Gu eyes 3rd medal; Canada beats US in women's hockey

Highlighted by an example of classic Olympic rivalry in ice hockey, day 16 of competitions at Beijing 2022 proved a celebration of girl power in sports with female Olympians shining bright on the ice and snow.

With both countries' teams knocked out of the men's Olympic tournament, the hockey-crazy nations of Canada and the US went all-out at the women's final on Thursday to fight for a gold medal as a testament to their supremacy in the sport, turning the Wukesong Arena into a frenzied venue packed with reporters and other athletes from both countries when the puck was dropped at noon.

The highly anticipated showdown did not disappoint at all. After 60 minutes of adrenaline-pumping action, Canada defeated the US 3-2 in the gold medal game to get revenge for its loss at the 2018 Games' final in South Korea to its North American neighbor.

The victory brought the Canadian women's team its fifth gold in hockey, while the US team had to settle for its fourth silver on the Olympic stage, where the two nations have met in all but one of the seven finals since female hockey made its Olympic debut in 1998. At the 2006 Games in Italy, Sweden beat the US team in the semifinals, but lost to Canada in the only Olympic final featuring a European nation.

The world-class competition was underlined by speed, skills and physical battles as fierce as in the men's game.

"I just got shivers. It feels very good," said Canada's veteran forward Marie-Philip Poulin, who netted two goals in the final on Thursday to become the world's only puckster, male or female, to score in four Olympic finals, with seven goals in total.

"Since 2018, we have been putting in the work," said Poulin, who was dubbed "Captain Clutch" for her leadership at critical moments. "It's just so good. It's a great feeling. It was one hell of an effort. This is redemption."

Also on Thursday, Anna Shcherbakova of the Russian Olympic Committee won the women's singles gold of the figure skating event at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Shcherbakova collected 175.75 points in the free skate to achieve a winning total of 255.95 points. The 17-year-old earlier scored 80.20 points in short program competition.

Alexandra Trusova, also from the Russian Olympic Committee, scored 177.13 points in free skate to win a total of 251.73 points and take the silver, while Japan's Kaori Sakamoto came third with 233.13.

Earlier on Thursday, China's freeski golden girl Gu Ailing took a step closer to becoming the first athlete to win medals in three different freestyle skiing events after qualifying in first place for Friday's halfpipe final at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

Having already won gold in the Big Air event and silver in the slopestyle at Beijing 2022, Gu is poised to achieve the three-medal haul, perhaps by adding a second gold, with her performance in Thursday's qualifying runs proving too good to beat.

With her back-to-back 900 tricks, Gu landed the highest-scored routine of 95.5 points for her second qualifying run, advancing effortlessly into the final.

"I was journaling last night, I wrote some affirmations, I was like, 'I am fresh. I am not tired. I am excited'," Gu said after the qualification round. "The joke is I'm actually exhausted, I'm not fresh, but I was writing in my journal to try to convince myself that I was OK."

"It's definitely not easy, but I ran a half-marathon every week over the summer to prepare. I feel proud of the work I've done to build up my endurance base, so this is what I've been preparing for."