U.S. claims 1st gold
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — A blustery morning wind had just about everyone scrambling in the men’s slopestyle event. Except for Red Gerard, who kept his footing all the way to the podium.
Kicking off the second day of full events at the Pyeongchang Olympics, the 17-year-old snowboarder won the United States’ first gold medal of the games.
“Everyone in the contest was worried about the wind and stuff,” said Kyle Mack, Gerard’s friend and Olympic roommate. “I kept telling him, ‘Don’t think about it. Do the run you know you have to do.’
“He went out and put it down flawlessly.”
Also Sunday, Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer broke his own Olympic record in the men’s 5,000 meters to win his third straight medal in the event, Felix Loch missed his shot at a third straight luge title with a wobble on the last run and, in a biathlon stunner, Martin Fourcade and Johannes Thingnes Boe missed their targets and both missed out on medals.
Earlier, Simen Hegstad Krueger led a Norwegian sweep and won the men’s 30-kilometer cross-country skiathlon — despite crashing on the first lap.
The men’s downhill was postponed until Thursday because of strong winds. But other medals were scheduled to be awarded in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint in biathlon, the ladies’ moguls in freestyle skiing and men’s luge singles.
Swirling winds blew from the bottom of the mountain during the slopestyle, and the 5-foot-5, 116-pound Gerard took advantage of the quick reflexes he honed while growing up just outside of Breckenridge, Colorado. He took a risk on the second-to-last jump by trying a 1080-degree jump off the quarterpipe side of the kicker instead of going straight through the jump and flying higher. Gerard then closed with a backside triple-cork 1440.
It all added up to a first-place score of 87.16 — and a gold medal.
“Just having fun snowboarding,” Gerard said.
Canadian teammates Max Parrot (86.00) and Marc McMorris (85.20) took bronze and silver, respectively.
RECORD BREAKER
Kramer won the 5,000 in 6:09.76, besting the mark of 6:10.76, which he set in 2014 in Sochi.
He also became the first man to win three golds in the event, using a late kick to beat Canada’s TedJan Bloemen.
Kramer has a chance at winning two more golds in other events: the 10,000 next Thursday and the team pursuit.
NO LOCH IN THE LUGE
Loch’s reign came to a sudden and shocking end, with David Gleirscher a surprise men’s luge gold medalist and Chris Mazdzer giving USA Luge its first men’s singles medal. Germany’s Johannes Ludwig took third.
Gleirscher, who had never medaled in a World Cup singles race, finished his four runs in 3:10.702 for the gold, Austria’s first in men’s luge in 50 years.
Loch struggled in the final run and slipped all the way to fifth, ending his bid to become the second slider to win the event three consecutive times.
TARGETING BIATHLON
The 10-kilometer biathlon, expected to be a two-man race between Martin Fourcade and Johannes Thingnes Boe, sent shockwaves through the biathlon world.
Arnd Peiffer of Germany connected on all 10 of his targets to win gold, ahead of Michal Krcmar of the Czech Republic and Dominik Windisch of Italy.
The top-ranked Fourcade missed three of five shots from the prone position, forcing him to do three penalty laps. The Frenchman finished eighth overall. Thingnes Boe, a Norwegian ranked No. 2, missed three from the prone position and one from the standing position to finish a distant 31st. MOGULS GOLD FOR FRANCE Perrine Laffont gave France its first women’s gold medal in the moguls in the 26-year history of the event, landing both her jumps without a bobble in the snow and cold.