The first Sunday of the Olympics is chock full of events and medals!!!
The United States won its first gold medal in the women's downhill, and it wasn't Lindsay Vonn, who crashed early on in her race and suffered a compound fracture to her tibia. Instead, it was Breezy Johnson, who skied 6th and set the low time, which was not caught. Germany's Emma Eicher finished second and Sofia Goggia of Italy won the Bronze.
Also going downhill in the Snowboarding parallel giant slalom were the men and women, raced toward the medals. Austria's Benjamin Karl - at 41 years of age - defeating Kim Sandkyun of Korea in the finals to become the oldest winter Olympics gold medalist ever. In the women's event, Zuzana Maderova of Czechia won gold over Austria's Sabine Payer. Although I always love to give love to the winners, the big story of the parallel Super Giant Slalom was that heavy favorite and 2018 double-gold medalist Ester Ledecka of Czechia, lost to Payer in the quarterfinals. Here is Karl in his iconic celebration after he clinched the gold!
In another big upset, Germany's Felix Loch failed to medal in the luge, with gold going to his teammate Max Langerhan, who was followed down the slied by Jonas Mueller of Austria and Dominik Fishnaller of Italy.
Lots of action on the skis, as the potential for 6 gold medals at these games is still in paly for Johanes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway, as he just decimated the other 4 racers in the lead pack on the last 1/2 lap of the skiathlon to win his first gold medal of these events in what many consider his weakest event - comparatively speaking.
Norway also won another gold in the Men's 5000-Meter Speedskating fianl, as Sander Eitrem of Norway was victorious.
In team sports, the United States qualified for the semifinals with one match remaining in the round-robin tournament by defeating Estonia 5-3 and Sweden 8-7. Their last match against reigning Olympic champions Italy will be for seeding only, as Italy has also qualified, along with Great Britain.
In women's hockey shutouts reigned supreme with Sweden whitewashing France 4-0, and Switzerland blanking Finland 2-0.
In perhaps the most dominating performance to date in these games, France won gold in the Biathlon mixed relay, as Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet, Lou Jeanmont and anchor Julia Simon absolutely destroyed the field - especially anchor leg Simon's last shoot in which not only was she clean, she was brilliantly fast as well, so fast that even a miss or two would likely have led to gold over silver medalist Italy and third place Germany.
And, in the event everybody was waiting for at the conclusion of the evening, the last three events in the team figure skating turned out to be spectacular. First up was pairs, and although the Japanese pair won their expected 10 points, the US team of Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea exceeded their expected fifth place finish by scoring their highest performance of the season to finish 4th, and that extra point led to a tie between the US and Japan after Kaori Sakamato came in first place in the women's singles long skate, ahead of Amber Glenn who finished third. And, although Shun Sato of Japan skated absolutely brilliantly, Ilia Malinin's routine was just so technically difficult that he exceeded 200 points even with a touchdown on one of his quads. Team US won gold by 1 point.
Athlete of the Day - Johanes Hoesflot Klaebo, Norway, Cross-Country Skiing
He skied with a 5-man breakway pack most of the race, and then absolutely obliterated the other leaders with 1/2 lap left to go.
U.S. Athlete of the Day - Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, Figure Skating
Breezy Johnson could be here, but Kam and O'Brien's pair performance was so critical as they increased their positioning by one point, and that single point was the difference between gold and silver over the Japanese in the team event.
Upset of the Day - Ester Ledecka, Czechia, Snowboarding and Felix Loch, Germany, Luge
Such huge favorites that not only didn't win gold, they didn't even medal!!! Loch finishing fourth in the men's luge after his four runs and Ledecka losing to the eventual silver medalist in the quarterfinals, despite being the one seed.
Team of the Day - France, Mixed Biathlon Relay, Biathlon
Flawless shooting by everyone, but particularly by Julia Simon in the relay position!
U.S. Team of the Day - Figure Skating
Winning their second consecutive gold medal, although only ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates remain from Beijing. Of particular import, Ilia Malinin planned on skipping the men's single free skate after skating the short program and with his individual event approaching in two days, but knowing the US was tied with Japan (and behind in the tiebreaker), he suited up and won his event, and thus the gold.
Olympic Term of the Day: Axel - Figure Skating - in figure skating, an edge jumped named after Norwegian Axel Paulsen It is the only jump with a forward take-off, with the takeoff on the forward outside edge and landing on the backward outside edge - making Ilia Malinin's quadruple axel really a 4 1/2 twist jump.
Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Snowboarding
USA Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer Possibilities (listed alphabetically): Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Korey Dobkin, Breezy Johnson, Hilary Knight, Ilia Malinin, Cory Thiesse
