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Team Usa

USA-Australia Olympics warm-up game cancelled amid COVID fears

The two sides were due to meet for the second time this week as part of their preparations for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

The cancellation comes after USAB confirmed on Thursday that two players had entered health and safety protocols.

Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal had been ruled out of the Olympics after entering protocols, while Jerami Grant was also placed under protocols, as a precautionary measure.

Team USA are still scheduled to play Spain in Las Vegas on Sunday in their final preparation game before flying for Tokyo on Monday.

USA's opening game at the Tokyo Olympics is on July 25 against France, while Australia commence their Games campaign on the same day against Nigeria.

Australia had shocked USA 91-83 on Tuesday, following their upset defeat to Nigeria on Monday.

We know we have to play better' – Kerr not satisfied after USA clinch top seed

Team USA stayed perfect by beating Puerto Rico 104-83 on Saturday, ensuring they sealed the top seed for the last eight.

That means the four-time reigning Olympic champions will take on the seventh seed, Brazil, for a place in the semi-finals.

Anthony Edwards led the USA with 26 points, while Joel Embiid chipped in with 15 and Kevin Durant delivered another fine substitute performance, scoring 11 points from the bench.

And while the USA have tallied up 317 points in their three wins so far, Kerr believes there is much more to come.

"I think we got done what we wanted to accomplish, winning all three games and securing the top seed," said Kerr.

"We know we have to play better. Part of this tournament is it gets harder as you go."

LeBron James added 10 points for the star-studded USA, and he knows it is now do-or-die.

"We know it's going to be difficult, it's going to be challenging," he said. "We better be ready to go."

In Group C's other game, Nikola Jokic scored 22 points and finished with 13 rebounds, while Bogdan Bogdanovic had 28 points, as Serbia saw off South Sudan 96-85.

While Serbia clinched the fourth seed to set up a meeting with Australia, South Sudan's inaugural Olympics campaign is over, with Greece scraping in as one of the two best third-placed teams.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's team will take on second seed Germany, who like the USA, won their three group games.

Winter Olympics: Naeslund joins elite list, Poulin proves Canada's golden girl again

The 25-year-old stormed to victory ahead of Canada's Marielle Thompson, with Daniela Maier claiming bronze after Marielle Thompson was bumped down for an infringement.

Naeslund joins Thompson and Jean-Frederic Chapius as the only freestyle skiers to have won Olympic gold, the world championship title and the crystal globe in the event.

Canada have won a medal in all four Games this event has been held, though unlike in 2010, 2014 and 2018, they were unable to stand top of the podium.

Stats Perform picks out some other standout numbers from Thursday's action in Beijing.


7 - Japan's Miho Takagi won her seventh Olympic medal with victory in the women's speed skating 1000m, surpassing China's Wang Meng (six) for the most medals won by an Olympian representing an Asian nation in the Winter Games.

12 - Brittany Bowe claimed bronze in the same event to make it 12 medals for the United States in the women's 1000m, followed by 10 for the Netherlands, who won silver thanks to Jutta Leerdam.

3 - Switzerland's Michelle Gisin became the third athlete to defend her Olympic title in the women's alpine combined after Janica Kostelic in 2002 and 2006 and Maria Hofl-Riesch in 2010 and 2014.

5 - Gisin's team-mate Wendy Holdener won silver for her fifth Olympic medal as Switzerland achieved a gold-silver finish in a women's alpine skiing event at the Winter Games for a third time, previously doing so in the 1956 downhill and 1984 downhill.

7 - Canada prevailed 3-2 winners against the USA in the women's ice hockey final to win their fifth gold medal since its introduction to the Games in 1998. This was the seventh medal in event for both nations, having each made the podium every year the event has been contested.

4 - With two goals on Thursday, Canada's Marie-Phillip Poulin is the only ice hockey player – male or female – to score in four Olympic Games finals, scoring seven times in total across those games.

17 - Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, both 17 years old, won gold and silver respectively in the women's single figure skating, marking the first time that multiple figure skaters under the age of 18 finished on the podium of the event since 1998 when American duo Tara Lipinski (15) and Michelle Kwan (17) won gold and silver respectively.

Winter Olympics: Shiffrin 'feels like a joke' after third DNF

Thursday's event provided Shiffrin with a chance to redeem herself after crashing out of the giant slalom and slalom, before finishing ninth in the super-G and 18th in the downhill.

But after recording the best time in training on Wednesday, the two-time gold medallist and reigning world champion endured yet more heartbreak on the main run.

She was fifth after the downhill in the two-event competition and well positioned to earn a fourth Winter Olympics medal heading into the slalom run.

However, Shiffrin – famed for her consistency – skied out of the slalom course at the 10th gate at the Yanqing National Alpine Ski Centre.

Switzerland's Michelle Gisin defended her combined crown by finishing more than a second ahead of team-mate Wendy Holdener, while Italy's Federica Brignone took bronze.

Asked by Discovery+ what is not working for her in Beijing, Shiffrin said: "That's the question you want to know and it's what I want to know too. 

"I don't really understand what's not working on these races. Especially today.

"Even in the GS and slalom I felt maybe I had too high intensity, I was trying too hard, and I just didn't get into my rhythm first.

"Today I was much more relaxed. Just 'Hey it's slalom, I know how to do slalom, I will take the chance to get into my tempo and start pushing each gate and build it from there.'

"I didn't want to hold back on the run just to make it to the finish – and I wasn't. But I also wasn't going 110 per cent. I was just skiing, and it still didn't work. 

"I don't have a really good explanation for it, and you can imagine how annoying that is for me, because I always want to find an explanation. Right now it's just, there isn't one."

Speaking to reporters later on Thursday, Shiffrin went further as she opened up on the hurt of falling short in each event.

"The whole shebang in sport is that you can have preparation, you can have confidence, or maybe you're not fully confident, you can have all of these pieces," she said. 

"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I have literally no idea why we keep coming back and doing it. Especially after today.

"But I'm going to come back out tomorrow and ski some parallel GS, because I'm that much of an idiot. I don't know why we keep doing it, but making good turns feels amazing. 

"And I've been doing that these entire two weeks. I wish there was something to show for it. Right now, I just feel like a joke."

Shiffrin has one final chance to win a medal when competing for the United States in Saturday's mixed team parallel event.

Winter Olympics: United States win four medals to close in on top spots

There was no change at the top as Norway stayed in the lead thanks to their nine golds, while Germany claimed a bronze medal in the men's team ski jumping final and remain second.

However, the USA nosed ahead of the Netherlands with their seventh gold of the Games, which came courtesy of Kaillie Humphries' historic monobob victory.

Not only is Humphries – who has previously represented Canada – the first woman to win the gold for two different nations at the Winter Olympics, but she is also the first champion in the newly introduced event.

Team-mate Elana Meyers Taylor completed a one-two for the USA, while Canada clinched bronze thanks to Christine de Bruin.

Canada now have 10 third-place finishes to their name in Beijing, becoming the first nation to reach double figures in one particular medal.

The USA's other two medals were both bronze, as they took their grand total to 16 thanks to freestyle skier Megan Nick and ice dance duo Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue.

They are also guaranteed another medal, after their women progressed to the ice hockey final, where they will face Canada.

Austria, meanwhile, moved from sixth to fifth as their men's team took a ski jumping gold.

It marks Austria's first Olympic team gold since 2010 in Vancouver.

"Incredible what happened today, incredible what happened the last two weeks for myself," explained Manuel Fettner, who also won silver in the normal hill individual event in Beijing.

"If somebody would have told me this two weeks ago, I wouldn't have believed him."

Slovenia collected their third silver of the Games, taking them onto seven medals in total. They sit 13th in the overall standings.

It was another good day for China, with ski jumper Xu Mengtao claiming the nation's first gold in the women's aerials.

The hosts are now up to seventh, above the Russian Olympic Committee, who claimed a silver medal in the ice dance, which was won by Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron – that success has moved France up to ninth.

Hanna Huskova was edged out by Xu and had to settle for silver. It is Belarus's second such medal in Beijing.

Medal table:

1. Norway (G9 S5 B7, Total: 21)
2. Germany (G8 S5 B2, Total: 15)
3. United States (G7 S6 B3, Total: 16)
4. Netherlands (G6 S4 B2, Total: 12)
5. Austria (G5 S6 B4, Total: 15)
6. Sweden (G5 S3 B3, Total: 11)
7. China (G5 S3 B2, Total: 10)
8. Russian Olympic Committee (G4 S6 B8, Total: 18)
9. France (G3 S6 B2, Total: 11)
10. Switzerland (G3 S0 B5, Total: 8)