Day 12 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

By Aditi Sangal, Ben Morse, Matias Grez, Adam Renton and Helen Regan, CNN

Updated 8:01 p.m. ET, February 16, 2022
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2:23 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

Slovakia upsets Team USA in men's ice hockey, advancing to semifinals with shootout victory

Team Slovakia’s Samuel Knazko #22 celebrates with Patrik Rybar #24 after defeating Team USA in a penalty shootout during the men’s ice hockey quarterfinal match on Wednesday.
Team Slovakia’s Samuel Knazko #22 celebrates with Patrik Rybar #24 after defeating Team USA in a penalty shootout during the men’s ice hockey quarterfinal match on Wednesday. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Slovakia beat the United States 3-2 in the men's ice hockey on Wednesday, with the team advancing to the semifinals after a dramatic penalty shootout.

The US held a 2-1 lead late in the third period, but a goal by Slovakia’s Marek Hrivik tied the game with 43.7 seconds left in regulation.

The game went to overtime, but no one scored in the extra period so it came down to a shootout.

Initially, no one was finding the back of the net in the shootout, either — until Peter Cehlarik got the puck by US goalie Strauss Mann.

Slovakia goalie Patrik Rybar was the hero — stopping all five of Team USA’s shots.

2:09 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

Mikaela Shiffrin adds record-tying 6th event to her Winter Olympics program

Team USA's Mikaela Shiffrin skis during the women's downhill on Tuesday.
Team USA's Mikaela Shiffrin skis during the women's downhill on Tuesday. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

US skier Mikaela Shiffrin has added another race day to her packed Olympic program, as she aims to become only the second woman to compete in all six Alpine skiing events at a single Winter Games.

According to the official Olympics website, Shiffrin on Wednesday announced her intention to ski the the mixed team event, which kicks off on Saturday.

Shiffrin will compete in all five alpine individual events plus the mixed team event. She raced her first Olympic downhill on Wednesday and the super-G on Feb. 11, after crashing out of the giant slalom and slalom last week.

2:04 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

France's Clement Noel wins gold in men's slalom

France's Clement Noel celebrates after winning gold on Wednesday.
France's Clement Noel celebrates after winning gold on Wednesday. (Luca Bruno/AP)

Clement Noel of France won the men's slalom on Wednesday, with a combined time of 1:44.09.

Austria's Johannes Strolz took the silver and reigning world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag of Norway claimed bronze.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misstated the winner's name. He is Clement Noel.

1:41 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

An asterisk will appear next to Kamila Valieva's result on Thursday, IOC says

From CNN's Gawon Bae

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva will have an asterisk next to her result after the free skate program tomorrow, according to International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams.

Adams told reporters Wednesday that as the doping case against Valieva remains open, her results will be preliminary and "pending further investigation."

It is also unlikely the teen skater would appear at the post-event news conference, Adams added.

On welfare: Asked what the IOC has done to help the 15-year-old skater, Adams said they are in touch with her team but "there’s only so much that we can do."

"It must be very tough for her," he said, adding there are about 60 IOC officers employed to safeguard and chaperone athletes.

"We are of course in touch with the team. Her welfare is the team’s first priority and obviously we are very careful of that, but there’s only so much that we can do ... We all need to be very responsible in the way that we discuss this issue, which just to remind you again has not even been concluded yet," Adams said.

On "double standard": Earlier this week, US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson said she saw a double standard in the handling of her case and Valieva's. Richardson was barred from competing at the Tokyo 2020 Games after testing positive for cannabis.

"The only difference I see is I'm a black young lady," Richardson tweeted.

In response, Adams said every case was different and there "isn’t a great deal of similarity between the two cases.”

Richardson tested positive on June 19 last year before the start of the Tokyo Games, Adams added.

"The results came early in order for USADA to deal with the case on time, before the Games. Ms. Richardson accepted a one-month period of ineligibility, which began on June 28."

11:46 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

Beijing 2022 reports two new Olympics-related Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Gawon Bae

The Beijing Olympic Committee found two new Covid-19 cases among Games-related personnel on Tuesday, it said in a statement Wednesday.

In total, the number of Games-related Covid cases since Jan. 23 now stands at 435. Of those, 183 involve athletes or team officials.

The two new cases were identified in Olympics-related stakeholders. One was found at the airport and the other was already inside the “closed loop” system, which keeps Games-related personnel separated from the public.

12:18 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

Team USA's slopestyle gold medalist Alex Hall says it was the best run he's ever done

Team USA's Alex Hall competes in the freestyle skiing men's freeski slopestyle final run on Wednesday.
Team USA's Alex Hall competes in the freestyle skiing men's freeski slopestyle final run on Wednesday. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)

US freestyle skier Alex Hall said he kept "true to myself" to win gold in the men's slopestyle on Wednesday — his first Olympic medal.

"It definitely was the best slopestyle run I've ever done, mainly because it embodied everything I love about skiing and how I approach skiing and I didn't fade away from that to try and maybe get bigger scores or something," Hall said following the event at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou.

Hall said the Great Wall-inspired Olympic slopestyle course is a tough one to ride, especially because of the long rails.

"I would have loved to put down an even better run and up those rails a little bit, but I'm glad it worked out," he said.

Hall's final trick was a right side double 1080, which he attempted despite past difficulties nailing the move.

"That last jump was definitely maybe my hardest trick ... It's still a really, really hard trick for me just because it's hard to judge the rotation and really tough when I don't know my speed exactly and it's been a little tough with wind this week," Hall said.
"Coming into that last jump on that first round I remember I was freaking out and I was just trying to think, 'Stay calm'... and I'm glad it worked out."

Friends on the podium: Hall said he's "so stoked" to win gold and it's made even better winning alongside teammate Nick Goepper, who took silver, and Sweden's Jesper Tjader, who took bronze.

"We're all really tight friends, which I love about freeskiing, and it's an honor to compete with them on the world stage and compete with them on such an amazing and kind of crazy course," Hall said.
12:11 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

South Korean TV commentators had nothing to say about Kamila Valieva's performance

From CNN's Gawon Bae and Teele Rebane

Team ROC’s Kamila Valieva performs during the short program of the women's figure skating competition on Tuesday.
Team ROC’s Kamila Valieva performs during the short program of the women's figure skating competition on Tuesday. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

South Korean TV commentators remained silent during Kamila Valieva's short program skate on Tuesday, in protest at the Russian teen's appearance despite a positive drug test.

"I'd like to inform you that us broadcasters did not make any comments about the performance of [the athlete] whose participation has been enforced amid a positive doping test," said Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) announcer Lee Hyun-gyung.

Retired ice dancer Lee Ho-jung also said she could not comment on Valieva's performance.

"What happens to the other athletes who earned their spot in the Olympics after training all their lives, and to those athletes’ efforts who competed fairly?" she said.
"I really can’t understand this, and I think there should be solid disciplinary action to root out Russia’s state-led doping. As a person who loves this sport and has been in this sport, I am really mad."
11:56 p.m. ET, February 15, 2022

Almost 600 million people have watched the Winter Games on TV in China, IOC official says

People react as they watch Eileen Gu’s silver medal-winning performance in the slopestyle skiing event on TV on Tuesday in Beijing.
People react as they watch Eileen Gu’s silver medal-winning performance in the slopestyle skiing event on TV on Tuesday in Beijing. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Hundreds of millions of people are tuning in to watch the Beijing Winter Olympics across the host nation China, which has a population of 1.4 billion.

"So far, almost 600 million people have watched the Games on TV in China. Of course, we expect this figure to rise," said Timo Lumme, managing director of television and marketing services for the International Olympic Committee.

Lumme said the opening ceremony was the most watched television program of the past 10 years in China, "and is the highest Olympic Games or Olympic Winter Games program since Beijing 2008."

About 2 billion people worldwide will watch the Beijing Games, Lumme added.

Globally, half a billion people tuned in for the opening ceremony — the highest ever for a Winter Olympics.

11:46 a.m. ET, February 16, 2022

We are in the same Olympic city but remain a world apart

From CNN's Selina Wang in Beijing

Two months ago, I called my grandma to tell her I'd be in Beijing for the Winter Olympics. She was thrilled.

But I explained that even though we'd be in the same city, I wouldn't be able to see her. I'd be in a strict bubble, separate from the rest of China's population. My grandma said not to worry. Just focus on your work, she said.

I lived in Beijing before taking up a posting in Tokyo early in the pandemic. When I left, I wasn't sure when I'd see my grandma again. China's borders have been virtually closed for two years because of Covid, and the government has accepted limited visas for journalists.

The Winter Olympics offered a rare chance for me to return to the country.

Yet within the Olympic closed loop, it's as if I'm traversing the city in a glass box, unable to experience the Beijing I know. Hotels and venues are surrounded by temporary walls and security, workers in hazmat suits wait tables or take my Covid test.

So when I noticed a bridge near my hotel that allowed Beijing residents to look down into the closed loop, within the temporary walls, I saw a window of opportunity to see my grandma. I dropped a location pin to my relatives, and told them that unfortunately, this was the closest we could get.

Still, my grandma was delighted, arriving 20 minutes early in her nicest winter coat. I yelled Happy New Year in Mandarin as loud as I could, as she's hard of hearing, and jumped up and down. She took off her mask and smiled broadly, her face crinkling at the edges.

Our meeting was emblematic of the isolation the world has dealt with since the pandemic began.

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