Olympic Update: Fletcher Leads USA In Final Olympic Event
ALPINE
Shiffrin Adds Combined Silver
Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) added another Olympic medal to her collection, taking silver in the alpine combined Thursday at the Jeongseon Alpine Center. Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) racing in her final Olympic event, won the first run downhill, but straddled a gate in the slalom and did not finish.
“To come away from this Olympics with two medals is insane – especially after the schedule changes on both ends of the event,” said Shiffrin, who opted to sit out the downhill to focus on the combined after the event was rescheduled to Thursday. “It was like someone was playing a game of ping-pong in my brain.”
Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) finished 15th in her first Olympic event. Shiffrin closes out the 2018 Games with a gold medal in giant slalom, fourth in slalom and now a silver medal in the alpine combined. Vonn closes out her Olympic career with three medals – bronze in Wednesday’s downhill; bronze in super-G and gold in downhill at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. … READ MORE /RESULTS
Chodounsky 18th In Slalom
David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, Colo.) was the top American in 18th in slalom Thursday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Mark Engel (Truckee, Calif.) was 31st.
Sweden’s Andre Myhrer won the gold, as Ramon Zenhaeusern took the silver and Austria’s Michael Matt took the bronze. Pre-race favorite Marcel Hirscher of Austria did not finish the first run.
Nolan Kasper (Warren, Vt.) did not finish the second run.
RESULTS
Men’s slalom
FREESKI
Wise Defends Gold, Ferreira Takes Silver
After spills on his first two runs, it appeared that David Wise's chance to defend his Olympic gold medal in halfpipe was fading away Thursday afternoon at the Phoenix Snow Park.
Appearances can be deceiving. Wise (Reno, Nev.) validated that cliche by laying down a flawless final run and scored 97.20 to jump to the top of the leaderboard and win his second-consecutive Olympic halfpipe title. Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.) won the silver.
“I was hoping to have three runs to kind of work things in; sometimes you have a little bit of a bad landing or whatever - you get a little bit better run by run,” Wise said. “But I had to put it all on the line on run three, and I’m stoked I put it down.” … READ MORE / RESULTS
NORDIC COMBINED
USA 10th in Team Event
Skiing in his final Olympic event, Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) led brother Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Ben Berend (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and Ben Loomis (Eau Claire, Wisc.) to close out the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, finishing 10th in the large hill team event Thursday at the Alpensia Cross Country Centre.
“This experience, in general, was just an awesome experience,” Fletcher said of his final Olympic Games. “The venues were awesome, the courses were awesome, the jumps were great. Team USA was awesome as well. It was a really memorable Games … and a really great way to close out an Olympic chapter for me.”
As he steps aside from Olympic competition, Fletcher is excited to see the sport continue to flourish in the U.S. as a solid group of young athletes have a chance to step up.
“They are a great group of guys and I’m really excited to be turning over the reigns to them,” the three-time Olympian added. “They are going to learn a lot and it will be nice for them to have some fresh perspective. I taught them as much as I know and will continue to teach them and help guide them in any way possible.
“They are full of energy, full of passion for the sport, definitely more than even I had at that age,” Fletcher added. “I’m excited to see where it will take them and I know that if they keep working hard like they have been, they are going to take it a long way.”
RESULTS
Team Gundersen LH/4x5km
SNOWBOARD
Anderson Christens Big Air With Silver
Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) won her second medal of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, picking up the silver medal in the inaugural snowboard big air event at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center.
With the top two scores out of three jumps used to determine the final rankings, Anderson led the field early with a pair of clean jumps for a total of 177.25. Challengers were lurking close behind, with Austria's Anna Gasser hitting two clean runs for a 174.50, as well as New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott, the only other rider besides Anderson to post a 90-plus score in the first two runs with her 92.00 second run and a 157.50 total after two trips off the kicker.
Entering the final jump with two solid scores in the bank, Anderson sat down on the landing of her final run – a double 1080 - leaving the door open for Gasser. The last rider down the hill, Gasser nailed her run to pick up a 96.00 and surpass Anderson to take the gold, scoring 185.00 to Anderson's 177.25. Synnott's two-run score gave her the bronze medal. … READ MORE / RESULTS
HOW TO WATCH
*All times EST.
THURSDAY, FEB. 22
NBC
3:00-5:00 p.m. Nordic combined relay jump
Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
12:00-12:30 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts
FRIDAY, FEB. 23
NBC
8:00-11:00 p.m. - Alpine team event, big air snowboarding (live), men's parallel GS snowboarding.
NBCSN
12:30-4:00 p.m. - Medal Ceremony, men's 50k classic mass start (live)
Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
5:00-7:00 a.m. - Medal Ceremony (live)
12:30-1:00 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts
NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
8:00-9:45 p.m. - Men's big air snowboarding (Saturday)
9:00-10:55 p.m. - Alpine team event (Saturday)
10:00-11:30 p.m. - Parallel giant slalom snowboarding (Saturday)
SATURDAY, FEB. 24
NBC
3:00-6:00 p.m. - Men's 50k classic mass start
Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
5:00-7:00 a.m. - Medal Ceremony (live)
NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
11:00 p.m.-3:05 a.m. - Men's 50k classic mass start
SUNDAY, FEB. 25
NBC
3:15-5:20 p.m. - Women's 30k classic mass start
7:00-8:00 p.m. - Olympic Gold recaps the PyeongChang Winter Games
8:00-10:30 p.m. - Closing Ceremony
NBCSN
2:00-4:00 a.m. - Women's 30k classic mass start
Live Streaming
1:15-3:20 a.m. - Women's 30k classic mass start
6:00-8:30 a.m. - Closing Ceremony