The United States have won their first gold medal at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. On Wednesday, Lindsay Jacobellis of Danbury, Connecticut struck gold with a victory in the women’s snowboard cross. Chloe Trespeuch of France won silver and Meryeta O’Dine of Canada won bronze.
If you do not know the story of Jacobellis, it is worth telling. At the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Jacobellis fell near the finish line, and lost the gold medal, even though at the time of the fall, she had a three second lead on her nearest compertitor, Tanja Frieden of Switzerland. Jacobellis was able to get up and beat out Canadian Dominique Maltais to capture second. At the time of the fall, Jacobellis was only 20 years of age. Now as a veteran snowboarder, she is 36 years old, and finally an Olympic gold medalist.
The United States won a second medal on Wednesday. Colby Stevenson of Portsmouth, New Hampshire won the Olympic silver medal in the men’s big air. Stevenson posted a two-run score of 183 points in the first ever Olympic men’s big air competition. Birk Ruud of Norway won the gold medal, and Henrik Harlaut of Sweden won the bronze medal.
Also on Wednesday, Denmark won their first ever game in Olympic men’s hockey. Markus Lauridsen and former Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders forward Frans Nielsen scored for Denmark in a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic. The Czechs came mightily close late in the game, but a shot in the dying moments hit the post. In other action, Russia beat Switzerland 1-0.
In men’s curling, John Shuster won his opening game of the 2022 Olympic tournament. The United States beat the Russian Olympic Committee 6-5.
Other gold medalists were Petra Vlhova of Slovakia (women’s slalom), Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl of Germany (men’s doubles luge), Vinzenz Geiger of Germany (men’s normal hill nordic combined), and Daeheon Hwang of South Korea (men’s 1500 metre short track speed skating). The men’s 1500 metre short track speed skating final had 10 competitors as four speed skaters reached the final due to disqualifications from other skaters. Meanwhile the men’s normal hill nordic combined final did not have Germany’s Eric Frenzel and Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber because they tested positive for coronavirus according to Michael Houston of insidethegames.biz.
Finally, the United States might soon win another gold medal in team figure skating. That is because according to Rogers Sportsnet, a Russian figure skater tested positive for a banned substance. The team figure skating medal ceremony has been delayed and the International Olympic Committee has announced there is a “legal issue” that they are having to deal with. Expect more news in my Olympic preview for February 10 later today.
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