Hello from Milan and Cortina, where the USA women’s hockey team will face a familiar foe in the gold-medal game, two Americans were on the podium in women’s monobob and a Norwegian skier melted down after losing out on a medal.
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Live from Milan Cortina
These Winter Olympics have not been kind to favorites. From Ilia Malinin to Lindsey Vonn and Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, athletes many figured would be in the mix for gold have struggled to live up to weighty expectations.
But the U.S. women’s hockey team has been a red, white and blue exception.
They advanced to Thursday’s gold-medal game by overpowering Sweden 5-0 in today’s semifinal, with goals from five different scorers. The performance displayed the roster’s depth and dominance. The U.S. hasn’t conceded a goal in the last 331 minutes, an Olympic record, while outscoring all opponents 31-1.
The United States will face Canada for the gold medal.
The two North American powerhouses have faced off for the gold medal all but once since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998.
Meanwhile, the figure skating pair skating event gave us some Olympic history. Japan’s Ryuichi Kihara and Riku Miura entered fifth after their short program, but posted a massive 158.13 in their free skate to claim gold — Japan’s first medal in the pairs event.
Georgia’s Luka Berulava and Anastasiia Metelkina took silver and won the country’s first-ever medal in the Winter Olympics. Both pairs upset the German team of Nikita Volodin and Minerva Hase, who entered in first after the short program.
Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor won her first gold medal today, taking first in women’s monobob by .04 seconds.
More on her incredible accomplishment below.
And one video you should definitely watch, an emotional Atle Lie McGrath of Norway chucked his ski poles and lay down in the snow after storming off the course. McGrath was in the lead entering the second run, but he straddled a gate and then lost control, prompting his outburst.
Athlete Spotlight
Elana Meyers Taylor has medaled at every Winter Olympics since 2010 but has never won gold.
Until today.
Meyers Taylor won the women’s monobob, defeating Germany’s Laura Nolte, and joined Bonnie Blair as the most decorated woman ever to compete for the U.S. at the Winter Olympics.
Meyers Taylor hugged her two sons when she realized what she had accomplished.
The now six-time Olympic medalist said that this medal definitely ranks first, but not just because it’s her first gold.
“This is definitely the top, not only the Olympic champion, but to be able to do this with my kids, both my kids like it’s just incredible,” Meyers Taylor said to reporters after the medal ceremony.
She entered today’s monobob final already in the record books. With three career silver medals and two career bronze medals, she had earned the most medals by a women’s bobsledder, and the most medals by a Black Winter Olympian, regardless of sport.
By earning a gold medal in monobob, Meyers Taylor joined Blair as the only U.S. women to ever earn six career medals at the Winter Olympics. And at 41 years old, she’s the oldest woman ever to win an Olympic medal in bobsled, breaking the record she set four years ago in Beijing.
Both Meyers Taylor and U.S. teammate Kailee Humphries were on the podium, with Humphries taking bronze.
Photo of the Day
When to Watch
Arguably, the main event of the Winter Olympics begins tomorrow: women’s figure skating. Americans Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito will take the ice in Milan for the short program.
All times are in Eastern, and an asterisk signifies a medal event:
Tuesday, Feb. 17
- 3:05 a.m.: Curling, men’s round robin (Switzerland vs. Sweden, USA vs. China, Czechia vs. Germany)
- 4:45 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, women’s aerials qualification 1
- 5:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, women’s aerials qualification 2
- 6:10 a.m.: Men’s hockey, qualification playoff (Germany vs. France, Switzerland vs. Italy)
- 7 a.m.: Snowboard, women’s slopestyle*
- 7:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s aerials qualification 1
- 7:45 a.m.: Cross-country, Nordic combined*
- 8:05 a.m.: Curling, women’s round robin (Sweden vs. Canada, Italy vs. Japan, Denmark vs. USA, Korea vs. Switzerland)
- 8:15 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s aerials qualification 2
- 8:30 a.m.: Biathlon, men’s 4X7.5km relay*
- 8:30 a.m.: Speedskating, men’s team pursuit semifinals
- 8:52 a.m.: Speedskating, women’s team pursuit semifinals
- 10:28 a.m.: Speedskating, men’s team pursuit finals*
- 10:40 a.m.: Men’s hockey, qualification playoff, Czechia vs. Denmark
- 10:47 a.m.: Speedskating, women’s team pursuit finals*
- 12:45 a.m.: Figure skating, women’s short program
- 1 p.m.: Bobsled, men’s two-man heat 3
- 1:05 p.m.: Curling, men’s round robin (Germany vs. Switzerland, USA vs. Italy, Canada vs. Great Britain, Sweden vs. Norway)
- 1:30 p.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s freeski big air final*
- 3:05 p.m.: Bobsled, men’s two-man heat 4
- 3:10 p.m.: Men’s hockey, playoff qualification, Sweden vs. Latvia