Primetime spotlight
The team figure skating event dominated the night’s coverage. Adam Rippon dazzled in his debut, while Mirai Nagasu made history. It was a great night for the duo, who four years ago were sitting at home together instead of competing in Sochi. Nagasu became the first American female to land a triple Axel at the Olympics.
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Mikaela Shiffrin’s PyeongChang debut was put on hold after wind delayed the women’s giant slalom. Unlike her competitors, Shiffrin decided to ski down the mountain when the postponement was announced, ensuring she stays loose and ready for her first event.
America finally got to see Chloe Kim take to the halfpipe. The teenager did not disappoint. She currently sits in first after the qualifying round. Five-time Olympian Kelly Clark finished 11th in qualifications and will have a chance to contend for a medal.
The women’s moguls event was also featured in Primetime after taking place earlier in the morning (ET). It was a disappointing event that saw no American woman advance to the final's third run to contend for a medal. 19-year-old Perrine Laffont won gold, while Canada's Justine Dufour-Lapointe captured silver and Kazakhstan's Yuli Galysheva the bronze.
Lastly, the men’s luge contest also played out in Primetime. American Chris Mazdzer captured the silver medal. It was the United State' first medal in men’s singles luge ever. On his third run, Mazdzer broke the course record (set moments earlier) to vault into second place. He didn’t struggle on the infamous ninth curve, which was the difference for most for being in medal contention. His fourth run went flawlessly and ensured he won the silver medal. The crowd favorite was finally able to eat that piece of pizza he’d been promising himself.
Team figure skating concludes on a high
After two days of the team event, Canada was in first place, followed by the Olympic Athletes from Russia and the United States in third. The U.S. was only one point ahead of Italy, so Adam Rippon’s Olympic debut in the men’s free skate was crucial to protecting the United States' position in third.
The men’s free skate kicked off Sunday night’s events. At 28-years-old, Rippon is the oldest American figures skater to make his Olympic debut since 1936. He finished third overall in the men’s free skate phase.
This set up Mirai Nagasu in the ladies’ short program. She made history by completing the first triple Axel by an American female in Olympic competition. She is just the third woman ever to land the jump. Nagasu’s second place finish marked a comeback for the American who was left off the team in Sochi.
The ladies’ free skate phase was highlighted by Russian Alina Zagitova. It was the 15 year old’s Olympic debut, and she is a gold medal favorite in the ladies’ individual event.
Heading into the last phase of the team event, the free dance, Canada had already clinched the gold medal and OAR the silver. All the Shibutani siblings had to do was not finish in last place with Team Italy not winning the free dance.
Italy skated before the U.S. and didn’t place in first, which meant the Shibutani siblings skated without pressure. It turned out to be a memorable performance to Coldplay, and the siblings look confident heading into the ice dance event.
Wind plays spoiler for second-straight day
The debut of Mikaela Shiffrin at the 2018 Games was put on hold. The 2014 Olympic slalom gold medalists was supposed to start her competition with giant slalom.
Instead, the conditions were rendered too windy and giant slalom was postponed until Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m ET.
Jamie Anderson becomes back-to-back gold medalist in snowboard slopestyle
The snowboard slopestyle event finally got underway after the qualification round was canceled yesterday due to high winds. The wind caused a 75-minuite delay to the start of competition. As a result of the increased field size, the format of the final changed from three runs to two runs.
Jamie Anderson defended her Olympic snowboard slopestyle title. She is the first female snowboarder to win multiple gold medals. Anderson was able to complete a clean first run when many of her competitors couldn’t because of the weather conditions. She scored an 83.00 on her first run, thanks in part to landing a backside 540, cab underflip and frontside 720 on the jumps.
Anderson’s gold medal was Team USA's second of the Games.
American Julia Marino was also expected to contend for a medal, however, she fell on both her runs and finished 11th. Teammate Hailey Langland’s landed run was only enough for sixth. Jessika Jenson sat in a medal position for a while after her first run but was eventually bumped down to fifth.
Ultimately, the silver medal went to Canada’s Laurie Blouin and the bronze medal was awarded to Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi. Rukajarvi was the bronze medalist in Sochi.
Chloe Kim leads like a veteran in Olympic debut
There’s still a chance for a U.S. podium sweep in the women’s snowboard halfpipe. Kim dominated the qualifying round. She put down two of the highest scoring runs of the day. She scored a 91.50 on her first run, then a 95.50 on her second run.
Americans Kelly Clark and Arielle Gold sat on the bubble as the qualifying runs concluded, but both were able to hold onto to their positions and advance in the 11th and 12th spot. Maddie Mastro also qualified, scoring an 83.75 which was good enough for fourth. All four Americans are considered strong medal contenders.
Mixed doubles curling advances to semifinals round
After nearly a week of round-robin play, the mixed doubles curling finally saw its first semifinals match. The semifinal between Canada and Norway kicked off last night. The Canadians recovered from a rough start and defeated Norway 8-4. Canada is headed to the gold medal match, which is no surprise since they have been considered the team to beat in the mixed doubles event.
Canada now awaits the winner of Team OAR and Switzerland, which is being played at 6:05 a.m. ET. Norway will play the loser of the other semifinal game for the bronze medal.
Team Switzerland dances their way to a 3-1 victory against Japan
Sara Benz scored two power-play goals to help the Swiss improve to 2-0-0 in the preliminary round and secure a spot in the quarterfinals. Alina Muller also found the back of the net for her tournament-leading fifth goal.
Switzerland’s Florence Schelling stood tall in net. She made 37 saves, including seven in the first period before her team stepped up offensively.
Switzerland will face Team Sweden in its final game of pool play Feb 14th at 2:40 a.m. ET.