5 to Watch: Madison's McKinnon Advances to Finals

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Canada Bests US in Women’s Hockey 2-1

Canada scored twice in the second period in a 2-1 win over United States in women’s hockey Thursday.  Of the five women’s hockey finals in Olympic history, four were played between the U.S. and Canada, building what may be the biggest international rivalry in the sport, women or men.

Both the U.S. and Canada have guaranteed they're through to the semifinals of the 2018 Games by beating Finland and the Olympic Athletes from Russia, so this match was mainly about pride. It was also very likely a preview of the gold medal game, since both teams will be heavily favored in the semifinals. 

Watch the recap here.

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PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 12: Kiley McKinnon of the United States competes in the Ladies' Aerials Finals during the 2018 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup at Deer Valley Resort on January 12, 2018 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Kiley McKinnon Goes Big in Qualification Round

Madison's Kiley McKinnon saw her first action of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang on Thursday and has qualified for the finals. She is competing in the Freestyle Skiing women's aerials and finished in fifth place after the second qualification jump, with an 87.88. McKinnon is one of three Olympic athletes from Madison competing in Pyeongchang this year. She can credit one of the others, Mac Bohonnon, with getting her started in aerials. McKinnon and Bohonnon were classmates in first grade in Madison, before Mac moved to Lake Placid to train. He recruited Kiley and even though she had never done aerials before, she jumped at the opportunity.

Watch here.

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Hagen Kearney

Men’s Snowboard Cross Final: Two Americans nearly made the podium.

France's Pierre Vaultier successfully defended his gold medal in men's snowboard cross, becoming the second athlete to win back-to-back gold medals in the discipline. Australia's Jarryd Huges earned silver and Spain's Regino Hernandez took bronze.American snowboarders Nick Baumgartner and Mick Dierdorff finished fourth and fifth, respectively, after crashing on the same jump during the big final. Australia's Alex Pullin also went down on the same part of the course and finished sixth.

Watch the recap here.

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Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway makes a run during the Men's Downhill Alpine Skiing training at Jeongseon Alpine Centre on Feb. 9, 2018, in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.

Norway's Svindal Wins Gold in Men’s Downhill

Aksel Lund Svindal won the men’s downhill in Pyeongchang on Thursday, making the 35-year-old Norwegian the oldest-ever Olympic gold medalist in Alpine skiing.

Svindal was one of Norway’s formidable “Attacking Vikings” who wrested the gold from the defending champion, Austria’s Matthias Mayer, who finished ninth. Svindal was 0.12 seconds faster than Norwegian teammate Kjetil Jansrud, who took silver. Beat Feuz of Switzerland took bronze.

Team USA’s Bryce Bennett finished in 16th place.

Watch it here

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Rhoads Takes Off From the Big Hill

Though he has lived most of his life in Utah, ski jumper Will Rhoads was born in Concord, New Hampshire. The 22-year-old is competing in his first Olympics. He will be going up against some of the world's best jumpers in the men's large hill individual event.

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