5 To Watch: Ladies' Night On The Ice, Lindsey Vonn Take's Bronze in Downhill

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Russian Skaters Deliver in Women’s Short Program

Women’s figure skating at the Pyeongchang Olympics was billed as a showdown between Olympic Athletes from Russia Evgenia Medvedeva and Aliona Zagitova, and they delivered Wednesday at Gangneung Ice Arena.

Zagitova set a new short program record with her score of 82.92 to slide into first place, ahead of Medvedeva by 1.31 points. If the 15-year-old Zagitova holds on to the top spot through Friday’s free skate, she would become the second youngest women’s figure skating gold medalist behind Tara Lipinski, the 1998 Olympic champion.

Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond was in third place after the short program with 78.87 points.

All three Americans to skate in the short program planned to open their routine with triple jumps, and all three stumbled. Bradie Tennell and Mirai Nagasu each fell all the way to the ice — Tennell on a triple lutz to triple toeloop combination, and Nagasu on her trademark triple axel — while teammate Karen Chen placed a hand on the ice to brace herself coming out of a triple lutz.

What a replay here.

Italy’s Goggia Wins Gold, Vonn Takes Bronze in Women’s Downhill

Italy’s Sofia Goggia held off a strong field to win gold in the women’s downhill, while Team USA’s Lindsey Vonn took bronze, finishing 0.47 seconds behind her rival.

“I gave it my best shot,” Vonn said through tears after the race. “And I’m so proud to have competed with so many amazing girls.”

Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway won silver, finishing 0.09 seconds behind Goggia.

Vonn’s bronze-medal finish makes history: At 33, she is the oldest female medalist in Alpine skiing at the Winter Games. She will ski again in the combined on Thursday (Wednesday night in the U.S.), going up against teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, who won gold in these Games in the giant slalom.

Team USA’s Alice McKennis finished fifth, Breezy Johnson finished seventh and Laurenne Ross finished 15th.

Watch recap on digital platforms here.

Team USA Falls to Sweden in Women's Curling, Eliminated from Playoff Contention

The United States women’s curling team has never won an Olympic medal, and this wasn't the year to change that.

The US ended round robin play with a loss to Sweden and will not advance to semi-finals.

The Americans fell 9-6 to Sweden Wednesday at the Gangneung Curling Centre. They finish the season with a 4-5 record. Sweden moved to 7.2 and earned second seed in the semifinal round, where they will take on Great Brain.

On the men’s side, the U.S. won its last three games, including an upset match against Canada, to stay alive. They knew they needed a win against Great Britain and they brought it, taking the team down 10-4 and earning a spot in the semifinals for the first time since 2006. They will take on Canada in the semifinals.

 U.S. men last earned an Olympic curling medal, a bronze, in 2006.

Watch the replay of the women's game here. 

US Women Win 1st Long Track Speedskating Medals in 16 Years

The long wait is over for an American woman to stand on the podium in long track speedskating.

Team USA beat Canada for bronze in the women’s pursuit on Wednesday, becoming the first American women to win an Olympic medal in long track speedskating since 2002. No American had won a long track medal since the 2010 Games.

For most of the match, the U.S. skaters looked like they had the medal in the bag. They leapt out to a huge lead, more than two-and-a-half seconds after two laps, and then ratcheted it up. But the high speeds wore on Mia Manganello, who began clutching her knee and nearly fell in the final stretch. Nevertheless, she, Heather Bergsma and Brittany Bowe held on.

The Netherlands, so dominant in speedskating in Pyeongchang, were upset in the team pursuit. The men lost to eventual gold medalists Norway in the semifinals, while the women, who had cruised to victory over the U.S. in the semifinals, lost to Japan in their final.

See the replay here.

USA Clinches Silver in Women's Bobsled

Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs of the U.S. finished second in women's bobsled in Pyeongchang. Their time of 3:22.52 was just 0.07 seconds back from the gold-medal German sled — the closest margin between first and second in any Olympic bobsled race.

Germany's Mariama Jamanka — a winner of exactly zero major international races in her life until now — drove to gold in the event, adding to her country's dominant showing at the sliding track in these Olympics.

Canada's Kaillie Humphries teamed with Phylicia George to get third in 3:22.89.

It was the third consecutive medal for both Meyers Taylor and Humphries. Meyers Taylor won bronze as a push athlete in 2010 and silver as a driver in 2014; Humphries won gold in each of those Olympic races.

The American sled piloted by Jamie Greubel Poser with brakeman Aja Evans finished fifth, 0.13 seconds off the podium. Greubel Poser won bronze in Sochi.

Outside the medal race, teams from Jamaica and Nigeria made history in Pyeongchang. The Jamaican sled became the first women’s sled from the country to compete in the games, while the Nigerian women became the first African nation to participate in women’s bobsled. Jamaica finished the competition in 19th. Nigeria finished 20th.

Watch the replay here.

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