By Betsefy
Norway ended the first day of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics top of the medal table after winning gold in the Biathlon mixed 4x6km relay and the women’s 15km skiathlon.
Therese Johaug won the first gold of the Games for the Nordic nation in the skiathlon with a time of 44:13.7, with Natalia Nepryaeva of the Russian Olympic Committee taking second and Austria‘s Teresa Stadlober placing third.
Norway and Russia also enjoyed podium finishes in the mixed team relay biathlon, with France sandwiched in between the two nations to take silver as Norway topped the competition in two events.
Elsewhere, host nation China won their first gold in the Short Track Mixed 2000m relay, while Slovenia‘s Ursa Bogataj became Olympic champion in the Women’s normal hill ski jump.
The Netherlands and Sweden also posted first-place finishes on the opening day, as Dutch speed skater Irene Schouten took gold in the Women’s 3000m while Walter Wallberg won the Men’s Moguls in freestyle skiing for the Swedes.
There was little to cheer about for Great Britain, though, with Kathryn Thomson crashing out of the Women’s 500m short track before Farrell Treacy and Niall Treacy failed to qualify from their heats.
Olympic debutant Katie Ormerod failed to qualify for the final of the women’s slopestyle earlier in the day, but GB’s mixed curlers Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat are still in with a shot of making the semi-finals despite a 5-7 defeat to Italy.
