Olympics - Milano-Cortina 2026 - Day 17/February 20

 

Got caught up doing real life stuff, like personal stuff AND work, but there is no way I was going to go through 16 days of Winter Olympics and NOT finish up the last weekend.  So, I enter the go back machine to the beginning of the final weekend.  Let's reminisce!

We entered the medal round for curling in both the men's and women's competition.  In the men's bracket, Switzerland dominated Norway for the bronze, winning 9-1.  Switzerland was equally successful in the women's side as they defeated the United States 7-4 in the Semi-Finals to advance to the gold medal game, where they will face Sweden, which claimed victory over Canada 6-3.

On skis, the Biathlon Men's 15 km mass start was held, with familiar faces all over the podium.  Norway won gold and silver behind Johannes Dale-Skjevdal (gold) and Sturla Holm Laegreid (silver).  France's Quintin Fillon-Maillet earned bronze.  It was Dale-Skjevdal's first medal of any games, but Laegreid won his third silver to go with 2 bronzes in Milano-Cortina to pair with a gold from Beijing, and Fillon Maillet's bronze will go with his three golds in these games.

The United States won a much-needed gold behind Alex Ferreira in the Men's Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe, with Henry Sildaru of Estonia following him to silver, and Canadian Brendan Mackay winning bronze.

Freestyle Skiing also conducted the men's aerials, in which China faired very well with Wang Xindi earning gold and Li Tianma winning bronze.  Sandwiched between the Chinese athletes for silver was Noe Roth of Switzerland.

The best event of the day was on the slopes in the Women's Ski Cross as Daniela Maier of Germany not only improved on her bronze from Beijing, she let out a heartfelt, enthusiastic scream as she crossed the finish line that had to have touched anybody in the vicinity.  Fanny Smith of Switzerland won silver and Sandra Naeslund of Sweden took home the bronze.

The Dutch continued their dominance of speed skating as Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong takes the gold, followed by Ragne Wiklund of Norway who earned silver, and Valerie Maltais from Canada who joined the podium as the bronze medalist.

Not to be outdone, Short-Track Speedskating held two medal races, the Women's 1500 meter and the Men's 5000-meter relay.  In the former, Kim Gilli of Korea won gold, followed by compatriot Choi Minjeong and Corrine Stoddard from Canada earning bronze.  In the latter, the Dutch team of Jens van'T Wout, Teun Boer, Friso Emons, and Melle van'T Wout won gold over the Korean team (silver) and the host Italians (bronze).

 On another sheet of ice, the Canadian men advanced to the gold-medal game in hockey in a hard-fought victory over Finland, prevailing 3-2.  In the finals, they will face the United States, who easily handled Slovakia 6-2, behind a pair of goals from Jack Hughes.

Athlete of the Day - Jens van'T Wout, Netherlands, Short Track Speed Skating

The Dutch champion won his third gold medal of these games in the 5000-meter relay.  He also won a bronze in a race won by his brother, who joined him on the gold-medal winning relay team.

U.S. Athlete of the Day - Alex Ferreira, Freestyle Skiing

Won gold in halfpipe, and was the only gold medalist of the day for the United States.

Upset of the Day - Marielle Thompson, Canada, Freestyle Skiing

The favorite in the Freestyle Ski-Cross was eliminated in the quarterfinals in which she finished fourth in the four-person heat.  Thompson, who had previously won gold in Sochi in 2014 and silver in 2022 in Beijing in this event, was a heavy medal favorite.

Team of the Day - Netherlands, Short Track Speedskating

Won the Gold medal in the Men's 5000-meter relay to solidify the Netherlands as perennial Short-Track contenders, and not just long-track speedskating specialists.

U.S. Team of the Day - Men's Hockey

Cruised into the finals with an easy 6-2 victory over Slovakia.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Double Cork - In freestyle skiing, it is an aerial maneuver consisting of two separate off-axis rotations.

Olympic Events Watched:   Travel day for me, so only saw:  Freestyle Skiing, Hockey

USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically):  Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Kendall Coyne, Jessie Diggins, Korey Dobkin, Ashley Farquharson, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Breezy Johnson, Jaelin Kauf, Hilary Knight, Elizabeth Lemley, Austin Matthews, Mikaela Shiffrin, Elana Meyers Taylor, Ben Ogden, Jordan Stolz, Cory Thiesse, 

Olympics - PyeongChang 2018 - Day 15

Day 15 - February 21

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