Sochi Olympics gold medal count: US back in the hunt
Team USA sweeps the freestyle ski slopestyle in only the third US sweep in Winter Olympic history, and Germany pulls ahead in the gold medal count.
Team USA sweeps the freestyle ski slopestyle in only the third US sweep in Winter Olympic history, and Germany pulls ahead in the gold medal count.
The US swung back to the upper ranks of the medal standings today after a spectacular sweep of the first-ever men鈥檚 Olympic freestyle ski slopestyle.
The US is now tied with the Netherlands for the second-highest total medal haul (12) and is in a four-way tie for the second-most gold medals (four each, with Canada, Norway, and the Netherlands). But no one holds a candle to Germany鈥檚 gold medal haul; it leads the pack with seven.聽
The surprise ski slopestyle sweep was a welcome boost to Team USA, which was beset by discouraging losses by medal favorites earlier in the week. In an event that the Monitor鈥檚 Sochi correspondent called 鈥渢hrilling,鈥� Joss 海角大神sen, Gus Kenworthy, and Nicholas Goepper flipped and triple corked their way into history, turning in the first US Winter Olympic medal sweep since the men鈥檚 snowboard halfpipe in 2002.聽
鈥淭he best thing about the event from an American perspective, clearly, is that the medal sweep means everyone will watch Joss Christensen win gold, Gus Kenworthy silver, and Nick Goepper bronze,鈥� wrote the Monitor鈥檚 Mark Sappenfield from Sochi.
In other events, the Germans boosted their gold medal count by continuing their complete dominance of sliding on sleds on high-speed ice tracks: The Germans took the gold medal in the team luge today, meaning it has now grabbed the gold medal in all four luge events of these Games. German Erik Lesser also added a silver medal to the Germany tally in the men鈥檚 biathlon.
China 鈥� which had been concerned going into the Games that its star speed skater was out with a broken angle 鈥� 颅grabbed a pair of gold medals with victories in the women鈥檚 500-meter short track and 1,000-meter speed skating events.
Russia saw a boost in the standings with a silver in the team luge and bronze in the men鈥檚 biathlon. It also kicked off men鈥檚 ice hockey with a 5 - 2 victory over Slovenia in the first round of play. The Russian hockey team, which hasn鈥檛 won an Olympic gold medal since 1992, is under enormous pressure to win on home ice, explains Sappenfield: