Good news: it finally snowed in Sochi! Events were postponed due to heavy fog that took place on Tuesday, including men’s 15-kilometer biathlon and men’s snowboardcross. In the medals race, the USA is tied with the Netherlands. Keep reading to learn more about what happened during the Games yesterday!
A crazy close finish in men’s 15-kilometer biathlon
The gif above is incredible. It shows just how close Olympic competition can be! Martin Fourcade from Team France (in white) was trying to win his third gold medal of Sochi 2014 when Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen (in blue) beat him by mere inches in the men’s 15-kilometer biathlon event. You can see Fourcade trying to pull ahead in the final seconds. In the competition, Svendsen missed zero targets while Fourcade missed one. Both Olympians finished in 42 minutes and 29.1 seconds. Ondrej Moravec won bronze for the Czech Republic.
Halfpipe gold goes to US skier
American skier David Wise took the gold in the skiing halfpipe on Tuesday. During the competition, Wise did a rightside double-cork 1260. The move is considered to be his signature trick. During that run, he received a score of 92, and his win put the US at the top of the medals race. US is now tied with Norway in the medals count; each country has 20 medals. Mike Riddle of Canada took silver in the event, while France’s Kevin Rolland won bronze.
Touching Instagram from injured Olympian
Bryon Wells, a member of Team New Zealand, was injured during his first day of training. He damaged his leg tissue during a poor landing. He was supposed to compete in the men’s freeski halfpipe event, but his injuries were so severe that he still couldn’t walk come Tuesday morning. Wells, 21, posted the photo above to his Instagram yesterday. In the caption, Wells said, “Not how I pictured this day. Devastated.” He also wished his teammates good luck, including his brothers Jossi and Beau-James Wells. Even though he wasn’t able to compete, Wells is definitely still an Olympian in our eyes!
Slovenia takes women’s alpine skiing gold
Tina Maze took the gold in the women’s giant slalom event on Tuesday. The Slovenian completed the course in a total of two minutes and 36.87 seconds. Austria was awarded silver thanks to Anna Fenninger, who lost to Maze by just 0.07 seconds. Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg walked away with the bronze, finishing behind Fennigner with a difference of 0.27 seconds.
Netherlands sweeps at men’s speed skating
The Dutch have been dominating the ice at Sochi 2014! The Netherlands swept the 10,000-meter men’s speed skating event on Tuesday at Adler Arena. Jorrit Bergsma finished the race in 12 minutes and 44.45 seconds, earning him the gold. Sven Kramer took the silver and Bob de Jong took the bronze. The Netherlands has won 19 out of the 27 medals in the speed skating events.
South Korean skaters win 3,000-meter relay, take selfie
South Korea’s short track team won the women’s 3,000-meter relay event, beating Canada and Italy, who won silver and bronze, respectively. South Korean teammates Cho Ha-ri, Kim Alang, Shim Suk-hee and Park Seung-hi finished the event in just four minutes and 9.498 seconds. The four teammates took a selfie after winning (because wouldn’t you, too?). At the Vancouver Olympics in the same event, South Korea was disqualified and China took the gold. This time, however, China would have taken the silver medal, but the Chinese team was disqualified due to a penalty.
Team USA takes bronze in postponed snowboarding event
Aww, international bromance! In the photo above, all three medalists of the men’s snowboardcross final are seen hugging on the Olympic podium. France’s Pierre Vaultier took the gold medal, Russia’s Nikolay Olyunin took the silver and USA’s Alex Deibold took the bronze. The event had been postponed on Monday morning due to severe fog.
Medal count as of Tuesday night: top five countries
- Netherlands: six gold, six silver, eight bronze = 20 total
- United States: six gold, four silver, 10 bronze = 20 total
- Russia: five gold, eight silver, six bronze = 19 total
- Norway: seven gold, four silver, seven bronze = 18 total
- Canada: four gold, nine silver, four bronze = 17 total
To see a full list of the medal count, click here.
Would you take a selfie after winning a gold medal (we would!)? Comment below and then come back tomorrow for another Sochi Scoop recap!