Wednesday’s Olympic Games in Cortina, Milan, had it all: the redemption of an American skiing superstar, the inspiration of a tenacious American snowboarder, more cross-country skiing history, a men’s hockey quarterfinal to remember, another Olympic proposal and a dog cameo to break the tension.
Here are five top stories from Day 12 of the Winter Olympics:
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Mikaela Shiffrin ends Olympic medal drought with gold in slalom
Mikaela Shiffrin exorcised recent Olympic demons by winning women’s slalom gold in Cortina on Wednesday.
Shiffrin has more World Cup titles than any other skier, male or female, at this year’s Olympics. But she still arrives in Italy with something to prove, as she was medalless in Beijing four years ago after winning two gold medals and a silver in her previous two Olympics (Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018). In fact, she didn’t even complete three events during the 2022 Olympics. This year, she struggled in the women’s team all-around, missing out on the podium despite teammate Breezy Johnson taking the lead in the downhill portion of the race. Just three days earlier, Shiffrin had finished 11th in the giant slalom.
Fast forward to Wednesday, and Shiffrin swept the field with two historic runs, rocketing to the bottom of the mountain and back to the top of the skiing world. Shiffrin set the fastest time on her first run. After watching the skier before a spin or DQ, she stayed steady and aggressive in the second run, turning her already significant 0.82-second lead into a 1.5-second advantage. The margin of victory was the largest in alpine skiing at any Olympics since 1998, NBC’s Nick Zaccardi reported. The monkey was detached from Shiffrin’s back and the gold medal hung around her neck again. She was the first American female skier to win three Olympic gold medals, and now she is the youngest and oldest American woman to win alpine skiing gold. In 2014 she was 18 years old. She is 30 years old at these Olympics.
Both U.S. and Canadian men’s hockey needed overtime to advance to the semifinals
The Minnesota Wild’s Quinn Hughes lit up more than three minutes of 3-on-3 overtime to help the United States beat Sweden 2-1 and advance to the men’s hockey semifinals. The U.S. needed overtime when Sweden’s Mika Zibanejad tied the game on U.S. tennis guard Connor Hellebuyck’s shot with 91 seconds left in regulation. The Swedish team provided a rigorous NHL-themed test. The Americans came through, albeit in overtime. They will now face Slovakia in the semi-finals.
Earlier in the day, Canada defeated the Czech Republic in overtime to seal a spot in the semifinals. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, Team Canada trailed 2-1 after the first period, marking the first time Canada has trailed at an Olympics with NHL players since 2010. Then, Ondřej Palát scored to give the Czechs a 3-2 lead with less than eight minutes left in the third period. Fortunately for Canada, Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki saved the country from an early exit with a deflected goal. Mitch Marner completed the comeback, scoring on a backhand winner less than two minutes into overtime.
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Team Canada did not escape unscathed. Captain Sidney Crosby died from a lower-body injury. Canada will next face Finland.
Team USA takes silver in cross-country team sprint, but Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo earns rare 10th gold medal
It may sound like a record to be broken, but Johannes Hosflot Kleiber just broke another Winter Olympics record. Klebo, 29, and his Norwegian teammate Einar Hedgaard won gold in the men’s cross-country skiing team sprint on Wednesday. Crabb now has five gold medals at this year’s Olympics and a record-breaking 10 gold medals at the Winter Olympics. He joins Michael Phelps as the only athletes to win at least 10 Olympic gold medals. Phelps is the most decorated Olympic swimmer with 23 gold medals, eight of which he won at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
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The American competed against Kleiber and Hedegaard. In fact, Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher finished just 1.4 seconds behind them for silver. Schumacher launched a sprint, but Klebo maintained the Norwegian lead on the final hill.
Last week, Ogden won a silver medal in the cross-country sprint, becoming the first U.S. male cross-country skier to win a medal since 1976. He now has two Olympic medals. Schumacher had his first.
As for Crabb, he can go six out of six at this Olympics and win gold in Saturday’s 50km mass start. If he achieves the feat, he will join swimmers Phelps, Mark Spitz and Christian Otto and gymnast Vitaly Scherbo as Olympians to win at least six gold medals in a single Olympics, ESPN reported.
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US snowboarder Jake Canter wins bronze in slopestyle competition nine years after suffering life-threatening brain injury
The words of victory and celebration – “Let’s go! Come on!” – flow from the mouth of an ebullient Jake Canter with unrelenting enthusiasm. He had just landed in the final event of the men’s snowboard slopestyle event in Italy on Wednesday, where he fought tooth and nail to stay in the top three and win the bronze medal.
The 22-year-old Colorado native won the Aspen World Cup in January and is now an Olympic medalist, nine years after suffering a traumatic brain injury at age 13 that left him in a coma for four days. The life-threatening injury occurred on a trampoline at an extreme sports camp, the Associated Press reported. He was kicked in the head. It was a freak accident. Six months later, he reportedly spent four days in a coma due to meningitis. The surgery he needed required him to relearn how to walk and talk.
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“I really just hope I can make the 13-year-old me in my hospital bed proud,” Kanter said, according to the Associated Press. “It’s for him and it’s for everyone who supports me.”
In his Olympic debut, Kanter gave Team USA its first men’s snowboard slopestyle medal since 2018 with a brave, spin-filled final jump.
USA Curling has a rough day: Women can still make playoffs, but men need some help
Team USA has been lukewarm in curling recently. The U.S. women’s soccer team missed a chance to make the playoffs on Wednesday when they lost in the 10th round against Great Britain. The U.S. women’s team was just one point away from medal contention. But an incredible pass from captain Rebecca Morrison helped GB grab two points and win 8-7.
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The U.S. women’s soccer team has a 5-3 record in the round-robin tournament. If the U.S. women’s soccer team beats Switzerland 6-2, or Great Britain loses 2-6 to Italy, the U.S. women’s soccer team could earn a spot in the four-team playoff. There are more complicated ways for them to reach the semifinals, but these are the clearest paths.
The U.S. men’s curling team is also technically in the play-in bracket. However, getting on the right path requires more effort. After winning three straight games and starting 4-2, the U.S. men’s team ended the round-robin tournament with three straight losses, including a lopsided loss to Great Britain on Wednesday. The young group needs Italy (4-4), Norway (4-4) and Germany (3-5) to all lose Thursday. That would force the United States into tiebreakers against Italy and Norway.
Highlight of the day
Hilary Knight, a gold medal contender for the U.S. women’s hockey team, proposed to U.S. speed skater Brittany Bowe this week. The couple met at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
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“The Olympics brought us together. These Olympics brought us together forever,” Knight wrote in her Instagram caption on Wednesday.
Knight, 36, has won four Olympic medals – three silver and one gold – while Bowe, 37, has two bronze medals. This is their last time competing in the Olympics.
Italy is handing out medals and so are the rings. This is not the first proposal for this Olympics.
Perhaps most notably, U.S. downhill skiing gold medalist Blaydes Johnson became engaged to boyfriend Connor Watkins after her loss in the women’s super-G last week.
Others also tied the knot.
one more thing
Dogs are fun-loving animals who keep giving—not just love, but iconic moments. The other was on display Wednesday during qualifying for the women’s cross country team sprint event.
A two-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog named Nazgul was seen running alongside the skiers and even crossing the finish line. He was reportedly a local who escaped from his owners and embarked on a journey that made headlines everywhere.
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The Nazgûl eventually returned to his owner and told a story that made the other puppies wag their tails.
