There is action every day at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 but we’ll select for you the best one at the end of the competitions, when Beijing is closing its doors. Today: Walter Walberg wows plus an historic day for Canada
Walter Wallberg crowned new king of the hill after upsetting the great Mikael Kingsbury
Sweden’s Walter Wallberg headlined a record-breaking first day of sporting action at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The 21-year-old from Bollnäs sprung a huge surprise in the men’s moguls competition, defeating the sport's all-time great competitor Mikaël Kingsbury, with a stellar run to clinch his country’s first ever medal in the discipline.
Wallberg had flashed his medal-winning credentials earlier at the Genting Sports Park after edging out the defending champion in the event’s second final. The result meant the Swede would go last in the third ‘super final.’
However, when the heavily-fancied Canadian scored 82.18 in his final run, there was an overwhelming feeling that Wallberg - who is yet to win a World Cup event - would need the run of his life to the take the title.
The young upstart did not disappoint.
"This gold has been the goal since I was child," said Wallberg, who scored 83.23 to take the win. "I've been working so hard for this so it's amazing.
While it was not the shade of metal the defending champion was after, his medal moment was not without its own special feel.
Kingsbury’s silver, his third Olympic medal, marks Canada’s 201st Olympic Winter Games medal. It was preceded earlier in the day by compatriot Isabelle Weidemann whose bronze in the women’s 3000m speed skating competition ticked the winter sporting powerhouse into their second century of silverware.
The Netherlands’ Irene Schouten was a serious contender for moment of the day after setting a new Olympic record time of 3:56.93 to take the gold with Italian Francesca Lollobrigida taking silver.