The Olympics So Far
While Alpine Skiing is looking ahead to the Olympic debut of the Team Event on Sunday, the past week has been nothing short of excitement and big surprises.
Medallists
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Gold
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Silver
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Bronze
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Alpine combined men
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Marcel Hirscher (AUT)
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Alexis Pinturault (FRA)
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Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA)
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Downhill men
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Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR)
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Kjetil Jansrud (NOR)
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Beat Feuz (SUI)
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Super-G men
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Matthias Mayer (AUT)
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Beat Feuz (SUI)
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Kjetil Jansrud (NOR)
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Super-G ladies
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Ester Ledecka (CZE)
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Anna Veith (AUT)
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Tina Weirather (LIE)
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Slalom ladies
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Frida Hansdotter (SWE)
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Wendy Holdener (SUI)
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Katharina Gallhuber (AUT)
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Giant slalom men
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Marcel Hirscher (AUT)
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Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR)
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Alexis Pinturault (FRA)
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Giant slalom ladies
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Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)
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Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR)
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Federica Brignone (ITA)
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Downhill ladies
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Sofia Goggia (ITA)
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Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR)
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Lindsey Vonn (USA)
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Biggest surprises
Double Snowboard World Champion Ester Ledecka produced one of the biggest surprises, and most amazing feats in the history of the Olympic Winter Games when she won gold in the Alpine Skiing super-G. Many had declared Austrian Anna Veith the winner, when Ledecka came down with a later bib to grab the gold by 0.01 seconds.
Ledecka is an accomplished alpine skier in the speed disciplines, but she is ranked number one in the Snowboard parallel event, as current FIS parallel overall World Cup Champion and is leading the parallel overall standings this season. She will also contest the Snowboard parallel event for an unprecedented doubling up.
She had never finished higher than 19th in a World Cup super-G previously, although showed her alpine speed credentials with 7th in the Lake Louise downhill in December.
The 22-year-old’s reaction in the finish area was priceless. Ledecka stood in disbelief believing there had to be a mistake with the timing until the cameraman told her that she was the winner.
Further surprises include Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR) who won silver in downhill adding to her unexpected silver in the giant slalom, when she became the first Norwegian lady since 1936 to take an Olympic medal. The 25-year-old had never finished higher than sixth on the Audi FIS Ski World Cup downhill tour and was not expected to challenge the leaders.
She screamed in delight after her run, when she became the first Norwegian lady to win an Olympic downhill medal. Tina Weirather, her close friend who she bumped off the podium, was the first to congratulate her in true Olympic spirit.
Upcoming events
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Thu, 22 Feb
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Slalom men
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10:00/13:30 local time
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2:00/5:00 CET
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Thu, 22 Feb
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Alpine combined ladies
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11:30/15:00 local time
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3:30/7:00 CET
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Sun, 24 Feb
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Team event
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11:00 local time
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3:00 CET
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Freestyle Skiing
Athletes from twelve nations have stood on the podium in Freestyle Skiing which has completed eight of ten medal events.
Medallists
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Gold
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Silver
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Bronze
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Moguls ladies
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Perrine Laffont (FRA)
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Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN)
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Yulia Galysheva (KAZ)
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Moguls men
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Mikael Kingsbury (CAN)
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Matt Graham (AUS)
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Hara Daichi (JPN)
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Aerials ladies
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Hanna Huskova (BLR)
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Xin Zhang (CHN)
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Fanyu Kong (CHN)
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Aerials men
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Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR)
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Jia Zongyang (CHN)
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Ilia Burov (OAR)
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Slopestyle ladies
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Sarah Hoefflin (SUI)
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Mathilde Gremaud (SUI)
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Isabel Atkin (GBR)
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Slopestyle men
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Oystein Braaten (NOR)
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Nicholas Goepper (USA)
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Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN)
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Halfpipe ladies
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Cassie Sharpe (CAN)
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Marie Martinod (FRA)
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Brita Sigourney (USA)
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Ski cross men
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Brady Leman (CAN)
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Marc Bischofberger (SUI)
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Sergey Ridzik (OAR)
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Biggest surprise
Sarah Hoefflin (SUI) claimed the Olympic gold medal in slopestyle, while Sochi gold medallist Dara Howell (CAN) was eliminated in qualifying and none of the top-10 in the FIS World Cup standings got on the podium.
Both Hoefflin and her teammate Gremaud made their intentions known early as they had the two highest scores of the first round. Hoefflin, currently 12th in the FIS World Cup, then raised the bar even further as she improved her score to take the lead off her compatriot and win gold. Britain claimed its first ever Olympic medal on skis through 19-year-old Isabel Atkin.
Snowboard
After seven of ten medal events, Snowboarding is looking ahead to the much anticipated Olympic debut of big air especially after excellent qualification rounds which have excited a nearly full Alpensia stadium early morning on Monday and Wednesday.
Medallists
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Gold
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Silver
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Bronze
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Halfpipe ladies
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Chloe Kim (USA)
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Jiayu Liu (CHN)
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Arielle Gold (USA)
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Halfpipe men
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Shaun White (USA)
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Ayumu Hirano (JPN)
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Scotty James (AUS)
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Slopestyle ladies
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Jamie Anderson (USA)
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Laurie Blouin (CAN)
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Enni Rukajarvi (FIN)
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Slopestyle men
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Redmond Gerard (USA)
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Max Parrot (CAN)
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Mark McMorris (CAN)
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SBX ladies
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Michela Moioli (ITA)
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Julia Pereira de Sousa Mabileau (FRA)
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Eva Samkova (CZE)
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SBX men
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Pierre Vaultier (FRA)
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Jarryd Hughes (AUS)
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Regino Hernandez (ESP)
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Biggest surprises
Snowboard star Ester Ledecka (CZE) not only stunned the alpine skiing world, but also the snowboard community with her surprise gold in super-G.
Further surprises include snowboard cross silver for teen sensation Julia Pereira de Sousa Mabileau, becoming the third French female to medal in this event after Deborah Anthonioz won silver in Vancouver 2010 and Chloe Trespeuch bronze in Sochi 2014.
Regino Hernandez’s bronze medal in snowboard cross marked the third time that Spain has won an Olympic Winter Games medal and the first in snowboard, following Francisco Fernandez Ochoa’s gold in slalom in Sapporo 1972 and his sister Blanca Fernandez Oachoa’s bronze in slalom in Albertville 1992.
Favourite behind the scenes story
Jasey Jay Anderson (CAN) is the sole snowboarder who has competed in all editions of the Olympic Winter Games since snowboarding was introduced to the Olympic programme in Nagano 1998. In Vancovuer 2010, the now 42-year-old became Olympic Champion in parallel giant slalom.
