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The epic women's hockey rivalry between the United States and Canada writes its latest chapter when the two teams meet in the gold medal game on Day 13 of the Winter Olympics. Elsewhere, the U.S. men's curling team can advance to the semifinals with a win over Denmark, Mikaela Shiffrin is a medal contender in the women's combined, and women's figure skating concludes with the free skate. Stay tuned for updates throughout the night...
Gisin defends Olympic title, wins gold in women's combined
Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin defended her Olympic title, winning back-to-back golds in the women’s combined. She won with a time of 2:25.67, 1.05 ahead of countrywoman Wendy Holdener. Italy’s Federica Brignone finished with the bronze medal.
After the downhill portion, American Mikaela Shiffrin was heavily favorited to win gold. She was in fifth entering the slalom portion. This time around, she made it past the fifth gate, but ran into trouble further down on the course losing control and skied off the course. This race was her final opportunity to win an individual medal at the 2022 Winter Games.
Patricia Mangan was the only American to finish. Compatriots Isabella Wright and Keely Cashman also skied out.
Results: Women's combined
🥇 Michelle Gisin (SUI)
🥈 Wendy Holdener (SUI)
🥉 Federica Brignone (ITA)
— Stephanie De Lancey
Four Americans into men's ski halfpipe final
All four members of the U.S. men's freeski halfpipe team advanced to the final with strong showings in the qualifying round. The group was led by Aaron Blunck, who was the top qualifier overall with a score of 92.00, but his compatriots Birk Irving, David Wise and Alex Ferreira all placed inside the top seven.
The Americans' biggest challenge in the final will come from two-time reigning X Games champion Nico Porteous of New Zealand, who has back-to-back 1620s in his back of tricks and qualified in second place behind Blunck. His brother, Miguel Porteous, qualified ninth.
Other notable skiers advancing into the final include the Canadian contingent of Brendan Mackay, Noah Bowman and Simon d'Artois. Gus Kenworthy, who won a slopestyle silver medal for the U.S. in 2014 but is competing for Great Britain this year, also made the cut.
— Shawn Smith
SEE MORE: Aaron Blunck locks grabs, styles out on 92.00 qualifying run
U.S. falls 3-2, Canada wins women's hockey gold
Canada emerged victorious in the gold medal match, defeating the U.S. 3-2. Sarah Nurse, who has had a strong tournament, got Canada on the board first at the 7:50 mark of the first period. Off an offensive zone faceoff, Nurse redirected the puck past Alex Cavallini.
Shortly after, Canada’s goalie Marie-Philip Poulin capitalized off a U.S. turnover to find the back of the net. She has now scored in every gold medal game she has played in at the Olympics (2010, 2014, 2018, 2022). She’s the only player, man or woman, to score in four gold medal games.
Just one minute into the second period, Poulin would tally another goal. The puck bounced off Cavallini’s skate to give Canada a 3-0 lead. Right before the end of the period, Hilary Knight finally got the U.S. on the board with a short-handed goal.
In the final two minutes, the U.S.’ was on the power play and pulled Cavallini. They were relentless battering Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens. Amanda Kessel finally connected with 12.5 seconds remaining to bring the U.S. within one. It was too little too late, Canada would hold on to defeat the U.S. 3-2, reclaiming the top in this storied Olympic rivalry.
Results: Women's Hockey
🥇 Canada
🥈 United States
🥉 Finland
— Stephanie De Lancey
Team Shuster wins final prelim, advances to men's curling semifinals
The U.S. men's curling team is headed to the semifinal after defeating Denmark 7-5 in its last game of the preliminary round.
The key moment of the game came in the fourth end, when Denmark had the hammer but missed its final throw and allowed the Americans to steal three points and take a 5-2 lead. From there, the U.S. maintained its lead and claimed the win.
It was essentially a must-win game for the U.S., which controlled its own destiny as far as making the playoffs. (They could have still gotten in with a loss but would have needed some help.)
Next up for the U.S. men, the defending Olympic gold medalists, will be a semifinal game against Great Britain at 7:05 a.m. ET on Thursday morning.
— Shawn Smith
SEE MORE: U.S. defeats Denmark, moves on to men's curling semifinals
Shiffrin fifth after downhill run in women’s combined
Mikaela Shiffrin sits in fifth place in the women’s combined after the downhill run. Shiffrin, who won silver in the combined in the 2018 Winter Olympics but is still looking for her first medal in these Games, recorded a time of 1:32.98.
Shiffrin is 0.56 seconds behind the leader, Austria’s Christine Scheyer. Scheyer finished with a time of 1:32.42 and the Czech Republic’s Ester Ledecka is just a hundredth of a second behind in second.
The other American in the top 10 is Keely Cashman, who sits in seventh and is 0.67 seconds off the lead.
Shiffrin, who posted the fastest time in combined downhill training, completed her goal of starting all five individual alpine skiing events. A medal in the combined would pull her even with Julia Mancuso as the most decorated U.S. women’s alpine skier in Olympic history with four medals.
The slalom runs begin at 1:00 a.m. ET and the times from both runs will be added together.
-Eric He
SEE MORE: Mikaela Shiffrin posts solid downhill run in combined event
Eileen Gu tops halfpipe qualifying
In women's freeski halfpipe qualifying, Eileen Gu topped the standings with a pair of huge runs. Her combination of amplitude and technicality was unmatched, which was reflected in the fact that both her runs were the only ones during the whole contest to score into the 90s.
Gu, who competes for China but was born in the U.S., is vying to earn three medals at these Winter Olympics. So far she has collected gold in big air and silver in slopestyle, and she'll be favored for gold in halfpipe, her best event.
The final will also include Canadian Rachael Karker, Estonian Kelly Sildaru, who is celebrating her 20th birthday today, and a trio of Americans: Brita Sigourney, Hanna Faulhaber and Carly Margulies. Margulies is competing in her first event since December 2019 due to a series of injuries.
— Shawn Smith
SEE MORE: Eileen Gu of China ups halfpipe qualifying score to a 95.50
