The Americans missed the podium Friday at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but there are plenty of chances for medals and redemption Saturday.
(Miss something? Get caught up on all of Friday’s action right here.)
The men’s freeski halfpipe final gave the U.S. its best chance for a medal Saturday, and the Americans capitalized as David Wise and Alex Ferreira claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
If there’s anyone in need of redemption it’s Mikaela Shiffrin, who has struggled mightily in Beijing. But her final chance for a medal will have to wait, as the mixed team parallel Alpine skiing event was postponed due to high winds.
Kaillie Humphries, who earlier won gold in the monobob, will attempt to win her fourth gold medal of her career. She won two while competing for Canada. But she’ll have to make up ground in runs three and four of the two-woman event. American teammate Elana Meyers Taylor, who won silver in the monobob, is third after runs one and two.
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Medals highly unlikely for U.S. in four-man bobsled
BEIJING – The German sleds were dominant in the first half of the four-man bobsled race Saturday, with the two American entries falling into the middle of the pack.
U.S. pilots Hunter Church and Frank Del Duca are currently 13th and 14th, respectively, making it highly unlikely they’ll be able to make up enough time in the final two runs Sunday to get into contention for a medal. Church, after a bumpy ride midway down the track at Yanqing Sliding Center, sits 1.61 seconds off the lead and 1.23 seconds out of third place. Church had the 11th fastest time on the first run.
Del Duca had a relatively clean slide down but did not have enough speed to make up any ground after finishing the first run in 14th place.
German Franceso Friedrich, whose nickname is the “Ice Kaiser,” has the lead with a cumulative time of 1:57.00, leading his teammate Johannes Lochner by .03 seconds. Another German sled piloted by Christoph Hafter is in fourth, .17 seconds behind Canada’s Justin Kripps.
Friedrich is the defending champion in four-man bobsled. He’s also won the two-man bobsled event earlier in these Olympics and tied for the gold medal in 2018 with Kripps.
— Dan Wolken
High winds postpone skiing, final event for Mikaela Shiffrin
BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin won’t be skiing in the team event Saturday. Nobody will.
High winds forced the postponement of the team event, which features men and women skiers going head-to-head in a single-elimination bracket. Organizers were working to see if rescheduling was an option, but time is running out – the Beijing Olympics end Sunday – and some athletes are already booked on flights home.
The team event was Shiffrin’s last chance for a medal in Beijing. The two-time Olympic champion didn’t make the podium in any of her individual events, recording Did Not Finishes in the giant slalom and slalom and in the slalom portion of the Alpine combined. She finished ninth in the super-G and 18th in downhill.
“I have literally no idea why we keep coming back and doing it, especially after today,” Shiffrin said Thursday after the combined. “But I’m going to come back out (Friday) and ski some parallel GS because I’m that much of an idiot. I don’t know why we keep doing it, but making good turns feels amazing.”
— Nancy Armour
What’s next for three-time Olympic medal winner Eileen Gu?
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Eileen Gu knows she’s going to Stanford in the fall.
Between now and then, well, that’s a lot less clear. Fresh of claiming her third Olympic medal on Friday – a halfpipe gold that wasn’t really in question – Gu didn’t know what her immediate future held.
“I have a lot of big goals coming up in the future, but I don’t really know what I’m going to be doing,” she said. “You guys will have to stay tuned on that one.”
The 18-year-old freeskier has become the biggest star of these Games, winning a gold medal in big air and silver in slopestyle in addition to her halfpipe medal. Not a bad haul for the young Olympian with a bright future.
— Rachel Axon
Americans take silver, bronze in men’s freeski halfpipe
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — The Olympic freeski halfpipe was kind to the Americans again, even if the weather wasn’t.
David Wise and Alex Ferreira are again going home with medals from the Games, finishing second and third. Four years ago, they took the top two spots, respectively, as Wise won his second Olympic gold in the event.
New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, who won the bronze in 2018, upgraded to gold this time around.
The skiers battled windy and cold conditions in the pipe, but Wise and Ferreira found themselves back on the podium after landing difficult tricks, even if the conditions prevented them from doing more.
American Aaron Blunck, the top qualifier into the finals, suffered a huge crash on his final run in attempt to reach the podium. He was eventually able to ski out of the pipe under his own power.
— Rachel Axon
Allergic to cold? Canadian freeskier conquers rare allergy
BEIJING — Canadian freeskier Noah Bowman was the top Canadian after two runs in the men’s freeski halfpipe. The 29-year-old’s success in the sport might be surprising to some who learn that he was actually allergic to the cold.
Yes, you read that right. Bowman had a rare condition called cold urticarial when he was 17, according to Freestyle Canada. He grew out of it a year later, which seems amazing considering he practically grew up on skis, taking up the sport at age 3 with his family.
He took up halfpipe skiing at 14 and in 2012 he won an X Games silver medal. He wasn’t even supposed to compete in the event after being invited as an alternate.
Bowman finished fifth in the halfpipe at the 2014 Sochi Games and four years later in Pyeongchang.
— Roxanna Scott
Winds delay final Alpine skiing event
The Alpine skiing mixed team parallel event has been delayed for at least an hour because of strong winds.
The event features 15 countries with mixed teams of both men and women competing in a bracket style format. Austria has the top seed and has a bye in the first round. The U.S. is the No. 6 seed and faces No. 11 Slovakia in its head-to-head matchup in the first round. Team USA would face the winner of No. 3 Italy vs. No. 14 ROC in the quarterfinals, if it advances. Switzerland is the No. 2 seed and faces host nation China, the No. 15 seed.
The American team features Mikaela Shiffrin, Paula Moltzan and AJ Hurt as the female competitors and Tommy Ford, River Radamus and Luke Winters as the male competitors.
Elana Meyers Taylor selected as closing ceremony flagbearer
BEIJING – A frustrating but rewarding Olympics will have a cherry on top for U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor.
The four-time medalist will carry the Red, White and Blue at the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday. She was selected to be a flagbearer with curler John Schuster during the opening ceremony, but tested positive for COVID-19 upon her arrival in China and missed the event.
“I was so honored to be named the opening ceremony flagbearer, but after not being able to carry the flag, it’s even more humbling to lead the United States at the Closing Ceremony,” Meyers Taylor said in the announcement. “Congratulations to my fellow Team USA athletes on all their success in Beijing – I’m looking forward to carrying the flag with my teammates by my side and closing out these Games.”
Meyers Taylor is now the second athlete to be selected as the opening and closing flagbearer for an Olympics. Bobsled and skeleton athlete Jack Heaton carried the flag in both ceremonies at the 1948 Games in St. Moritz.
Team USA posted a video of her husband, bobsled alternate Nic Taylor, informing her of the news in their hotel lobby Friday before she competed in the two-woman bobsled heats.
“This is your moment!” U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirschland wrote on Twitter. “We are so proud of you!”
Meyers Taylor and her family were isolated for nearly a week. She was open about the mental and physical challenges that presented, but refused to let the deter her training. Meyers Taylor posted videos of her working out in a hotel room. Then she won a silver medal behind teammate Kaillie Humphries in the women’s debut of the monobob and is currently competing in the two-woman bobsled.
— Chris Bumbaca
What we know about Kamila Valieva’s coach
BEIJING — If all eyes weren’t on Eteri Tutberidze in the aftermath of the Kamila Valieva’s disastrous free skate program, they are now.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach called out Valieva’s “entourage” at a news conference Friday, saying “I was very, very disturbed yesterday when I watched the competition on TV.”
Bach did not name a specific individual, but said it was “chilling” to see how she was received by her camp.
On Thursday, Tutberidze was seen on the broadcast admonishing Valieva as she sat in the kiss-and-cry after her long program.
“Why did you let it go? Explain it to me, why? Why did you stop fighting completely?” Tutberidze said. “Somewhere after the axel you let it go.”
Read all about Tutberidze’s path to becoming a coach.
— Chris Bumbaca
Joey Mantia seeks to skate to speedskating medal
American speedskater Joey Mantia has already checked one item off his Beijing bucket list: capture a medal in the 2022 Olympics. Mantia did that in men’s team pursuit when he teamed with Casey Dawson and Emery Lehman for the bronze earlier this week.
But in his third Olympics, Mantia is seeking one other prize — his first individual speedskating medal.
Mantia will compete Saturday in the men’s mass start, where he is the reigning world champion in the event. He was also the mass start world champ in 2019 and 2017.
A former inline skating world champion, Mantia turned his attention to speedskating in 2010 and in less than three years was competing at a World Cup level on the ice. Now 36, he hopes his third time at the Olympic Games will be the charm.
More medals on tap for Team USA?
The U.S. has captured 21 total medals heading into the penultimate day of competition in Beijing to rank fifth in the overall medals table. But Team USA has a good chance to add to their tally with strong medal opportunities in men’s freeski halfpipe and two-man women’s bobsled. Another possible medal could be gained in the mass start in men’s speedskating, where Joey Mantia can become the first American man to win an individual speed skating medal since 2010.
Norway continues to dominate in both overall medals with 34 and golds with 15. The ROC ranks second in total medals with 27, while Canada sits in third with 24. Germany, in fourth with 22 medals, ranks second in the gold tally with 10. The U.S. is fifth in overall medals and tied for third in golds with eight.
American pairs figure skater makes Winter Olympics history
BEIJING — Medals will be awarded in pairs figure skating following Saturday’s free skate, and while the U.S. is unlikely to earn its first medal in the event since the 1988 Calgary Games, it did make history in another way.
American Timothy LeDuc, skating with partner Ashley Cain-Gribble, became the first openly nonbinary athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics – a historic step for LGBTQ representation and visibility at the Games.
LeDuc, whose pronouns are they/them, said they wanted it to be the beginning of a shift, a way of showing queer people that they have the opportunity “to be open and be authentic to themselves and everything that makes them unique, and still achieve success in sport.”
LeDuc found a perfect match in 2016 with Cain-Gribble, a former singles skater who has been open about facing body shaming earlier in a career that almost forced her into retirement. LeDuc and Cain-Gribble, who have won two national championships, sit in seventh place heading into the free skate.
— Tom Schad
