Question answered: Hirscher a champ after combined gold
The question had begun to bother Marcel Hirscher: Do you need an Olympic gold medal to validate your otherwise perfect skiing career? He was certain he knew the answer: No. How often did Hirscher hear the question?
“Ev-e-ry day,” he said with a smile Tuesday.
That line of inquiry will never arise again. After winning the Alpine combined event at the Pyeongchang Games, Hirscher is at long last an Olympic champion.
The Austrian used a sublime slalom run on an icy course to rise from 12th after the downhill in the two-run competition. He already owned a record six consecutive overall World Cup titles and four individual world championship golds.
“I’m super happy because now this stupid question has gone away,” said Hirscher, 28, before adding with gusto: “Nowthe question is zzzzzzztt. Deleted.”
Two-time Olympic champion Ted Ligety of the U.S. finished fifth.
American Emily Sweeney avoided serious injury in a frightening crash that knocked her out of the Olympics in the final heat of the luge. The diagnosis was that Sweeney had only some bumps and bruises. “I’m OK,” Sweeney said. Sweeney lost control around Curve 9, the track’s most treacherous spot, and then began careening all over the track. She slid feet-first up one curve before getting thrown from her sled and eventually tumbling to a stop.
Natalie Geisenberger of Germany became the third woman to win consecutive luge golds. Erin Hamlin, the flag bearer in the opening ceremony, was the best U.S. finisher at sixth.
Short-track speedskater Thomas Hong (Atholton) and the 5,000-meter U.S. men’s relay team, which with Hong set a world record in the event in November, saw their Olympic dreams dashed earlier than expected. Aaron Tran, John-Henry Krueger, J.R. Celski and Hong failed to finish in the top two of a four-team qualifying heat in Gangneung. The United States, which won silver in the 5,000 four years ago in the Sochi Games, will instead compete in the “B” final next week.
Kjeld Nuis set off at a blistering pace and had more than enough to hold off teammate Patrick Roest to win the 1,500 meters, clinching a fourth gold medal for the Netherlands in as many speedskating Marcel Hirscher flashes his gold medal on the podium after winning the Alpine combined with a stellar slalom run. races. With eight of 12 medals, the Dutch kept up the stunning medal pace of the 2014 Games, where they finished with 23 of 36.
Arianna Fontana of Italy won the women’s 500 meters in short-track speedskating, becoming the second woman to claim short-track medals at four Olympics. Fontana won in a photo finish over Choi Min-jeong of South Korea.