Olympic Games Recap: Skiing & Snowboarding

 
If you haven’t been holed up in front of the TV since the 2018 Olympic Games kicked off in PyeongChang, South Korea on Friday night, you’ve missed quite a show. Team USA is sitting in fifth place (Team Norway currently leads the pack) with four medals total – two gold, one silver, one bronze –  after the first weekend of competition, and some of the country’s biggest names in the winter sports world have yet to go.
Team USA once again proved it’s home to the world’s best snowboarders, with reigning gold medalist from Sochi (and Tahoe local) Jamie Anderson taking home the top prize – again – in women’s slopestyle. Strong winds were a major factor for all competitors in the field, with few athletes landing the jump section of the course because of the conditions. The weather caused some major problems for some of the sport’s favorites (like Anna Gasser, the Austrian powerhouse some thought could take the title from Anderson), and Anderson was one of the few competitors to put down a completed run, finishing her highest scoring turn on the course with a monster frontside 720 despite running into problems with the wind. Anderson’s win comes on the heels of another American win in slopestyle snowboarding, this time by young Silvethorne, Colorado (although he also clasims Cleveland, Ohio as his hometown) native Red Gerard. At just 17-years-old, Gerard was able to put down a huge final run and best Canadians Mark McMorris and Max Parrot for his first ever Olympic medal in his Games debut, and the first medal for Team USA in South Korea.

 
Chris Mazdzer also helped add to the medal count, with a silver in the men’s individual luge – the first ever by an American man in the sport – and Team USA figure skating landed in third place for the team event (which features all disciplines of figure skating from individual men’s and women’s performances to ice dancing and pairs skating), bringing home a bronze for the home team.
 

 
So, who else is awaiting their Olympic start at this year’s games? Only the best skier in the world – and possibly of all time – Mikaela Shiffrin, who’s aiming for three golds at this Olympics, and had her first event cancelled because of wind. Her events schedule is now as follows:

Tuesday, Feb. 13

Women’s Slalom
Run 1, 8:15 p.m. ET
Run 2, 11:45 p.m. ET

Thursday, Feb. 15

Women’s Giant Slalom
Run 1, 7:30 p.m. ET
Run 2, 11:15 p.m. ET

Friday, Feb. 16

Women’s Super-G
Final, 9 p.m. ET
 
Lindsey Vonn also has yet to hit the course in PyeongChang for official competition, and she’s looking to repeat her downhill victory from Vancouver after missing the games in Sochi four years ago. Her competition schedule is as follows:

Thursday, February 15

Women’s Giant Slalom
Run 1, 7:30 p.m. ET
Run 2, 11:15 p.m. ET

Friday, Feb. 16

Women’s Super-G
Final, 9 p.m. ET

Sunday, Feb. 18 — Tuesday, Feb. 20

Women’s Downhill
Feb. 18: Training, 9 p.m. ET
Feb. 19: Training, 9 p.m. ET
Feb. 20: Final, 9 p.m. ET

Thursday, Feb. 22 — Friday, Feb. 23

Women’s Combined
Feb. 22: Run 1, 9 p.m. ET
Feb. 23: Run 2: 9 p.m. ET
 
And, if you’re like most and are tuning into primetime coverage of the Olympics tonight (Monday, February 12), Team USA snowboarding once again looks for gold, this time in halfpipe competition. Chloe Kim is a big favorite for gold heading into tonight’s final (tonight, Monday, February 12; coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET), and she might just do it at her first Olympics. Shaun White looks to lock in another medal for Team USA, with halfpipe finals going down Tuesday in primetime (Tuesday, Feb. 13, 8:30 p.m. ET). For all your live streaming needs, be sure to visit NBC’s online Olympic headquarters.