Olympic Recap: February 19

The United States won three medals on the second final day of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. In the men’s halfpipe, David Wise of Reno, Nevada and Alex Ferreira of Aspen, Colorado shared the podium as they won silver and bronze respectively. Meanwhile, in the women’s bobsled, Elana Meyers Taylor of Oceanside, California, and Sylvia Hoffman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania won bronze.

For Meyers Taylor, it was her second medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, following a silver medal in the women’s monobob. At age 37, Meyers Taylor has now won five Olympic medals in her remarkable bobsledding career. She is also being recognized by the United States as the flag bearer in the closing ceremonies. The two-woman bobsledding gold medalists were Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi of Germany.

In the halfpipe, Wise won his third Olympic medal after taking gold at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and the  2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. All three medalists in the men’s halfpipe had their best run in the first run. Wise had a score of 90.75 points, while Ferreira had a score of 86.75 points. It was a noteworthy event for the gold medalist too as Nico Porteous of New Zealand won with a score of 93 points, as we predicted. As stated in the preview, it was only New Zealand’s second gold medal at an Olympic Winter Games. The first was also at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing courtesy of Zoi Sadowsky-Synnott in women’s slopestyle snowboarding. 

Meanwhile, in the men’s mass start speed skating, Bart Swings won Belgium’s second Olympic Winter Games gold medal ever. (We got that one right too). The first was by Micheline Lannoy and Pierre Baugniet in pairs figure skating at the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz. The women’s mass start speed skating gold medalist was Irene Schouten of the Netherlands, who now has won five Olympic medals herself.

In men’s hockey, Slovakia came away with a 4-0 win over Sweden in the men’s bronze medal game. This was Slovakia’s first Olympic medal in men’s hockey. They have won the World Men’s Hockey Championship in the past back in 2002, but never an Olympic medal.

In cross-country skiing, the men’s 50 kilometer race was shortened to 30 kilometers because of the poor weather. Alexander Bolshunov claimed gold after winning the 30 kilometer skiathlon earlier at these Olympics.

In pairs figure skating, Wengjing Sui and Cong Han of China beat the Russian pair of Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov by the narrowest of margins–by 0.63 points in fact. This was China’s ninth gold medal of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Finally, in curling, it was a great day for Sweden. Niklas Edin won the gold medal in men’s action following a 5-4 win over Great Britain in an extra end. Meanwhile in women’s curling, Anna Hasselborg won the bronze medal following a 9-7 win over Switzerland.