Ayumu Hirano finally secured gold in the men's snowboard halfpipe as boarding legend Shaun White narrowly missed out on a medal at his final Winter Olympic Games.

Hirano could only manage silver medals at Sochi 2014 and at Pyeongchang in 2018, and he sat in second place again behind Australian rival Scotty James heading into his third and final run.

The Japanese star executed a perfect 1440 triple cork followed by a back-to-back 1260 and a frontside 1440 to earn a score of 96.00 and his first Olympic title.

James finished in second with a score of 92.50, while Swiss athlete Jan Scherrer claimed bronze with 87.25.

White turned back the clock with a second run that scored 85.00, but on his final attempt, the 35-year-old attempted an ambitious jump that he was unable to land, ending his medal hopes as he finished in fourth place.

An emotional White, who confirmed before Beijing 2022 that these would be his final Games, said: "Snowboarding, thank you. It's been the love of my life."

Hirano was delighted with his victory, and claimed that the anger he felt for receiving a lower score than James for his second run spurred him on to pull off a near-perfect final run.

"I did what I wanted to do right at the end," Hirano said. "I wasn't able to accept the second run's score, but I managed to express my anger well at the end."

Schulting confirms speed skating dominance

Suzanne Schulting won gold in the short track speed skating 1,000m on Friday, retaining the title she won four years ago in Pyeongchang, becoming the first woman since 1998 to win consecutive Olympic titles in short track speed skating.

Having broken the world record in her quarter-final (one minute, 26.514 seconds), Dutch star Schulting narrowly beat South Korea's Choi Min-jeong in a time of 1:28.391.

Belgian Hanne Desmet took bronze after a collision between Italy's Arianna Fontana and Kristen Santos of the United States.

"I became really confident out there after skating a world record," Schulting said after her win. "I was focusing on what I had to do and on my technique. It's insane."

Bittersweet day for Shiffrin

It has been a Games to forget for Mikaela Shiffrin. The American was fancied to take multiple medals away from Beijing, but skied out in both the giant slalom and slalom events, and even cast doubt on whether she would compete further after those disappointments.

However, she took to the slopes for the women's super-G on Friday, and though she did not medal, did at least finish the race.

"It felt really nice to ski that today," Shiffrin said after finishing in ninth. "There's a lot of disappointment over the last week. There's a lot of emotions. [It was] not really easy to reset and know if I was up for the challenge today.

"The track itself is beautiful, and it's sunny, and the snow is amazing. Coming back out and getting the chance to race again was just the perfect thing to do, actually.

"It's possible to feel both proud of a career and sad for the moment you're in."

The super-G was won by Swiss athlete Lara Gut-Behrami, with Austria's Mirjam Puchner claiming silver and another Swiss competitor Michelle Gisin taking bronze.

Germany make no bones about skeleton

It was a German one-two in the first completed skeleton event at Beijing 2022, with Christopher Grotheer and Axel Jungk claiming gold and silver respectively in the men's event.

Grotheer was comfortable in the end with his time of four minutes, 1.01 seconds putting him two-thirds of a second ahead of his compatriot (4:01.67), with China's Yan Wengang taking bronze (4:01.77).

Elsewhere, Iivo Niskanen of Finland claimed his third Olympic gold after winning the men's 15km classic in cross-country skiing, ahead of the Russian Olympic Committee's Alexander Bolshunov and Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo.

An exhausted Niskanen fell into the snow after crossing the line in a time of 37 minutes, 54.8 seconds.

Marte Olsbu Roeiseland of Norway claimed her third medal of the Games with gold in the 7.5km women's sprint in biathlon, hitting all 10 targets on her way to finishing ahead of Sweden's Elvira Oeberg and Italy's Dorothea Wierer.

In the women's ice hockey, the United States and Canada both comfortably secured their semi-final places with wins over Czech Republic and Sweden, with Canada thrashing the Swedes 11-0.

Mikaela Shiffrin has two ugly DNF marks by her name so far at the Winter Olympics, but it could be third time lucky for the American on Friday.

The 26-year-old took home one gold medal from both the 2014 Sochi Games and 2018 in Pyeongchang, and came to Beijing with high hopes of adding to that haul.

Ester Ledecka is among the rivals who will also be targeting the super-G podium, while other multiple champions in action elsewhere on Friday include Shaun White and Dario Cologna.

Here, Stats Perform previews each of the day's medal events. 

Alpine skiing

Shiffrin took super-G gold at the 2019 World Championships, so she cannot be counted out here, providing she cuts out the errors and finishes the course.

Italians Federica Brignone, Elena Curtoni and Sofia Goggia are 1-2-3 in the World Cup standings, so should be factors, while Czech star Ledecka is chasing a second extraordinary double. She took snowboard parallel giant slalom gold earlier in the Games, and after winning both that and the super-G in 2018, she cannot be ruled out.

Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami won the world title last year and sits fifth in the World Cup standings, but a reigning world champion has never won gold in the women's Olympic super-G.

Biathlon

Can Norway's Marte Olsbu Roeiseland upgrade from silver four years ago in the women's 7.5km sprint? Her World Cup form has been good, with two wins in the sprints, so gold is a realistic aim. She already has one gold from Beijing, in the team relay, and a bronze from the 15km individual.

Norway's Tiril Eckhoff has not shown her best form in the World Cup this year, but Roeiseland's compatriot is the reigning world champion, a two-time Olympic relay gold medallist, and could come into the equation.

Cross-country skiing

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won gold in the sprint and should again be a factor in Friday's men's 15km classic, but the Norwegian says Finland's Iivo Niskanen is the hottest prospect for top of the podium. 

"He's definitely the favourite I would say, together with [Alexander] Bolshunov," said Klaebo. "All of us need to have the best day we can have, and it will be tough but we're just going to give it all and hopefully manage to have a good day and to have good skis and everything and then for sure it's possible."

Swiss veteran Cologna has won this event in the last three Olympics, but a four-peat seems an unlikely prospect.

Short track speed skating

Netherlands' Suzanne Schulting competes in the women's 1,000m, looking to defend the title, which has not been achieved since Lee-kyung Chun did so in 1998. South Korea and China have won 16 of the 21 medals in this event since its Olympic debut in 1994.

Skeleton

Christopher Grotheer was star of the show as the men's skeleton began on Thursday, leading by 0.70 seconds after two runs. That is a significant gap, with the German's closest rival being his compatriot Alex Jungk.

World champion Grotheer said: "The first run was brilliant, and the second run was also really good. I have a really good first day and I hope [on Friday] I can show this performance too."

Snowboard

American White heads into the halfpipe knowing this will be his career swan song, having decided to retire. Three times a gold medallist, the 35-year-old is bidding to become the first man to win individual gold medals at four Winter Olympics.

White was fourth in qualifying, with Japan's Ayumu Hirano leading the way.

Speed skating

Sweden's Nils van der Poel has made his mark on and off the rink in Beijing, winning gold in the men's 5,000m before making a raft of accusations, claiming the dominant Netherlands team have unduly influenced racing conditions. He goes again on Friday in the men's 10,000m and is the likely champion.

The United States are finally on the move at the Winter Olympics, soaring from 10th to fourth place on the medal table after three golden moments on Thursday.

There were triumphs for Nathan Chen in figure skating, Chloe Kim in the snowboard halfpipe, and the freeski mixed team aerials trio, hoisting Team USA to four golds in China and 10 medals overall.

Historically, only Norway have won more gold medals than the USA at the Winter Olympics.

Germany continue to top the medal table after landing luge team relay gold late on in Thursday's programme, with Norway in second and Austria third.

Chen produced a mesmerising display in a routine to Elton John's 'Rocket Man' as he delivered on the ice, and he said afterwards: "Historically I skated to pretty slower-paced, more classical pieces, so bringing in this faster-pace, very exciting, very happy programme was something I wasn't totally adjusted to from the beginning.

"But as we started working on it, it was something that totally made sense, and was just so much fun to skate to. This programme, no matter what, is always fun for me to skate.

"It means the world. I'm just so happy. It's a whirlwind right now. I had a blast out there."

Kim savoured her success at Genting Snow Park, but the 21-year-old, competing in her second Games after also striking gold in Pyeongchang, is making no promises she will be back for more at Milano Cortina 2026.

She told reporters: "I genuinely don't know how many more Olympics I'm going to do, it's all about how am I feeling mentally and physically.

"What you guys need to understand is this isn't an easy sport. It's really hard. And all the ladies make it look really easy, but I promise you, if any of you tried to do half the things they did, it wouldn't end very well."

Christopher Lillis and the power couple of Ashley Caldwell and Justin Schoenefeld delivered the aerials gold.

Caldwell, who made her Winter Olympics debut as a 16-year-old in 2010, said: "I couldn't be more excited. This is my fourth Games, and I've been in the hunt for a gold medal my entire career.

"To do it with these guys is incredible. Chris has been like a brother to me forever, and Justin is the love of my life, so that really helps."

Medal table:

1. Germany (G6 S3 B0, Total: 9)
2. Norway (G5 S3 B4, Total: 12)
3. Austria (G4 S5 B4, Total: 13)
4. United States (G4 S5 B1, Total: 10)
5. Netherlands (G4 S3 B1, Total: 8)
6. Sweden (G4 S1 B2, Total: 7)
7. China (G3 S3 B0, Total: 6)
8. Italy (G2 S4 B2, Total: 8)
9. Russian Olympic Committee (G2 S3 B6, Total: 11)
10. Slovenia (G2 S1 B2, Total: 5)

Another day, another speed-skating gold medal for the Netherlands at the Winter Olympics.

The Dutch are dominating at the National Speed Skating Oval, winning four of five titles so far, and Irene Schouten is now a double champion in Beijing after adding the 5,000 metres to her 3,000m gold. She became the fifth woman in history to pull off that double.

So far, the Netherlands have totted up four gold medals, two silver and a bronze in speed skating, drawing the ire of Sweden's Nils van der Poel.

Van der Poel, who won the men's 5,000m on Sunday, claimed subsequently that the Dutch are being allowed to bring undue influence to the ice conditions, describing that as "corruption" and "the biggest scandal in our sport".

Netherlands technical director Maurits Hendriks rejected the claims from Van der Poel, saying: "We are really disappointed that Sweden didn't reach out. We feel that before you make statements like this it is good to have a one-on-one chat. We have nothing to hide."

Schouten set an Olympic record of six minutes and 43.51 seconds to land her second gold of the Games on Thursday, with the team pursuit and mass start events still to come.

"Of course, I hope to win [gold] medals in those events as well," said Schouten, "but those are more difficult to win because you're depending on others."

Canadian silver medallist Isabelle Weidemann roared her approval for the champion, saying: "Schouten is incredible. I wanted to cheer for her. She takes the level up so much."

There were plenty of other stars breaking records and posting remarkable achievements, and Stats Perform looks here at the numbers behind their stories.

21 - American Chloe Kim followed her halfpipe title in Pyeongchang with more glory in Beijing, becoming the sixth snowboarder to defend an individual title, and only the third woman, after compatriot Jamie Anderson and Czech star Ester Ledecka. Kim, 21, also became the first United States competitor to win multiple gold medals at the Winter Olympics before turning 22 since Eric Heiden won five gold medals in speed skating in 1980 at Lake Placid. Heiden was also 21 at the time and later became a world-class cyclist, riding the 1986 Tour de France.

1988 - Johannes Strolz was born four years after his father, Hubert, triumphed in the men's Alpine combined at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. On Thursday, Austrian 29-year-old Strolz followed his dad into the Games history books, also winning the Alpine combined. It makes Johannes and Hubert the first parent and child to win the same individual event at the Winter Olympics.

50 - Norway now have 50 Olympic gold medals in cross-country skiing, the first national association to reach the landmark in a single sport at the Winter Games. That is because Therese Johaug won her second gold in Beijing, adding the 10km classic to her skiathlon success. Johaug, who also won women's relay gold at the 2010 Games, joins cross-country skier Marit Bjoergen (eight) and figure skater Sonja Henie (three) as the only Norwegian women to win at least three gold medals at the Winter Olympics.

8 - When it comes to men's figure skating, USA take some beating. Nathan Chen became the seventh US star to win gold in men's single skating. Dick Button began the run of success in 1948 and 1952, and the USA have eight gold medals and 16 medals overall in the event, putting them top of that particular all-time medal table. Eight golds in a single discipline is now also a US record for any event at the Winter Olympics, ahead of women's singles figure skating and men's 500m speed skating (both seven).

24 - The USA had not won a gold medal in freeski aerials since 1998, when they won the men's and women's individual events, but they ended a 24-year wait with glory in the inaugural mixed team aerials. Ashley Caldwell, Christopher Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld fended off China, with Lillis landing a quintuple twisting triple for a score of 135 points, the best yet of the Games on the aerials course.

Johannes Strolz was a surprise winner in the Alpine combined race on Thursday, as he repeated his father's Olympic achievement.

Hubert Strolz took gold in the same event at Calgary 1988 and his son made it something of a family tradition at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.

Strolz was half a second quicker than anyone else in the slalom and combined with his fourth-best time in the downhill run, it meant he edged out Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway by just over half a second.

It completes a fairytale for the unheralded Austrian, who seemed destined to miss out on the team heading to Beijing after he had his funding cut last year.

Strolz juggled training while working as a police officer to help keep up his income, yet the 29-year-old is now an Olympic champion.

He had a helping hand from compatriot Matthias Mayer, who is a three-time Olympic gold medallist having won the super-G earlier this week, as he lent Strolz some downhill skis to add further charm to a remarkable tale.

"I think I'm a good example of never giving up," said Strolz, who finished only three of 10 World Cup events last season. 

"If you believe in yourself, you have to take your chance and keep going."

Johaug, Schouten double up

Therese Johaug claimed the first gold of the Beijing Games and the Norwegian doubled her personal tally by coming out on top in the women's 10km classic at the National Cross-Country Skiing Centre.

Johaug – who missed the 2018 Games due to a doping ban – beat Finland's Kerttu Niskanen by just 0.4 seconds in an incredibly tight finish. Krista Paramoski, also of Finland, took bronze. 

"It was a close race with the Finnish girls but I was feeling really well at the end of the race. It's so much more fun to stand at the top of the podium when you know that you have won a big fight out there," Johaug said.

"It's a crazy feeling when you’re standing there and you realise it goes your way – 0.4, it's so close."

Irene Schouten, meanwhile, completed a clean sweep of the women's speed skating distance events, setting another Olympic record in the process.

The Dutchwoman triumphed in the 5,000m race, having previously won the 3,000m on Saturday, in which she set a record.

Her time of 6:43.51 on Thursday smashed the Olympic record previously set by Claudia Pechstein (6:46.91) in 2002.

"Schouten is incredible," said silver medallist Isabelle Weidemann. "Just watching her skate, she takes the level up so much. I hope in the future I can push her time and push the event even more. The faster more women can go, the better."

A golden day for Team USA

Nathan Chen capped off a fine day for the United States as he took gold in the men's single free skating.

"I never really felt I'd be able to make it this far in my career," Chen said.

"I'd always of course dream about making the Olympics and winning the Olympics, but I [thought], 'That's hard, I don't know if I can make that happen."

Chen endured a dreadful Olympic debut in 2018 but stormed to the gold medal this time around with a score of 332.60, winning by over 22 points ahead of Japanese duo Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno. 

Team USA's brilliant day began when Chloe Kim made history by becoming the first woman to win two Winter Olympics gold medals in the snowboard halfpipe event, while they also took gold in the freestyle skiing mixed team aerials final.

Their men's ice hockey team, meanwhile, hammered hosts China 8-0.

Iranian Alpine skier Hossein Saveh Shemshaki has been provisionally suspended after becoming the first athlete to return a positive doping test at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed on Wednesday that Shemshaki, who was due to compete in his third Games, tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

Shemshaki, 36, returned an "adverse analytical finding" in an out-of-contest test on Monday, the ITA said.

"The athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching, or participating in any activity, during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022," the ITA added in a statement.

"The athlete has the right to challenge the imposition of the provisional suspension before the Court of Arbitration for Sport – Anti-Doping Division (CAS ADD). 

"The athlete also has the right to request the analysis of the B-sample."

Shemshaki was Iran's flag bearer at Sochi 2014, where he took part in the slalom and giant slalom events, as he did four years earlier in Vancouver.

Thursday could and should be another big day for the United States at Beijing 2022. 

Team USA have earned only a single gold among their seven medals, but that came on Wednesday through Lindsey Jacobellis and there are now opportunities to add to that total across seven medal events. 

Indeed, in each of the figure skating, snowboard and cross-country skiing, American athletes are set to be at the forefront of Olympic title tussles. 

Still in its early stages, the ice hockey will also focus on the United States, whose men's team – without their NHL stars – face hosts China. 

Ahead of Thursday's action, Stats Perform previews each of the medal events. 

Alpine skiing

With defending Olympic champion Marcel Hirscher having retired, there is no clear favourite in the men's combined. 

There are plenty of potential challengers, however, including France's Alexis Pinturault, who was second to Hirscher in Pyeongchang. The Austrians are certainly worth watching, with Marco Schwarz the reigning world champion and finishing second to compatriot Vincent Kriechmayr in the final downhill training run. 

Cross-country skiing

Jessie Diggins is another American who will hope to have a shot at a medal, having already secured a sprint bronze to go with her team sprint gold four years ago. Ragnhild Haga, the 2018 winner in the women's 10km classic, is not competing this time around, while perennial contender Marit Bjorgen has retired, giving Diggins a great opportunity to challenge. 

Freestyle skiing

In an event making its Olympics debut, the Russian Olympic Committee must be considered among the favourites for the mixed team aerials. In their ranks are Liubov Nikitina and Maxim Burov, who have each previously won world titles. China have had joy in the aerials previously, too, though. 

Figure skating

The free program of the men's singles figure skating should provide plenty of intrigue after the short program blew the race for gold wide open, with defending champion Yuzuru Hanyu a disappointing eighth. 

Nathan Chen is the man best placed to prevail after his 113.97 broke Hanyu's world record. Victory for the American would be true to form too, given he has beaten Hanyu at every head-to-head meeting they have had since the 2018 Games. Hanyu's Japan team-mates Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno are Chen's nearest challengers, the only other too men to top 100 in the short program. 

Luge

Of all Thursday's events, the result of the luge team relay surely feels the most inevitable. Germany are favourites for the fourth and final luge gold of the Games, having won each of the prior three. 

Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt have already achieved a doubles three-peat and could now repeat that remarkable feat in the team event. 

Snowboard

Jacobellis delivered for Team USA in the women's snowboard cross and the men's event is next to be contested, with friends Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria and Lucas Eguibar of Spain set to be in contention. 

For Americans, though, the focus turns to the halfpipe. Chloe Kim was the youngest female Olympic champion in the discipline four years ago and will now be looking to defend her title and secure more snowboard success for her country.  

Speed skating

The women's 5,000m is an event Martina Sablikova has long dominated, including Olympic golds in 2010 and 2014. But she was pipped by Esmee Visser in 2018, only taking silver, and faces fierce competition again from Irene Schouten of the Netherlands and Isabelle Weidemann of Canada. 

Lindsey Jacobellis ended a 16-year wait for Winter Olympics gold as the United States claimed their first top spot on the podium at Beijing 2022.

Jacobellis faltered at the penultimate jump at Turin 2006, but made amends in convincing fashion as she managed gold at the Genting Snow Park in the snowboard cross on Wednesday.

That was the USA's first gold of the 2022 Games as the 36-year-old collected the only title missing from her illustrious trophy cabinet, finishing ahead of France's Chloe Trespeuch who took silver.

Meanwhile, Petra Vlhova laid down an early marker in the women's slalom and, despite a host of world-class skiers coming down after her, claimed Slovakia's first ever Alpine skiing gold.

Vlhova was eighth after the morning session, but produced the run of the day in the afternoon after inspiration from coach Mauro Pini, who revealed the words of encouragement he gave the 26-year-old.

"We were just asking Petra between the two runs to really be courageous," Pini said. "Big heart on the slope, second run. Nothing to lose, just to be in the room tonight and don't regret nothing."

"After the first run I was a bit down, angry and sad," Vlhova added. "I started to not believe in myself. But I'm lucky because I have [the] best team ever and [the] best coach."

Ruud matches Gu feat with big air triumph

Birk Ruud followed in Eileen Gu's footsteps by becoming just the second freestyle skier to win gold at both the Youth Olympic Winter Games and Olympic Winter Games with victory in the men's freeski big air.

The Norwegian, aged 21 years and 313 days, is the youngest to earn an Olympic medal in freestyle skiing for his country, and he did it in some style as well.

The 21-year-old, who skipped last month's X Games to play it safe amid coronavirus, secured top spot before his final run, which he completed draped in a Norwegian flag at Big Air Shougang.

The big air champion credited the victory to his father Oivind, who died of cancer of April 2021.

"I'm just thankful to be in this position and I'm thankful for all the time I had with my dad," Ruud said after his win. "I still have my family, and I have a lot of people that support me, and I'm very thankful for that."

Arlt and Wendl make luge history

Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl created luge history as they became the first ever athletes to win the luge doubles three times – earning their fifth Olympic gold.

That equals the Olympic best in the sport set by their countrywoman Natalie Geisenberger, while no other men have ever claimed more first-place finishes than the pair when representing modern-day Germany at the Games.

Wendl and Arlt also joined speed skaters Lidia Skoblikova and Eric Heiden as the only athletes to claim at least five gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games without ever winning silver or bronze.

The German duo also extended their record as the oldest gold medallists in the event (both 34), as Germany continued their dominance in luge events at Beijing 2022.

Shiffrin slips away from record-medal haul chance

Vlhova may have secured her piece of history with Slovakia's maiden Alpine skiing title, but American pre-Games favourite Mikaela Shiffrin had a day to forget.

Shiffrin, a double Olympic and six-time world champion, fouled on the fifth gate just two days after her surprise early exit from the giant slalom.

The 26-year-old has another chance in Friday's super-G event, but admitted she is starting to doubt herself after consecutive failures.

"It's not the end of the world and it's so stupid to care this much, but I feel I have to question a lot now," Shiffrin said. 

"I will try to reset again. Maybe try to reset better this time but I also don't know how to do better because I just don't. I have never been in this position before and I don't know how to handle it." 

Lindsey Jacobellis earned redemption with Winter Olympics gold in the women's snowboard cross final at Beijing 2022 after missing out on top spot 16 years earlier.

Jacobellis dominated at Turin 2006 ago but fell on the penultimate jump, meaning she had to settle for silver. The gap of 16 years between her first and second Olympic medals is the largest gap between two medals for a snowboarder.

The American made amends on Wednesday as the most decorated snowboard cross athlete of all time added the only title she was missing to her six world championships, two Crystal Globes and 10 X Games triumphs.

But the 36-year-old insisted that she did not use her 16-year wait as motivation for redemption after managing first place at Genting Snow Park.

"I never thought of it that way," she said. "That was not in my mind. I wanted to just come here and compete.

"It would have been a nice, sweet thing, but if I had tried to spend [time on] the thought of redemption, then it's taking away focus on the task at hand, and that's not why I race.

"They can keep talking about it all they want because it really shaped me into the individual that I am, kept me hungry and really helped me keep fighting in the sport."

There were plenty of other stars breaking records in China and Stats Perform has taken a look at some of the numbers behind their stories.

36 years, 174 days – Jacobellis is the oldest snowboard gold medallist and oldest USA female gold medallist at the Olympic Winter Games.

2 – Birk Ruud claimed gold in the men’s freeski big air to become the youngest Norwegian Olympic medallist in freestyle skiing (21y, 313d). He is also just the second freestyle skier to win a gold medal at both the Youth Olympic Winter Games and the Olympic Winter Games.

3 – Hwang Daeheon became the third man to win a gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games and the Youth Olympic Winter Games (1000m at Lillehammer 2016).

1 – Petra Vlhova's gold medal was the first for Slovakia in Olympic Alpine skiing, and only the ninth in any sport, seven of which have been won by Slovakian women.

5 – Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl won their third consecutive gold medal in luge doubles, their fifth Olympic medal overall, equalling the Olympic best in the sport set by their countrywoman Natalie Geisenberger.

3 – Vinzenz Geiger made himself the third athlete to win multiple Olympic gold medals in Nordic combined for Germany, who have collected four consecutive golds in the event.

Mikaela Shiffrin will try to "reset" after suffering a second consecutive disqualification at the Winter Olympics.

The American missed a gate in her first run in the women's slalom on Wednesday, compounding her woes after skiing out of Monday's giant slalom.

Shiffrin, the overall World Cup leader and heavily fancied in both events, had only failed to finish 14 times in 229 starts across all disciplines at World Cup, Olympic and World Championship events ahead of competing in Beijing.

But these two setbacks have left the two-time Olympic gold medal winner questioning herself.

"I was pushing and maybe it was just past my limit," she said.

"I feel that I have to question a lot now. I will try to reset again and maybe try to reset better this time.

"But I also don't know how to do it better. Because I just don't – I've never been in this position before, and I don't know how to handle it."

Shiffrin struggled to fight back tears as she reflected on a dismal start to the Games, where she had started with hopes of medals in five events.

"It's so stupid to care this much,” she said. "It feels like a really big let-down.

"There were some people who expected I might win, maybe hoped I might win.

"I know that, for the people working closest to me, we were all crossing our fingers, and also doing all the work I could possibly do to give myself the best chance.

"We came all this way. And we're not done yet. But GS and slalom, those were my biggest focuses. It really feels like a lot of work for nothing."

The 26-year-old can still salvage medal glory in her remaining events – the super-G, downhill and combined.

It was quite a day on Tuesday at the Winter Olympics with dramatic medals won and records broken, but Wednesday has the potential to supersede it as Beijing 2022 continues.

The men's ice hockey gets under way, while there are big medal events in the luge, Nordic combined and short track speed skating, among others.

The men will try to follow Tuesday's exhilarating effort from the women in the freeski big air final, while the women's slalom and snowboard cross promise more excitement.

Stats Perform has you covered ahead of Wednesday's action.

Alpine skiing

The women's slalom provides an opportunity for both success and redemption on the 'Ice River' course at the Yanqing National Ski Centre.

Sweden's Sara Hector will be hoping to follow up Monday's gold medal in the giant slalom, while Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States will want to make up for crashing out of the same competition just five turns into her opening run.

Petra Vlhova of Slovakia and Katharina Liensberger of Austria, the reigning world champion, are two who could also challenge.

Curling

After Italy's dominance ended in an inevitable gold in the mixed doubles on Tuesday, the men's competition gets under way.

The opening series of matches will see Denmark face Canada, the United States go up against Russian Olympic Committee, Norway will play Switzerland and hosts China face Sweden.

Three of the US's gold medal team from Pyeongchang return to defend their title, including skip John Shuster.

Freestyle skiing

Following a sensational victory for China's 'Snow Princess' Eileen Gu on Tuesday, the pressure is on the men to follow suit.

The big story had been the return to competition of reigning slopestyle world champion Andri Ragettli, but the Swiss star failed to qualify for the final having only finished 14th on Monday.

American trio Alex Hall, Colby Stevenson and Mac Forehand could challenge for the medals, while Sweden's Oliwer Magnusson and Norway's Birk Ruud are also among the favourites, with the latter topping qualifying.

Ice hockey

With no involvement from NHL players, the men's tournament gets going in Beijing, feeling like it could almost be anyone's game.

Defending Olympic champions Russian Olympic Committee face Switzerland on Wednesday, while Czech Republic play Denmark.

Luge

The doubles event is expected to be dominated by Germany, with the 2014 and 2018 Olympic champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt returning, while bronze medallists from 2018 and current World Cup leaders Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken will likely provide stern competition.

Eggert and Benecken are also the track record holders after their November 2021 run of 58.793 seconds.

Nordic combined

One of the primary stories in the Nordic combined is whether Olympic champion Eric Frenzel of Germany and world champion Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway will be able to compete after both contracted COVID-19.

Should they not make the start line, Austria's Johannes Lamparter is likely to be the favourite after his numerous Nordic Combined World Cup wins, including three in January.

Short track speed skating

The men's 1,500m final takes place on Wednesday, with China's Ren Ziwei looking to add to the two gold medals he already has from the 1,000m and mixed team relay.

Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor was disqualified for causing a collision with Ren in the 1,000m and will want to make up for that in the longer form final.

Snowboard

The women's snowboard cross probably sees Great Britain's best chance at a medal in Beijing with Charlotte Bankes among the favourites.

The 26-year-old leads this season’s World Cup standings with five podiums from six events, while Australia's Belle Brockhoff and Italy's Michela Moioli are likely to provide her strongest competition.

The men's and women's halfpipe qualifying also begin, which will see superstar Shaun White - who has confirmed these will be his last Games - and fellow United States star Chloe Kim compete.

Matthias Mayer was one of several athletes to achieve an unprecedented Winter Olympics feat on Tuesday, as he claimed gold in the super-G at Beijing 2022.

The Austrian became only the third Alpine skier to win gold at three separate Olympics, and the first to do that in successive Games after defending the title he won four years ago in Pyeongchang after previous downhill success at Sochi in 2014.

Mayer did not finish the super-G in Russia eight years ago, with Kjetil Jansrud taking the gold on that occasion.

Norwegian Jansrud, a five-time Olympic medallist, could only finish 23rd on Tuesday and paid tribute to Mayer for his incredible achievement.

"Hats off. It's unbelievable to make it happen on days where it counts the most," said Jansrud. "I am a little lost for words because he has been dominating for so many years, but he's also one of the few who really steps up to the big occasions and does it. And he does it again, 'chapeau'."

There were plenty of other people breaking records in Beijing, and Stats Perform has delved into some of the numbers behind them.

18 years, 158 days – Eileen Gu became the youngest gold medallist from China at a Winter Olympics with her freeski big air success, surpassing short track speed skater Zhou Yang (18 years, 256 days) when she won the women's 1,500m in 2010.

12 – Benjamin Karl achieved his "life project" by topping the podium in the men's parallel giant slalom. The gap of 12 years between his first and latest medals equalled the longest in snowboarding history, matching Shaun White (2006-2018) and Kelly Clark (2002-2014).

4 – Cross-country skier Johannes Hosflot Klaebo became the first man to win multiple Olympic gold medals in the men's sprint by defending his title. He has now won four straight individual sprint golds at Olympic and World Championship level – no other man has more than two such wins.

0 – Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner won gold in the curling mixed doubles without suffering a single defeat along the way, following an 8-5 success over Norway. It is only the fourth time curling gold has been won with an undefeated record, after Great Britain in 1924, Canada's men in 2010 and Canada's women in 2014.

3 – Natalie Geisenberger made it a hat-trick by taking first place in the women's singles for the third straight Games, making her the first luge athlete to achieve the feat. With a haul of five gold medals in her career, she became luge's most successful individual.

1 – With success in the parallel giant slalom, Ester Ledecka joined speed skater Martina Sablikova as the Czech woman with the most gold medals at any form of Olympics.

Sweden claimed top spot in the medal table at the end of day four at Beijing 2022 after winning their third gold thanks to Sara Hector's victory in the alpine skiing women's giant slalom.

Hector finished ahead of Italy's Federica Brignone and Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami on Monday to move Sweden to the top of the table.

The Russian Olympic Committee are into second place after gold in the figure skating team event, and now have the most medals in total at the Games with seven.

Ireen Wust's gold in the women's 1500m speed skating is the second for the Netherlands, with Antoinette de Jong's bronze in the same event and Suzanne Schulting's silver in the 500m final taking their total to five medals overall.

Hosts China are up to fourth after an eventual gold for Ren Ziwei, awarded the win in the men's 1000m speed skating final ahead of Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor, who was disqualified for causing a collision.

Germany earned their second gold in Beijing when Denise Herrmann won the women's 15km individual biathlon, while Norway have fallen from first to sixth place in the medal table after a day with just one bronze medal.

Slovenia move down a place to seventh despite becoming the first Olympic champions in the ski jumping mixed team event on the normal hill on Monday.

The team of Nika Kriznar, Timi Zajc, Ursa Bogataj and Peter Prevc finished 111 points ahead of the ROC (890.3), with Canada claiming bronze with a score of 844.6.

Italy claimed gold as Arianna Fontana successfully defended her women's 500m speed skating title to go along with Brignone's skiing silver, while Canada sit just behind them after their first gold of the Games through Max Parrot's snowboard slopestyle effort, with Mark McMorris also grabbing bronze.

Japan endured disappointment on Monday as they slipped from joint-sixth to 10th, with Miho Takagi only managing silver in the women's 1500m speed skating and the figure skating team settling for bronze.

Medal table (after day four):

1. Sweden (G3 S0 B0, Total: 3)
2. Russian Olympic Committee (G2 S3 B2, Total: 7)
3. Netherlands (G2 S2 B1, Total: 5)
4. China (G2 S2 B0, Total: 4)
5. Germany (G2 S1 B0, Total: 3)
6. Norway (G2 S0 B2, Total: 4)
7. Slovenia (G2 S0 B1, Total: 3)
8. Italy (G1 S3 B1, Total: 5)
9. Canada (G1 S1 B4, Total: 6)
10. Japan (G1 S1 B2, Total: 4)

History was made in several events at the Winter Olympics on Monday.

Ireen Wust became the first person to win an individual gold medal at five different Olympics, while young figure skater Kamila Valieva put her name into the record books.

Johan Clarey only claimed silver in the men's alpine skiing, but nevertheless set a record in the process.

Stats Perform has assessed some of the best data points from across the action in Beijing.

5  – Wust, who is retiring next month, secured her sixth gold medal and 12th medal overall at the Olympics as she retained her 1500m title. She is the first person to win an individual gold at five separate Games, while her time of one minute and 58.52 seconds also represents a new Olympic record.

15  – Valieva, who is representing the Russian Olympic Committee, is just 15. However, she became the first female figure skater to land a quadruple jump at an Olympic Games. 

1  – Italy will win a medal in curling for the first time, after Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner defeated Sweden 8-1 in their mixed doubles semi-final. They will go up against Norway in the final.

41  – Frenchman Clarey claimed silver in alpine skiing, finishing behind Switzerland's Beat Feuz. In the process, 41-year-old Clarey became the oldest Olympic medallist in the event.

2 – Slovenia won their first gold medal thanks to Ursa Bogataj on Saturday, while her compatriot Nika Kriznar claimed bronze. The duo became the first two female ski jumpers to have won two medals at a single Games on Monday after winning gold in the mixed team event.

18 – At the age of 18 years and 31 days, Alexandria Loutitt is the youngest female athlete to pick up an Olympic medal in ski jumping.

14 – After Loutitt's success, Canada have equalled the United States' record haul of winning a medal in 14 sports at the Games.

33 – Denise Herrmann is now the oldest female biathlete representing Germany to win Olympic gold, set by Uschi Disl, who won gold in the women's relay in 2002 at age 31.

3 – Ren Ziwei became the third male athlete representing China to win individual gold at the Games, after freestyle skier Han Xiaopeng in 2006 and short track skater Wu Dajing.