Monday's Olympic Digest: Team USA Wows in Figure Skating; Chloe Kim Looks For First Gold
A busy Sunday in PyeongChang saw a bit of history for Team USA, as figure skater Mirai Nagasu executed a triple axel in the women's free skate portion of the team event, making her only the third female skater ever to pull off that feat in an Olympic competition. On the snow, meanwhile, Jamie Anderson—who won the first ever slopestyle snowboard gold medal in 2014 in Sochi—successfully defended her title despite howling winds that caused several riders to crash or bail on their attempts, as well as forced the cancelation of the planned third run of the final.
There was plenty else going on as the weekend drew to a close, though. Let's quickly wrap up Sunday's biggest stories.
• Team USA added its third and fourth medals to its overall count; along with Anderson's gold, the U.S. earned the bronze in the team figure skating event. It was Nagasu (who finished second in the women's free skate), Adam Rippon (third in the men's free skate after a dazzling performance) and the Shibutani siblings, Alex and Maia (second in the ice dance free dance), who helped clinch the United States' third-place finish ahead of Italy. Canada took home the gold, its first of the Games and fifth medal overall, with the Olympic Athletes from Russia winning the silver.
• Men's biathlon and cross-country skiing saw medals awarded in events that took place early Sunday morning on the East Coast. In the former, heavy favorites Martin Fourcade of France and Johannes Thingnes-Bø of Norway failed to reach the podium for the 10 kilometer sprint, with Germany's Arnd Peiffer stealing a surprise gold. In the latter, Norway's Simen Hegstad Krueger pulled off an incredible comeback in the skiathlon: Despite crashing and falling in the race's early stages and dropping into last, he roared back to finish first in the 15-kilometer race, giving Norway its first gold and eighth medal already of these Games.
• And in speedskating, Dutch legend Sven Kramer added to his impressive career haul by finishing first in the 5,000 meters, collecting his fourth gold and eighth medal overall in his fourth Olympiad. Consider this your regular reminder that no country is as dominant in any winter sport as the Dutch are at speedskating; the Netherlands' 105 Olympic medals in the sport are nearly 40 more than the second-place United States.
Must-Watch Events
Women's snowboard halfpipe final (Airs live at 9:00 p.m. ET on NBC; coverage begins at 8:00 p.m.)
Men's snowboard halfpipe qualifiers (Airs live at 11:00 p.m. ET on NBC; coverage begins at 8:00 p.m.)
17-year-old American wünderkind Chloe Kim will be the one to watch in the women's halfpipe final, as the California native easily cruised through qualifying to earn a spot in the gold medal round in her Olympic debut. She'll be joined by teammates Maddie Mastro, Arielle Gold, and veteran Kelly Clark, who's competing in her fifth Games. On the men's side, Shaun White will make his first appearance in PyeongChang, as will world No. 1 Scotty James of Australia. Absent will be 2014 gold medalist Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland, who was forced to pull out of the Games a few days ago due to a head injury sustained in January's X Games.
Women's short-track speedskating 500 meters (Begins at 5:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday; airs at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday on NBCSN)
Speaking of precocious American athletes, 18-year-old Maame Biney will continue her pursuit of her first medal in her Olympic debut in the 500 meters. Action begins with the quarterfinals before dawn on Tuesday morning, with the finals scheduled to take place around 7:00 a.m., for all you early birds out there.
Women's normal hill individual ski jump (Airs at 11:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and again at 3:00 p.m. on NBC)
If you like underdog/comeback stories, look no further than American Sarah Hendrickson, who brutally injured her knee in this event at Sochi but recovered to qualify for PyeongChang. She'll need plenty of luck to defeat Japan's Sara Takanashi, who despite being just 21 years old already has five World Championships medals and four World Cup titles to her name, as well as defending Olympic champion Carina Vogt of Germany.
Women's singles luge, runs 3 and 4 (Begins live at 5:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday on NBCSN)
The last two runs to determine who goes home with the luge medals take place early in the morning on Tuesday. Expect American Erin Hamlin to be in the mix in what will likely be her final Olympic games after she took bronze at Sochi.
Women's hockey preliminary round: United States vs. Olympic Athletes of Russia (Airs live at 7:10 a.m. ET on Tuesday on NBCSN)
After edging Finland in a 3–1 win that included two goals in the second period, Team USA will take to the ice a second time to face the Russian delegation in Group A play. Three different players scored for the U.S. against the Finns, with Monique Lamoureux-Davidson getting the first goal of the Games for Team USA.
Tweet of the Day
Re-live this moment again and again, if you can. What a moment for Nagasu.
(That said, it was hard not to pick this mid-competition tweet from the irrepressible Chloe Kim.)
Daily Reading and Videos
• TIME's Sean Gregory gives you the lowdown on how America's resident Olympic hippie, Jamie Anderson, took home gold once again in slopestyle.
• Also from TIME: Alice Park with the story behind Nagasu's historic triple axel and a strong night for Team USA in figure skating.
• Want more figure skating? Here's Park on Adam Rippon, whose long-awaited Olympic debut was a dream come true.
• The weather is wreaking havoc with the skiing and snowboarding events; in particular, it's why you won't see Mikaela Shiffrin competing today.
• Speaking of bad weather: Snowboarders weren't happy about the women's slopestyle final taking place despite dangerous gale-force winds.
Athlete To Root For
Kim is already the U.S. star of the Games thanks to her personality and dominant performance so far (she blew away the competition in qualifiers), and she gets the primetime spotlight more or less to herself on Monday night. But spare some cheers for Clark, who has never finished lower than fourth in the halfpipe at the Olympics and is looking for another medal in her fifth Games.
