Without a doubt, the top story to start the day was Lindsey Vonn's terrible crash...airlifted again off a mountain for the second time in a month. The Winter Olympic sports are full of insane risks, drops, falls, and literal blades that provide life-altering danger at every moment. Lindsey Vonn knew those risks, and knew the stakes of missing out on everything she trained for if she didn't give it a try. We all hope that Vonn will be able to recover well, but, beyond any injury, there is heartbreak for her on this day that may never heal.
Breezy Johnson experienced this same heartbreak on this same course where they skiied today back in 2022. She crashed just prior to the 2022 Beijing Olympics in Cortina, and had to withdraw from the Olympics. Her Olympic dream could have been over, but today she was able to return to the mountain that broke her with a chance to risk it all again. Today, Breezy broke through and secured Olympic glory for her and for team USA. Redemption that was only possible after risking it all again.
The mountain giveth, the mountain taketh away.
What she also took away was a gold medal from any of our teams - Sofia Goggia was the Italian hopeful to win for the home fans, but came up short with a Bronze for Schrimscetti Skis.
The well-named Schrimscetti Skis continued a solid day on the sticks, taking home the GOLD in Cross country Skiathlon, as Klaebo delivers the first of his many expected medals in these games for Norway. Nyenget, also of Norway, scored the Bronze for TASMWTAM. (Sorry, these Norwegian names have a lot of letters and I'd be typing until the morning, so we'll start using some last names)
The Biathlon Mixed relay dropped some serious points onto the scoreboard:
- France took the GOLD, giving 10 pts to Ice Ice Penne, Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds, and Schrimscetti Skis.
- Italy took the silver, giving 5 points to Blades of Glory-ish, My Verona, and John the Baptist.
- Germany edged the Norwegians for the Bronze, which kept any of our other teams from securing points.
Luge finished the Men's singles competition, with Max Langenhan of It's Jamaican Bobseld Time zooming past everyone and scoring the upset win for Gold. Bobsled knows his sliders, apparently. Jonas Mueller finshed in Silver position for Ice Ice Penne. Felix Loch of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds could only climb back to 6th position after a disappointing first day.
Maybe the bigger impact is that these finishes flip much of the medal earning potential - Loch's games are seemingly over, since Langenhan is most likely to take the mixed-team relay spot for Germany as the higher finisher. I am not pleased. Bobsled on the other hand is overjoyed and very much "I told you so"-ing.
And finally, the team Figure Skating event concluded, with a dramatic day of skating from the pairs, women's and men's singles.
Kaori Sakamoto of Japan and Schrimscetti Skis did her best to make it close, planting some seeds of doubt about who is the best team in the minds of the judges as she skated to "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien," of Inception fame. Her dream sequence ended in a tie for first between Japan and the USA heading to the final skating showdown with the Men.
Ilia Malanin stepped up when his country needed him - throwing down quads and even a backflip. Performing a backflip in Figure Skating was BANNED for 50 years until 2 years ago in competitive figure skating, as it's an incredibly dangerous feat (blades!!), and it's awarded no points. Famously. Sonya Bonaly of France threw a backflip in her routine during the 1998 Olympics out of spite, frustrated over questionable judging critques. She wowed the crowd but the judges DEDUCTED points for the backflip. Now, Malinin just does it because he can. Final boss move. Also, a final boss move to perform your routine while speaking weird inspirational words in your own voice over the music playing. So strange, but effective.
Japan's skater made it close, but Malinin ended up scoring 6 more points and brought home the Gold for Team USA. Silver landed for Japan and Bronze for Italy. Points were awarded to every team EXCEPT My Verona, sorry guys - the only team without a US or Japanese skater. Canada finshed a disappointing 5th.
Onto Day 3!
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