Day 3 - February 6, 2022
Day 3, and the medals start coming. The Russian Olympic Committee leads with 6 total medals, followed by Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Canada, Italy, and Austria - each with 4. The United States has 3, along with Sweden, Germany and France.
In hockey, the US Women just annihilated Switzerland, winning 8-0 and scoring in all three periods. Hilary Knight, Jesse Compher and Kelly Panneck each scored twice, with Knight, Compher, and Alex Carpenter leading the team in total goals (3). Today's matchup with Canada is for the number 1 seed in the quarterfinals and is a potential gold medal preview - or at least it should be. Anything else would be disappointing for us fans.
In the men's luge, Johannes Ludwig of Germany claims gold, with Austria's Wolfgang Kindl and Italy's Dominik Fischnaller winning silver and bronze respectively. Ludwig had the fastest time in each run and set the course record after his first two attempts.
In ski jumping, Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi takes the gold medal in the men's normal hill, winning Japan's first ski jumping gold since Sappora 1972. Keyser Soze of Hungary approves. Manuel Fettner of Austria earned the silver, and Poland's David Kubacki wins bronze.
In the women's normal hill competition, Ursa Bogataj of Slovenia wins gold, Katharina Althaus of Austria finishes with silver, while Bogataj's compatriot Nika Kriznar wins bronze.
Alpine Skiing finally got started after some delays due to unsafe wind conditions. The women's giant slalom started things off, but for American medal contender Mikaela Shiffrin, the day ended early, falling and missing a gate in the upper portion of the course. Sara Hector of Sweden wins gold, followed by Frederica Brignone of Italy and Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami.
In freestyle skiing, the Big Air competition was held, with qualifying rounds held at the venue, which is making headlines not for the venue, but for the background!
Julia Marino wins the silver medal for the United States in Snowboard Slopestyle, finishing second behind Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand. Sadowski-Synnott earned New Zealand its first ever Winter Olympics gold medal. The United States won silver again as Jaelin Kauf finished behind Australian Jakara Anthony in the freestyle skiing moguls.
The United States won its third silver medal of these games in Team Figure Skating, as the team of Nathan Chen (1st in mens), Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (2nd in pairs), Madison Chock/Evan Bates (1st in Ice Dancing), and Karen Chen (6th in ladies), had a strong finish in the free dance portion. However, they, and the rest of the competition, was overshadowed by Kamila Valieva, as the 15 year old became the first ever woman to land a quad at the Olympics, and she landed 2.
Women's curling was also interesting, as Norway challenged Italy, before Italy's Stefania Constantini scored 5 points in two different ends, to stay undefeated. Subsequently both the Italian's and Norwegians have rolled into the finals, which they will play tomorrow.
Irene Wust of the Netherlands won the gold medal in the 1500 meters, winning a gold medal in her 5th Olympics, the first ever athlete to do so.
Co-Athlete of the Day - Irene Wust, Netherlands, Speed Skating
SHE WON A GOLD MEDAL IN HER FIFTH STRAIGHT OLYMPICS!
Co-Athlete of the Day - Kamila Valieva, Russian Olympic Committe, Figure Skating
FIRST WOMAN TO EVER LAND A QUAD IN OLYMPIC COMPETITION!
Teamwork Moment of the Day - Chinese Team Figure Skating Team, China
Women's skater Zhu Yi, who was born in the United States, and she took a lot of flak when she was selected to skate by the Chinese coaches to skate in the Team Competition. She took even more, including death threats, after she fell during the short program portion of the team competition. She fell on her first jump in the free skate, but afterward picked herself up and skated a beautiful performance. During the announcement of her scores, the other members of the team were all hugging her and rubbing her arms, and otherwise trying to comfort her as she was obviously crying. Some of these team members did not get to skate in the team competition because Zhu was selected ahead of them.
Olympic Term of the Day: Power Play (in Curling) - Once per match, each team may elect a power play, in which they place the guard stone at a location half in the 8m circle and half in the 12m circle, with the back of the stone placed on the center line. This blocking stone keeps the entire house open, and makes for a potential big scoring end by the team holding shot rock.
Olympic Events Watched: Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Luge, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, Speed Skating
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer: Nathan Chen, Hilary Knight
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