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By Liz Alper
Photo: Jessie Diggins of the United States (L) and Kikkan Randall of the United States celebrate as they win gold during the Cross Country Ladies' Team Sprint Free Final on day 12 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Alpensia Cross-Country Centre on February 21, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Via Zimbio
February 21, 2018 (PyeonChang, South Korea) - Forty-two years ago, Bill Koch won the USA's only medal in cross-country skiing. It was a silver. Forty-six years ago, the U.S. first formed a women's cross country skiing team.
Wednesday, Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins one-upped Koch and won gold.
Diggins crossed the finish line in 15:56.47. That's a gold medal time. Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson finished just 0.19 seconds back in second. Norway's Marit Bjoergen and Maiken Caspersen Falla crossed 2.97 seconds after the Americans, taking bronze.
They're the most unlikely pair; Randall is a five-time Olympian and Diggins is competing in her first Olympics. They teamed up in January 2012 for the team sprint in the World Cup.
CURLING ADVANCES TO SEMIFINALS
Photo, right: John Shuster, Tyler George and Matt Hamilton of the United States compete in the Curling Men's Round Robin Session 5 held at Gangneung Curling Centre on February 16, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. Via Zimbio
After a week of absolutely nothing noteworthy coming out of curling for the United States, including Wisconsin brother-sister duo Matt and Becca Hamilton’s embarrassing show in mixed doubles curling, Hamilton and John Shuster have qualified for the men’s curling semifinal by way of Korea losing to Japan. Hamilton and Shuster, along with teammates Tyler George and Joe Polo, stole four points in the eighth run against Great Britain to win the match 10-4.
Team USA advances to the semifinals for the first time since 2006. They were tied 4-4 going into the match, so this was a must-win.
VONN TAKES BRONZE
Photo, left: Bronze medalist Lindsey Vonn of the United States celebrates during the victory ceremony for the Ladies' Downhill on day 12 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Jeongseon Alpine Centre on February 21, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Via Zimbio
Perhaps the biggest story of this past week after so much anticipation, Lindsey Vonn became the oldest women’s alpine skier to medal at the Olympics at 33, taking bronze.
Sofia Goggia of Italy took gold, finishing in 1:39.22. Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel took silver in 1:339:31. She also took silver in giant slalom.
Will Vonn be back for the 2022 Games? “I haven't completely said I am not (carrying on),” she stated. “It's 99.9 percent sure that I won't. But who knows? Maybe something will come out, and they will fix my knee up, and I will be like robo-knee, and I will ski 10 more years. That would be ideal.”
THREE U.S. MEN QUALIFY FOR BIG AIR FINAL
Photo, right: Kyle Mack of the United States competes during the Men's Big Air Qualification on day 12 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre on February 21, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Via Zimbio
Three U.S. snowboarders have advanced to the big air final, including slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard. Kyle Mack and Chris Corning also qualified, making the top six on Wednesday’s qualifier.
Mack was in second after the first run with an 87.25, but slid down to third with his second run, which came in at an 88.75.
Corning, who is a year older than Gerard at 18, was in second after his second run with an 88.00, but was pushed to fourth.
Gerard was at a paltry 82.00 in seventh place, but improved on his second to 82.00 to get to sixth place.
Canada’s Max Parrot stole the show as usual, had a solid opening run, finishing at 89.25, then a 92.50 on his second run. New Zealand’s Carlos Garcia Knight nailed his second run with a 97.50.
The men’s big air is set for Saturday.
ELANA MEYERS TAYLOR WINS THIRD STRAIGHT OLYMPIC BOBSLED MEDAL
Photo, left: Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs of the United States react in the finish area during the Women's Bobsleigh heats on day twelve of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Olympic Sliding Centre on February 21, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. Via Zimbio
A week before traveling to Korea, Elana Meyers Taylor suffered an Achilles injury. A week later, she's a silver medalist, medaling for the record third straight time. She and first-time Olympian breakman Lauren Gibbs finished 0.07 seconds behind gold medalists Mariana Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz of Germany and 0.38 seconds ahead of Kaillie Humphries and Phylicia George of Canada, who won bronze. Meyers Taylor and Humphries are now the only women in the world to earn three Olympic bobsled medals.
TEAM USA WINS FIRST WOMEN'S LONG TRACK SPEED SKATING MEDAL IN 16 YEARS
Photo, right: (L-R) Mia Manganello, Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma of the United States celebrate after winning the bronze medal during the Speed Skating Ladies' Team Pursuit Final B against Canada on day 12 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Oval on February 21, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. Via Zimbio
If you watched the women's long track final, you could see it in their eyes.
Heather Bergsma looked tired, clutching her knees. But after the tiredness of running wore off: “All of the weight lifted off my shoulders,” Bergsma said.
The women--Bergsma, Brittany Bowe and Mia Manganello--made it to the podium for the first time in the careers after beating Canada by 0.45 seconds to win bronze in the women's long track speed skating final. Japan finished first with an Olympic record and the Netherlands, normally a speed skating powerhouse, took silver.
“We've obviously been medal-less for quite some time now,” Bowe said. “To be able to bring this home for not just ourselves, but U.S. Speedskating and for the U.S. Olympic Committee means a ton because they've put in a ton of time and resources to help us be as successful as possible.”
“I'm not sure if it's completely soaked in yet,” Bowe said. “But I know when we're at the medal plaza getting our medals around our neck, it's going to be probably the coolest experience of our lives.”
USA MEN'S HOCKEY LOSES QUARTERFINAL
Photo right via Team USA Hockey
They were supposed to be the next Miracle on Ice. The next group of ragtag American players who win it all. But instead, they come home medal-less.
On Wednesday afternoon, Team USA men’s hockey lost a crushing battle to the Czech Republic in overtime.
Ryan Donato scored the first goal of the game, but the Czechs came back and tied it up on a goal by Jan Kolar in the first. Tomas Kundratek gave the Czechs the lead in the second period, but the game was knotted up again by Jim Slater, forcing an overtime in which no one scored. In the shootout, the lone goal from Petr Koukla was enough to give the Czechs the 3-2 win.
The Americans were playing less than 24 hours after defeating Slovakia 5-1. The Czechs had had three days of rest. Team USA does not advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2006.
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