BEIJING, China — American athletes were back in action on Thursday in Beijing, for a second day ahead of Friday’s Opening Ceremony at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Thursday’s early events included more preliminary rounds in mixed doubles curling, along with qualifying runs in freestyle skiing. Early round games in women’s hockey also continued, with the first appearance of the U.S. women’s hockey team.
Here’s a look at some of the top moments in Thursday’s Olympics action.
CURLING
Italy overcame mistakes to defeat the U.S. mixed doubles curling team of Minnesota’s Chris Plys and Alaska’s Vicky Persinger in their second round of play at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Plys and Persinger picked up the first victory for the U.S. at the games with their first round win on Wednesday, but Team USA has since dropped two round robin matches, to Italy and Norway.
FREESTYLE SKIING
Americans Jaelin Kauf, Olivia Giaccio and Hannah Soar placed a respective third, fourth and seventh in qualifying one of women's moguls, moving straight to the finals; Jakara Anthony and Perrine Laffont topped the round.
HOCKEY
The U.S. women's hockey team took down Finland in their first game of the 2022 Winter Olympics by a score of 5-2 as both Kendall Coyne Schofield and Alex Carpenter finished the day with a pair of goals each. However, the victory was not without a cost, as Brianna Decker was injured during the game and needed to be taken off the ice on a stretcher.
COMING UP
The 2022 Winter Olympics officially get underway on Friday with the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. KARE 11 will air the event live on Friday morning in the U.S., with coverage starting at 5:30 a.m. CT. The Opening Ceremony will also be replayed for primetime viewers at 7 p.m. CT.
Curler John Shuster and speed skater Brittany Bowe will serve as flag bearers for Team USA at the Opening Ceremony; Bowe replaces bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19.