Snowed Out
A Recap of the Winter Olympics Thus Far
USA’s mens tobogganing team cutting through snow in their lane
February 9, 2022
On Feb. 4, the 2022 Winter Olympics officially opened in Bejing, China, where global teams will compete for the gold in series of winter-themed sports.
Competition actually started on Feb. 2, with preliminary games of ice hockey and curling—a sport resembling a cross between hockey and shuffleboard—and will continue until Feb. 20.
The official games consist of Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling, Ice Hockey, Figure Skating, Free-Style Skiing, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short-Track Speed Skating, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Snowboard, and Speed Skating. This year, the U.S. boasts 224 competitors across the 15 events.
On Feb. 5, the U.S. Mixed Double’s Curling team beat out the People’s Republic of China (session 9), but lost to Canada in the next round (session 10). The U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey team played a shut-out game against ROC.
On Feb. 6, the U.S. Mixed Doubles Curling team lost to the Czech Republic (Session 11) and Switzerland (Session 12). However, Julia Marino brought home a silver medal in the Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle, and the U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey team played another shut-out game, this time against Switzerland. Later that night, Jaelin Kauf of U.S.A. brought home a silver medal in the Women’s Freestyle Skiing.
On Feb. 7, the U.S. Mixed Doubles Curling team lost to Great Britain (session 13), but team U.S.A. still earned a silver medal from Karen Chen in Women’s Freestyle Skating.
On Feb. 8, U.S.A.’s Ryan Cochran-Siegle took silver at the Men’s Alpine Skiing Super-G and Jessie Diggins took bronze in the Women’s Cross-Country Ski Sprint Free Finals. The Women’s Ice Hockey team lost to Canada.
On Feb. 9, the U.S. Men’s Curling team won the first session against ROC. U.S.A’s Colby Stevenson won silver at the Men’s Freestyle Big Air Ski, and Lindsey Jacobellis took the first gold of the season for U.S.A. in the Women’s Snowboard Cross.
In the upcoming days, competition will continue with Men’s Alpine Skiing, Women’s Cross-Courtry Skiing, Men and Women’s Curling, Men’s Figure Skating, Mixed Freestyle Skiing, Men’s Ice Hockey, a Luge relay, Men and Women’s Snowboarding, and Women’s Speed Skating.
Germany currently claims the top spot, with five gold medals and three silver medals (5-3-0) with the Norway and Sweden not far behind (4-2-4 & 4-1-2 respectively). The U.S. places tenth, with one gold medal, five silver medals, and one bronze (1-5-1).
Sources: