Nagasu 1st U.S. woman with triple axel, but Canada wins
Mirai Nagasu became the first American woman to land a triple axel in the Olympics, accomplishing the feat Monday in the women’s free skate portion of team figure skating.
But that wasn’t enough to lift the U.S. past Canada, which won the gold medal. The Russians took silver and the U.S. bronze.
Nagasu, 24, of Montebello, Calif., led off her routine with the triple axel just 21 seconds in. Japan’s Midori Ito and Mao Asada also have landed triple axels in the Olympics.
Nagasu received a personal-best score of 137.53, but Russian Alina Zagitova won the event. American Adam Rippon was third in the men’s free skate, and Alex and Maia Shibutani took second in the free dance.
The women’s giant slalom was postponed because of strong winds, delaying the first event for U.S. star Mikaela Shiffrin.
It was rescheduled for Thursday, the same day as the men’s downhill.
Kendall Coyne scored the go-ahead goal as the U.S. women’s hockey team rallied to beat Finland 3-1 in its Olympic opener.
Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Dani Cameranesi also scored as the Americans fought back from a 1-0 deficit and improved to 6-0 in Olympic openers.
The 10-kilometer biathlon was supposed to be a two-man race between France’s Martin Fourcade and Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe.
But Fourcade, ranked No. 1 in the world, missed three of five shots from the prone position and finished eighth. Thingnes Boe, world No. 2, missed three from the prone position and one from the standing position to finish a distant 31st.
Germany’s Arnd Peiffer, ranked No. 5, hit all 10 targets to win gold. Lowell Bailey of the U.S. finished 33rd.
Simen Hegstad Krueger led a Norwegian sweep of the men’s 30-kilometer skiathlon despite falling and crashing on the first lap.
Krueger slipped when the mass start began and wound up at the rear of the field. But he stormed back, taking the lead with 5 kilometers to go and winning gold.
Perrine Laffont gave France its first women’s moguls gold medal in the 26-year history of the event, landing both her jumps without a bobble.
Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada, the 2014 gold medalist, took silver.
No American made the six-woman final, and top-ranked Jaelin Kauf took seventh.
Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer broke his own Olympic record in the men’s 5,000 meters to win his third straight gold in the event.