Ten things to know from last week. February 8-14, 2022: Winter Olympic activity, the Super Bowl, and the FIFA Club World Cup.
  1. Chelsea is World Champion. As has been the case since 2013, a team from Europe won the FIFA Club World Cup, as Chelsea (ENG) defeated Palmeiras (BRA) 2-1 after extra time, with goals by Kai Havertz (DEU) and Romelu Lukaku (BEL).
  2. Homecoming Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Rams became the second team in a row that wins the Super Bowl on the home turf, as they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in their SoFi Stadium. The Rams retook the lead with two minutes remaining, with Cooper Kupp (USA) scoring. He has awarded the ‘Most Valuable Player honors. The Rams were previously NFL Champions in 1945 (as Cleveland) and 1951 (as LA) and 1999 (as St. Louis).
  3. Mostly Alpine. Switzerland and Austria have been the best in Beijing 2022’s Alpine Skiing competitions. Austria’s Mathias Mayer and Johannes Strolz won the Men’s Super-G and Combined competitions, while Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt won the Giant Slalom. Lara Gut-Behrami (CHE) won the Women’s Super G, while Petra Vlhová (SVK) won the Slalom, to crown what have been two dominant years.
  4. Figure figures. Dominating Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) broke the World Record on Ice Dance to take the gold medal, while Nathan Chen (USA) won the men’s singles after being the dominant skater of the Olympic cycle. The Russian Olympic Committee won the Team’s event but the awards ceremony was suspended after it was revealed that Kamila Valieva (RUS) tested positive for a banned substance to treat heart conditions, from a test in December. She has been cleared to compete in the individual event by the Court of Arbitration in Sport.
  5. More Skating. In Speed Skating, Nils van der Poel (SWE) won his second gold, by breaking the 10,000 meters World Record. Kjeld Nuis (NED) won the 1,500 meters and Gao Tingyu (CHN) the 500. Irene Schouten (NED) also won her second gold, by taking the women’s 5,000 meters, and Erin Jackson (USA) won the 500 meters. In Short Track, Hwang Dae-heon (KOR) won the 1,500 meters, which will be his only individual medal, as he was penalized in the 500 and 1,000 meters competitions. Shaoang Liu (HUN) won the 500. Suzanne Schulting (NED) will not have a full sweep but she won two gold medals during the week, as she took gold in the 1,000 meters and the 3,000 meters relay.
  6. Chinese Air. Eileen Gu (CHN) won the Women’s Ski Big Air gold medal and Xu Mengtao (CHN) won the Women’s Aerials. They also each scored a silver medal, as Gu was 2nd in Slopestyle behind Mathilde Gremaud (CHE), and Xu was part of the Aerials Mixed Team that lost to the United States of America. In Snowboard, Ayumu Hirano (JPN) won the Men’s Halfpipe, where three-time Champion Shaun White (USA) retired with fourth place. Austria took two golds, with Benjamin Karl (Men’s Parallel giant slalom) and Alessandro Hämmerle (Snowboard cross). USA’s Chloe Kim and Lindsey Jacobellis won the Women’s Halfpipe and Snowboard Cross, respectively. She also won the Mixed Team Snowboard Cross competition, with Nick Baumgartner. Ester Ledecká (CZE) -who was a gold medalist in Alpine Skiing and Snowboard four years ago- defended her Parallel giant slalom title.
  7. German sliders. Germany completed a full Winter Olympic sweep in Skeleton and Luge. Tobias Wendl and Tobias Artl won their 14th World or Olympic gold in Luge Doubles, furthering their place as the best Luge doubles competitors of all time. Natalie Geisenberger won her 14th World or Olympic medal in Luge women’s competitions, also further reinforcing her place as the best female Luger of all time. Johannes Ludwig won the Men’s individual gold. They all teamed up for the Team relay and took gold, although they were behind Austria before the Doubles team secured the gold in dramatic fashion. The Skeleton sweep consisted of a gold medal by Hannah Neise (Women’s) and a 1-2 by Christopher Grotheer and Axel Jungk. Meanwhile, Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor did the 1-2 for USA in the first Women’s Monobob Olympic competition.
  8. Historic Norwegians. Therese Johaug (NOR) won her second gold medal in Beijing 2022, by taking the Women’s 10-kilometer classical race. She has now won 17 gold medals between the Olympic Games and World Championships and she has been the most successful female skier in this distance. She equaled Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) in World and Olympic gold medals in the sport and is only behind Marit Bjørgen (NOR) now. The non-Norwegian wins were: the Men’s 15 km Classical, with Iivo Niskanen (FIN), the 4 × 10 kilometer relay with the Russian Olympic Committee, -who also won the Women’s 4 × 5 kilometer relay-, and the Women’s sprint with a win by Jonna Sundling (SWE). In Biathlon, Johannes Thingnes Bø (NOR) won his 15th World or Olympic gold medal by taking the Men’s 10 km sprint over Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA) -who won gold in the Men’s 12.5 km pursuit and the Men’s 20 km individual- and brother Tarjei Bø (NOR). Marte Olsbu Røiseland (NOR) won the two women’s Biathlon competitions that took place this week: the 10 km pursuit and the 7.5 km sprint.
  9. Not all for Norway. Marius Lindvik (NOR) won the Ski Jump Men’s large hill individual gold medal but Norway failed to medal in the Men’s large hill team, where Austria won ahead of Slovenia and Germany. In Nordic combined, Vinzenz Geiger (DEU) won the Individual normal hill/10 km, ahead of Jørgen Graabak (NOR).
  10. Italian finesse. Italy won the second-ever Mixed curling Olympic competition after a perfect 9-0 record in the preliminaries and then winning the Semifinal and the Final, where they defeated Norway 8-5. Sweden beat Great Britain (SCO) 9-3 for the bronze.