The United States took home one medal on Monday with a third place finish by Julia Mancuso in the women’s super-combined slalom event.
Mancuso finished in first place in the downhill portion of the event with a time of one minute, 42.68 seconds, but slipped up in the slalom portion, finishing in 52.47 seconds, which was only good for 13th place. With a combine time of two minutes, 35.15 seconds, she finished third in the overall event, 0.53 seconds behind first place finisher Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany.
Mancuso’s bronze gives the United States five overall medals (two gold, three bronze), which is good for fourth place in the overall medal count behind Canada, the Netherlands and Norway, who all have seven.
Women’s hockey
The United States women’s hockey team picked up its second win of the tournament after a 9-0 routing over Switzerland.
Team USA made Olympic history in the first period, scoring three goals all within a 55-second span. The three goals came from Monique Lamoureux, Brianna Decker and Amanda Kessel.
Kessel, sister of Toronto Maple Leaf and USA forward Phil Kessel, had her third goal waved off after the referees missed Kendall Coyne’s goal just a few minutes earlier. By rule Coyne was awarded the goal, preventing Kessel from achieving a hat trick.
The Americans outshot Switzerland 53-10 in the victory.
With two wins and six points in group play, the United States have clinched a spot in the women’s hockey semifinals. The USA has one game remaining in group-play with a matchup against Canada on Wednesday morning.
Curling
Both the men’s and women’s curling teams fell in their matches on Monday. The men’s team fell to Norway 7-4, while the women’s team fell to Switzerland 7-4 as well.
Tuesday’s events
The men’s halfpipe snowboard event steals the headlines for Tuesday’s games. The United States’ own Shaun White will be competing in his only event of the Games. White has won gold in the past two Olympics in the event and looks to become the first American male to place gold in three consecutive Olympics.
Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.
