The U.S. is 2-for-2 in the inaugural snowboarding slopestyle event, with Jamie Anderson winning gold for the women a day after Sage Kotsenburg took it for the men. How'd Anderson handle it? With help from yoga and mantra beads, of course. God, I love snowboarders.
The Americans also took bronze in the first-time event of team figure skating, not a surprise but still somewhat of a disappointment. With the freedom to switch two of the four competitors in the short and long programs, they went with two different men's individual skaters, but since they seem to be cursed in that field, both fell during their performances. The power duo of Charlie White and Meryl Davis were really who carried the U.S. to the medal stand and whetted everyone's appetite for the usually-ignored-in-the-U.S. event of ice dancing later this week.
The big news with team figure skating came from the Russians, whose gold in the event represented the first for the home country so far in the games. The Russians also took a pair of silvers and underdog speedskater Olga Graf celebrated her bronze Brandi Chastain-style.
Medals Awarded Yesterday
Biathlon - Women's 7.5km Sprint
Gold: Anastasiya Kuzmina (Slovakia)
Silver: Olga Vilukhina (Russia)
Bronze: Vita Semerenko (Ukraine)
Cross Country - Men's Skiathlon
Gold: Dario Cologna (Switzerland)
Silver: Marcus Hellner (Sweden)
Bronze: Martin Johnsrud Sundby (Norway)
Figure Skating - Team
Gold: Russia
Silver: Canada
Bronze: U.S.
Luge - Men's Singles
Gold: Felix Loch (Germany)
Silver: Albert Demchenko (Russia)
Bronze: Armin Zoeggeler (Italy)
Skiing - Men's Alpine Downhill
Gold: Matthias Mayer (Austria)
Silver: Christof Innerhofer (Italy)
Bronze: Kjetil Jansrud (Norway)
Ski Jumping - Men's Individual Normal Hill
Gold: Kamil Stoch (Poland)
Silver: Peter Prevc (Slovenia)
Bronze: Anders Bardal (Norway)
Snowboarding - Women's Slopestyle
Gold: Jamie Anderson (U.S.)
Silver: Enni Rukajarvi (Finland)
Bronze: Jenny Jones (Great Britain)
Speedskating - Women's 3000m
Gold: Irene Wust (Netherlands)
Silver: Martina Sablikova (Czech Republic)
Bronze: Olga Graf (Russia)
Medal Count
G - S - B - Total
Norway 2 - 1 - 4 - 7
Netherlands 2 - 1 - 1 - 4
U.S. 2 - 0 - 2 - 4
Canada 1 - 2 - 1 - 4
Russia 1 - 2 - 1 - 4
Austria 1 - 1 - 0 - 2
Sweden 0 - 2 - 0 - 2
Czech Republic 0 - 1 - 1 - 2
Italy 0 - 1 - 1 - 2
Germany 1 - 0 - 0 - 1
Poland 1 - 0 - 0 - 1
Slovakia 1 - 0 - 0 - 1
Switzerland 1 - 0 - 0 - 1
Finland 0 - 1 - 0 - 1
Slovenia 0 - 1 - 0 - 1
Great Britain 0 - 0 - 1 - 1
Ukraine 0 - 0 - 1 - 1
Medals Awarded Today
Biathlon - Men's 12.5km Pursuit
Skiing - Women's Alpine Super Combined
Skiing - Men's Freestyle Moguls
Speedskating - Men's 1500m Short Track
Speedskating - Men's 500m
U.S.'s Best Chance to Medal
There aren't a lot of U.S.-heavy events today, which means the field is ripe for an upset. The best bet is probably Patrick Deneen in moguls.
If you're itching to see the U.S. succeed in something, the team sports are where to be. The women's hockey and curling teams will both be taking on their Swiss counterparts simultaneously, and the hockey squad is a powerhouse. Today also marks the start of the men's curling competition, and the U.S. will take on Norway. Neither curling team will probably win a medal, but neither are the Swiss women or Norwegian men.
Televised Coverage
3 a.m. - Men's Curling: Germany vs. Canada (NBC Sports)
5 a.m. - Women's Hockey: USA vs. Switzerland (NBC Sports)
5 a.m. - Women's Curling: USA vs. Switzerland (USA)
7:30 a.m. - Speedskating: men's 500m (NBC Sports)
10 a.m. - Women's Hockey: Finland vs. Canada (MSNBC)
11:15 a.m. - Luge: women's singles
Women's Curling: Sweden vs. Germany (NBC Sports)
3 p.m. - Biathlon: men's 12.5km pursuit
Speedskating: men's 500m (NBC)
5 p.m. - Men's Curling: USA vs. Norway (CNBC)
8 p.m. - Skiing: women's alpine super combined
Skiing: men's freestyle moguls
Speedskating: men's 1500m short track (NBC)
Interesting Reads
The first openly gay athlete has won a medal in these controversial Games and it's Dutch speedskater Ireen Wust.
Because anyone will believe anything strange about Sochi, a joke article about the person responsible for the snowflake-to-rings Opening Ceremony mysteriously dying went viral.
Lest you think it's just meddling mothers pressing their kids about why they haven't found a nice girl/boy/doctor to settle down with, luger Tucker West's father took advantage of his platform during an interview on the Today show to help his 18-year-old son get a girlfriend.
It's not available online, but if you happen to have a subscription to Sports Illustrated, I highly recommend Alexander Wolff's piece about the complicated position the nation of Georgia finds itself in during these Olympics. Located just over the border from Sochi, Georgia is currently battling a territorial fight with Russia for a couple of regions, and the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in the 2010 Vancouver Games still casts a pall over the nation.
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