Wednesday, February 14
Snowboarding (1 gold)
Trailblazer Shaun White made history in the men’s halfpipe competition by securing the 100th gold medal for Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. His win was historic in more ways than one, also marking U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s 100th medal of any color. White further solidified his place in the history books with his third Olympic gold medal in event, which he first won in 2006 before repeating in 2010. With three gold medals, White is second among U.S. men’s Olympic champions, behind long track speedskater Eric Heiden, who holds the record with five Olympic titles. White is the first snowboarder to ever win three Olympic gold medals and is the first American man to win gold medals at three Olympic Winter Games. He also now holds the U.S. record for the most years between gold medals (12), topping Ted Ligety’s previous record of eight.
White was one of two athletes to earn over 90 points on his first run, earning 94.25 to lead the competition. Attempting to increase the difficulty of his tricks, White fell and found himself one point out of first place as Ayumu Hirano of Japan landed an impressive run worth 95.25 points. Standing at the top of the pipe before his third and final attempt, White needed a massive run to claim the top of the podium. He delivered, earning 97.75 points to secure victory. MORE
First-time Olympian Chase Josey found himself within striking distance of the podium after two runs, ranked fourth, but was edged out by U.S. teammate Ben Ferguson and Swiss athlete Patrick Burgener to end the competition in 6th. Ferguson earned fourth place and Jake Pates earned eighth in their Olympic debuts.
Curling
Men’s and women’s team competitions got underway on Wednesday, and in the men’s tournament opener, skip John Shuster led his team to an 11-7 victory against host South Korea. The Americans scoring five points in the first four ends to hold a 5-3 advantage. Three more points in the fifth were countered by the Koreans in the sixth for a near-even game, but the U.S. earned two more points in the seventh end for a four-point advantage. The contest ended after nine ends as the U.S. held the last stone advantage in the 10th. Shuster, Tyler George, Matt Hamilton and John Landsteiner will return to the sheet against Italy on Feb. 15.
The U.S. women’s curling squad fell to Japan in the opening match of the team tournament, 10-5. Led by skip Nina Roth, the Americans fell to an early 7-0 deficit and fought back to narrow the margin to 8-4, scoring three points in the sixth end. The Americans forced the match to nine ends, but ultimately lost to the Japanese. Roth, Aileen Geving, Becca Hamilton and Tabitha Peterson take on Great Britain in the next round of play on Feb. 15. MORE
Figure Skating
After winning a team bronze medal earlier in the week, first-time Olympians and married duo Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim skated again today in the pairs short program. Finishing 14th, they qualified for the pairs free skate and will compete for a medal on Feb. 15.
Ice Hockey
In men’s hockey, Brian O’Neill and Jordan Greenway scored in their Olympic debuts as Team USA fell to Slovenia in a 3-2 overtime loss. Team USA held the lead through the first two periods, but was forced into overtime after two Slovenian goals in the final period.
The team’s first game of the tournament started with scoring chances on both ends. Noah Welch led Team USA’s blue line in a strong first period with a clutch slide to block an open-net shot, holding the score even at zero. With less than three minutes to go in the first period, O’Neill put the Americans on the board, finishing a behind-the-net pass from Garrett Roe as the team finished the first period 1-0.
The Slovenians turned up the pressure in the second period, but goalkeeper Ryan Zapolski picked up 9 saves to hold the shutout. With 7:03 left in the second, Greenway, the first black U.S. men’s hockey Olympian, scored to give the team a two-goal lead.
The third period saw the tides turn, as Slovenia scored 5:49 into the third and then pulled their goalie to tie the game with 1:37 left in regulation to send the game into overtime. Less than a minute into overtime, Slovenia scored to end the game and hand Team USA a loss in its first game of the tournament. MORE
The U.S. team honored late general manager Jim Johannson with a JJ shield on the inside of their uniforms.
The men have two more games in the preliminary round, facing Slovakia on Feb. 16 and Olympic Athletes from Russia on Feb. 17.
Long Track Speedskating
Two-time Olympian Brittany Bowe finished fourth in the women’s 1,000-meter event, marking her best Olympic finish to date. After battling back from a concussion in the offseason, Bowe has posted two top-five finishes these Games, finishing fifth in the 1,500 event earlier this week.
Bowe briefly held second place with a time of 1:14.36, racing in a pair with Jorien Ter Mors of the Netherlands, who set a new Olympic record in 1:13.56 to ultimately win the gold medal. Bowe was edged out of medal contention in the penultimate pair, missing the podium by .38 seconds.
The 2017 world champion Heather Bergsma skated in the final pair of the night, finishing 8th (1:15.15), while Jerica Tandiman finished in 1:18.02 to place 28th. MORE
Luge
The rookie pair of Justin Krewson and Andrew Sherk finished 8th in the doubles luge competition at the Olympic Sliding Centre. The duo slid into the top 10 on their first run, ranking seventh with a time of 46.310. On the second and final run of the night, Krewson and Sherk clocked 46.342, good enough for 8th place with a total time of 1:32.563.
In their first Olympics as a pair, two-time Olympians Matt Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman also cracked the top 10 on their first run, registering 46.244 to finish sixth. The pair struggled on their second run, where they clocked in at 46.443, slipping back to 10th place with a total time of 1:32.687. Both Terdiman and Mortensen improved upon their finishes in Sochi, where they placed 11th and 14th, respectively. MORE
Nordic Combined
Two-time Olympian Bryan Fletcher led the American contingent in the individual normal hill/10-kilometer competition, finishing 17th to improve upon his 26th-place finish from Sochi 2014. Fletcher soared to an 18th-place finish on the normal hill ski jumping portion of the race, leaping 97.5 meters to set himself up for a top-20 finish.
Three-time Olympian Taylor Fletcher jumped from his 39th-place finish in ski jumping to 35th in the 10K race. Olympic rookies Ben Loomis and Jasper Good also competed in the event, coming in 41st and 45th, respectively.