Only five medal events today, but again,some great competition.
Even in the non-medal matches, like hockey, the games are starting to heat up tremendously. The U.S. men's hockey team, behind two more goals from Harvard's own Ryan Donato, defeated Slovakia to advance to the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic. For an older guy like me, I find it interesting that the U.S. can beat both Czech and Slovakia in the same knockout round. (For those younger than me - Czechoslovakia used to be one single country!).
The women dominated Finland to advance to the the gold medal game against - stop me if you have heard this before - Canada, who started slow against the OAR, but scored 3 quick goals in the third period to ice the game 5-0. Since the U.S. defeated Canada in Nagano in 1998, Canada has won four straight gold medals (2002 in Salt Lake City; 2006 in Turin; 2010 in Vancouver; and 2014 in Sochi). In those 4 Olympics the U.S. has won 3 silvers and 1 bronze (losing to Canada in each finals and being upset by Sweden in the semi-finals in 2006). Given the earlier match from these Olympics ended with a 2-1 Canada win and a scramble in front of the Canadian goal at the end, this gold medal game should be outstanding.
The women's freestyle skiing half-pipe final was amazing. Canada's Cassie Sharpe won gold, Marie Martinod of France won the silver and the Brita Sigourney of the U.S. wins gold. The competition was so amazing that Sigourney, when interviewed afterward commented that the competition was so tough and the tricks so amazing that there was palpable pressure and tension, and followed that up by saying that she doesn't perform very well under pressure. Brita - you did this time. You performed more than well, your performed admirably. But Sharpe was the story. Sharpe wears a mouthguard with a gold tooth emblazoned on it, and raps M.O.B.'s "Ante Up" before dropping into the half-pipe. She culminated her amazing run with a 1080, earning the highest score in the events history, albeit brief. U.S. defending gold-medalist Maddie Bowman had three excellent runs until her last hit, failing to land each of them and finishing 11th in the finals.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day came in the men's 500m speedskating. Norwegian skater Havard Lorentzen won gold, followed by South Korea's Cha Min Kyu with silver and China's Gao Tingyu with the bronze. What was surprising about this result you ask? No Dutch skaters! The Netherlands's Ronald Mulder finished 7th. American Mithcell Whitmore finishing 15th should come as no surprise.
The final 2 runs in the men's 2 men Bobsled were held, and two teams finished in a tie for the gold medal. After 4 runs each, almost 4 miles of track, Canada and Germany finished in the exact same time! This is the second time that this has happened in Olympic history. In 1998 Canada and Italy tied for the gold in Nagano, (Luge and Speed Skating already time to the thousandth of a second - look for that to happen in Bobsled soon). After the Canadian sled finished and their time was announced, in what only happens in the Olympics, the German team was the first to congratulate the Canadians - although I am not sure the congratulations would have been so quick if the time was .01 different in Canada's favor. Latvia earned the bronze.
As exciting as the men's bobsled conclusion was, Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir earned the Performance of the Day. Virtue and Moir included a lift in their routine that they had deemed too risque to perform during the team competition. They captivated the judges and audience alike as they skated to their third ever gold medal (2010 Vancouver - Ice Dancing; 2018 PyeongChang Team) and are the first figure skaters to ever win 5 medals overall (2014 silver medalists in Ice Dancing and Team). Of course, team skating has only been competed since 2014. France's Papadakis and Cizeron won silver and the American Shibutani siblings - the "Shib Sibs" won bronze. Congratulations to Virtue and Moir for their amazing performance and their fifth overall Olympic medal.
The U.S. Disappointment of the Day could go to ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates for falling in their free skate, causing them to fall to 9th place in the standings. However, their recovery after the fall - which almost never happens in ice dancing compared to the singles competition - was absolutely amazing. Therefore, the Disappointment of the Day goes to freestyle skier Maddie Bowman, the defending Olympic gold medalist in the half-pipe, who failed to land any of her 3 runs in the finals, runs that were so specatcular prior to her final hit that she likely would have medaled, and possibly even won gold. Of all of the disappointments, this is one of the two real stretches, as her air, twists, turns and rotations were generally spectacular, and falling is a major part of freestyle as the competitors really push their tricks and jumps, but nevertheless Bowman was likely disappointed in finishing 11th.
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