American skiers slay the slopes

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin won a gold medal in giant slalom and silver medal in alpine at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Photo from nytimes.com.

Skiing across the board was a large success for American athletes, winning eight of Team USA’s 23 overall medals and three of the nine gold medals. Team USA even brought home a gold medal in cross-country skiing for the first time ever in the Ladies’ Sprint Free event.

American cross-country skiers Kikkan Randall, 35, and Jessica Diggins, 26, finished the two-person relay with a time of 15 minutes, 56.47 seconds. It was a close race as they were only 0.19 seconds ahead of Swedish team members Stina Nilsson and Charlotta Kalla.

David Wise, 27, defended his gold medal in the men’s ski halfpipe in PyeongChang after becoming the first freestyle skier to win gold on the halfpipe back in 2014 at Sochi. With a score of 97.20 on his third and final run, Wise landed double corks in all four directions. Alex Ferreira, 23, fell right behind Wise, winning the silver with a score of 96.40.

Freestyle skier Nick Goepper, 23, took home the silver in the men’s slopestyle skiing. His final jump on his third run scored him a 93.60. Brita Sigourney, 28, secured the bronze medal in the ladies’ freestyle skiing halfpipe with a score of 91.60 on her final run.

Mikaela Shiffrin, 22, took a gold and silver medal, respectively, in the ladies’ downhill slalom and the ladies’ alpine combined. Olympic alpine skiing champion Lindsey Vonn, 33, who was named an honorary ambassador for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, won a bronze medal in the ladies’ downhill.

Published By: Paige Parise

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