Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics daily briefing: second gold for NZ and a medal at last for GB

Today in a nutshell: Silver for Team GB in the men’s curling and New Zealand’s second gold makes it their greatest ever Winter Olympics

Next up: Women’s bobsleigh, and bronze-medal matches in women’s curling and men’s ice hockey wrap up today. Tomorrow, the final day of sport and the closing ceremony

You know what they say, you wait 70 years for a gold medal at the Winter Olympics and then two come along at once. New Zealand’s Nico Porteous won the country’s second ever gold and second gold of this Games in the men’s freeski halfpipe. Conditions were intense, with the air temperature down to -22C (-7.6F). Brrrrr. The rest of the podium was filled out with the US team – defending champion David Wise took silver and Alex Ferreira took bronze, describing the conditions as “super difficult”.

“Pretty gnarly,” was the verdict of Gus Kenworthy, the 2014 silver medalist, who finished eighth. Having previously competed for the US, this year he was representing Great Britain. Drawing the curtain down on his career he revealed a T-shirt saying “Openly British”.

He said: “This sport has changed my life in ways I could have never imagined. I’m gay. I felt like I didn’t fit in, in sport. To be out and proud, competing at the Olympics, and all of the opportunities that have come my way since the Olympics, I couldn’t be more thankful.”

He also had a swipe at the hosts and the International Olympics Committee (IOC), saying: “It was never that I thought China couldn’t put on a good Games – I absolutely knew that they could and they have. But when there are human rights atrocities happening in the country and a poor stance on LGBTQ rights, then those things need to be taken into consideration by the IOC.”

Team GB’s first medal of the Games