Sports

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer BEIJING (AP) — The Russians go into another Olympics without NHL players as the favorite to win gold. They won in 2018 with a star-studded roster that included Kirill Kaprizov, Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk. None of those players or any of the goaltenders from Pyeongchang is on the

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — It was a miserable day on the mountains outside of Beijing for American stars Mikaela Shiffrin and Red Gerard. Shiffrin’s opening race in the Beijing Olympics ended quickly with a rare mistake and a rare Did Not Finish. Shiffrin was favored to defend her gold medal

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Nathan Chen had enough pressure on him heading into the men’s program at the Beijing Olympics: One of the faces of the NBC broadcast, he is a suave, Nike-sponsored superstar whose marketability rivals his figure skating ability. On Monday night, he was left worrying about whether

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP National Writer BEIJING (AP) — Ireen Wüst added to her haul as the most decorated speedskater in Olympic history with another gold at the Beijing Games. The 35-year-old Dutch skater defended her title in the 1,500 meters with an Olympic-record time of 1 minute, 53.28 seconds at the Ice Ribbon oval.

By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer Britain and Ireland has dropped plans for a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup, opting instead to try to stage the 2028 European Championship. The pursuit of the flagship FIFA men’s tournament was being led by the English Football Association, which assessed the prospects of winning

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — The race is on to snap up scarce 2022 Winter Olympic souvenirs. Dolls of mascot Bing Dwen Dwen sold out after buyers waited in line overnight in freezing weather. People showed up with stools outside the Gongmei Emporium on the Wangfujing pedestrian mall in central Beijing. Some

BEIJING (AP) — Ireen Wüst has added to her haul as the most decorated speedskater in Olympic history with another gold. The 35-year-old Dutch skater won her second straight gold in the 1,500 meters. She set an Olympic record with a time at the Ice Ribbon oval in Beijing. Miho Takagi of Japan claimed the

By JAKE SEINER AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — The Shougang Group steel mill that once billowed smoke into smoggy Beijing is sending something else skyward this week — Olympic skiers. The sprawling industrial park was shuttered in conjunction with Beijing’s efforts to clean up its image and its air around the 2008 Games. It

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Wirter ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Chinese teenager Su Yiming was a surprise silver medalist in the Olympic men’s slopestyle competition. The 17-year-old who once was a child actor and now a snowboarder couldn’t mask his emotions over the moment. Su was awestruck by all of it. Of course the medal.

By SALLY HO and KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — China returned to work Monday after a weeklong Lunar New Year holiday muted by the pandemic — and even more so for the thousands of people inside a Winter Olympics bubble. For volunteers and competitors, there’s no hong bao – red envelopes – with

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot took home the Olympic gold medal in men’s slopestyle just over three years removed from being diagnosed with cancer. Parrot was technically superior on his second of three runs and scored a 90.96 to hold off the field. He tossed his

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Officially, the Beijing Olympics are taking place inside what organizers are calling “the enclosed compound activity area.” That’s a fancy way of saying “a closed loop.” You probably know it better as “the bubble.” And bubbles are now part of the norm at major sporting events.

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. speedskater Casey Dawson is finally on his way to the Olympics. He tested positive for COVID-19 three weeks ago and has struggled to get the necessary clearance to travel to Beijing. US Speedskating says on Twitter that Dawson finally resolved everything and was on a flight to Beijing. Dawson missed the

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Swimming will have world championships after all in 2022. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the sport’s world governing body jointly announced the “extraordinary” event starting June 18. It fills a gap left by the scheduled event in Japan being pushed back to 2023 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world’s

BEIJING (AP) — Swedish skier Sara Hector has won gold in the women’s giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics. It was her first individual victory at a major championship. The 29-year-old Hector finished two runs down a course known as The Ice River at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center. Her unofficial combined time was 1

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Swedish skier Sara Hector capped a recent career resurgence by winning the gold medal in the women’s giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics. The win is her first individual victory at a major championship. The 29-year-old Hector finished the two runs  in an unofficial combined time

BEIJING (AP) — A skeleton athlete from Belgium has been able to participate in training after she was placed into virus-related isolation. Kim Meylemans was ninth-fastest out of 24 sliders in one training run, then 18th-fastest in the next. Meylemans tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in China, and thought she was going to the

By JOE McDONALD Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — The race is on to snap up scarce 2022 Winter Olympics souvenirs. Dolls of mascot Bing Dwen Dwen, a panda in a winter coat, sold out after buyers waited in line overnight in freezing weather. People showed up with stools outside the Gongmei Emporium on the Wangfujing

BEIJING (AP) — China’s U.N. ambassador has fired back at his U.S. counterpart over her remarks about sending a member of the Uyghur ethnic group to help deliver the Olympic flame and the Beijing Games. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview with CNN that the choice was an attempt to “distract” from the issue