The Latest: US ice rhythm dancers tops in team short program
BEIJING (AP) — The latest on the Beijing Olympics:
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Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue have delivered a season-best performance in rhythm dance at the Beijing Olympics, giving Team USA a second straight win on the opening day of figure skating.
Nathan Chen won the men’s short program with a dynamic, high-flying program that featured a pair of quads. Hubbell and Donohue followed up with a near-flawless performance to music from Janet Jackson at Capital Indoor Stadium.
In the team event, 10 points are awarded to first place in each discipline, which means the Americans have a perfect 20 so far. The Russian Olympic Committee is second with 17 after Mark Kondratiuk’s third-place finish and a shaky second-place performance by ice dance world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov.
Italy is in third place with 14 points heading into the pairs discipline later Friday.
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The second men’s downhill ski training session is underway at the Beijing Olympics after a delay due to strong winds.
Overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt of Switzerland was first to set off down the slope an hour after originally scheduled Friday.
The world’s best skiers only got the chance to see the Rock course up close for the first time on Thursday. There is a third training session scheduled Saturday before the men’s downhill opens the Alpine competition the following day.
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Three-time men’s figure skating world champion Nathan Chen has delivered a strong short program to open the team competition at the Beijing Games. That gets the Americans off to a good start in their pursuit of a third straight medal in the event.
Chen, who struggled in the team event in Pyeongchang, opened with a big quad flip and hit his difficult quad lutz-triple toe loop combination to deliver the highest score among the men Friday and give the U.S. the maximum 10 points.
Reigning Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno was second to give Japan nine points. Eighteen-year-old Mark Kondratiuk was third for the Russian Olympic Committee, which is favored to win the team event.
The short program for ice dance and pairs are later Friday, then the teams get a day off before the women’s short program on Sunday. The top five teams after that advance to free skates for the medals Sunday and Monday.
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Organizers say nine more athletes and officials tested positive for COVID-19 in cases confirmed on Thursday, raising the total to 111 since the Beijing Olympic period started on Jan. 23.
Seven cases were detected at the Beijing airport, making it 77 out of 5,255 athletes and officials who arrived through Thursday. The other two cases came from daily PCR testing that all people inside the Olympic bubbles must undergo.
Organizers say 12 more positive cases were detected among “stakeholders” — mostly workers at the Games including media. Seven of those were at the airport and five in daily tests.
The overall total of positive cases is 308 through Thursday. Almost 12,000 people have arrived in Beijing from outside China.
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Organizers have delayed the start of the second men’s downhill training session at the Beijing Olympics due to strong winds.
The session had been scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Beijing time, but organizers will only make a decision then whether it can start at the new scheduled time of noon.
The world’s best skiers only got the chance to see the Rock course up close for the first time on Thursday. There is a third training session scheduled Saturday before the men’s downhill opens the Alpine competition the following day.
Weather is yet another source of stress for competitive skiers who can do nothing to control changing conditions on the slopes.
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Chinese figure skating judge Huang Feng, who was suspended in 2018 for biased judging at the Pyeongchang Olympics, was among the three officials on the technical panel for the team event to start the Beijing Games.
Huang served a one-year suspension after he was accused of biased judging in the pairs event in Pyeongchang.
The International Skating Union, which assigns the judges and technical panel, said in a statement that Huang was cleared to work the Olympics after serving his suspension provided he continues to abide by the organization’s code of ethics. The technical panel is responsible for identifying all the elements that skaters execute during their programs.
Huang received a round of applause from the several hundred fans, all Chinese citizens, who were allowed into Capital Indoor Stadium for the start of Friday’s program. He stood and gave a brief wave before sitting back down.
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