its reasons for allowing Valieva to compete, notably blaming WADA for the way events had unfolded in the teenager’s case.

Read more:

As the 2022 Winter Olympics nears its conclusion, there’s been no shortage of exhilarating moments and compelling storylines.

Here’s a recap of the biggest Olympic moments that happened on Friday:

⛷ Home favorite makes history: China’s Eileen Gu has had a historic Olympic run, cementing her status as the face of her team’s sporting dreams at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. The American-born teen took gold in the women’s freeski halfpipe on Friday, adding to a medal haul that had already included a gold in last week’s big air event and a silver in Tuesday’s freeski slopestyle event. Gu — whose face is plastered across China on billboards and magazine covers — is now the first athlete to capture three medals in three separate freestyle skiing events at a single Olympics. After her performance on Friday, Gu spoke to the confidence that helped propel her to skiing stardom, revealing, “”At the top I said, ‘My name is Eileen Gu, and I’m the best halfpipe freeskier in the world.'”

🇺🇸 Bobsledder to carry US flag: American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor will get the chance to carry the stars and stripes at Sunday’s closing ceremony. The four-time Olympian had been tapped as a flag bearer for the opening ceremony but was forced to miss as she quarantined following a positive Covid-19 test.

🥇 Norway’s Winter Games dominance: Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bø has captured his fourth gold medal in Beijing, and fifth medal overall. This helps Norway set a Winter Games record with 15 total gold medals. The 28-year-old won Friday’s men’s biathlon 15km mass start by more than 40 seconds, and had previously earned gold in the sprint, relay, and mixed relay biathlon events, as well as the bronze in the individual.

🥅 ROC advances to gold medal match: The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) moves on to the gold medal game in men’s hockey, skating past Sweden 2-1 in the 8th round of a penalty shootout. The ROC will take on Finland in Sunday’s gold medal match.

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.

In the lead-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese officials and state media repeatedly accused the United States and its allies of trying to “sabotage” the Games, lashing out at their diplomatic boycotts over China’s human rights record.

But the past two weeks have shown that it is Russia — China’s close friend and strategic partner — that has ended up partially overshadowing the Games, both in and away from the sporting arena.

Early in the first week, one of the Games’ most watched events, figure skating, was rocked by a doping scandal surrounding Russian skater Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old gold-medal favorite. After a stunning performance on her Olympic debut, Valieva was revealed to have tested positive for a banned substance back in December — an explosive controversy that quickly dominated global media attention of the Games.

And thousands of miles away from Beijing, the massive buildup of Russian military forces near Ukraine’s borders has sent alarm bells ringing across Europe and beyond. Fears of a full-scale invasion by Moscow has put much of the Western world on edge.

For the host nation, both are unwelcome distractions from its big moment in the global spotlight. But given Beijing’s close relations with Moscow — which both sides have described as being at “the highest level in history” — it can’t risk being perceived as critical of Russia.

After all, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Chinese capital earlier this month to show his personal support for the Games, attending an opening ceremony shunned by most Western leaders.

And so as the doping saga and Ukraine crisis made headlines around the world, China downplayed both issues for its domestic audience.

On Tuesday, all eyes were on Valieva when she stepped onto the ice at the women’s short program. Though she had been cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, her positive drug test still loomed over the event, potentially preventing her from collecting a medal should she make the podium.

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.

Read the full analysis:

Five medals were at stake across biathlon, freestyle skiing and speed skating events on Day 14 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Here’s who won gold: 

Biathlon:

Freestyle skiing

Speed skating