Day 12 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

After a tense finish in the women's event, there was no such drama in the final straight of the men's team sprint classic as Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo powered away from the field to finish more than 15 meters clear of his nearest rival.

It's a remarkable fifth Winter Olympics gold medal for Klæbo -- his second of Beijing 2022 -- who, at just 25 years of age, is already considered one of the greatest cross-country sprint skiers of all time.

Teammate Erik Valnes was there to greet Klæbo as he crossed the finish line to clinch Norway's 13th gold of these Games.

Finland finished a distant second to take the silver medal, with the Russian Olympic Committee taking bronze.

Curling at Beijing 2022 has been almost a daily event, with men and women lacing up to slide their rocks around at the National Aquatics Centre.

And after a while, it's beginning to have an effect on some of the maneuvers athletes need to perform.

According to Team GB's Bruce Mouat, getting down low and stretching his legs is where he's most feeling it now after almost 12 consecutive days on the ice.

“I think it’s maybe lunging, you do that a lot when you’re sliding. You obviously got a wee bit of fatigue there," he said after his GB team beat the ROC 8-6 in the men's curling round robin on Wednesday.

“Body feels really good, mind as well. I’m in a really good head space. I feel like I’m playing really well."

But Mouat says he'd happily keep playing the sport he loves for as long as possible.

“I love curling so if I get to do that for a month straight, then I’ll do it for a month straight.”

The Winter Olympics are a global Games for athletes, but that's also true of the people working behind the scenes at Beijing 2022.

Canadians Mark Peter Messer and Matthew James Messer are the men responsible for ice making at the National Speed Skating Oval.

Both worked on the ice in PyeongChang in 2018, and four years later they've been intent on providing record-breaking surfaces.

But, Mark -- widely regarded as the finest ice-maker on the planet -- believes that the ice in the National Speed Skating Oval is even faster than the one they made in South Korea, as evidenced by the fact a number of Olympic speed skating records have already been broken in Beijing.

“We have been very successful with our records," he said during a press conference. "We have records in almost every distance. We’re getting very good feedback from the athletes and from the coaches that we have made a good surface for them to perform on."

A process that began almost immediately after the last Winter Olympics, they have been working with a small team from Canada alongside local ice-makers in China to ensure the ice is maintained after the games.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

“As the pandemic started to hit, we started doing longer trips but less work, because we would do quarantining before and quarantining when we got back to Canada, so it created some challenges there, for sure," said Mark.

"Some of the trips we would have done, we didn’t do because of the restrictions. So we did more work over Zoom calls and technology calls.

“We had some challenges, for sure. We did not have a lot of experience before the Games where we could learn. Usually, if you open a building, it takes you three or four or five years to really understand how everything works together.

“There are the effects of the air, the effects of the humidity, the lights, the people that come in. There are many factors that affect the quality of the ice and we did not have a big opportunity to learn that because with the pandemic that’s going on we did not have the opportunity to have the test events.

“We had some small test events, and we appreciated the people that came for those. We learned some small stuff, but most of the learning that we did we had to make as soon as the Olympic athletes came."

As well as making the fastest circuit possible, both men have been tasked with making the National Speed Skating Oval as environmentally friendly as they could.

“The CO2 refrigeration that we are using here is very efficient, much more user-friendly as far as the environment (is concerned), and it’s definitely the way that things should be proceeding in the future," said Mark.

"The HFC (hydroflourocarbons) refrigerants that are used in many of the older buildings will be slowly phased out and this will be the way that it happens in the next few years.

“We had to re-design a lot of the refrigeration so that we could incorporate the CO2 system into the building, which as I said before was a brilliant move. It’s been so successful having that system.

"That was something that took a little bit longer to design, but was well worth the effort.

“This technology is going to be used extensively moving forward. There’s a push to go to natural refrigeration, so C02, ammonia, are two of the main ones that of course we’ll get back to.”

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach reached out to US figure skaters Wednesday to discuss the ongoing situation concerning Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) skater Kamila Valieva and the postponed team event medal ceremony, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) spokesperson Kate Hartman confirmed to CNN.

Team USA had won the silver medal at the team event on February 7, where the ROC took the gold as Valieva became the first woman to land a quad at the Winter Olympics.

The medal ceremony was subsequently postponed after a positive drugs test, now known to be Valieva's, was returned by a member of the ROC figure skating team.

The IOC announced Monday that it would “not be appropriate” for the medal ceremony to take place at the Beijing Games until Valieva’s case had concluded.

Hartman told CNN that Bach's meeting with US figure skaters lasted two hours, longer than expected, and the skaters said they found the meeting helpful.

Germany pipped pre-race favorite Sweden and the Russian Olympic Committee to win gold in the women's team sprint classic in a thrilling three-way finish down the home straight.

The tall figure of Victoria Carl burst past Sweden's Jonna Sundling on the final corner and held her off by a mere 0.17 seconds, with the ROC's Natalya Nepryayeva just 0.71 seconds behind.

Sweden looked certain to take the gold medal in the closing stages, but Carl impressively found another gear to claim Germany's 10th gold medal of Beijing 2022.

Elvira Öberg takes in the cheers and applause from the Swedish contingent in the stands as she makes her way down the finishing straight.

It was a brilliant final leg from Öberg -- holding off the challenge of the ROC's Uliana Nigmatullina -- on a bitterly cold afternoon in Zhangjiakou, where temperatures reportedly dropped to -14°C (6.8°F).

Öberg was mobbed as she crossed the finish line by her delighted teammates, sister Hannah -- who she took the baton from for the final leg -- Mona Brorsson and Linn Persson.

Germany finished just behind the ROC to take the bronze medal.

Italy appeared to be well placed around the halfway mark, but five penalty loops for missed targets in the shooting cost the team dearly.

Team USA were dumped out of the Beijing 2022 men's ice hockey event on Wednesday, being stunned by Slovakia 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.

After a goalless overtime, Peter Cehlarik's penalty was the descive goal, with Slovakia goalie Patrik Rybar stopping all five of Team USA’s shots.

Team USA forward Sam Hentges lamented his side's performance afterwards.

The combination of the last minute equalizer and the penalty shoot heartbreak was a tough pill to swallow for the Americans.

Steven Kampfer, Team USA's defender, called the defeat "really tough."

"It's disappointing. We were the better team for a majority of the game. You just come up a little bit short.

"Going into these games we've got a great team and a chance to get a medal here."

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

Noel became the third man from France to win Olympic gold in the slalom, and was cheered on from some keen supporters back home.

"They woke up really early to see me (on TV), to be behind me. I think they were really stressed, my girlfriend was more stressed than me. She couldn't sleep." 

It's the 24-year-old's first Olympic medal having narrowly missed out on a medal four years ago in PyeongChang.

Celebrating with his medal, Noel called it "one of the most important races in my career."

"It's not often that you are able to win a medal in the Olympic Games. It's one shot -- one minute and 40 seconds every four years," he said.

"I knew that I was in shape. My races in January were not good but training here was really good, I was fast.

"This is the best I can do. I have no words to describe it. Olympic champion ... wooh!"

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.