Here’s a roundup of the gold medals won at the Beijing Games on Saturday, February 19, 2009.
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SKIING CROSS-COUNTRY
30KM MASS START FOR MEN
Alexander Bolshunov won his third Olympic gold medal. He won a 30-kilometer mass-start cross-country ski race. The race was shortened due to strong winds and cold temperatures.
In the final kilometer, the Russian was part of a breakaway group consisting of five men. He continued climbing up the stadium’s final climb, and won the title in 1:11 minutes, 32.7 seconds.
Russian teammate Ivan Yakimushkin crossed over the line 5.5 seconds later for silver. Simen Hegstad Krueger, of Norway, took bronze 7 seconds behind.
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CURLING
MEN’S
Niklas Edin, the Swedish gold medalist, led Sweden to the gold on Saturday four years after he lost in Pyeongchang to American upstart John Shuster. He beat Britain 5-4 in what was the first extra-end men’s final in Olympic history.
Canada was ready to claim the bronze medal it won on Friday, so Edin used the last-rock advantage in the tiebreaker end to place his penultimate rock in the middle of the target area.
The Swedes won the match after British skip Bruce Mouat failed on a ricochet. They both paused, as it is not polite to celebrate the loss of an opponent, and then they let out a yell.
Their alternate and coaching staff raced down to the ice for the celebration.
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SKIING IN YOUR CHOICE
MEN’S HALLFPIPE
Nico Porteous from New Zealand won the Olympic ski halfpipe final despite the wind swirling around him. This was a day that many skiers struggled to land their best tricks because of the strong gusts.
Porteous earned a score of 93 on his first run, which was performed in bitterly cold conditions and a breezy morning at Genting Snow Park. He scored a 93 in his first run, despite the difficult conditions that made it difficult for skiers to connect big air and spins.
David Wise, a two-time Olympic champion, took home silver with a first-run score 90.75. Wise, 31, was the only male winner of the men’s event. Alex Ferreira, from the United States, did a strong first run and wriggled his right ski pole to the bottom in exhilaration, to win the bronze.
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SPEEDSKATING
MASS START FOR MEN
Bart Swings from Belgium won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics’ final men’s speedskating event, the mass start.
Swings won a silver medal in the fast-paced event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. South Korea took the bronze, while Chung Jae Won won the silver. Lee Seung Hoon, the defending Olympic champion, settled for bronze.
Joey Mantia, three-time world champion from the United States, just missed out on a gold medal Although he posted the same time to Lee, the replay showed that the South Korean skater’s tip crossed the line just ahead Mantia’s blade.
WOMEN’S MASS START
Irene Schouten, a Dutch woman who won her third gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, beat Ivanie Blondin from Canada to win the women’s mass start.
Schouten was the star of the Winter Games’ final speedkating event. She pushed hard to win Blondin by 0.06 second in the Ice Ribbon.
Schouten let loose a scream when she crossed the line. This was in addition to her gold medals at the 3,000 and the 5,000 meters. She won the Beijing first and last speedskating events with a clever bookend.
Blondin settled on the silver while Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy received the bronze.
