Lots of competition, lots of medals, and even lots of medals (8) for the United States! Finally a great day for our red, white and blue.
In speed skating, both the men's and women's pursuit finals were held, and surprise, surprise, the Dutch medaled in both, winning bronze in the men's pursuit and silver in the women's. In the men's Norway won gold over the locals from South Korea who won bronze. In the women's event, Japan won gold over the Netherlands (silver) and the United States - yes the United States - earned a bronze!!!! This is the first speed skating medal of any kind for the US since 2010, and the first women's medal since 2002. Of course, in didn't come without controversy. In the team pursuit, 3 skaters from each country skate simultaneously, with each team starting on a separate half of the oval. The team's then "pursue" each other around the rink. The time is calculated when the skate of the third skater finishes. The skaters often take turns leading while the others draft, but for most of the race you want your two best skaters to be in the front and back, with that last skater literally pushing the middle racer at times. Although three skaters for each country are on the ice at a time, the team consists of 4 skaters, any 3 of which can skate in any race.
The US drew the Netherlands in the semi-finals, and they thought it would be touch to beat the Dutch to make the gold medal match. So, the US rested its fastest skater, Brittany Bowe, and replaced her with the slowest of the four, Carlijn Schoutens - who was instrumental in qualifying the US for the Olympics as Bowe and Heather Bergsma only skate in the pursuit in the Olympics. Not only did Schoutens race in the semi-final, she was the lead skater for the US for almost the entirety of the race, leaving Bergsma and Mia Manganello to rest and draft off Shoutens. The US was hammered by the Netherlands, but plenty rested up to defeat Canada two hours later in the bronze medal match, which featured the return of Bowe.
The finals of the half-pipe in men's freestyle skiing was held, and the United States, behind David Wise (gold) and Alex Ferreira (silver) medaled as did 16 year old Nico Porteous of New Zealand.
Jamie Anderson narrowly missed becoming the first American woman to win two gold medals at a single Olympics since Bonnie Blair, by winning silver after a spectacular run by Austria's Anna Gasser in the women's snowboarding big air finals.
Another American woman chasing Bonnie Blair was Mikaela Shiffrin, who ultimately finished with the silver in the super combined, behind only Michelle Gisin of Switzerland. Lindsay Vonn, the leader after the downhill portion of the combined, missed a gate in the slalom and DNF.
In the women's 2 person bobsled race, American driver Elana Meyers Taylor won her second straight silver medal (and third overall medal) along with her brakewoman Lauren Gibbs, falling behind only the powerful sled from Germany and just ahead of an equally powerful Canadian team.
As you can see in the above picture, in the women's cross-country team spring title, Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins of the United States won gold over skiing powerhouses Sweden and Norway. Sweden's Stina Nilsson gave Diggins all she had, but Diggins won gold in the sprint finale as shown below. Diggins, who twice finished 5th in these Olympics, anchored the gold-medal winning performance, which was the first medal in cross-country skiing for the United States since Bill Koch in 1976.
As exciting as that was, it pales in comparison the the U.S. Women's hockey team's 6 shot shootout victory for the gold medal over Canada. Jocelyn Lamoureux triple deked the Canadian goaltender, who had no chance at stopping the ultimate winner. This is the first shootout final in Olympics history, and was sweet revenge for the US after losing in overtime to Canada last year, earing the US their first gold since 1998 in Nagano. For this, the US hockey team, and specifically Jocelyn Lamoureux are the Performers of the Day.
The American Disappointment of the Day was Lindsay Vonn, who did not finish the slalom portion of the super combined after leading the event after the downhill portion.
Events Watched: Men's Curling; Women's Bobsled; Men's Speed Skating; Women's Alpine Skiing; Men's Freestyle Skiing
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