As the Opening Ceremonies have still not occurred, there are not a lot of events which have begun, and no medals have been awarded yet, so there still is not a great story line. But, of all the events that did occur on day 2, one thing stood out to me - the performance of Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan in the short program of the team event. At 27, Patrick is an elder statesman in figure skating, having previously won 2 silvers in Sochi. This is his third Olympics. He is a ten time Canadian champion, and a three-time gold medalist and 2-time silver medalist in the World Championships.
But, being an elder statesman, he does not have the pure athleticism of today's younger skaters. For example, in the American trials, Nathan Chen became the first person to land 5 quads in one competition. Chan does not do quads. What he does is skate elegantly, land all of his jumps (and yes he did a triple axel), all while performing his short program to "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas. Chan finished third in the men's single short program of the team competition, but it, along with the second-place performance by pairs skaters Eric Radford and Meagan Duhamel, was more than enough to Canada the lead in the team competition. For that, Patrick Chan was my "Performance of the Day".
My Disappointment of the Day occurred in the same event - Nathan Chen, and 18 year old American wunderkind, who took the American trials by storm by becoming the first person to land 5 quads in a single competition. He comes to PyeongChang with hopes of gold, and he was to start off the team competition for American with the maximum of 10 points. He, however, fell short. Literally. He barely landed his first quad, fell on his second jump, and turned his quad, triple combo into a double, single. Since a triple, double, is a required skill, his double, single combo netted him 0 points in technical merit. Chen benefited from the fact that everyone seemed to fall during the competition, so he finished in 4th place, which coupled with a 4th place finish by the American pairs team of Chris Knierim and Alexa Scimeca Knierim vaulted the US into second place in the team standings.
Events watched: Team Figure Skating, Women's Freestyle Moguls, Mixed Doubles Curling
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