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Snowboarding medals were awarded in men's and women's big air, Kelly Sildaru and Eileen Gu battled in the women's freeski slopestyle final, and Mikaela Shiffrin and Sofia Goggia raced the women's downhill on Day 11 of the Winter Olympics. Plus, the women's singles event for figure skating began with the short program.
Valieva stumbles but leads after controversial return; Americans advance
Any figure skating fan who says their eyes weren't fixated on Kamila Valieva at the start of the highly-anticipated women's singles competition during Tuesday's short program were either lying or... well, lying.
But Kaori Sakamoto made sure they caught her show as well, as the Japanese star made a podium-shaped statement while Valieva scored high but made an uncharacteristic mistake during her skate.
Valieva, the 15-year-old phenom caught up in a drug-testing controversy at the 2022 Winter Olympics, delivered a strong showing despite putting her hand on the ice while landing her opening jump and posted an 82.16.
That leaves Russian Olympic Committee teammate Anna Shcherbakova just off the pace after delivering a terrific routine.
Sakamoto is third, standing in the way of an ROC podium sweep. Aleksandra Trusova sits fourth with a 74.60.
Twenty-five of 30 skaters advanced to the free skate. The number is typically 24, but the International Olympic Committee and International Skating Union decided it would be increased by one if Valieva is among the top 24, since her appeal with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency is ongoing. The IOC also ruled that if Valieva is top three after the free skate, no flower ceremony or medal ceremony will be held for the event.
Americans Alysa Liu (8th, 69.50), Mariah Bell (11th, 65.38), and Karen Chen (13th, 64.11) all advanced to the free skate.
-- Nick Mendola
U.S. claims bronze in men's team pursuit
Speed skaters Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Joey Mantia secured a bronze medal in men's team pursuit for the United States with a strong performance in the event's B Final. Racing against a Dutch squad that included Sven Kramer and Patrick Roest, the Americans blew them away with a 2.81-second margin of victory to win the race and the bronze. Ethan Cepuran, who was involved in earlier rounds, was also part of the medal-winning U.S. team.
The men's pursuit gold went to Norway, which beat ROC in the A Final. ROC previously eliminated the U.S. in the semifinals despite both countries beating the previous Olympic record in that race.
In the women's team pursuit, Canada ended up winning gold, overcoming a highly decorated Dutch team (Ireen Wuest, Irene Schouten, Antoinette de Jong) in the semifinals and then Japan in the A Final.
Results: Men's Team Pursuit
🥇 Norway
🥈 ROC
🥉 United States
Results: Women's Team Pursuit
🥇 Canada
🥈 Japan
🥉 Netherlands
-- Shawn Smith
Three Americans advance to men's slopestyle final
Nick Goepper, Colby Stevenson, and Alex Hall will compete in the men’s freeski slopestyle final Tuesday after landing strong qualifying runs.
Goepper finished third with a score of 82.51. He is the only athlete with two Olympic medals in slopestyle, coming off a bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018. Hall placed fifth and Stevenson sixth.
The top-12 finishers advanced to the final. Skiers had two runs, but only the top score counted.
Switzerland’s Andri Ragettli, the reigning world champion, and the Netherlands’ Birk Ruud, who won gold in big air earlier at the Olympics, finished in the top-two slots.
Goepper was part of the American team that swept the podium in slopestyle in Sochi. They'll have a chance to repeat the same feat eight years later.
-Eric He
Nordic combined individual large hill comes down to less than a second
The difference between gold and bronze in the individual large hill was 0.6 seconds. Norway’s Jorgen Graabak crossed the finish line at 27:13.3 to claim the gold. It’s his second medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics, after earning silver in the individual normal hill. He also won this event in Sochi.
Countryman Jens Luraas Oftebro finished just 0.4 seconds after Graabak to claim silver. It’s his first Olympic medal. Japan’s Akito Watabe rounds out the podium with the bronze. It’s his fifth Olympics, but his first individual medal in the large hill event.
American Jared Shumate had the best performance for Team USA, finishing 17th. Teammate Ben Loomis crossed 19th, Taylor Fletcher finished 23rd and Jasper Good ended 34th.
Results: Individual Large Hill
🥇 Joergen Graabak (NOR)
🥈 Jens Luraas Oftebro (NOR)
🥉 Akito Watabe (JPN)
-- Stephanie De Lancey
Norway wins men’s 4x7.5km biathlon relay
Norway won the men’s 4x7.5km relay in biathlon after overcoming a near two-minute deficit to finish in 1:19:40.2. Norway’s team consisted of the Boe brothers, Tarjei and Johannes Thingnes, Sturla Holm Laegreid and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen.
The Boe brothers earned their fourth medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Norway last earned gold in this event in 2010 when Tarjei Boe was a member of that team.
France secured the silver, finishing 27.4 seconds behind Norway, with biathlete star Quentin Fillon Maillet on the team. He became the first biathlete to win five medals at a single Winter Games. He's in contention to become the first Winter Olympian in any sport to win six medals at a single Games. ROC rounded out the podium, claiming the bronze medal.
The U.S. team of Sean Doherty, Jake Brown, Paul Schommer and Leif Nordgren finished 13th.
Results: Men’s 4x7.5km Relay
🥇 Norway
🥈 France
🥉 ROC
-- Stephanie De Lancey
Corinne Suter wins downhill, Shiffrin finishes 18th
In the fast and unforgiving downhill, Switzerland’s Corinne Suter captured gold with a time of 1:31.87. It is her first Olympic medal in her second Olympic Games. Suter is the reigning downhill world champion.
Italy's Sofia Goggia earned the silver after her improbable journey to the Olympics. She sustained a partial ACL tear and partial fibula fracture in a Jan. 23 crash during a super-G race.
Another Italian, Nadia Delago, claimed bronze to round out the podium. Delago had never finished on a World Cup or world championship podium.
Mikaela Shiffrin was able to finish her second event at the 2022 Winter Games. She crossed the finish line 2.49 seconds behind Suter, good for 18th overall. Teammate Keely Cashman finished one spot ahead of her, meanwhile Jackie Wiles finished 21st. Alix Wilkinson did not finish.
Results: Women's Downhill
🥇 Corinne Suter (SUI)
🥈 Sofia Goggia (ITA)
🥉 Nadia Delago (ITA)
-- Stephanie De Lancey
Anna Gasser defends snowboard big air gold
In an exciting and progressive final, Anna Gasser outdueled Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and defended her gold medal in women's snowboard big air.
Gasser and Sadowski-Synnott were separated by just 0.25 points after landing double cork 1080s in opposite directions on their first two runs. That set up a dramatic finale in which both women attempted to improve one of their scores by landing a 1260.
Gasser stomped her cab double cork 1260 to move into the lead. Then Sadowski-Synnott fell on her attempt, a backside double cork 1260, and was unable to better her score, leaving her with silver and sealing the gold for Gasser.
The competition also featured a historic moment when Japan's Reira Iwabuchi attempted a triple, which has never before been landed in a women's competition. Iwabuchi was unable to land it, but her competitors were nevertheless excited by her decision to push the progression of the sport.
Results: Women's Snowboard Big Air
🥇 Anna Gasser (AUT)
🥈 Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL)
🥉 Kokomo Murase (JPN)
-- Shawn Smith
Slovakia defeats Germany, will face U.S.
Slovakia beat Germany by a score of 4-0 to advance to the knockout stage against the United States. The Slovakians started group play 0-2, but then won their next four games to close out play with a 4-2 record.
Against Germany, Libor Hudacek, Peter Cehlarik, Michal Kristof and Marek Hrivik all scored during the contest. The game didn’t occur without incident. The two teams will leave with bad blood, as Germany’s David Wolf had a cheap hit as the game was winding down. He was tossed with just two minutes left and assessed a game misconduct and match penalty.
Puck drop for Slovakia against the U.S. will be 11:10 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
-- Stephanie De Lancey
Breakout star Su Yiming wins snowboard big air gold
China's Su Yiming continued his breakout performance on the Olympic stage, capturing the gold medal in men's snowboard big air.
Su, 17, was largely unknown entering this season, but has quickly turned into one of the stars of the Games for the host nation, starting with his silver-medal performance in slopestyle earlier this month.
After stomping his first two runs, a frontside 1800 with a tail grab and a backside triple cork 1800, Su had the big air victory locked up by the time it was his turn to take a final run. Norway's Mons Roisland and Canada's Max Parrot, who was awarded gold over Su in slopestyle, took the other two spots on the podium behind Su.
Although Red Gerard was the top U.S. finisher in fifth, it was Chris Corning who stole the show by landing a quad cork 1800 on his opening run. Corning was the only rider to land a quad – Mark McMorris attempted it twice and fell both times – but he was unable to put down another solid score to get into a medal position.
Results: Men's Snowboard Big Air
🥇 Su Yiming (CHN)
🥈 Mons Roisland (NOR)
🥉 Max Parrot (CAN)
-- Shawn Smith
Gu clinches second medal at Games in freeski slopestyle final
Switzerland’s Mathilde Germaud won the slopstyle event, bettering her 2018 silver finish. Germaud was the 12th and final qualifier to make the event. Mathilde earned a score of 85.56 in her second run, which just edged out China’s Eileen Gu. Gu put down a solid 86.23 run on her third and final run. Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru rounded out the podium after her first run held up for a score of 82.06. Her bronze medal is Estonia’s first ever Winter Olympic medal outside of cross-country skiing.
The Americans were supposed to have two athletes in the final. However, Maggie Voisin was the only one to compete, finishing 5th overall. Marin Hamill qualified for the final but didn't ski due to an injury she suffered during her second qualifying round. Darian Stevens didn’t qualify for the final, while Caroline Claire didn’t compete after a fall in a training session.
Results: Women's Freeski Slopestyle
🥇 Mathilde Germaud (SUI)
🥈 Eileen Gu (CHN)
🥉 Kelly SIldaru (EST)
-- Stephanie De Lancey
U.S. men’s curling controls destiny by beating Switzerland
The U.S. men’s curling team defeated Switzerland 7-4 in round-robin play. Skip John Shuster made a clutch shot that led to a steal of one in the eighth end. The move allowed the U.S. to control the rest of the game and clinch the win. Now, the U.S. can secure a semifinals spot by winning one of their two final round-robin games against Italy and Denmark.
The U.S. is now 4-3 in round-robin play. Their next game against Italy is Tuesday at 7:05 a.m. ET.
-- Stephanie De Lancey
Germany sweeps two-man bobsled medals
This is just unfair.
Six German bobsledders will stand on the podium with their medals after sweeping the two-man bobsled event, the first time in bobsled history a podium will be mounted by only one nation's athletes.
Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis won gold, Johannes Lochner and Florian Bauer claimed silver, and Christoph Hafer and Matthias Sommer will walk away from the 2022 Winter Olympics with bronze medals.
As for the U.S., Frank Del Duca (Bethel, Maine) and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor (Powhatan, VA) finished in 13th, while Hunter Church (Cadyville, NY) and Charlie Volker (Fair Haven, NJ) did not qualify for the final heat.
Results: Two-Man Bobsled
🥇 Francesco Friedrich/Thorsten Margis (GER)
🥈 Johannes Lochner/Florian Bauer (GER)
🥉 Christoph Hafer/Matthias Sommer (GER)
-- Nick Mendola