Olympic Updates

Feature Photo by Hendrik Schmidt/DPA/Abaca Press/TNS

Key events for the US so far:

• Four-time Olympian Shaun White secured his third gold medal in the men’s halfpipe competition on Feb. 14. However, his victory has been marred by resurfaced sexual misconduct allegations. In 2016, White’s former bandmate filed a lawsuit against him for repeated sexual harassment.
• 17-year-old Chloe Kim took the gold in the women’s halfpipe competition after scoring a whopping eight and a half points higher than Chinese Liu Jiayu, who won the silver. Kim became the first female to land three 1080s in a row at the Olympics, and the youngest female to win gold in snowboarding.
• 22-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin won the gold in the women’s giant slalom event, but took 4th place in the women’s slalom the next day. This outcome was surprising, as she was expected to get the gold because she was the top-ranked skier in the World Cup circuit this season.
• Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins (featured image) became the first Americans to win an Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing after they placed first in the women’s team sprint freestyle race. They upset the favored teams from Sweden and Norway, who placed second and third.
• American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani took the bronze medal in the ice dancing event on Tuesday. Their bronze medal in both the team event and ice dancing event has dubbed them as the first American double-medal winners in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Upcoming events to watch:

• The women’s US hockey team will take on Canada in the gold medal match on Wednesday night. This follows the team’s 5-0 victory against Finland in the semi-final game.
• After pulling out of the women’s alpine downhill event, Mikaela Shiffrin will focus on the Alpine combined event that will take place on Thursday, where she is expected to be a contender for a medal.
• David Wise, gold medalist in men’s skiing freestyle halfpipe at the 2017 X Games, will be competing in the same event Thursday. As the defending gold medalist in Sochi 2014, he is favored to medal.
• Returning Olympian Joey Mantia will compete in the mass start speed skating final on Saturday. After winning the gold in the 1000 meter mass start at the World Championship Experience, Mantia is a serious contender for the medal in Pyeongchang.
• Speed skater Shani Davis will compete in the men’s 1,000-meter race on Friday. Davis, the first African American to qualify for the US Olympic speed skating team, also won back-to-back gold medals in the 1,000-meter race in 2006 and 2010.

Medal count:

The US stands in fourth place in the medal count, and is currently one medal ahead of the Netherlands. This is a relatively low medal count for the US, as they are on track for their lowest medal count in 20 years (as of four days ago). Many star American athletes, such as Nathan Chen in figure skating and Mikaela Shiffrin in slalom skiing, have failed to medal in events where they were projected to stand on the podium.

Total medal counts:

1. Norway 33
2. Germany 24
3. Canada 21
4. United States 17
5. Netherlands 16