Lithuania competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022.
The Lithuanian team consisted of 13 athletes (eight men and five women) competing in four sports, the largest ever team Lithuania has sent to a Winter Olympics. Ice dancers Deividas Kizala and Paulina Ramanauskaitė were the country's flagbearer during the opening ceremony. Meanwhile, cross-country skier Modestas Vaiciulis was the flagbearer during the closing ceremony.
Competitors The following is the list of number of competitors participating at the Games per sport/discipline.
SportMenWomenTotalAlpine skiing1 1 2Biathlon4 1 5Cross-country skiing2 2 4Figure skating1 1 2 Total 8 5 13
Calls for Olympic boycott On 19 November 2021, members of the Lithuanian national parliament Seimas released an official letter encouraging Lithuania to withdrawal from the 2022 Olympics due to human rights violations in China. This came to light during the China–Lithuania relations crisis, after the Republic of China (Taipei or Taiwan) opened its representative office in Vilnius under the name of "Taiwan" (the first under this name in Europe) in August 2021. In response, the People's Republic of China recalled its ambassador in Vilnius, Shen Zhifei, and demanded that Lithuania recall its ambassador in Beijing, Diana Mickevičienė.
Trade between the two countries was seriously disrupted. Relations between the PRC and Lithuania were downgraded to the level of chargé d'affaires on 21 November 2021.
Daina Gudzinevičiūtė, president of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee, released a statement that the Olympic Games should be politically neutral and confirmed that committee had no plans to boycott the games.
On 3 December 2021, Lithuania was the first nation to announce a diplomatic boycott of the games.
Alpine skiing
By meeting the basic qualification standards Lithuania qualified one male and one female alpine skier.
AthleteEventRun 1Run 2TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankAndrej DrukarovMen's giant slalom1:05.7820Men's slalomDid not advanceGabija ŠinkūnaitėWomen's slalomDid not advance
Biathlon
Based on their Nations Cup ranking in the 2021–22 Biathlon World Cup, Lithuania qualified 4 men.
AthleteEventTimeMissesRankTomas KaukėnasMen's sprint27:27.9 2 (1+1)80Men's individual56:30.05 (1+0+2+2)70Vytautas StroliaMen's sprint26:22.4 2 (1+1)43Men's individual52:10.41 (0+0+0+1)21Men's pursuit48:47.810 (2+3+1+4)58Linas BanysMen's sprint28:05.8 3 (1+2)90Men's individual57:46.23 (1+1+0+1)79Karol DombrovskiMen's sprint27:11.2 1 (0+1)73Men's individual56:30.14 (0+1+0+3)71Gabrielė LeščinskaitėWomen's sprint23:37.1 0 (0+0)63Women's individual51:39.24 (1+1+0+2)61Karol DombrovskiLinas BanysTomas KaukėnasVytautas StroliaMen's team relay1:25:37.80+1114
Cross-country skiing
Lithuania has qualified the basic quotas in men's and women's events.
Distance AthleteEventTotalTimeDeficitRankTautvydas StroliaMen's 15 km classical46:53.1 +8:58.383Eglė SavickaitėWomen's 10 km classical38:26.5 +10:20.288Ieva Dainytė39:07.4 +11:01.190
Sprint AthleteEventQualificationQuarterfinalSemifinalFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTautvydas StroliaMen's sprint3:06.7668Did not advanceModestas Vaičiulis3:01.2849Did not advanceEglė SavickaitėWomen's sprint4:03.6081Did not advanceIeva Dainytė4:10.9985Did not advanceTautvydas StroliaModestas VaičiulisMen's team sprintcolspan=4 22:17.7912Did not advance24Eglė SavickaitėIeva DainytėWomen's team sprintcolspan=4 14Did not advance=23
Figure skating
In the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, Lithuania secured one quota in the ice dance competition.Lietuvos šokių ant ledo pora iškovojo olimpinį kelialapį Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevičius were originally announced to represent Lithuania in the Winter Olympics; however, American-born Reed's application for Lithuanian citizenship was denied, and the pair was subsequently replaced by Paulina Ramanauskaitė and Deividas Kizala.
AthleteEventTotal Points Rank Points Rank Points RankPaulina RamanauskaitėDeividas KizalaIce dancing58.3523Did not advance
References