In three Olympic competitions in Sochi, U.S. Nordic Combined didn't end up with the fairy tale some had come to expect after the 2010 Vancouver Games. But with icons in Billy Demong and Todd Lodwick likely in their last Olympics, the story was more about the team closing one book and opening another.
With the leaders through 48 k, U.S. skier Noah Hoffman ended up 26th in the Olympic 50 k. He was far from happy with his result - it's "not what I’m looking for" - but said he feels more and more comfortable skiing at the front. Brian Gregg finished 51st and Kris Freeman 57th in the last race of the Olympics.
While U.S. Nordic Combined undoubtedly has its work cut out for its four-man team, Thursday marks the day they've been looking forward to at this Olympics: the 4 x 5 k team event.
Erik Bjornsen got the call to race the Olympic team sprint after veteran Andy Newell got sick. After a huge move up the final hill in the semifinals which announced the Americans' presence in the event, Bjornsen and Simi Hamilton skied a smart race to make it around the Sochi hills and earn sixth place, a best-ever finish for the U.S. in the event.
After qualifying in third out of a stacked semifinal, the U.S. women's team-sprint duo of Sophie Caldwell and Kikkan Randall went on to place eighth in the final of Wednesday's Olympic classic team sprint, two places back from their previous best of sixth at the 2010 Olympics.
Feeling under the weather, Andy Newell is no longer part of the American duo for Wednesday's team sprint. Instead, Erik Bjornsen will join Simi Hamilton. For the women, Kikkan Randall will keep her spot despite difficult races so far this Olympics, and Sophie Caldwell, who turned in the best U.S. women's performance ever in the individual sprint, will be her partner.
When Andy Newell collapsed during the first leg of today's Olympic relay, the U.S. team had to switch their perspective. No problem, said Noah Hoffman: "you have to be ready to roll with anything and take what’s given to you." The Americans ultimately finished 11th, one spot ahead of a Canadian team that had benched Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey.
Andy Newell skied fast and relaxed through eight kilometers of the Olympic relay's scramble leg, but suffered a figurative collapse in the final meters and lost over a minute of time. After tagging off to Erik Bjornsen, he more literally collapsed and was brought immediately back to the athlete village by team doctor Larry Gall. Here's what we know so far about his condition.
The U.S. biathlon team grinds their skis in Sochi in a ramshackle orange shipping container cluttered with machinery and coiled extension cords—with a couple of full beer cans propping up their jury-rigged waxing bench.
Medal hopefuls to start the day, the U.S. women had to reconcile with ninth place in Saturday's Olympic 4 x 5 k relay, a result they said didn't reflect their best day but one which indicated they were still very much a team, united in success as well as on off-days.
Reactions from the U.S. men's team after a hot and slushy 15 k classic race at the Olympics. Noah Hoffman: "I mean, I love hanging out in this weather, it feels like springtime." But for racing!?
On Thursday, two days after a disappointing result in the Olympic sprint, U.S. skier Kikkan Randall talked about how she'd been buoyed by her fans, her attitude in the days after the race, and her preparation for the rest of the events at the games.
Sadie Bjornsen quickly realized that today's 10 k classic wasn't going to have any easy sections, as temperatures soared into the mid-50s and the snow softened and slowed down. She thought of the Eagle glacier and pushed through to 18th - just a few seconds from the top 15. Her teammates packed in from 32nd to 35th.
Four U.S. women made the heats, Ida Sargent had one of her best freestyle sprints of the season in her first Olympic race, and Jessie Diggins tallied the second-best American result in 13th after Sophie Caldwell — who made U.S. women’s Olympic history in sixth in Tuesday’s sprint.
“It can be so many things,” Kikkan Randall's coach, Erik Flora, said in an interview after Tuesday's Olympic sprint race. “I’ll go back and review this and see—I’m sure it’ll play over and over in our heads.”
Sophie Caldwell's goal at the beginning of the season, said her father Sverre, wasn't to win the Olympics - it was to just get there. But Caldwell found herself in position to go for a medal when she made the women's sprint final in Sochi today. Felled by a ski tangle at the top of the course, Caldwell's result still topped the historic records for U.S. women's skiing.
All four U.S. women advanced to the rounds in Tuesday's Olympic 1.3 k freestyle sprint, along with Canada's Perianne Jones and Dasha Gaiazova. Andy Newell led three North American men who qualified in the 1.8 k sprint, with Alex Harvey and Simi Hamilton, respectively.
Photos of the U.S. and Canadian men on the first day of the men's cross-country races at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Two Canadians finished in the top 30, and Noah Hoffman led the U.S. in 35th.
Erik Bjornsen and Brian Gregg are looking to use today's 30 k skiathlon to boost their performances later in the Olympics, where Bjornsen is focusing on the 15 k classic and Gregg on the 50 k skate. Graeme Killick of Canada, meanwhile, adjusted to not being in the front with a huge gap. Kris Freeman struggled in the skiathlon, and he and coach Zach Caldwell are doing some soul-searching to figure out why.
For most, the Olympic experience goes much deeper than results, and that couldn't have been more true for several North Americans competing at the highest stage of their sport for the first time on Saturday. U.S. cross-country skier Jessie Diggins emerged in eighth and Canadian biathlete Nathan Smith tallied 13th to highlight the day.