Sports

BEIJING — “Super-proud” snowboarder Zoi Sadowski Synnott made history on Sunday after winning New Zealand’s first ever Winter Olympic gold but the men’s downhill skiers were forced to wait 24 hours for their chance.

Seven golds were up for grabs on the second full day of competition in Beijing.

Seven became six when the men’s downhill — one of the most closely watched events at any Winter Olympics — was postponed until tomorrow because of gusty winds.

Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde — one half of skiing’s golden couple with American Mikaela Shiffrin — will be hot favourite.

Sadowski Synnott, 20, held her nerve to take the women’s snowboard slopestyle title with the last run of the competition.

“Honestly it’s absolute disbelief but it probably means more to me to win New Zealand’s first Winter Olympic gold,” said Sadowski Synnott, who was born in Sydney and moved to New Zealand when she was six.

“It makes me super proud to be a Kiwi.”

Sadowski Synnott, who spent COVID lockdown jumping on a trampoline to help her aerial awareness, launched into a massive jump with her final trick to earn a winning score of 92.88.

She was mobbed by silver medallist Julia Marino of the USA and Tess Coady of Australia, who won bronze.

New Zealand had previously won one silver and two bronze medals at the Winter Olympics — including a third-place finish for Sadowski Synnott in the Big Air competition at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Freestyle skier Jakara Anthony made it an Antipodean double as she won the women’s moguls gold.

More than medals

Cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov became the first Russian to win an Olympic title at these Games — but not for Russia. 

Punished for mass doping at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, the Russians must compete under the banner of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Such was his dominance of the 15-kilometre-plus-15-kilometre skiathlon, Bolshunov had time to wave at the TV cameras long before the race had finished.

He took umbrage afterwards at questions about Russia’s doping-tainted past in cross-country skiing.

“You don’t just become an Olympic champion all of a sudden,” fumed Bolshunov, who won his first gold, adding to three previous silvers and a bronze. 

“As for doping, when I hear those words, it honestly turns me inside out. I do not accept that and when I hear those words, I don’t even want to hear them.”

Clocking 133 kilometres per hour, Germany’s Johannes Ludwig thundered to gold in the men’s luge after holding off a challenge from Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl.

Georgian athlete Saba Kumaritashvili failed to make the luge final — but he was competing for more than medals.

His cousin Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed in the same sport at the 2010 Vancouver Games when his sledge flew off the track in training, hours before the opening ceremony.

“I think about Nodar — I think about him all the time,” said Kumaritashvili.

“After Nodar, I didn’t want luge to die in Georgia, I wanted to keep it going. I wasn’t afraid. I wanted to be in the Olympics to race.”

Panda shortage

Ryoyu Kobayashi won ski jumping gold for Japan on the men’s normal hill, holding his nerve while his main title rivals lost theirs.

Kobayashi became the first Japanese ski jumper to win Olympic gold on foreign snow.

Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer was aiming for a fourth gold in four Games at 5,000 metres, but he could only finish ninth as Sweden’s Nils van der Poel took Kramer’s title and his Olympic record.

Meanwhile, organisers admitted they had failed to produce enough panda souvenirs to keep up with demand.

Bing Dwen Dwen, a cuddly panda on ice skates, is the official mascot of the Beijing Games — but people in China are being turned away disappointed from gift shops.

Zhao Weidong, a spokesman for the local organising committee, blamed the shortage on the Lunar New Year holiday in China.

“The supply of licensed products has been affected by that,” he said. “We are now making efforts in coordinating the production and supply of Bing Dwen Dwen.”

The Beijing Games are taking place in a vast “closed loop” designed to fight the coronavirus.

There have been more than 363 positive cases in the bubble since January 23, according to the latest figures, among them an unknown number of competitors.

The nearly 3,000 athletes are cocooned along with tens of thousands of volunteers, support staff and journalists. Everyone inside the bubble must wear facemasks and take daily COVID tests.

BEIJING — Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug won the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Saturday and hosts China claimed a thrilling victory as sport moved centre stage after a troubled build-up.

Johaug was a comfortable winner of the women’s 7.5-plus-7.5-kilometre skiathlon.

The 33-year-old, who was ruled out of the 2018 Winter Games after failing a doping test for a substance in a lip balm, had to dodge coronavirus after two of her Norwegian teammates tested positive before travelling to these Games.

“At first I was really happy just to come here because we have the COVID in our team,” Johaug said after finally winning an individual Olympic title at her third Games.

“I’ve trained thousands of hours for this and been away from home a lot over the years so it’s beautiful to reach this goal.”

Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a 20-year-old Uyghur who was chosen by China as one of two athletes to light the cauldron in Friday’s opening ceremony, finished 43rd in the skiathlon race.

Yilamujiang’s inclusion in a ceremony watched by a worldwide television audience placed her at the centre of long-time controversy over rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.

Campaigners say China has incarcerated at least one million people from mostly Muslim minorities, notably Uyghurs, in “re-education camps” in Xinjiang.

The United States, Britain, Canada and Australia are among countries staging a diplomatic boycott of the Games over China’s rights record, and particularly the fate of the Uyghurs.

Asked whether the inclusion of a Uyghur competitor in the ceremony met the International Olympic Committee’s standard of political neutrality, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said she had “every right” to participate.

“As you’ll know from the Olympic Charter, we don’t discriminate against people on where they’re from, what their background is,” he said.

China won their first gold of the Games when their quartet claimed victory in the short track speed skating mixed relay on the event’s dramatic Olympic debut.

The Chinese almost failed to reach the final but were reprieved when the United States were penalised for blocking by an infield skater. 

Cheered on by a small but enthusiastic crowd of several hundred at the Capital Indoor Stadium, China crossed the line ahead of Italy.

White bowing out

Shaun White, the American snowboarder who has defined his sport, announced he would retire after he competes in Beijing at his fifth Olympics.

White, three times a gold medallist in the halfpipe, said there were “little signs” that his 35-year-old body was telling him time was up.

“It’s this now, it’s that now — it’s all these little things adding up that’s taking away from days of practice that I would normally have,” he said.

Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, considered the best moguls skier in history, was stunned by 21-year-old Swede Walter Wallberg under the floodlights in Zhangjiakou, just outside Beijing.

Kingsbury was a strong favourite to retain the title he won four years ago, but Wallberg put down a stunning run to beat the Canadian and become Sweden’s syoungest Winter Olympic champion for 58 years.

“Wallberg, with the pressure on, put down the best run of the day and props on him,” said a gracious Kingsbury.

Ursa Bogataj came from behind to win the women’s individual ski jump title — Slovenia’s first ever gold medal in the sport.

Norway earned their second gold of the day in biathlon, triumphing in the 4x6-kilometre mixed relay.

On Sunday Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is the favourite in the high-speed men’s downhill — traditionally one of the highlights of a Winter Olympics.

Kilde’s girlfriend Mikaela Shiffrin meanwhile admitted she would be disappointed to leave Beijing without a medal, but the American skier warned it was impossible to have a flawless Games.

Shiffrin is one of the headline acts at Beijing 2022 as she pursues a third gold after winning in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and giant slalom four years later in Pyeongchang. Her first race is the giant slalom on Monday.

“I’ve never in my life had three weeks where I had no regrets and no disappointment,” Shiffrin said. 

“At the Olympics it’s impossible to have the perfect two weeks.”

The Games are taking place inside a vast “closed loop” bubble designed to thwart COVID-19.

The nearly 3,000 athletes and tens of thousands of support staff, volunteers and media are cut off from Beijing’s general population and tested daily. Masks are compulsory.

The number of COVID cases in the bubble rose above 350 Saturday, among them an unknown number of athletes.

ABU DHABI — Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel will attempt to lead Chelsea to more silverware and a first Club World Cup title as the seven-team competition kicked off Thursday in Abu Dhabi.

The European champions fly out to the UAE following Saturday's FA Cup tie against third-tier Plymouth, and are aiming to become the third English club to win the trophy after Manchester United and Liverpool.

"I have to say once you are in it you are pretty excited," Tuchel told the Chelsea website.

"Once you are not in it, it is a competition that has not the highest focus and highest value. It seems like this in Europe, or only for me.

"But once you are in it and you start planning it and you see it coming on the horizon is it quite exciting."

Tuchel guided Chelsea to a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in last season's Champions League final. The Blues then edged Villarreal on penalties to claim the UEFA Super Cup in August.

Chelsea return to the Club World Cup for a second time having finished as runners-up to Corinthians in 2012 in Japan — the last time a team from outside Europe won the trophy.

They will play Asian Champions League winners Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, local side Al Jazira or Tahiti's AS Pirae in the semi-finals here on February 9. 

"It is a big opportunity to win an extraordinary trophy which is far from daily business and that is why we will do anything to take the chance to make it happen," said Tuchel. 

Can Palmeiras end European run?

Palmeiras, one of a record nine Brazilian clubs to have graced the tournament, should pose the main threat to Chelsea after defending their Copa Libertadores crown in November.

CONCACAF Champions League winners Monterrey are taking part for the fifth time. They face African giants Al Ahly in the second round, with Palmeiras awaiting the victors in the last four.

Al Ahly will make their seventh appearance after capturing a record-extending 10th CAF Champions League title, but the Cairo-based club are without a number of key players who are still involved with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The latest edition of the tournament — which features the champions of the six continental confederations along with the top team in the host nation — was due to be played at the end of 2021 in Japan before it pulled out as host because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Club World Cup is usually played in December but this is the second successive year in which it has been delayed — the 2020 edition in Qatar was played in February last year.

Oceania champions Auckland City withdrew for the second year running due to pandemic complications, leaving Pirae to step in and become the first Tahitian team to compete.

However, the amateurs from French Polynesia were forced to delay their departure last week after seven players and two members of staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Pirae must overcome the 17,000km-plus trip and 14-hour time difference going into the tournament opener against Al Jazira, who came fourth in 2017 and led Real Madrid in the semi-final before losing 2-1.

"First we want to beat Al Jazira and then we want to go all the way and win the trophy. Why not? It's football, anything can happen," Pirae captain Alvin Tehau told FIFA.com.

Bayern Munich won the most recent edition of the Club World Cup, which has been held in the UAE on four previous occasions, most recently in 2018 when Real Madrid were the winners.

A lucrative, revamped 24-team Club World Cup, including eight sides from Europe, was due to be played in China last year before the pandemic put that project on hold.

LONDON — The numbers do not lie. Rafael Nadal stands alone on 21 Grand Slam titles, breaking a tie with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the race to be crowned the greatest male tennis player of all time.

The number of major titles is not the only factor used to determine where players sit in the pantheon, but it is increasingly used as the go-to metric.

Nadal played down his astonishing achievement following his gruelling five-set win over Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final in the early hours of Monday.

The 35-year-old Spaniard said he did not care much whether his 21st title made him the best player in history or not.

But many fans are captivated by the debate about who will ultimately emerge from the golden age of men’s tennis on top, with each of the “Big Three” supported by their own phalanx of die-hard supporters.

Swiss great Federer was out on his own as the sport’s alpha male when he overtook Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam wins at Wimbledon in 2009, with Nadal trailing on six majors and Djokovic on just one.

As the rush of big titles began to slow for Federer from 2010, his two great rivals stepped on the accelerator, consistently winning Grand Slams over the following decade, even though Federer returned to winning ways in 2017 and 2018.

Nadal pulled level on 20 Slams after winning the French Open in 2020 and Djokovic joined the party after scooping three majors during a stellar 2021 season.

But the Spaniard is now out on his own after what he called “the biggest comeback of my career” to complete a 2-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win in Melbourne.

Nadal now has 58 “Big Titles”, defined by the men’s ATP Tour as a trophy at a Grand Slam championship, ATP Finals, Masters 1000 tournament or an Olympic singles gold medal.

He is the fourth man in history to capture at least two trophies at all four Grand Slams, a feat also achieved by Djokovic.

Federer has won the most overall career singles titles of the three, with his tally of 103 only bettered by American Jimmy Connors, who won 109.

Djokovic is out on his own in terms of time spent at No. 1, notching 358 weeks at the top so far, with Federer on 310 and Nadal on 209.

The Serbian, who lags behind his two major rivals in the popularity stakes, also boasts a winning record in head-to-head matches against both, although Nadal edges Djokovic in their Grand Slam meetings.

Battle for immortality

So what next in the battle for tennis immortality?

Nadal did not have to confront either of his great rivals in Melbourne.

Federer was absent injured and Djokovic, unvaccinated against coronavirus, was deported on the eve of the tournament after Australia cancelled his visa.

The future of Federer, 40, is the biggest unknown as he works his way back from a persistent right knee injury that restricted him to just five tournaments last year.

He does not expect to be in action again for months and has said it is unlikely he will be fit for Wimbledon, where he realistically has his best chance of winning another major.

World No. 1 Djokovic, a year younger than Nadal, has time on his side even though he is still a veteran in the men’s game.

Last year he came within one match of completing the calendar-year Grand Slam — winning all four majors in a single year — but was soundly beaten in the final of the US Open by Medvedev.

Issues off the court could scupper the Serbian player’s bid to end up on top. There are serious questions over whether he will be able to defend his French Open title under existing COVID-19 rules and he may also not be able to play in the US Open for the same reason.

If Djokovic is not at Roland Garros, Nadal would be a strong favourite to win a 14th French Open title.

Nadal himself wondered if he would even play again after a foot injury sidelined him for much of last season but, exhaustion aside, he will now be looking forward to the rest of the season with a spring in his step.

LOS ANGELES — Devin Booker scored 35 points and Mikal Bridges tallied a season-high 27 as the league-leading Phoenix Suns dominated the Brooklyn Nets 121-111 to stretch their winning streak to 11 games.

Bridges shot 10-of-14 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds as he posted his second-straight season-high total after scoring 26 points against San Antonio on Sunday.

Chris Paul finished with 20 points and 14 assists and Cam Johnson came off the bench to score 16 points for the Suns, who continued their best start to the season in franchise history. They had won 18 games in a row from October to December.

“We have a mission to get to the championship,” Booker said. “We bring it every day. Even in our losses, we are trying to find ways to improve.”

Part-time player Kyrie Irving scored a team-high 26 points, while James Harden had 22 for the Nets, who have lost five straight. Reserve Blake Griffin scored 17 points.

This was just the ninth game of the season for Irving, who can only play road games for the Nets because he refuses to get vaccinated. 

The Suns took a 91-82 lead into the fourth quarter and never looked back. 

In Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo posted his fourth triple-double of the season as the Milwaukee Bucks handed the Washington Wizards their sixth straight loss with a 112-98 victory.

Washington erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit and even took an 86-83 lead on Rui Hachimura’s three-pointer with 8:28 to play, but the Bucks outscored Washington 29-12 down the stretch.

“We have to realise that in order for us to be great, we’ve got to play hard. We cannot expect that people are just going to hand us the game when we go out there,” Antetokounmpo said. 

“People are coming for us. People are hunting us right now. They get excited when they see, ‘Milwaukee Bucks, world champs.’ We’ve got to play every single night hard and build that habit.”

Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists, the third straight time he has scored at least 30 points when making a triple-double.

The Bucks were coming off a 136-100 home loss to the Denver Nuggets.

“That wasn’t us as a team,” Antetokounmpo said of the Nuggets game. “I don’t remember the last time I lost by 36 in Milwaukee. Obviously, that was kind of embarrassing, but at the end of the night, those nights are going to happen. But we were able to come out [tonight], play hard and play together, try to set the tone.”

Jrue Holiday scored 22 points, Bobby Portis 17, Khris Middleton 13 and Grayson Allen 10 for the Bucks. 

Kyle Kuzma had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Wizards, who were missing all-star guard Bradley Beal, out with a left wrist sprain.

Montrezl Harrell came off the bench to score 20 points, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 12 in the loss. Spencer Dinwiddie finished with seven points, seven rebounds and nine assists.

‘Wolves cruise

Elsewhere, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 24 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished seven assists and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 130-115 win over Denver.

Taurean Prince added 23 points for the Timberwolves, who have won two games in a row and 10 of their past 15. Jarred Vanderbilt finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Malik Beasley and Naz Reid each finished with 12.

Nikola Jokic had 21 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Nuggets, who had their five-game win streak halted. Will Barton and Monte Morris had 13 points apiece for Denver.

In Toronto, Gary Trent delivered his fifth straight game of at least 30 points, finishing with 33 as the Toronto Raptors eased past the Miami Heat 110-106.

LOS ANGELES — Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris combined for 64 points as the Philadelphia 76ers won their fifth straight game with a 122-119 overtime victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in a clash between two of the hottest teams in the NBA on Monday.

Maxey scored 33 points and Harris finished with 31 points for the Sixers, who won despite being without their leading scorer Joel Embiid.

“Our motto tonight was don’t let them punk us,” said Maxey.

Maxey, who also had eight assists and four blocked shots, scored the go-ahead basket with 26 seconds left in the fourth quarter in front of a crowd of 20,400 at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia.

Ja Morant led the Grizzlies with 37 points and Desmond Bane added 34, including five points in overtime.

The Sixers and the Grizzlies have been two of the best teams in the league since Christmas.

Embiid has been the catalyst for Philadelphia during the surge which has seen them win 15 of their last 18 games.

He did not play against Memphis on Monday because the team wanted to give him the night off. 

Tobias Harris produced 31 points and Andre Drummond had 16 points and 23 rebounds in the win.

Jaren Jackson tallied 18 and Steven Adams grabbed 12 rebounds for Memphis, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

The Grizzlies have won 12 of 15 in January but their difficult schedule finally caught up with them against the Sixers.

Maxey, who went to the University of Kentucky, says he enjoys the challenge of going up against an elite guard like Bane, who played college at Texas Christian University.

“You circle some of these games on the calendar because it is a marquee match-up,” Maxey said. “Bane is a great player. He came out of my class. Today I wanted to get the win and put the world on notice as well.”

Elsewhere, Stephen Curry scored 40 points, including 21 in the final quarter, as the Golden State Warriors won their sixth straight contest with a 122-108 blowout victory over the mistake-prone Houston Rockets.

Curry also had nine assists and five rebounds and made seven three pointers en route to posting his sixth 40-point game of the season.

Andrew Wiggins had 23 points for Golden State who shot 53.8 per cent from the floor and 42.5 per cent from beyond the arc.

Warriors turn it on late

The Warriors sent Houston to their fourth consecutive loss and 11th straight defeat on their home court.

Curry carried the offensive load in the fourth, shooting seven-of-10 from the field and four-of-seven from three point range. Wiggins grabbed five rebounds and shot eight of 14 in the win.

Christian Wood (24 points, 13 rebounds) and Kevin Porter (17 points, 11 assists) posted double-doubles for the Rockets, who dug themselves a huge hole after committing eight third quarter turnovers.

In Boston, Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 29 points and Jayson Tatum contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Boston Celtics thrashed the Miami Heat 122-92. 

Marcus Smart added 16 points and seven assists and Al Horford contributed 14 points and nine boards for the Celtics, who have beaten the Heat twice this season.

Miami struggled to score with forward Jimmy Butler out due to a right toe injury. 

YAOUNDÉ — Kamou Malo’s Burkina Faso face Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations semifinals on Wednesday with a young team that has brought cheer to a country in turmoil under a local coach who has undertaken a remarkable rebuilding job.

Malo dedicated the Stallions’ quarter-final victory over Tunisia “to our people who are being tested by current events” after a military coup in the country which is battling a an insurgency.

Burkina Faso was suspended from the African Union on Monday and it cannot be easy for their players to remain completely focused on the objective of upsetting Senegal and progressing to the final.

In the circumstances, having Malo, 59, at the helm may be especially precious right now.

Burkina Faso has reached the Cup of Nations final before, losing to Nigeria in 2013.

Then they were coached by the Belgian Paul Put, while when the Stallions finished third in 2017, the man in charge was Portugal’s Paulo Duarte.

It is common for African national teams to be led by a European, and two of the other three semifinalists in Cameroon have a Portuguese coach — Carlos Queiroz and Toni Conceicao are in charge of Egypt and the hosts respectively, while Aliou Cisse is the Senegal boss.

In Burkina Faso, Duarte’s failure to lead the team to the 2019 AFCON persuaded the federation to change direction.

Retired policeman

“We wanted to build something new,” Colonel Sita Sangare, the former federation president, told AFP.

“We needed someone who could come in and really shake things up.”

Malo, who calls himself “a born leader”, is different to many of his peers in more ways than one.

He is a retired police officer for a start, and there is no doubting his authority — he included his son Patrick in the Cup of Nations squad, but he has not featured since starting in the opening defeat by Cameroon.

Malo senior was brought up playing football on the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou, but he trained for the police force and was about to sit his exams to become a police captain when he got the chance to go to Germany and study for his coaching badges.

He enjoyed success coaching domestically, including winning the title at Rail Club du Kadiogo, before getting the chance to manage the national team in 2019.

“I was asked to rebuild but also lead the team to qualification. It was not an easy task for the novice and layman that I was then,” he told AFP.

Burkina Faso topped their qualifying group without losing and went unbeaten through qualifying for the World Cup despite having to play home games in Morocco.

They held Algeria twice, but just missed out to them for first place in the group and so will not be in Qatar.

Local expertise

Among the players Malo has brought through is Dango Ouattara, the winger who scored the winner against Tunisia but was later sent off, meaning he will not face Senegal.

Stephen Keshi is the only coach from Sub-Saharan Africa to have won the AFCON this millennium, but Malo is no doubt having the local knowledge is “an asset”.

“I would encourage those running federations in Africa to recruit local coaches. It was a risk but the results speak for themselves,” he said.

“We should have more confidence in ourselves and give local coaches the same opportunities.

“I prefer to see expertise passed on rather than just having people come and work here.

“As long as they see results people in Africa will applaud, but in 2019 when we didn’t qualify people asked why we had to bring in foreign expertise at great cost.

“Why not show faith in local knowledge? And let’s not hide the fact that we don’t cost a lot. We know what our people expect from us. People in Burkina Faso love football.”