David Wise, Alex Ferreira win halfpipe medals
The Americans missed the podium Friday at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but there are plenty of chances for medals and redemption Saturday.
(Miss something? Get caught up on all of Friday’s action right here.)
The men’s freeski halfpipe final gave the U.S. its best chance for a medal Saturday, and the Americans capitalized as David Wise and Alex Ferreira claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
If there’s anyone in need of redemption it’s Mikaela Shiffrin, who has struggled mightily in Beijing. But her final chance for a medal will have to wait, as the mixed team parallel Alpine skiing event was postponed due to high winds.
Kaillie Humphries, who earlier won gold in the monobob, will attempt to win her fourth gold medal of her career. She won two while competing for Canada. But she’ll have to make up ground in runs three and four of the two-woman event. American teammate Elana Meyers Taylor, who won silver in the monobob, is third after runs one and two.
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Medals highly unlikely for U.S. in four-man bobsled
BEIJING – The German sleds were dominant in the first half of the four-man bobsled race Saturday, with the two American entries falling into the middle of the pack.
U.S. pilots Hunter Church and Frank Del Duca are currently 13th and 14th, respectively, making it highly unlikely they’ll be able to make up enough time in the final two runs Sunday to get into contention for a medal. Church, after a bumpy ride midway down the track at Yanqing Sliding Center, sits 1.61 seconds off the lead and 1.23 seconds out of third place. Church had the 11th fastest time on the first run.
Del Duca had a relatively clean slide down but did not have enough speed to make up any ground after finishing the first run in 14th place.
German Franceso Friedrich, whose nickname is the “Ice Kaiser,” has the lead with a cumulative time of 1:57.00, leading his teammate Johannes Lochner by .03 seconds. Another German sled piloted by Christoph Hafter is in fourth, .17 seconds behind Canada’s Justin Kripps.
Friedrich is the defending champion in four-man bobsled. He’s also won the two-man bobsled event earlier in these Olympics and tied for the gold medal in 2018 with Kripps.
— Dan Wolken
High winds postpone skiing, final event for Mikaela Shiffrin
BEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin won’t be skiing in the team event Saturday. Nobody will.
High winds forced the postponement of the team event, which features men and women skiers going head-to-head in a single-elimination bracket. Organizers were working to see if rescheduling was an option, but time is running out – the Beijing Olympics end Sunday – and some athletes are already booked on flights home.
The team event was Shiffrin’s last chance for a medal in Beijing. The two-time Olympic champion didn’t make the podium in any of her individual events, recording Did Not Finishes in the giant slalom and slalom and in the slalom portion of the Alpine combined. She finished ninth in the super-G and 18th in downhill.
“I have literally no idea why we keep coming back and doing it, especially after today,” Shiffrin said Thursday after the combined. “But I’m going to come back out (Friday) and ski some parallel GS because I’m that much of an idiot. I don’t know why we keep doing it, but making good turns feels amazing.”
— Nancy Armour
What’s next for three-time Olympic medal winner Eileen Gu?
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Eileen Gu knows she’s going to Stanford in the fall.
Between now and then, well, that’s a lot less clear. Fresh of claiming her third Olympic medal on Friday – a halfpipe gold that wasn’t really in question – Gu didn’t know what her immediate future held.
“I have a lot of big goals coming up in the future, but I don’t really know what I’m going to be doing,” she said. “You guys will have to stay tuned on that one.”
The 18-year-old freeskier has become the biggest star of these Games, winning a gold medal in big air and silver in slopestyle in addition to her halfpipe medal. Not a bad haul for the young Olympian with a bright future.
— Rachel Axon
Americans take silver, bronze in men’s freeski halfpipe
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — The Olympic freeski halfpipe was kind to the Americans again, even if the weather wasn’t.
David Wise and Alex Ferreira are again going home with medals from the Games, finishing second and third. Four years ago, they took the top two spots, respectively, as Wise won his second Olympic gold in the event.
New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, who won the bronze in 2018, upgraded to gold this time around.
The skiers battled windy and cold conditions in the pipe, but Wise and Ferreira found themselves back on the podium after…