Chasing Gold 🥇: Skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin seeks Team USA's first gold at Beijing Olympics
Alpine skiing takes center stage on Monday's schedule at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics — as long as Mother Nature cooperates.
American Mikaela Shiffrin will look to claim Team USA's first gold medal of the Games when she defends the Olympic title she won four years ago in Pyeonchang in the women's giant slalom.
“I feel like when I am skiing well, and I’ve had some recent level of preparation and I have clarity in my mindset in what I’m thinking about from a technical perspective, then it really just comes down to doing it,” a confident Shiffrin said Friday.
TV SCHEDULE: What and how to watch Sunday night and Monday morning events
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The giant slalom will be the first of what Shiffrin hopes will be five events for her in Beijing. With one more gold, she'll set the Olympic record for the most by an American Alpine skier.
However, the elements will have the ultimate say. The men's downhill was postponed on Sunday because of high winds. The single run for the men will be sandwiched in between the two runs of the women's giant slalom.
SILVER ON THE SLOPES: The United States claimed its first two medals of these Winter Games on Sunday. Snowboarder Julia Moreno soared to a silver in the women's slopestyle. Two-time defending Olympic champion Jamie Anderson finished ninth.
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Shortly afterward, Jaelin Kauf claimed a silver of her own in the women's moguls competition. Both Americans were on top of the podium in their events with only one competitor remaining, but saw their potential golds turn to silver at the last possible moment.
“When I realized that I was getting an Olympic medal I was just proud and just in awe of it all,” Kauf said.
American Red Gerard, the world's top-ranked snowboarder in men's slopestyle, will defend his gold from 2018 when the men's final begins Sunday at 11 p.m. ET.
DISAPPOINTING START: Team USA is guaranteed a medal in the figure skating team competition, but it feels like a bittersweet one, writes Paste BN Sports' Christine Brennan.
On the heels of Nathan Chen's excellent short program that put the Americans in the lead, Karen Chen and Vincent Zhou turned in lackluster performances in their long programs and the Russians winning gold now seems like a foregone conclusion.
What might've happened, Brennan wonders, if the U.S. had taken a different approach?
The even concludes Sunday night in primetime with the pairs free skate, free dance and women's free skate.
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SKATING AWAY: At the Ice Ribbon, speedskating medals will be awarded in the women's 1500 meters, and in short track, the women's 500 meters and men's 1000 meters.
But one of the more interesting aspects of the sport, from an American perspective, is how three of the top U.S. speedskaters in Beijing hail from the traditional hotbed of ... wait, Ocala, Florida?
The city doesn't even have a year-round ice rink, but it's produced Olympians Brittany Bowe, Erin Jackson and Joey Mantia.
SHOWDOWN LOOMING: The U.S. women's hockey team improved to 3-0 in Olympic competition by cruising past Switzerland 8-0.
Veteran U.S. goalie Alex Cavallini, 30, made most of her first Olympic start with the shutout of Switzerland. Cavallini was on the American team that won gold in the 2018 Winter Games but never saw any action. She said that made her first game in Beijing even more meaningful and "really special."
But the matchup everyone wants to see will come next with the Americans taking on their longtime rivals from Canada. That matchup will take place on Tuesday and wrap up the first round of group play. Both teams have clinched spots in the quarterfinals, so they'll only be playing for seeding in the next round. But you know the intensity will be high.
"Anytime U.S. and Canada could play – it could be on a pond – you put those jerseys on, certainly, all of a sudden the intensity ramps up," said Team USA coach Joel Johnson.
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