By Julia Duggan
Staff Writer
The U.S. won its first gold medal of the Olympic games in snowboarding on Feb. 9. Lindsey Jacobellis won her first gold medal just six days into the competition and is the oldest American to do so.
As of February 15, the U.S. has won eight gold medals, ten silver medals and seven bronze medals. Medals were won in snowboarding, ice skating, skiing and the monobob.
Shortly after Jacobellis won her medal, Chloe Kim competed in the women’s halfpipe snowboarding. She set a new record by being the first American snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medals. Kim won gold in 2018 and earned another gold in the Olympic games this year by landing a near perfect run, earning a score of 94 out of 100.
The next day, Nathen Chen earned gold in the men’s free skate by setting a new record for the highest score in the Olympics. In his performance, he landed five quadruple jumps and made sure to place several at the second half of his performance to earn the 10% score of completing difficult jumps on tired legs. Chen earned a score of 332.6 to earn gold, silver went to Yuma Kagiyama from Japan with a score of 310.05 and bronze was earned by Shoma Uno from Japan with a score of 293.
The U.S. set another record by being the first country to win gold in the freestyle mixed skiing team aerials. This is the first time the event has been in the Olympics. Ashley Caldwell, Christopher Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld were the athletes that won the gold medals. The other medal winners for the sport were China winning the silver and Canada who won bronze.
A second gold medal was won for the United States in snowboarding.
For the premiere of mixed snowboard cross, Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner earned the gold. This is Jacobellis’s second gold medal in the games. Baumgartner set another record by being the oldest person winning a gold medal in snowboarding at 40 years old.
Just two days ago, a speed skating athlete set another record for the U.S. by winning gold. Erin Jackson is the first African-American woman to win a speedskating medal. She also broke the dry spell of women winning gold medals in speed skating for the United States. The last gold medal won by a woman was in 1994, according to CNN.
The most recent gold medal the United States won is for another sport making its debut at the Olympics, the women’s monobob. Kaillie Humphries won the first ever awarded gold for the sport and the United States also took home the silver. Elana Meyers Taylor won the silver medal for the United States, and the two athletes share a friendly rivalry when competing in the sport.
According to the Washington Post, there was a question if Taylor would be allowed to compete in the games. She tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival, and was locked in isolation until she tested negative. She tested negative twice as per the Covid-19 rules for the games and was then allowed to compete.
The last gold medal earned at the Olympics was achieved by Alex Hall. He earned gold in the men’s freestyle skiing competition. In addition the United States earned the silver medal in the same competition with Nick Goepper. Hall earned his first Olympic medal and Goepper won his third medal.
Several silver medals were also recently won by U.S. athletes. Ryan Cochran-Siegle earned his in the men’s super-G event. This is the first medal the United States has won in Alpine skiing so far in this Olympic games. The team Figure Skating event also won a silver medal, but that has not been awarded yet due to a controversy over a team member who won gold for the Russian Olympic Committee testing positive for a banned substance. Colby Stevenson earned his medal in the men’s free skiing event. Not to be outdone, Jaelin Kauf won her medal in the women’s freestyle skiing moguls competition. Then, as reported earlier, Julia Marino won a silver medal in the women’s snowboarding slopestyle event. Additional silver medals were won in women’s hockey. The gold went to Canada. David Wise, earned a silver medal in the men’s skiing halfpipe.
The United States also earned several bronze medals in the past several days. Megan Nick won her medal in the women’s aerials. Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue won their medals in the duo ice dance event. Jessie Diggins won her medal in the individual women’s cross country skiing event. The men’s team speed skating pursuit earned a bronze medal for the United States. Britney Bowe earned a bronze in the women’s 1,000 meter speed skate. Both Sylvia Hoffman and Taylor earned bronze medals in the two-women bobsled competition. Alex ferreira earned the last bronze medal in the men’s skiing halfpipe competition.
