Only four medal events today, but WOW - what competition!!! Before we get to the medals, the women's snowboarding Big Air qualifying was absolutely ridiculous. The fact that the finalists were limited to 12, and that those 12 all did jumps more than worthy of the finals, sets up a tremendous final!!! Jamie Anderson (6th), Julia Marino (9th) and Jessika Jensen (12th), all qualified for the finals, giving the US a quarter of the entrants in the final. Hopefully multiple medals could be in play!!!
The men's 2-Man bobsled conducted its first two runs (of four), and Germany's sled piloted by Nico Walther finished his team's second run in first place, even though he and his brakeman Christian Poser finished on their side.
In the women's 500 meter speed skating final, American Brittany Bowe initially equaled the blistering pace set by Jorien Ter Mors of the Netherlands, the 1000m gold medalist. Bowe, subsequently was listed first at the time once the times were spread out to the thousandth of a second instead of the usual hundreth. Bowe seemed ripe to capture a medal as it seemed the only competitors of note that remained were the reigning world champion and the 2x reigning Olympic champion. Of the favorites, Japanese skater Nao Kodaira was first. Kodaira who has not lost at this distance in the last two seasons, set an Olympic record at 36.94 seconds, and became the only woman under 37 seconds at sea level. Unfortunately for Bowe, Kodaira also pulled Karolina Erbanova of the Czech Republic along with her; Erbanova finishing at 37.34 and passing Bowe - at 37.53 for second. In the last heat, local favorite, 2 time reigning Olympic champion and world record holder Lee Sang-Hwa, with tremendous crowd support, started with a blistering first 100m that was even faster than Kodaira, but alas, Sang-Hwa finished in second at 37.33, just eclipsing Erbanova for the silver.
In the men's cross-country 4 x 10km relay, Alexander Bolshunov, the second leg for the OAR opened up a 30 second lead, only to have countryman Alexey Chervotkin caught at the end of his third lap of three by Simen Hegsted Kruger of Norway, towing France's Clement Parisse with him, and finished their third leg with a sizable lead over the OAR. And that is when the tactical race began.
Norway's anchor, J.H. Klaebo, is a multi-medal favorite in this Olympics, so much so that the last climb about half a kilometer from the end of each lap is named the Klaebo Hill, because everyone assumes that is where he will tactically take advantage of the other skiers, and win his races. Klaebo took off on the first of his three laps, but allowed France's anchor Adrien Backscheider to do all of the work. Backsheider had to push the lead group of two because he knows that he has nowhere near the speed of the anchor from the OAR, Denis Spitsov. Instead of playing cat-and-mouse with Klaebo, Backsheider pushed the pace as much as he could, and he and Klaebo held the lead into their third 3.3km lap, at which time Spitsov had made up the difference from the sizable lead held by Norway and France. But, Spitsov had expended so much energy to catch the leaders, he could not answer Klaebo who slid past Spitsov on the last downhill before Klaebo Hill, increased his lead for the next .5 km, and just decimated Spitsov on Klaebo's hill, cruising for Norway's eighth cross-country gold in these Olympics. OAR finished second, and in an upset, France - for the second consecutive Olympics, earned the bronze. The gold avenges Norway's fourth place finish in Sochi in 2014, as Norway has won all 7 major international races since then.
The Moment of the Day, and perhaps the finish of the Olympics occurred in the men's 15km biathlon, mass start. as France's Martin Fourcade just edged out Germany's Simon Schempp for gold. And when I say just edged out - I mean JUST EDGED OUT. The result went to a photo finish. In biathlon, the winner is the person whose boot passes the line first, and Fourcade (number 2 in the picture below) won by half a boot. After 15Km. Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen won the bronze.
Of course, what would the Olympics be without a disappointment. The biggest disappointment of the day is that curler Alexander Krushelnitsky from the OAR - the bronze medalist in the mixed doubles - tested positive for meldonium. Now, I won't get into all the details of meldonium (which supposedly increases stamina), but it was only banned in 2016 and many Russian athletes have taken it in the past (See Sharapova, Maria). Perhaps the biggest disappointment for Krushelnitsky other than simply having his bronze medal revoked, is that his curling teammate Anasstaisa Bryzgalova is HIS WIFE. They are pending a second independent test, but Krushelnitsky may not only be responsible for having his medal stripped, but also that of his wife/teammate.
That, however, is not an American disappointment, which could once again go to the American speed skaters for once again failing to medal (hello dead horse), but instead, I will give the Disappointment of the Day to the U.S. men's freestyle skiing aerials team, which failed to medal after Jonathan Lillis failed to qualify for the third finals, finishing 8th of 9 skiers. This after the X-Games sports (snowboard, snowmobile, freestyle skiing) were all thought to be added to the Olympics just to help the U.S. win more medals. (Not true - it was to gain and keep younger viewers and fans).
Events watched: Men's Hockey; Men's Cross-Country Skiing; Men's Speed Skating; Men's Bobsled; Freestyle Skiing; Women's Speed Skating; Women's Snowboard; Pairs Figure Skating
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