Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics daily briefing: golds for the snowboard olds

Today in a nutshell: It was golden oldies day on the snowboard for the US, but there’s still no decision on whether one of the youngest athletes at the Games – Kamila Valieva –will be able to compete again

Next up: There is some ski jumping, ice hockey, curling and the women’s skeleton still to be contested today. Tomorrow is the men’s giant slalom, the women’s monobob, and a couple more biathlon contests

After waiting 16 years to win a first Olympic gold medal, Lindsey Jacobellis captured her second in four days, pairing with Nick Baumgartner to win the inaugural mixed team snowboard cross event for the US. Baumgartner, 40, and Jacobellis, 36, become the oldest snowboarders to win any Olympic medal and the oldest Americans to win gold at the Winter Games since 1948. “We’re 80s babies and we were comin’ in hot today,” said Jacobellis.

The journalists who broke the story of Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) skater Kamila Valieva’s positive drugs test on Wednesday say they have faced death threats, abuse, and warnings that they should check their tea. Valieva’s coach Eteri Tutberidze spoke to Russian state television for the first time since the scandal emerged, to say that she was certain the skater was “clean and innocent”.

“It’s unclear why an athlete with a suspected doping on 25 December was cleared to compete at the Olympics,” Tutberidze said. “Either it is an ill-fated confluence of circumstances, or it’s a very well-planned plan.”

Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse, has said the failed drug test was a reminder of how vulnerable young athletes remain. “A child does not make a choice to take those kinds of medications unless they’re given