Joshi

Holy smokes Bankes out.

Well done Vlhova and Slovakia. @hckošiceyou can relax now

Wow. Very frustrating for her so far. https://twitter.com/jamesgraysport/status/1491277567885975553?t=mm1EsZ-v6YtxwhJer3-IDw&s=19

OK I have no idea what that was from Gao. That was an Elizabeth Swamey moment.

Yeahhhh Scotty, that was lovely. I think he and maybe White will break a Japanese sweep.

Totsuka holy crap the Japanese are looking for a sweep in the HP. I've seen enough. This is only qualifying.

Oh my goodness gracious. Ayumu Hirano.

I agree although it wasn't Su that got robbed I believe it was Mark McMorris that got robbed. His run was way and above more technical than both Parrot and Su. So theoretically it should've been McMorris, Su and Parrot in that order. But either all Canada winning both gold and bronze will remain the status quo so I suppose in Canada's point of view it wouldn't make a difference unless of course you're McMorris.

I actually don't mind Eileen Gu but I definitely don't think she deserves all the social media trolls back in the States attacking her and saying that the US should rip up her citizenship and that she's not allowed back into this country. Blah blah blah. Hint of xenophobia sure. But you can definitely see a bit of swag or even arrogance that makes many Americans, which is ironic want to seethe and loathe her. I don't think she helps herself there. But you know in later years how this will affect her long term because she will get harrased even more when she goes back to the US you can bet that.

It's a win for Germany.

Oh man! Was hoping Mark McMorris would win

You won't believe it. Its our nation's 182nd birthday (Waitangi Day) today and Zoi delivered the best present ever. Now everyone will get back to drinking and partying. Thank you Zoi. That was stressful

Lol do people not realize that it's qualifying, you really think they'll put their best runs forward? Oh puhlezze, in all honesty particularly for Zoi it looked like a training run.

Going for Danish athletes . I see Denmark a lot like my country, we have overbearing neighbours who win a ton of medals. In our case the summer games (Australia). Denmark's case their fellow Nordic giants and Germany in the winter games. Of course Australia in particular Scotty James in HP. I have a Russian grandfather . So will have a keen eye on how they go I guess. Although not a keen follower on Russia in sport coz you know 😉. But that's for another day lol.

Here I was thinking Nadal was dead and buried after the 2nd set when he blew it...

Talk that NZ won't have a flag bearer at all but an official doing it and that no athletes will be present at the ceremony. Surely that's not the case, but if so NZ's paranoia with Covid from Stalinda Ardern has filtered through to the NZOC.

NZ As with the case NZs best chance for medals are in the Freestyle and Snowboard events. We could end up with 0 in a worst case scenario, 3 medals on a somewhat expected scenario or 8 medals which would be mind-boggling. Alpine Skiing. Alice Robinson our only medal hope has got time on her hands. She's been in indifferent form but has really improved in the speed events, notably SG and is an outsider in her 2nd event. But her main event is obviously GS. So prediction 0-1 Biathlon. Campbell Wright another athlete has time on his hands and going for experience as this will become beneficial in time to come. So hopefully a top 20 finish will put him great stead for the future. So prediction 0 Freestyle Skiing. Nico Porteous has a lot of pressure on his young shoulders but he seems to be one of the only ones pushing the boundaries in the HP. I will not be surprised if his brother Miguel along with young guns Harrington (18) and Legnavsky(16) can upset the apple cart and nick a medal. I am however hoping rather than expecting Nico pulls it off and gets a gold if not a medal, but this sport has so many variables out of your hands. Finn Bilous and Ben Barclay can really cause an upset because they both have the skills to do it in both SS and BA. I expect nothing from the women as I'm surprised they've selected them, surely we have better freestylers than them next time round. Prediction 1-4 Snowboarding. Zoi Sadowski Synnott is the out and out biggest medal hope for gold for NZ and could win not 1 but 2 golds in both SS and BA. Worst case scenario for her 1 medal of the minor colour. Watching her at X Games just now. Absolutely wow she's lifted the level to a new extreme. But again another sport which has so many variables out of your control and I'm sure her rivals will send it. Cool Wakushima is an outside chance. Tiarn Collins could really send the cat amongst the pigeons in SS he's got all the ingredients and can pull it off which will come as no surprise for me at all. So prediction 2-3 Speed Skating. Peter Michael is not the same speed skater as 4 years ago so nothing from him but a Top 10 finish. Prediction 0. The good thing is regardless, Whether the good or bad scenarios NZ is finally taking winter sports a little bit more serious. Because quite often it's a bit of an after thought. All of these athletes selected come from the rural areas of the province of Otago where its the only place in NZ that often snows so makes sense. The big medal hopes come from the Queenstown-Wanaka Lakes district which has a population of around 30 odd thousand. So it really is the hotbed of winter sports in NZ.

Well thank god for that. Was scared he wouldn't make it and then we'll end up losing him. Hopefully he gets the support he needs now. It's a travesty it took this long.

What would really annoy me is that if the NZOC don't select Campbell Wright to Beijing then I hope like heck he chooses the USA for future events. 1, He'd get much better support and 2, He won't have to rely on money since he's done it all on his own with no financial assistance from NZ Sport. He's had to find his own coach, borrowed skis etc. Is practically handicapped even before the start line. There's already people in NZ demanding him he go and are putting pressure on the NZOC. If the NZOC can select a no hope Freestyle skier Margaux Hackett who struggles to make top 20 let alone top 16 most of the time and had a few fluke top 10s. Who I guarantee won't make a final of her event, well that reeks of favoritism. It sucks, and I'm not holding out hope he'll be selected. I just hope if he doesn't he goes and skis for the US in the future. At least they'll look after him. I do hope I'm wrong though.

Perhaps but she's not in the greatest form at the moment.

Sorry I had to pick my country . We have great chances in womens snowboard slopestyle, big air and mens freeski half pipe. But our winter olympics history is littered with 4ths and 5ths and these are mainly sports down to judges. A lot of the time it can be out of your hands. The great irony in this however is that on the other hand we have more gold medal favs going on current form than Australia.

Yup. Also the Australian Federal government won't give 2 hoots who you are. He won't be playing the Aussie Open anytime soon. Australian immigration is very harsh and for good reason.

Talking about depth, NZ has a total of 10 biathletes who practice this sport. I mean you can already see why the US biathlon team see him as an absolute freak with the added bonus of being a dual citizen. But you know what if he turns out to be an absolute gem in future olympics and does it for the US and not for NZ because of us snubbing him, you'd think that the NZOC will review their shortcomings. Well you'd like to think so. It's not like we have that many potential Winter Olympic medalists anyway...

What makes it worse is that he wants to represent his nation of birth as he sees himself as a Kiwi. But our committee are so short sighted, yes he most probably won't be top 16 but experience will be invaluable. He's the youngest on the scene by nearly 2 years. Team USA have been knocking on his door for ages, and he may have to bite the bullet and reluctantly fulfill his dream for the US.

Campbell Wright for the USA? https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/300488189/winter-olympics-biathlete-campbell-wright-hunts-for-place-in-new-zealand-team