The United States finished the opening weekend of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, with four medals, trailing leaders Norway by three medals.
American snowboarders Sage Kotsenburg and Jamie Anderson each struck gold in the slopestyle event, with Kotsenburg winning the men’s portion with a score of 93.50 and Anderson winning the women’s with a 95.25.
American mogul skier Hannah Kearney, who won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics, had to settle for a bronze medal this time around, finishing behind Canadian sisters Justine and Choloe Dufour-Lapointe.
The other bronze medal won by the United States came from the figure skating team of Meryl Davis, Jeremy Abbott, Gracie Gold, Marissa Castelli, Jason Brown, Charlie White, Ashley Wagner and Simon Shnapir.
Women’s hockey
The United States women’s hockey team got off to a fast start, defeating Finland 3-1 in its first game in group play.
Hilary Knight got the Americans to an early lead, scoring on an unassisted goal only 53 seconds into the game.
Knight also tallied an assist in the game, setting up Kelli Stack in the second period to take a 2-0 lead. Alex Carpenter put the game away for good on a power-play goal with four minutes left in the second period to make it 3-0.
USA goaltender Jessie Vetter got her first win of the tournament, saving 14 out of 15 shots in the process. The Americans will be back in action on Monday when they take on Switzerland, who fell to Canada 5-0 in its first game.
Alpine skiing
In a bit of an upset, American Bode Miller failed to medal in the men’s downhill final, finishing in eighth place. Miller, who won three medals in the 2010 Games, looked like he was going to medal again until he hit his head and shoulder into one of the gate panels. Austrian Matthias Mayer took gold in the event, with Italian Christof Innerhofer taking silver and Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud winning the bronze.
A look ahead
USA will look to get off to good starts in several events this week, including the beginning of men’s and women’s curling, as well as men’s hockey. Qualifications for men’s halfpipe in snowboarding also begin this week, with all eyes on American Shaun White, who pulled out of the slopestyle event late last week.
Jason Kates can be reached at [email protected].
