Daily Olympic Briefing: Mikaela Shiffrin hopes for final chance at medal on Day 16

It’s a bracket-style competitors the place two skiers race one another on brief, adjoining large slalom programs. Every spherical has 4 head-to-heads (two males, two ladies) between the 2 nations, with the staff that has the vast majority of wins (4-0 or 3-1) advancing. If it is 2-2, the tiebreaker is the decrease mixed time of every nation’s quickest female and male skier.

The U.S. has by no means gained a staff medal on the world championships (debuted in 2005) or Olympics (debuted in 2018). Shiffrin competed as soon as among the many earlier editions. The U.S. roster additionally contains Paula Moltzan, who was fourth within the particular person parallel race at 2021 Worlds, and River Radamus, who was fourth within the GS earlier at these Video games.

Seedings are primarily based on worldwide outcomes throughout all disciplines. The U.S. faces Slovakia within the Spherical of 16, then both No. 3 Italy or No. 14 Russian Olympic Committee to achieve the medal spherical. Slovakia is lacking its high skier, slalom gold medalist Petra Vlhova, who left the Olympics early attributable to an ankle harm.

SEE MORE: Mikaela Shiffrin crashes out for third time at 2022 Olympics

Hockey

The ROC did not win any of the 5 Olympic males’s hockey tournaments with NHL gamers, however they gained eight of the final 10 tournaments with out them.

The Russian Olympic Committee to this point has made good on predictions that they are going to repeat as Olympic champions, although they wanted 3-on-3 time beyond regulation, adopted by a shootout, adopted by sudden-death shootout rounds to dispatch Sweden within the semifinals.

“It’s the sport of our life,” ROC defenseman Damir Sharipzyanov stated of the ultimate.

Finland is essentially the most profitable hockey nation with out an Olympic gold medal: 10 silver or bronze medals between the boys’s and girls’s groups. It could possibly change into the primary nation to win an Olympic males’s hockey title, with out NHL gamers, with out dropping a sport since 1984.

SEE MORE: Juraj Slafkovsky powers Slovakia to first-ever Olympic hockey medal

Bobsled

Germany is posed to win a ninth gold medal in 10 sliding occasions, and is prone to go one-two for the sixth time in 9 potential sliding occasions.

A four-man bobsled pushed by Francesco Friedrich leads Johannes Lochner‘s four-man sled by 0.03 seconds after the primary two of 4 runs, a a lot nearer battle than anticipated. Friedrich, bidding to change into the primary driver to win two- and four-man gold at a number of Olympics, gained 14 consecutive worldwide four-man races up till a runner-up on the final World Cup earlier than the Video games. Beginning in 2017, he gained the final 5 Olympic or world championships four-man titles.

Cross-Nation Snowboarding

Norwegian Therese Johaug gained the primary of 109 medal occasions at these Video games. She is favored to win on the final day of competitors, too. Johaug, who missed the 2018 Olympics whereas banned for doping (attributable to a lip cream given to her by a staff physician, they each stated), has been one of many dominant athletes throughout all sports activities. She gained the opening 15km skiathlon by 30 seconds, higher than the margin separating second place from seventh. She gained the 10km traditional (by simply 0.4 seconds). Between sitting out dash occasions, she had the quickest traditional leg on the relay, the place Norway ended up fifth.

American Jessie Diggins raced all 5 occasions to this point and will choose up her second medal of the Video games within the finale. The 30km is just a little lengthy for her, however freestyle is her higher method. She completed second and fourth within the two top-level 30km freestyle occasions on this Olympic cycle.

Curling

A rematch of the 2018 Olympic bronze-medal sport gained by Japan for its first curling medal. Japan and Nice Britain have been the final two groups to make the four-team playoffs, through draw shot problem tiebreaker over Canada in any case three groups went 5-4 in round-robin play. Then Japan ousted reigning world champion Switzerland, and Nice Britain dispatched reigning Olympic champion Sweden.

British skip Eve Muirhead, from the house of curling in Scotland, made her Olympic debut in 2010 at 19. She owns a world championship title, 4 world junior championships, three European Championships and an Olympic bronze medal.

Closing Ceremony

The 2022 Winter Olympics will conclude with the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 20, and NBC and Peacock will supply a number of methods to observe the festivities.

The Closing Ceremony will stream LIVE on Peacock on Sunday at 7 a.m. ET, with a commentary-free feed that includes pure sound from contained in the venue. It can additionally stream reside on NBCOlympics.com and within the NBC Sports activities app, with authentication.

An NBC-produced present of the Closing Ceremony will air at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, with that present additionally streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports activities app.

Additionally airing on NBC Sunday night can be Olympic Gold, a one-hour retrospective on the defining moments of the 2022 Winter Olympics. It airs at 7 p.m. ET, one hour earlier than the beginning of NBC’s Closing Ceremony present.

The ultimate NBC Daytime present of those Olympics additionally airs Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, that includes protection of a number of the remaining occasions of the Video games.

Each Olympic Gold and NBC Daytime will also be streamed on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports activities app.

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