AMERICAN FLIES ONTO PODIUM
Sigourney sneaks past teammate for bronze in women’s halfpipe
PYEONCHANG, South Korea — Up and up she went, shooting up the halfpipe’s 25-foot wall, launching into the sky, spinning and twisting in a mid-air ballet that’s barely a blur to the naked eye. She did this six times, and when Brita Sigourney finally fell to Earth, she’d landed right on the Pyeongchang Olympic podium.
Her impressive final run in Tuesday’s women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe at Phoenix Snow Park locked up the bronze medal. It was the 11th medal for the United States at these Olympics.
Sigourney came out of the gates strong in Tuesday’s three-round finals, posting the opening round’s third-best score, an 89.80. That stood as Sigourney’s top mark until the final run, which she started in fourth place. Her American teammate Annalisa Drew had just earned a 90.80, temporarily putting her in position for a medal.
Sigourney needed a big run and left nothing to chance, going higher and bigger and impressing the judges enough to earn a 91.60.
Canada’s Cassie Sharpe posted the day’s top score of 95.80 to win gold, while France’s Marie Martinod, the 33-year-old who took silver four years ago at the Sochi Games, again finished in second with a score of 92.60.
Women’s hockey gets rematch
It’s part of the routine now, as much a staple of the Winter Games as the medal ceremonies, or the sequins on the figure skating costumes.
Canada playing the United States for the Olympic women’s hockey gold medal.
Jennifer Wakefield scored twice and Shannon Szabados stopped 14 shots on Monday night to lead Canada to a 5-0 victory over the Russians and earn the four-time defending Olympic champions a spot in the gold medal game.
It will be the fifth time in six Winter Games since women’s hockey was added to the program that the North American neighbors have met in the final.
No further penalty for collision
U.S. women’s hockey coach Robb Stauber said he doesn’t ex- pect captain Meghan Duggan to face disciplinary action that would keep her out of the Olympic gold medal game after a collision in the semifinals that required two people to virtually carry Finland’s Ronja Savolainen off the ice.
Duggan and the Finnish defenseman banged legs in the faceoff circle near the Finland bench, and Savolainen went crashing face-first into the boards. A couple of teammates gathered around her, the medical staff came out to tend to her and for several minutes the Gangneung Hockey Center remained quiet awaiting a positive sign.
Savolainen was eventually helped off, with one person under each arm, her legs dangling almost uselessly beneath her. But she returned in the second period and said after that she had no symptoms more serious than cold legs from being on the ice so long.
“I’m OK, so it’s good,” she said after the Americans won 5-0 to advance to the gold medal game. “I play all the time, no matter what happens.”
U.S. advances in team pursuit
The U.S. women advanced to the semifinals of team pursuit with a chance to win its first speedskating medal at these Games.
Heather Bergsma, Brittany Bowe and Mia Manganello were timed in 2 minutes, 59.75 seconds.
They finished fourth in the quarterfinals. The top four teams moved on.
The Americans have yet to win a medal at the big oval.
The Netherlands qualified fastest in an Olympic-record time of 2:55.61. Japan was second and Canada third. The U.S. will be paired against the Dutch in the semis on Wednesday.
Norwegian ski jumpers get gold
Robert Johansson nailed a jump of 136 meters in the final round to give Norway the gold medal in large hill team ski jumping, his third medal of the Olympics.