Friday, February 16
Alpine Skiing
Reigning Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin fell .08 seconds short of the podium, finishing fourth in women’s slalom. Shiffrin, who won a gold medal yesterday in giant slalom, clocked 49.37 on her first run to settle into fourth place, less than a half second behind the leader. Shiffrin finished third on her final run of the day with a time of 49.66, but was unable to overcome the deficit, finishing fourth. MORE
Three-time Olympian Megan McJames and Alice Merryweather also took on the slalom course, finishing finished 38th (1:49.01) and 49th (1:53.15). Resi Stiegler fell on her first run and did not finish.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle led the Americans in men’s super-G, finishing 14th place with a time of 1:25.72. Jared Goldberg finished 24th with a time of 1:26.49. Andrew Weibrecht, the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the event who also won bronze at the Vancouver 2010 Games, and two-time Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety were among at least a dozen skiers who did not finish the course.
Cross-Country Skiing
First-time Olympian Scott Patterson led the American skiers in the men’s 15-kilometer freestyle race, finishing 21st with a time of 35:28.0. In his fourth event of these Games, Erik Bjornsen placed 41st in 36:28.6. Noah Hoffman finished in 36:45.2 for 48th, and Tyler Kornfield placed 74th (38:17.9) in his Olympic debut.
Curling
After a 10-4 loss to Sweden Friday morning, John Shuster’s rink came roaring back against Denmark in its evening competition. The Americans scored six unanswered points in the first four ends. The Danes regained some ground scoring three points in the next two ends, but the U.S. continued to battle to claim victory, 9-5.
Figure Skating
Adam Rippon led Team USA's three Olympic rookies into the free skate round by placing seventh and Vincent Zhou made history by becoming the first competitor to land a quad lutz in Olympic competition during the men's short program competition.
Rippon skated a clean routine, notching 87.95 points. Team USA’s youngest competitor Zhou competed in the first group of the day, earning a season-best 84.53 to finish 12th in his history-making Olympic debut. Nathan Chen stumbled on his routine, finishing 17th with a score of 82.27. MORE
All three American skaters will compete in the men’s free skate on Feb. 17.
Freestyle Skiing
After completing a back full-full and a back lay-full to advance through to the third run of the women’s aerials finals, Madison Olsen stepped up the difficulty and attempted a back full-double full, finishing sixth. The first-time Olympian's result marks the highest Olympic finish in aerials by an American woman since Nikki Stone took home the gold in 1998. Kiley McKinnon competed in the first run of the night but finished 10th, one place outside of qualification for the second run. MORE
Ice Hockey
Ryan Donato led Team USA to a 2-1 victory over Slovakia. In the team’s second game in preliminary play, Donato opened the scoring at 7:10 with a powerplay goal. Slovakia would answer just 25 seconds later, tying the game at 1-1. The score would remain equal through the end of the second period, but an early third period penalty on Slovakia for too many men on the ice would prove them costly as Donato scored again. The U.S. would hold the lead for the next 17:09 to end the game 2-1 and secure its first victory of the tournament. MORE
The team faces Olympic Athletes from Russia on Feb. 17 for their third and final preliminary round game.
Long Track Speedskating
In her second event of these Olympics, Carlijn Schoutens finished 11th in the women’s 5,000-meter event with a time of 7:13.28.
Skeleton
In the second day of men’s skeleton, Sochi 2014 bronze medalist Matt Antoine finished 11th with a time of 3:24.39. John Daly finished 16th with a time of 3:25.35.
Four-time Olympian Katie Uhlaender ranks 12th after the first two heats of the women’s skeleton competition, while Kendall Wesenberg sits in 17th in her Olympic debut. The final two heats are set for Feb. 17.
Ski Jumping
At the men’s large hill individual qualifying round, Kevin Bickner and Michael Glasder both placed in the top 50 to advance to the final, which takes place Feb. 17. Bickner recorded a jump of 122.5m and earned a score of 91.1 to slot into 35th place. Glasder went two meters further than his teammate, receiving a score of 88.7 for 38th place.
Americans Will Rhoads and Casey Larson also competed. Rhoads narrowly missed advancement by one spot, placing 51st with 67.9 points. Casey Larson was 53rd, receiving a score of 61.1.
Snowboarding
Four-time Olympian and Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis narrowly missed the podium in women’s snowboardcross, taking fourth. She finished first in her quarterfinal heat and second in her semifinal to secure her spot in the big final. Jacobellis had an early lead in the final but fell back in the bottom third of the course. Another rider fell in front of the four-time Olympian, slowing her down in the final stretch of the race. Jacobellis was just .03 seconds away from the podium. MORE
Two-time Olympian Faye Gulini led Team USA in the qualification round, but was ultimately eliminated in the quarterfinals, finishing sixth in her heat. Olympic rookie Meghan Tierney also competed in the event but did not advance past the quarterfinals, where she placed fifth.