Norway's Therese Johaug powered to victory in the final race of her Olympic career, while Francesco Friedrich's crew capped off an extraordinary showing of German sliding prowess this Winter Olympics by thundering to gold in the four-man event. The top moments from the Beijing Winter Olympics on Sunday:
Johaug dominates women's 30km to win Norway's 16th gold
Norway's Therese Johaug powered to victory in the final race of her Olympic career, winning the women's 30km freestyle mass start in a display of enormous strength and discipline and netting her third individual gold of the Beijing Games.
American Jessie Diggins came in second 1:43.3 behind Johaug to collect the silver medal, with Kerttu Niskanen of Finland making a late burst to take the bronze.
Diggins had to be carried from the finish line, one of many racers overcome by the cold and exhaustion.
However, none of that could dispel Johaug's joy as she closed out her Olympic career with a gold - her nation's 16th of the Beijing Games and a record for a single country at a Winter Olympics.
The race was moved forward by three-and-a-half hours as once again high winds whipped through the mountains in Zhangjiakou at speeds of up to 15 km per hour over the four 7.5km laps, but the Norwegian was undeterred.
Johaug wasted no time getting out in front, taking control after the first 2km and stretching the field out with Sweden's Ebba Andersson shadowing her in a breakaway group of seven racers that was quickly reduced to four.
France's Delphine Claudel battled gamely to hang on to the leaders but they were soon whittled down to a trio, and Johaug took her chance just before a third of the race had elapsed.
As Andersson briefly paused for a drink around the 9km mark, Johaug spotted her opportunity and made another break, dropping the Swede and leaving the leader with only Diggins on her tail, but the American sprint specialist could not reel her in.
Johaug's lead over Diggins was soon up to 27 seconds and she pressed on relentlessly, occasionally looking behind her but only seeing the snow being whipped across the course by the brisk, freezing wind.
By then, World Cup leader Natalya Nepryaeva representing the Russian Olympic Committee had long since departed, gliding off the course and giving up before the end of the first lap.
Around a minute behind Johaug and another minute ahead of Andersson in third, Diggins ploughed a lonely furrow in second spot but could not close the gap as time began to run out and the wind increased in strength.
In the end it was all too easy as Johaug, who missed the 2018 Olympics due to a doping suspension, cruised across the line waving a Norwegian flag with the rest of the field nowhere to be seen.
Friedrich caps off German sliding gold rush with four-man crown
Francesco Friedrich's crew capped off an extraordinary showing of German sliding prowess this Winter Olympics by thundering to gold in the four-man event on Sunday, further elevating his position in the pantheon of the sport's all-time greats.
Germany has always been strong in bobsleigh. But it has taken its domination to another level at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre, clinching nine out of ten sliding golds and 17 of the 30 medals the sports had to offer.
The Dresden police officer they call the 'Ice Kaiser' gave an imperious performance in the last run of the Games, a black and yellow blur flashing down "Flying Snow Dragon" track under an azure sky.
His team finished with a combined time of 3:54.30 after four runs.
That was 0.37 seconds faster than the crew of his compatriots piloted by Johannes Lochner, who settled for silver behind Friedrich again, just as on the podium for the two-man event on Tuesday night.
Germany was tantalisingly close to a historic second medal sweep in the bobsleigh, but for Canadian Justin Kripps and his team, 0.79 seconds off Friedrich's pace.
After three strong runs their fourth was relatively weak, with their advantage over Christoph Hafer's crew dwindling with each corner they turned down the serpentine track.
In the end, the Canadians were just 0.06 seconds faster, enough to deny another German wipeout.
Friedrich joked before the Olympics that he was struggling to find space at home for his bobsleigh treasure trove - the squeeze will be worse after again winning the two- and four-man events as he did in Pyeongchang four years ago.
It was a great morning for Britain, with Brad Hall's team delivering the country's best four-man performance since 1998 with their sixth place finish.
Austria win gold in mixed team, Shiffrin's US miss out
Austria won gold in the Alpine skiing mixed team parallel event on Sunday, beating Germany in the final, while Mikaela Shiffrin will leave the Beijing Olympics without a medal after the United States lost to Norway in the third-place race.
Both the gold and bronze medal races were decided on combined times after finishing 2-2.
Shiffrin, who competed in all five individual events, had been hoping to leave with at least a medal from the team event but she lost three straight races as her team ended fourth.
The American had failed to finish in three of her five individual races at the Games - giant slalom, slalom and combined - but she said she had enjoyed the team contest.
"I am not disappointed. I have had a lot of disappointing moments at these Games, today is not one of them. Today is my favourite memory," she told reporters.
"This was the best possible way that I could imagine ending the Games, skiing with such strong team mates."
The format featured four races - two men's and two women's - with the contests decided by the combined best two times of each team if the score finished level.
The team event, in only its second edition after being introduced at Pyeongchang in 2018, had been rescheduled from Saturday after heavy winds forced a postponement.
The winds were still high on Sunday and temperatures sub-zero with skiers huddled under blankets in the finish area while watching their team mates race.
In the semi-finals, Austria beat Norway on times while Germany defeated the United States 3-1.
The Austrian team was made up of Katharina Huber, Katharina Liensberger, Katharina Truppe, Stefan Brennsteiner, Michael Matt and Johannes Strolz.
Strolz, who lost his place in the Austrian Alpine squad last year and had to work as a policeman while he kept his career going, leaves Beijing with two golds, including his victory in the men's combined as well as a silver in slalom.
