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Mikaela Shiffrin ended her Winter Olympics medal drought in style on Day 12 of the Milan Cortina Games, cruising to gold in the women’s Alpine skiing slalom.
The American set herself up with a rapid first run and finished the job in the second, beating Switzerland’s Camille Rast by 1.50 seconds.
Earlier on, Ben Ogden earned the U.S. another cross-country skiing silver medal alongside Gus Schumacher in the team sprint. They finished behind Norway, led by Johannes Klaebo who extended his record as the most successful athlete in Winter Games history with a 10th career gold.
USA’s Jake Canter won bronze in the men’s snowboard slopestyle. The women’s final is later, with biathlon and short track speedskating medals, plus the U.S. and Canada face men’s hockey quarterfinals.
And it gets even better for Britain, as Canada scores four in the sixth end to go 7-3 up over Italy.
Blimey! USA has just shaken hands with Britain and it is all over after six ends.
Bruce Mouat had just delivered another perfect rock to score three points and stretch their lead to 9-2 after six ends.
So that is that for Danny Casper’s rink, as the U.S. falls to 4-5 from its nine games.
Britain finishes 5-4 and must now wait to see how Italy and Norway finish.
Norway is currently trailing unbeaten Switzerland 6-3, while Canada and Italy are tied at 3-3.
Good luck wiping that smile off Mikaela Shiffrin’s face before she leaves Italy!
A lovely moment for the American as she was given her prize for making light work of today’s slalom — and a moment so richly deserved.
She has faced criticism from all parts over the last four years having missed out on a medal in Beijing, and it looked like this year’s visit to Italy might end in more crippling disappointment.
That was until she decided to obliterate the field in her two slalom runs today, showcasing exactly why she is the greatest to ever do it in her discipline.
A phenomenal athlete and, after eight long years, Shiffrin finally has her third Olympic gold medal.
Here. We. Go. We have reached the third and final run of the women’s snowboard slopestyle. The three highest scores at the end of this turn will medal.
As it stands, Mari Fukada of Japan sits atop the leaderboard with a score of 85.70, followed by countrywoman Kokomo Murase with a tally of 79.30.
Annika Morgan of Germany is currently third with a score of 78.78.
Who else can get among the medals?
Better from Danny Casper. He gets the weight just right with his last rock to put two on the board for USA. Britain still lead 6-2 at the halfway stage.
The Swiss lead Norway 5-3 at the same point. And Canada has tied it up 3-3 against Italy after five.
Brad Jacobs pinched one against the hammer in the fifth end, which quietened the crowd a tad.
The entire GB skeleton team has shown up to support Bruce Mouat and the boys, which is nice.
On reflection, it definitely did look like there were tears for Mikaela Shiffrin in the moments after her gold-clinching second run in the women’s slalom.
It’s just hard to deal with them when you’re wearing huge padded gloves and a massive visor.
Now with the medal presentations done, it’s like Shiffrin could float all the way home to Colorado — she is utterly elated.
She does step onto the podium and tries to give it a determined fist pump of triumph, but you can tell there are some really soft, squishy feelings underneath too.
What a fabulous moment at these Games, and Shiffrin signs off by belting out the national anthem too.
Fukada Mari of Japan has put together the best run of the day by far, and now sits atop the leaderboard, logging an 85.70.
That is well clear of countrywoman Kokomo Murase, who is sitting second with a tally of 79.30.
With eight snowboarders left in the second run of the women’s snowboard slopestyle final, Murase Kokomo of Japan currently sits in gold position with a score of 79.30.
Annika Morgan of Germany holds second place at the moment with a score of 77.78 and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand is in third with a 73.01.
Americans Jessica Perlmutter and Lily Dhawornvej will not medal as it stands, sitting in fifth and ninth respectively.
Minnesota Wild fourth goalie, essentially, Samuel Hlavaj is now 2-1 in the Olympics with a 2.67 goals against average and a 0.932 save percentage.
He has backstopped proud Slovakia into the semifinals.
Washington Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary said:
💬 “He’s our backbone … His time is coming (in the NHL).”
Slovakia is having so much more fun than anybody else here. It seems so loose. I asked Dalibor Dvorský why:
💬 “We play the sport we love, right? We *should* be having fun playing it and we are.”
Given the choice of getting on the board with a point or keeping the hammer for the fifth straight end, Danny Casper chose the latter.
So he opted for a takeout and a blank end, which leaves the score at 6-0 to Britain.
This game is moving on more quickly than the others, which are all much closer.
Canada now trails Italy 3-2, while the Norwegians have tied it up with Switzerland at 3-3. The Czechs are 5-2 up on China.
Wow! It is not USA skipper Danny Casper’s day … so far.
He has just pushed an easy draw for one straight through the back of the house, giving Britain a four-point haul against the head. The Brits are now 6-0 up after three ends.
But do not forget, GB needs other results to go its way and so far, the Italy-Canada game is not. Much to the delight of the crowd, the hosts stole two against the hammer as well.
The Swiss are doing their bit though. They lead Norway 3-1.
Ten days ago, the United States men had not medaled in cross-country skiing in 50 years.
Now, they’ll head home from Italy with at least two pieces of hardware after Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher won silver in the team sprint relay today.
Ogden ended the drought last week with a second-place finish in the individual sprint — an emotional moment for a U.S. team that has spent years building up its men’s program behind a group of young athletes.
In the 2022 Olympics, Ogden and Schumacher finished ninth in this same race. Four years later, they’ve gone seven better.
It’s the first time the U.S. has medaled in the event since Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins won a historic gold in Beijing in 2018.
Randall and Schumacher are both from Alaska and years ago, Randall gave Schumacher a pair of her old poles.
Now, the torch — or rather the poles — have officially passed from Randall, who retired in 2018, and Diggins, who plans to retire at the end of this season, to Ogden and Schumacher.
Hmmm … Britain steal one in first end to go 1-0 up on Danny Casper’s USA. Loooong way to go.
The Olympic curling scriptwriters have set this one up beautifully, as on the next sheet over we have unbeaten Switzerland playing third-placed Norway.
GB and USA need the Swiss to keep winning and they have jumped to a 2-0 lead after one end.
And over on the far sheet, we have second-placed Canada, who have already booked their semi-final place, against Italy.
That is another game the Americans would like their northern neighbours to win, while the Brits will be hoping Canada does it for the Commonwealth.
That game is 0-0 after the first end.
And you have to say, keeping your cool when your closest rival after the first run managed to straddle the very first gate just moments before you, is pretty impressive.
With 17 World Cup wins, nine slalom globes and four world titles, Mikaela Shiffrin now has a third Olympic title — 12 years after becoming the youngest slalom gold medallist on the slopes of Rosa Khutor at Sochi 2014.
Two arms in the air and giving off the vibes of relief more than anything, Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates her gold.
Two outstanding runs under huge pressure, even if only from herself.
The tears do flow for Anna Swenn Larsson however, as she claims a surprise bronze for Sweden. Switzerland’s Camille Rast has the women’s slalom silver.
She’s done it! Mikaela Shiffrin wins gold!
Her first Olympic medal since 2018.
SHE’S DONE IT!
PURE, SUBLIME SLALOM — and she’s smashed the field by 1.5 seconds.
It’s gold for Mikaela Shiffrin and the U.S.
Beijing ghosts exorcised. And eventually some smiles to boot.
What a beautiful moment from the best to do it.
Wow! Germany's Lena Duerr goes out immediately on her second run.
It's time for Mikaela Shiffrin. She has a 1.05-second edge.
Is the end of her Olympic slump?