Winter Olympics: February 8 in Beijing – Gu and Hanyu to feature

Beijing, February 8: The medals are starting to pile up in Beijing as the first week of the 2022 Winter Olympics continues.

Tuesday (February 8) will see another 11 awarded, with freestyle skiing star Eileen Gu representing China in the women's big air final.

Figure skating sensation Yuzuru Hanyu is set to take to the ice in the men's singles short program qualifying.

The other big non-medal event of the day sees the United States face Canada in the women's ice hockey, which many anticipate will be a dress rehearsal of the eventual final when the top two teams in the world clash.

Stats Perform has previewed all of the medal events taking place in Beijing on Tuesday.

Dear Twitter, Hanyu is here. pic.twitter.com/pxtqJ4p6t2

— Olympics (@Olympics) February 7, 2022

Alpine skiing

The men's super-G sees defending champion Matthias Mayer looking for his fourth Olympic medal, with the Austrian having won downhill gold at Sochi 2014 and then claiming bronze in Monday's downhill event in Beijing.

Brodie Seger of Canada, who was fourth at last year's FIS World Championships, and Great Britain's Dave Ryding, who won World Cup gold in January, are two others to keep an eye out for at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.

Biathlon

The men's 20km individual event takes place on Tuesday, with a packed field including the Russian Olympic Committee's Anton Babikov, who won the last World Cup event before the Olympics in Italy.

Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway will look to successfully defend his 2018 title, with fellow countrymen Sturla Holm Laegreid and Boe's brother, Tarjei, in contention, while Quentin Fillon Maillet of France also provides a potential threat.

Cross country skiing

The women's and men's sprint freestyle events see qualifications, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all happening on Tuesday.

Swedish duo Maja Dahlqvist and Jonna Sundling are among the favourites in the women's event, while Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who won three golds in PyeongChang, is heavily fancied to claim another in the men's equivalent.

Curling

The mixed doubles event will reach its conclusion when Italy face Norway in the final, while Great Britain take on Sweden in the bronze medal match.

The Italians are favourites for the gold having surprised everyone by dominating the round-robin section of the tournament, before thrashing the Swedes 8-1 in Monday's semi-final. Italy is guaranteed its first medal in curling.

Freestyle skiing

Gu had already made several headlines before Beijing 2022 had even begun. The 18-year-old Californian delighted China when she decided to represent the country of her mother's birth instead of the United States.

Nicknamed the "Snow Princess" in China, Gu, who also models, won two gold medals at both the Winter X Games 2021 and the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships, and finished fifth in qualifying for Tuesday's freeski big air final.

Canada's Megan Oldham and France's Tess Ledeux, who finished first and second in qualifying, may be likelier gold medallists though, with the latter recently becoming the first woman to land a double cork 1620 in competition.

🔥⛷️What a season for Eileen Gu! Congratulations to her for winning her first-ever crystal globe. ✨🏅We are looking forward to seeing her shine again at the #Beijing2022 #Olympic #Winter Games. Find out more at➡https://t.co/LMtuCYwAmq pic.twitter.com/9PS7zXdy3c

— Beijing 2022 (@Beijing2022) January 12, 2022

Luge

Natalie Geisenberger will be looking for a third successive women's luge title on Tuesday, with fellow German Julia Taubitz and Madeleine Egle from Austria likely to be her closest competition.

The 34-year-old had expressed concerns about China's human rights record and only belatedly confirmed her attendance at the Games, suggesting that it made little point to protest without everyone else doing so. "It takes more than just a few athletes to boycott," she said. "I would have destroyed my own dream."

Snowboard

The women's and men's parallel giant slalom finals will take place at the Genting Snow Park P & X Stadium.

Ester Ledecka won gold in the women's event in 2018, and also won super-G gold in alpine skiing, the first time anyone has won two golds in two sports at the same Olympics, and the Czech athlete will be fancied to succeed again here, potentially in both disciplines again.

Switzerland's Nevin Galmarini is the defending champion in the men's event but German Stefan Baumeister currently leads the FIS Snowboard World Cup.

Speed skating

The men's 1500m will see world record holder and current Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands compete.

Nuis's record of one minute 40.17 seconds from March 2019 is almost four seconds faster than the current Olympic record, set by Derek Parra of the United States in 2002.