4 to Watch: Russians Wow on the Ice With Silver and Gold

Heading into the women’s individual figure skating competition, most people thought a Russian would win. Halfway through, the question is, which one?

Here are the events to watch in Pyeongchang.

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1. Russian Alina Zagitova Wins Gold

Heading into the women’s individual figure skating competition, most people thought a Russian would win. Halfway through, the question is, which one?

Alina Zagitova, 15, won the first gold medal for the Olympic Athletes from Russia.

Yevgenia Medvedeva, her training partner and the two-time world champion, earned silver by a margin of 1.31 points.

 Both Russians scored 156.65 in the free skate; 1.31 points is the exact margin Zagitova led Medvedeva by after the short program on Tuesday.

This marks the first time two women from the same country have shared the ladies’ figure skating podium with gold and silver since Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan in 1998. Speaking of Lipinski – Zagitova is less than a month older than Lipinski was when she won gold in Nagano, and Zagitova is now the second-youngest individual ladies’ Olympic champion in history.  

Kaetlyn Osmond earned bronze – Canada’s first Olympic medal in ladies’ figure skating since 2010, when Joannie Rochette earned a bronze on home ice.

As for the skaters on Team USA, Bradie Tennell, the reigning U.S. national champion, finished in ninth place. She made uncharacteristic mistakes in her free skate, including a fall. Tennell scored 128.34 points for a 192.35 total score.

Tennell already won a bronze medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics for her part in skating the short program for the U.S. contingent in the team event.

Mirai Nagasu also already won a team bronze medal in PyeongChang, contributing her free skate, where she became the first U.S. woman to land a triple Axel on Olympic ice. She struggled with it during her individual short program, but in her free skate on Thursday, she popped her triple Axel attempt (invalidating the element) and scored 119.61 points. Her overall score totaled 186.54 points for 10th place.

Karen Chen waited nearly two weeks to make her Olympic debut after walking in the Opening Ceremony. The 2017 national champion skated first of the three Americans. She made a few mistakes, scored 119.75 points in the free skate and 185.65 overall for 11th place.

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2. Dutch Speedskater Takes Gold in Shani Davis’ Signature Event

The 1000-meter sprint was Shani Davis’ event. He won gold medals in the event in 2006 and 2010. His world record time of 1:06.42, set in 2009, still stands.

But it’s been nearly a decade since Davis, one of America’s greatest speedskaters ever, turned in those record-setting performances, and the 35-year-old didn’t manage to find one last magical performance at the Pyeongchang Games.

The race was won by Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands, the gold medalist in the 1,500 meters last week and the 2017 world champion over 1,000 meters. He was followed by Norway’s Havard Lorentzen, who won gold in the 500 meters, and South Korea’s Kim Tae-Yun.

Davis finished seventh, .83 seconds slower than Nuis. And he wasn’t the fastest American in the race, either. Joey Mantia, who edged out Davis in the Olympic qualifying race in January, just missed out on the podium, coming in fourth place.

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3. Men’s Biathlon Relay: No Fourth for Fourcade

Sweden captured the gold medal in the men’s 4x7.5-kilometer relay in front of their king, Carl XVI Gustaf, to close out the biathlon competition at the Pyeongchang Games. It’s Sweden’s first-ever gold medal in the event. Biathlon powerhouse Norway finished in second for the silver medal. The Germans won bronze, marking the seventh time they have medaled in this event in the last eight Olympics.

That kept France’s Martin Fourcade from claiming his fourth biathlon gold medal in Pyeongchang. The team led by Fourcade finished in fifth place.

But Fourcade has already established himself in Pyeongchang as France’s most successful Olympian ever.

When he anchored the mixed biathlon relay team to a come-from-behind victory on Tuesday, he became only the second athlete from France to win three gold medals at a single Winter Games. His five gold medals overall — the mixed relay, a photo finish in the 15-kilometer mass start and the 12.5-kilometer pursuit, plus gold in the individual and pursuit events in 2014 — are the most ever by a Frenchman.

After Tuesday’s win, according to Reuters, he sent a message to French skier Mathieu Faivre, who was sent home by the French Alpine team for saying he did not care about the medals won by his teammates.

“I wanted this team medal, it’s such a different emotion from an individual medal,” he told French television. “This is an individual sport, and to win as a team is something beautiful, even if everyone cannot participate.”

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4. Whoa, Canada

Germany stunned powerhouse Canada to earn a spot in the gold medal match-up with the Olympic Athletes from Russia. The Germans moved on with a 4-3 surprise win over the Canadians. The Russians, behind veteran goaltender Vasily Koshechkin, skated into the final with a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic on Friday. Russia last reached the Olympic final in 1998 when it lost to the Czech Republic and hasn't won gold since 1992 when it played as the Unified Team.