Olympics Live: US skier O’Brien has compound fracture

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the Beijing Winter Olympics:

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The U.S. ski team says American skier Nina O’Brien has sustained a compound fracture of her left tibia and fibula after falling toward the end of the women’s giant slalom at the Beijing Games.

Monday’s race had to be delayed for about 15 minutes when O’Brien slid across the finish line at the end of her second run. She was screaming in pain after stumbling through the last gate as her skis crossed in front of her.

O’Brien was taken to hospital in Yanqing for “an initial stabilization procedure” and the team says she will return to the U.S. for further evaluation and care.

The 24-year-old O’Brien had been sixth fastest after the opening run.

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American-born Eileen Gu of China cranked out the first 1620 of her career on her final jump, stunning France’s Tess Ledeux and earning the first of what she hopes will be three gold medals in women’s freestyle big air.

Nicknamed the “Snow Princess,” Gu is among the biggest local names at the Beijing Games. She’s a medal favorite in big air, slopestyle and halfpipe. Her first stab at gold came down to the last round.

Ledeux is the only other woman to ever land a 1620 — 4 ½ spins — in competition, and she stomped one out with a slight wobble on the landing in Round 1.

Gu hinted after qualifying Monday that she might be able to match Ledeux. With everything on the line, she did.

The 18-year-old from San Francisco shrieked when she landed the jump, then dropped to her knees when her score of 94.50 was announced.

Ledeux tried to improve on her second run in Round 3, coming into the jump backward for a switch 1440. She was shaky on the landing, though, clearing the way for Gu’s gold.

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki wore a Team USA pin and brought a Team USA water bottle to the daily White House briefing.

She noted that the administration did not send a diplomatic delegation to the Olympics because of the “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”

“At the same time, we wanted to note that Team USA has our full support. We’re behind them. We’re watching from home. We want to thank them and their families for everything they’ve sacrificed over the course of time.”

Psaki described herself as a “Olympics-obsessed person,” and she mentioned figure skater Nathan Chen — “we’re going to watch him” — snowboarder Chloe Kim and skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who fell in her first event, the giant slalom, and was disqualified, but expects to compete in additional races.

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A second Finland men’s hockey player has been taken to an isolation hotel after testing positive for the coronavirus in Beijing.

Goaltender Jussi Olkinuora has joined forward Marko Anttila in isolation. The Finnish Olympic Committee confirmed Olkinuora was taken Monday and that Anttila remains there.

A spokesman for the Finnish Olympic Committee says Olkinuora and Anttila recovered from COVID-19 last month and tested negative to travel to Beijing. Neither Olkinuora nor Anttila have reported any symptoms.

The Finnish Olympic Committee is unsure when either player could be released. The team plays its first game Thursday.

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