Kim dominates for first Olympic gold, Hirscher breaks through
It was a day for all ages at the Winter Olympics.
A few hours after 17-year-old Chloe Kim dominated the women’s halfpipe snowboarding final on Tuesday, 28-year-old Marcel Hirscher, a six-time overall World Cup champion, won the men’s combined at the Pyeongchang Games.
Other events with medals scheduled to be awarded include the men’s and women’s crosscountry sprints, curling mixed doubles, women’s luge singles, men’s 1,500-meter speedskating and women’s 500m short-track speedskating.
Four years after being too young to make the Olympic team in Sochi despite having the talent and scores to do so, Kim performed like a seasoned veteran in South Korea. Kim, from Torrance, California, put up a score of 93.75 on the first of her three finals runs and then topped that with a near-perfect 98.75 on her last run - having already wrapped up her first Olympic gold.
“I knew that I did put down a really good first run,” Kim said, “but I was also like, ‘I can do better than that. I can one up myself.’”
Liu Jiayu finished second with 89.75 to become the first Chinese snowboarder to medal at the Olympics. Kim’s teammate, Arielle Gold, overcame a dislocated shoulder during training to earn a bronze.
In Jeongseon, Hirscher’s combined two-run time was 0.23 seconds faster than silver medalist Alexis Pinturault of France. The Austrian is a three-time Olym-
PYEONGCHANG: FOUR YEARS AFTER BEING TOO YOUNG TO MAKE THE OLYMPIC TEAM IN SOCHI, KIM PERFORMED LIKE A SEASONED VETERAN IN SOUTH KOREA
pian who had previously won only a silver medal despite never finishing below fifth in any race.
“I’m super happy because now this stupid question has gone away, if I’m thinking that my career is perfect without a gold medal,” Hirscher said. “Now the question is zzzzzzit - deleted.”
Victor Muffat-Jeandet of France took bronze, 1.02 behind Hirscher. Hirscher isn’t done, either. He’ll be the favourite in his top two events of slalom and giant slalom, which will be raced in nearby Yongpyong.
Anastasia Bryzgalova tumbled onto the ice, but bounced back with teammate — and husband — Aleksandr Krushelnitckii to give the Russians their first Olympic medal in mixed doubles curling.
The 8-4 victory over Norway came after Bryzgalova was shuffling backward in the third end when she stumbled over a stone and had her legs fly out from under her and she crashed hard onto her backside. The spill drew gasps from the stunned crowd and left a stunned Bryzgalova embarrassed for a moment.
She got the last laugh, though. “It was simple,” she said through a translator, “I forgot about the stone that was behind me.”
Canada were scheduled to face off against Switzerland later Tuesday in the mixed doubles gold-medal match.
Shaun White was best in halfpipe qualifying, scoring a 98.5 to edge Australian rival Scotty James for the prime spot in Wednesday’s three-run final.
The two-time gold medallist will be in a 12-man final that includes Sochi silver medallist Ayumu Hirano of Japan, and US teammates Ben Ferguson, Jake Pates and Chase Josey.