Winter Olympics: highs, lows, heroes and villains of Beijing 2022

Sean Ingle The women’s figure skating free programme. An extraordinary evening of ice and fire, tears and peril. The heart felt for Kamila Valieva as the tears began to roll after the pressures of an extraordinary week caught up for her, but the eyes were also drawn to her teammate Alexandra Trusova and her extraordinary reaction after her five quads were only rewarded with a silver medal. “I will never go out on the ice again,” she said. ‘Never! I hate this sport! It’s impossible! You cannot do it this way! I’m not going to the awards! Everyone has a gold medal! Only I don’t! I hate it all!” When the inevitable Netflix documentary comes, Trusova will surely be the starring act.

Bryan Armen Graham The American speed skater Erin Jackson, who thought her Beijing dream was dashed after a fall at last month’s US trials appeared to cost her a place on the team, earned an Olympic gold (and a namecheck from Viola Davis) by winning the women’s 500m at the Ice Ribbon. In doing so, the converted inline skater became the first Black woman from any country to win an individual gold in a Winter Olympics event.

Martin Belam I gasped out loud when Nils van der Poel broke the newly set Olympic record in the last pairing of the 5,000m men’s speed skating and snatched the gold after his great rival Patrick Roest of the Netherlands had sat watching pair after pair of skaters fail to get near his new benchmark. Van der Poel later spoke out about how “irresponsible” the IOC were to give China hosting rights.

Sean Ingle The boring answer is Eileen Gu, who won two golds and a silver in the freeski. But Trusova gets silver. And the American Lindsey Jacobellis takes bronze for her two snowboard cross titles – and particularly her grab at the end