Olympic Precap: Lindsey’s Last Run?

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Via @usskiteam

(Note: Due to the time difference between South Korea and the United States, all events will be listed by the day they are being aired in the United States.)

The Olympics Precap is a daily post that will serve as a recap and preview of the action in PyeongChang.

Here’s What Happened: Tuesday, February 20th

Unlike Monday where the medal stand belonged to the Norwegians, there was a much more diverse representation on the podium Tuesday.

Biathlon has been holding events since the 2018 Games opened and they continued awarding medals on Tuesday.

France has already had a great Games in the biathlon and that continued on Tuesday as the country took home the gold in the mixed relay. The French team, consisting of two men and two women, easily claimed the gold medal by over 20 seconds. Sticking with the theme of these Games, Norway found its way onto the medal stand with a silver medal. The Italian team came across the finish line in third to win the bronze.

As a member of the French contingent who ran the race, Martin Fourcade won his third medal of the 2018 Winter Games.

Nordic combined was another disciplined awarding medals on Tuesday, wrapping up the individual portion of their schedule with the large hill competition. As a reminder, nordic is a combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing.

It was a complete sweep of all the podium positions, with Germans claiming all three medals. Johannes Rydzek crossed with finish line less than a second before his two teammates to win the gold medal.

Fabian Riessle and Eric Frenzel crossed the line within a half a second of each other to win silver and bronze respectively.

One of the most anticipated races in short-track was on the docket Tuesday with the women’s 3,000m team relay. If you happened to watch, you saw how chaotic but still organized it was.

Home country South Korea were the favorites to win the gold and they delivered with a masterful performance, edging long time rival China at the line to win the gold medal and send the crown into a frenzy.

It appeared as if China easily claimed the silver but a penalty was called on the Chinese team and they were disqualified. This should have moved Canada into silver medal position but they were also given a penalty and disqualified. Those two penalties pushed Italy into the silver medal and awarded the bronze to The Netherlands, who had earlier won the B final in world record time.

In likely her last Olympics, Lindsey Vonn was the favorite in the women’s downhill event, a race she won at the 2010 Games. Vonn was making her return to the Olympics after missing the Sochi games due to a knee injury.

Two skiers before Vonn was her friend and rival Sofia Goggia of Italy. Goggia gave Vonn a target to hit, flying on her run and dropping the fastest time to move into first. Knowing what she had to do, Vonn hit the slopes and put all her effort into overtaking Goggia for first.

Unfortunately, Goggia’s run was just too good for Vonn to match and she had to settle for second place. In the end, Goggia’s time held up and she made history as the first Italian to win gold in the women’s downhill.

Vonn was sitting in silver position for most of the competition but she was relegated to bronze after Norwegian skier Ragnhild Mowinckel posted a better time to claim the silver medal.

Wrapping up the action on Tuesday night was the men’s ski cross race (essentially BMX on snow) but no Americans qualified to race in the Olympics. After several heats and elimination races, the final was set and Canadian Brady Leman walked away with the gold medal after just missing out on a medal four years ago.

Marc Bischofberger of Switzerland finished second for the silver medal and Sergey Ridzik of OAR rounded out the podium with bronze.

Another great day of competition brought the drama and excitement to the non-medal events as well. Here’s what you may have missed:

  • Short-track had a medal event but they also held heats for the men’s 500m and the women’s 1,000m. Their respective finals are later in the week.
  • Norway, Finland, and Germany all advanced to the men’s hockey quarterfinals with victories.
  • U.S. men’s curling defeated Switzerland 8-4 to keep their medal hopes alive.
  • Women’s 2-person bobsled held their first two runs of competition. The United States currently sits 2nd and 4th with two runs to go.
  • Men’s snowboarding Big Air made its Olympic debut with the qualifying rounds. Slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard qualified for the final along with teammates Kyla Mack and Chris Corning.
  • Figure skating began its final event of PyeongChang with the women’s short program. Medal favorites Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva of OAR lead the way.
  • U.S. men’s hockey saw their Olympics come to an end following a heartbreaking 3-2 loss that had to be decided in a shootout.

Here’s What’s Next: Wednesday, February 21st

We have made it to Wednesday and that means we are halfway through the final week of competition at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. I know most of you have to work during the day but hopefully you can still catch some of the action.

Before we break down what to watch, here is Wednesday’s schedule of events:

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Via CBS Sports

(Medal events denoted.)

Only a few days of action left in PyeongChang, don’t blink or you might miss history.

Here’s what to keep an eye on:

  • Curling wraps up round robin play for both men and women. Top four on both sides move onto medal rounds.
  • Ski cross gold medal final is scheduled for early in the morning. No Americans qualified to race in the Olympics.
  • Women’s ice hockey awards a bronze medal in a showdown between Finland and OAR.
  • Men’s alpine skiing holds the slalom event where Marcel Hirscher goes for his third gold of PyeongChang.
  • Also in alpine, due to potential weather issues, the women’s combined event has been rescheduled to Wednesday.
  • Cross-country awards medals in the men’s and women’s team sprint event.
  • Women’s snowboarding Big Air final had to be rescheduled and will go off this evening.
  • Women’s bobsled holds their final two runs to determine the medals. The U.S. has teams currently sitting in second and fourth.
  • Long-track decides medals in the men’s and women’s team pursuit events. The U.S. women’s team will try and win the country’s first medal ever in the event.
  • Men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe final closes out halfpipe competition at the Games. U.S.A sits in good position to claim at least one medal.
  • End the night with one of the most anticipated events of the Games, the women’s ice hockey gold medal game. As expected, it comes down to the U.S. and Canada once again.

You can catch any of these events live or on replay by tuning into the channels listed beside the event.

If you cannot get to a TV, head on over to NBCOlympics.com to stream live online or catch up on any replays you may have missed. You can also watch wirelessly on your smartphone by downloading the NBC Sports App.

Medal Table

A quick look at the medal table after Tuesday’s action:

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Via NBCOlympics.com

Norway cracks 30 medals to maintain healthy overall lead in medal count. Germany wins three but Canada is closing quickly. France jumps U.S. for top five on silver tiebreaker while both set sights on The Netherlands. OAR holds steady but still looking for first gold medal. Goggia gold propels Italy into top ten.

Keep up to date on everything Olympics right here on “The Bat Flip” where we will be posting our daily Precap to cover what all went down and what else is to come in PyeongChang.

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