Day 6 - February 9, 2022
Two of the most dominant U.S. athletes performed amazingly today, and on the heels of Mikaela Shiffrin's results, this is exactly what the team - and American fanbase - needed!!!
The news of the day comes from the figure skating world, and that news is NATHAN CHEN! It is his world, and we are just living in it. Chen absolutely crushed his free skate - done to a re-mixed, souped-up version of Elton John's Rocketman, to demolish not only the rest of the competition, but also any demons he may have from 2018. Chen, a Yale student, just completed one of the most dominant 4-year runs in sports, winning all events except for one since Pyeongchang. It is Nathan Chen's world, and we are just living in it. Damn Yalies!
Chen's performance was so good that it even overshadowed the other figure skating news of the day, that it was Kamila Valieva that tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during the team competition. We knew it was somebody from the apparent winning Russian Olympic Committee team, but now the news has surfaced that it as the 15 year old dynamo, who became, at least temporarily, the first woman to land a quad in competition.
Men's Hockey started with a dramatic upset. Denmark, in its first ever Olympic hockey match, defeated the Czech Republic 2-1! What an upset.
And speaking of firsts, some amazing things happened in the Nordic combined. The Nordic combined is a competition that includes ski jumping (normal hill) and cross-country skiing. The points from the ski jumping portion of the competition equate to time, so that the athlete with the highest ski jumping score goes first in the skiing portion of the race, and each subsequent skier starts based upon how many points/seconds back they finished in the ski jumping. Winner crossed the finish line first.
Approaching 1 km from the finish, a three man breakaway group of Johannes Rydzek and Julian Schmid of Germany and Lukas Greiderer of Austria were fading, and an attack group including Vinznez Geiger of Germany, Joergen Graabak of Norway, Johannes Lamparter of Austria and Finland's Illka Herola caught them, with Geiger pulling away from everyone. Rydzek, who looked the strongest the entire race faded, and just after the 6 man attack group caught the leaders, Greiderer smacked his quads with his hands several times, apparently trying to "wake them up," which worked because Greiderer left the remainder of the group to ski with the attack group, finishing behind only Geiger and Graabak. Greiderer's bronze was the first time he had ever finished on the podium in ANY event - Olympics or during the ski season. Amazing race to watch.
In Alpine skiing, Norwegian downhill/Super-G specialist put up a great time in the downhill portion of the combined, only to be caught in the slalom segment by Johannes Strolz of Austria, with James Crawford of Canada winning bronze.
The combined, both Nordic and Alpine, are so interesting because the favorites usually specialize in one of the two disciplines, and they have to hope they are "good enough" in the other to win a medal.
In luge, Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (Tobias squared), won the doubles gold - their third consecutive title in this event!
Short track speedskating made headlines again, but not necessarily for the right reasons. In the men's 1500m, due to penalties, 10 different racers advanced to the finals from the 12 person semi-final races. There were so many people in the race that only 6 could start on the start line, the other 4 had to start behind them (not exactly fair ...). South Korea's Hwang Daeheon won gold, with Canada's Steven Dubois winning silver, and Semen Elistratov from the Russian Olympic Committee winning bronze.
And the bookends in this post with Nathan Chen's dominating performance is Chloe Kim's equally impressive victory in the snowboard half-pipe. Kim put herself way on top of the leaderboard in her first run, and before her second run was only marginally challenged by Spain's Queralt Castellet, whose second run placed her in second. For her second and third runs (the latter of which she didn't even have to perform because she had already solidified the gold medal), Kim attempted a 1260, which had never been landed in competition by anyone before. Although unsuccessful, Kim finished with her second consecutive gold!
Athlete of the Day - Nathan Chen, United States, Figure Skating
With all due respect to Chloe Kim and Tobias Squared - it's Nathan Chen!
Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Corinne Stoddard, United States, Short Track Speed Skating
Stoddard was back on the short track ice for the 3000m relay just 3 days after breaking her nose. After the training accident, Stoddard was told it was her choice to go home or the stay in Beijing. Stoddard's response was to definitely stay - because her relay team needed her. Now the US team isn't expected to do much in the relay, but they wouldn't have even participated without her, and now they have their chance.
Olympic Term of the Day: Euler - A jump in figure skating that was formerly known as the half loop until the 2018/2019 skating season. A skater takes off from back outside edge of their skates and lands on their back inside edge. It is often used as the middle of a combination, like a quadruple toe loop, Euler, triple toe loop.
Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Hockey, Nordic Combined, Short Track Speed Skating, Snowboarding,
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer: Nathan Chen, Chloe Kim, Hilary Knight, Lindsay Jacobellis
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