The US was one of the top countries in skeleton up through 2002. The US medaled six times and won medals in each of the events up until 2002, but they haven’t medaled since. With three of the five athletes returning from Vancouver can the US use their experience to medal once again?
Skeleton’s Olympic History
Skeleton has a long Olympic history, but it’s very very sporadic. Skeleton was held in 1928 and 1948, but never again until 2002 when it was added to the program and remains to this day. The first two times it was only a men’s event but since 2002 it has involved a men’s and women’s event.
The US has won six of the 24 medals and three of the eight gold medals. Nine countries have medaled in skeleton with five of them winning gold medals.
How the Skeleton Competitions Work
Remember that skeleton is most similar to the luge in that both are small sleds that are ridden instead of a large sled that is ridden in (bobsleigh). The difference between skeleton and luge is that the skeleton is done face first instead of lying on the back. Their are only single rider competitions in skeleton, no two-person events.
The skeleton events are held over two days each and involve four runs for each athlete. The winner is the athletes whose total time is the lowest.
John Daly is the only returning US man from Vancouver. Daly finished in 17th place in Vancouver with none of his runs finishing any higher than 12th.
Both Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhlaender were part of the US team in Vancouver. Uhlaender had three runs that were in the top ten but finished 11th overall. Pikus-Pace had four runs that were all in the top seven and finished fourth overall just a tenth of a second out of a medal.
Katie Uhlaender made her Olympic debut in Turin where she was the only US competitor. The race was only over two runs and she was sixth in both runs and sixth overall.
An athlete at the start of a skeleton run in Vancouver
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Thursday, February 13th
2:30 AM – Women’s Heat 1
3:40 AM – Women’s Heat 2
Friday, February 14th
7:30 AM – Men’s Heat 1
9:00 AM – Men’s Heat 2
10:40 AM – Women’s Heat 3
*11:50 AM – Women’s Heat 4
Saturday, February 15th
9:45 AM – Men’s Heat 3
*11:15 AM – Men’s Heat 4
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
Skeleton’s world championships are held as part of the FIBT World Championships. The most recent one took place in 2013 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
In the men’s skeleton event two of the American Olympians were part of the field. John Daly was the top American and finished in fifth place with less than six-tenths of a second separating him from the bronze medal. Matthew Antoine finished in 12th.
The women’s even featured both Noelle Pikus-Pace and Katie Uhlaender. Pikus-Pace was the better of the two with a second place finish while Uhlaender came in seventh.
US Olympic History
On the men’s side the US won golds in two of the first three Olympics (yes they were separated by 74 years but still…) and silvers in the first two Olympics. The US has not medaled in the last two Olympics with their best finish in 2010 was a fifth place finish by Zach Lund.
In women’s skeleton the US grabbed gold and silver in the first event in Salt Lake City but have not medaled since. Noelle Pikus-Pace’s fourth place finish in 2010 nearly grabbed them a bronze.
20 Olympic competitions without a single medal, that was the story for the US going into Vancouver when it came to nordic combined. That changed in a big way when the US won four medals, three silvers and a gold. The US now can boast a medal in each of the three nordic combined events. It will be very hard to top that in Sochi.
Nordic Combined’s Olympic History
Nordic combined is one of the original Winter Olympic events having debuted in 1924 with a single event. That event was the only one until 1988 when a team event was added. A second individual event was started in 2002 and that is how the program remains to this day. There are no women’s events in nordic combined.
16 nations have medaled in nordic combined with Norway leading the way with 26 of the 93 medals. Norway also has 11 of the 31 gold medals while the US has won just four medals, three silvers and a gold, in nordic combined.
How the Nordic Combined Competitions Work
Nordic combined is a combination event of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The ski jumping event will come first with the cross-country skiing following it. The scores from the ski jumping event set the field for the cross-country skiing race with the athletes delayed depending on how far behind the leader they are. The first man across the line is the winner.
The two individual events both feature a 10km cross-country race, they differ in which ski jumping hill is used. One event uses the normal hill while the other uses the large hill.
The team event is conducted using the large hill and four athletes per team. Their combined team score is used to set the field for the relay portion with teams delayed based on how far they are behind the leading team. The teams will race along four 5km legs with the first team across the finish line the winner.
Ski jumping is one part of the nordic combined event.
There are four men on the team and three of them are returning from Vancouver. Two have been on the team ever since Nagano and one was even part of the team in Lillehammer twenty years ago.
* – Was on team in Vancouver **** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin, Salt Lake City, & Nagano
***** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin, Salt Lake City, Nagano, & Lillehammer
In 2010 the US team featured three of the four current Olympians. In the normal event Bill Demong finished sixth while Todd Lodwick finished fourth for the US. The large hill event saw Demong do even better with a gold medal, the first ever in nordic combined for the US. Lodwick finished 13th while Taylor Fletcher finished 45th. Lodwick and Demong joined with Brett Camerota and Johnny Spillane in the team event to win another silver medal for the US.
In 2006 both Lodwick and Demong were taking part in the events. The program was not exactly the same as it is now with a sprint event that featured one jump and a 7.5km cross-country portion and an individual gunderson event that had two jumps and a 15km cross-country part. In the sprint event Lodwick finished ninth while Demong was 25th. The individual gunderson event was more of the same with Lodwick in eighth and Demong in 15th. They teamed up in the team event with Spillane and Carl van Loan to finish seventh.
In 2002 Lodwick was again threatening for medals with a fifth place finish in the sprint event and a seventh place finish in the individual gunderson event. Demong was again near the top with 14th and 19th place finishes respectively. Again they were in the team event with Spillane and Matt Dayton this time. The team came in fourth place missing a medal by six seconds.
All the way back in Nagano there was only one individual event, the individual gunderson event. Lodwick came in 20th place while Demong finished 34th. They were again part of the team event with Tim Tetreault and Dave Jarrett their teammates this time. The team came in tenth.
Twenty years ago in Lillehammer Lodwick was the top performing American with a 13th place finish in the individual event. Lodwick was also part of the team that finished seventh along with Ryan Heckman and Jarrett.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Wednesday, February 12th
4:30 AM – Individual Gundersen NH/10 km Competition Round
*7:30 AM – Individual Gundersen NH/10 km Cross-Country
Tuesday, February 18th
4:30 AM – Individual Gundersen LH/10 km Competition Round
*7 AM – Individual Gundersen LH/10 km Cross-Country
Thursday, February 20th
3 AM – Team Gundersen LH/4×5 km Competition Round
*6 AM – Team Gundersen LH/4×5 km Cross-Country
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
The nordic combined world championships are part of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Most recently they were held in Val di Fiemme, Italy in February-March 2013.
In those championships the US had all four of their Olympians in the individual normal hill competition. Bryan Fletcher was the top American finishing in 14th overall. Behind him came Bill Demong in 23rd, Taylor Fletcher in 25th, and Todd Lodwick in 35th.
Three of those Americans took part in the large hill competition. This time Demong was the top Americans with a 15th place finish. Taylor Fletcher was hot on his trail in 17th while Bryan Fletcher was 23rd.
The event featuring the 4x5km relay at the world championships was held using the normal hill. Demong, Lodwick, and both Fletchers teamed up in this event. They were in fifth after the ski jumping but came on strong in the cross-country race to move into third and win a bronze less than five seconds behind the winners.
Cross-country skiing is one part of the nordic combined event at the Olympics.
The US had never medaled before the Vancouver Olympics but can now say that they have medaled in every Olympic nordic combined event. In the individual normal hill event that was when Johnny Spillane grabbed a silver, in the large hill it was Bill Demong grabbing gold and Spillane getting silver. Meanwhile the team of Spillane, Demong, and Todd Lodwick and Brett Camerota won a silver in the team event.
The US has only won one medal in curling, a men’s bronze in 2006. The sport has been growing though in popularity in the US. Will that lead to anymore success in Sochi though? One reason to hope, the women’s team did nearly medal at the latest world championships.
Curling’s Olympic History
Curling’s Olympic history is long but also full of holes. The sport was contested in the original Winter Olympics, 1924, but then only as a demonstration sport in the following 74 years. And even then it was only held in 1932, 1998, and 1992. In 1998 Curling was finally added to the Olympic program and has been part of it since then.
Canada has the most curling medals with eight including the most golds, three. Ten countries have medaled with five winning golds. The US has just one medal, a bronze on the men’s side in 2006.
How the Curling Competitions Work
If you’re not familiar with curling it’s not too hard to get the basics down. A curling game features ten ends. Think of these like innings in baseball or frames in bowling. In an end each team will have eight stones they send down towards the target. Four different players will each send two of the stones, with the two teams alternating turns. In the end the team with the stone closest to the center of the “house” scores one point for each of their stones closer to the center than the closest stone of their opponent. The stone does have to be on the house target to score. Sum up the total score from the ten ends and you’ll have the final score of the game. The teams take turn alternating who goes first. If it’s still tied the teams would go to an extra end until the tie is broken.
Ten teams will contest both the men’s and women’s events in Sochi. The events begin with a round-robin portion where every country will face every other country. After that the standings will be used to determine the semifinal matchups.
US Team
The US teams are five men and five women. Four athletes were on the teams in Vancouver, two were on the teams in Turin, one was on the team in Salt Lake City, and one was on the team in Nagano.
* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin
& – Was on team in Turin
^ – Was on team in Vancouver & Salt Lake City
% – Was on team in Nagano
In 2010 the men’s team featured Jeff Isaacson as the second and John Shuster as the skip. The team went 2-7 in the round robin finishing tied for last. Their wins came over France and Sweden (who ended up winning the gold).
The women’s team in 2010 Debbie McCormick as their skip and Allison Pottinger as their third. That team went 2-7 in the round robin and finished last. Their wins came over Russia and Great Britain, neither of whom finished in the top four.
In 2006 the men’s team featured John Shuster. That team went 6-3 in the round robin to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals the US lost to Canada before defeating Great Britain in the final 8-6 to win the bronze medal.
The women’s team in Turin featured Jessica Schultz. The team went 2-8 and finished in ninth place.
The 2002 women’s team featured Debbie McCormick as their third. The team went 6-3 and reached the semifinal round of the tournament. The US lost 9-4 to Switzerland in the semifinals and 9-5 to Canada in the bronze medal final.
The 1998 women’s team featured Erika Brown in third position. That team went 2-5 and finished seventh.
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Monday, February 10th
5 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 1 – USA vs. Switzerland
10 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 2 – USA vs. Norway
Tuesday, February 11th
12 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 2 – USA vs. Russia
5 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 3 – USA vs. China
10 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 3 – USA vs. Great Britain
Wednesday, February 12th
12 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 4 – USA vs. Denmark
5 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 4 – USA vs. China
Thursday, February 13th
5 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 6 – USA vs. Great Britain
10 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 6 – USA vs. Japan
Friday, February 14th
12 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 7 – USA vs. Germany
5 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 7 – USA vs. Denmark
10 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 8 – USA vs. Russia
Saturday, February 15th
10 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 9 – USA vs. Sweden
Sunday, February 16th
12 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 7 – USA vs. Canada
5 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 10 – USA vs. Canada
10 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 11 – USA vs. Sweden
Monday, February 17th
12 AM – Women’s Round Robin Session 11 – USA vs. Korea
5 AM – Men’s Round Robin Session 12 – USA vs. Switzerland
Wednesday, February 19th
10 AM – Women’s Semifinals
10 AM – Men’s Semifinals
Thursday, February 20th
3:30 AM – Women’s Bronze Medal Match
8:30 AM – Women’s Gold Medal Match
Friday, February 21st
3:30 AM – Men’s Bronze Medal Match
8:30 AM – Men’s Gold Medal Match
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
The 2013 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship was held in Victoria, British Columbia in March-April 2013. The team representing the US didn’t feature any of the Olympians for the US. That team went 5-6 in the round robin portion but missed out on the semifinals.
The 2013 World Women’s Curling Championship was held in Riga, Latvia in March 2013. The team featured Erika Brown as their skip, Debbie McCormick as their third, Jessica Schultz as their second, and Ann Swisshelm as their lead. The team went 6-5 in the round robin beating four Olympic teams (Denmark, Canada, Japan, Russia), but losing to three others (Sweden, Switzerland, China). That put the US into a three-way tie for fourth with Russia and Switzerland. Those two faced off with the winner taking on the US. It ended up being a rematch with Switzerland and the US advanced with a 7-4 win.
In the semifinals the US took on Canada and was down 4-1 after three ends. The US fought back and cut it to 4-3 before Canada pulled back out to a 7-4 lead. The US got it to 7-6 but couldn’t tie it up and fell into the bronze medal match. In the bronze medal match the US took on Canada again (this is a weird playoff format…). The US had an early 2-1 lead but Canada went back in front 4-2 and never gave up the lead going on to win 8-6.
The US has only medaled once in the Olympics, a bronze on the men’s side in 2006. They also finished fourth in 1998 but were ninth in 2002 and tenth in 2010. On the women’s side the best finish by the US was a fourth place finish in 2002. Outside of that they have finished eighth twice (1998 and 2006) and tenth (2010).
The US won their most ever medals in short track speed skating with six at the Vancouver Olympics but they bring back only three members from that team. Those three combined for only one of the four individual medals won by the US in Vancouver. With a less experienced team in Sochi can the US come close to matching their results?
Short Track Speed Skating’s Olympic History
Short track speed skating was first a part of the Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport in 1988. It returned in 1992 as a full part of the Olympics with four events, a relay and an individual event on both the men’s and women’s sides. The Olympics added a second individual event in 1994 and a third in 2002. The program has remained unchanged since then.
South Korea has been the top country in short track winning 37 of the 120 medals including 19 of the 40 gold medals. The US comes in fourth in both categories with 18 medals and four gold medals. Only seven countries have won a gold medal in short track and only 11 have won a medal at all.
How the Short Track Speed Skating Competitions Work
All the individual events in short track speed skating are contested using the same format. Each event has a field of 32 athletes who will be divided into eight groups of four. The groups will race around the small track and the first two across the line advance. This is done through a three rounds to get down to a final four where the race for medals happens. And of course always watch out for DQs, usually for impeding a competitor. Sometimes you may think you know who is moving on at the finish until one of them is disqualified. Or someone who comes in far back may get advanced due to being illegal impeded.
The 1500m event is done with six heats of six where the top three move on and three semifinals of six where the top two move on to the final.
In the team relay event there are teams of four skaters. The teams will switch skaters as things are going with a push-off and the first team across the finish line moves on. The top two teams from each
US Team
The team is made up of five men and three women. Only three of the athletes are returning from Vancouver.
J.R. Celski made his Olympic debut in Vancouver for the US. Celski competed in the 1000m where he finished second in his heat and quarterfinal to advance to the semifinals. In his semifinal Celski was disqualified to end his run. Celski also competed in the 1500m event. Celski finished third in his heat to move into the semifinals where he finished second in his semifinal to qualify for the final. In the final Celski had a great race and came in third to grab a bronze medal. Celski also competed in the team relay event with Simon Cho, Travis Jayner, and Apolo Ohno. They finished second in their semifinal to reach the final. In the final Cho was replaced by Jordan Malone. The US finished third in the final by less than half a second.
Short Track Speed Skaters Ready for the Start in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics
Jordan Malone competed in two individual events in Vancouver that did not go well. Malone was disqualified in the 1500m event and finished fourth in his heat in the 500m event. Malone did pick up a medal as he was part of the US relay team in the final that won the bronze.
On the women’s side Alyson Dudek was part of the US relay team in Vancouver. Dudek skated with Kimberly Derrick, Lana Gehring, Katherine Reutter in the semifinals as they placed second in their semifinal. Derrick was replaced in the final by Allison Baver and the new group ended up with the bronze medal. Individually Dudek placed second in her heat in the 500m before being eliminated after a fourth place finish in her quarterfinal.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Monday, February 10th
4:45 AM – Men’s 1500m Heats
5:30 AM – Ladies’ 500m Heats
6:09 AM – Men’s 1500m Semifinals
*7:08 AM – Men’s 1500m Final
Thursday, February 13th
5 AM – Ladies’ 500m Quarterfinals
5:27 AM – Men’s 1000m Heats
6:14 AM – Ladies’ 500m Semifinals
6:35 AM – Men’s 5000m Relay Semifinals
*7:07 AM – Ladies’ 500m Finals
Saturday, February 15th
5 AM – Ladies’ 1500m Heats
5:45 AM – Men’s 1000m Quarterfinals
6:16 AM – Ladies’ 1500m Semifinals
6:46 AM – Men’s 1000m Semifinals
*7:09 AM – Ladies’ 1500m Finals
*7:23 AM – Men’s 1000m Finals
Tuesday, February 18th
4:30 AM – Ladies’ 1000m Heats
5:17 AM – Men’s 500m Heats
The 2013 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary in March.
In the men’s 500m event J.R. Celski was the top American and finished fifth overall while Christopher Creveling finished 20th being eliminated in the heats.
Creveling was the top American in the 1000m event with his 13th place finish while J.R. Celski was disqualified in the preliminaries.
In the 1500m event Celski did manage to get into the heats but finished 23rd while Creveling was eliminated in the semifinals in 11th place.
The US team in the team relay was made up Celski, Creveling, Eduardo Alvarez, and Jeff Simon (not part of the Olympic team). They came in fourth in their semifinal and didn’t reach the final.
On the women’s side in the 500m event Alyson Dudek was the top competitor with a ninth place finish being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Jessica Smith also reached the quarterfinals but finished in 13th.
In the 1000m event again Smith was eliminated in the quarterfinals, this time with an 11th place finish, while Dudek was eliminated in the heats with a 24th place finish.
In the 1500m event both Smith and Dudek reached the semifinals before being eliminated. Dudek finished 11th while Smith was 18th.
US Olympic History
The US has medaled twice in the men’s 500m event, the most recent a gold by Apollo Anton Ohno in Turin. Ohno reached the final again in 2010 but was disqualified.
Ohno has won all three of the medals for the US in the 1000m event, a silver in 2002 and bronzes in 2006 and 2010.
The US has won three medals in the 1500m event in the three Olympics it has been held. The only gold was by Ohno in 2002 while Ohno won a silver in 2010 with Celski taking a bronze as well.
The US has never won the relay event but has medaled three times in the six Olympics. The US has won the bronze in each of the last two Olympics.
In the women’s 500m event the US won gold in the first two Olympics with the event and a bronze in 1994 as well. Since then the US has been shutout in four straight Olympics and their best finisher in 2010 was Katherine Reutter in seventh.
Reutter won the first medal for the US in the 1000m event, a silver, in Vancouver. The US has never medaled in the 1500m event (held three times) with their best finish in 2010 a fourth place finish by Reutter.
The US won their most ever medals in alpine skiing in Vancouver with eight. That was compared to just 11 medals over the previous six Olympics. Will the US be able to continue their great performances in alpine skiing or will they revert to their form over much of the last two decades? Some of their recent results and their experience would seem to indicate good results could be on the way.
Alpine Skiing’s Olympic History
Alpine Skiing is not one of the original Winter Olympic sports having made its debut in 1936 with both a men’s and women’s combined event. It expanded to three events for each gender in the next winter Olympics in 1948 and finally in 1988 to the five events for each gender that are still contested today.
25 nations have medaled in alpine skiing but no one has more medals than Austria with 105 of the 397 awarded. The US ranks fourth with 39 medals and their 14 golds are also the 4th most all time.
An Olympic skiier from Lichtenstein competes in the 2010 Olympics.
The differences between the different skiing events largely is in the area of how far the gates are spread out, how long the courses are, and how many runs the athletes get.
In the downhill event the course is at its longest and the gates are at their farthest apart. The athletes go the fastest in this event and the gates are the most spaced out. In fact you might not even realize the athletes are going through the gates on this one as they’ll follow a path of blue lines on the slope that help direct them down the correct path. This event is just one race, best time wins.
The slalom event looks completely different and for good reason. This is an event with much shorter distances between gates causing the athletes to cut back and forth a lot more. It’s a much slower speed event and features “gates” that are more like poles sticking up which the athletes can easily bump over and will bounce back up. This event is done over two runs with the times added to get the final standings.
Now that I’ve told you of two wildly different events you are of course thinking it’d be a good idea to combine them into one event. That is the combined event where one run is done on the downhill course while the other is a slalom run. It’s a difficult test of athletes involving two very different types of skiing.
The giant slalom event is similar to the slalom event but on a course with gates spaced further apart. The speeds are higher on this course and the athletes get two runs which will be combined to get a total time.
The super g on the other hand is an event that is actually closer to the downhill in many ways. The speeds are much higher again though turning is a bigger part of super g than it is in downhill. Each athlete only gets one run at the super g course.
The team is made up of 11 men and nine women. Ten of the athletes are returning from Vancouver, six were part of the team in Turin, three were part of the team in Salt Lake City and one is going to his fifth Olympics having been part of the team all the way back in Nagano as well.
* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin
& – Was on team in Turin
*** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin, and Salt Lake City
^ – Was on team in Vancouver and Salt Lake City
**** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin, Salt Lake City, and Nagano
Nolan Kasper made his Olympic debut for the US in Vancouver competing in the slalom event. Kasper finished his first run in 29th but improved in his second run with a 23rd place finish to end up 24th overall.
Ted Ligety came to the Vancouver Olympics as a veteran and competed in four events. He did not finish the slalom event and finished 19th in the super-g event. He came close though in other events as he finished ninth in the giant slalom and fifth in the combined event. In his first Olympics in Turin Ligety won a gold medal in the combined event while not finishing the giant slalom and being disqualified in the slalom event.
Bode Miller was one of the US stars in Vancouver. Miller medaled three times as he won the combined event, finished second in the super-g, and won the bronze in the downhill. Miller was unable to finish in the giant slalom or the slalom events. In Turin, Milller was one of the US favorites but disappointed finishing in fifth in the downhill and sixth in the giant slalom. He was also disqualified in the combined and did not finish in the slalom and super-g events. Miller’s reputation coming into Turin was due to the fact that he won two silvers in Salt Lake City, in giant slalom and combined. Miller also came in 24th in the slalom event. Bode Miller’s debut came in Nagano but he didn’t finish either of his two events. He was disqualified in the giant slalom and did not finish the slalom event.
Bode Miller competes for the US at the Vancouver Olympics.
Vancouver was the second Olympics for Steven Nyman. Nyman competed in the downhill event and he finished 20th. Nyman was a competitor in three events for the US in Turin. Nyman’s best result came in the downhill where he finished 19th. He also came in 29th in the combined event and 43rd in the super-g.
Marco Sullivan returned to the Olympics in Vancouver after missing out on the team in Turin. Sullivan competed in two events, finishing 60th in the downhill and 23rd in the super-g. Sullivan was part of the team in Salt Lake City competing in two events. Sullivan did not finish the super-g but came in ninth in the downhill.
Vancouver was the Olympic debut of Andrew Weibrecht where he competed in three events. The best result for Weibrecht was in the super-g where he finished just behind teammate Bode Miller and won the bronze medal. Weibrecht also finished 11th in the combined and 21st in the downhill.
Stacey Cook competed in her second Olympics for the US in Vancouver. Cook took part in one event, the downhill, where she finished 11th. Cook’s debut in Turin saw her compete in the downhill where she finished 19th and the giant slalom where she finished 23rd.
Julia Mancuso was a double medalist for the US in Vancouver winning silvers in both the downhill and combined events. Mancuso had two other top-ten finishes, eighth in the giant slalom and ninth in the super-g. Mancuso competed in four events in Turin and won a gold medal in giant slalom. Mancuso’s other events were the downhill (seventh), combined (ninth), and super-g (11th). Mancuso’s debut came in Salt Lake City when she competed in the combined event finishing 13th.
Megan McJames made her Olympic debut in Vancouver when she competed in the giant slalom and slalom events. McJames wasn’t able to finish the slalom event but did come in 32nd in the giant slalom event.
Another first time Olympian in Vancouver was Leanne Smith. Smith competed in the super-g where she finished 18th and in the combined where she finished 21st.
Resi Stiegler didn’t make the team for Vancouver but she was part of the team back in Turin. In Turin Stiegler was 11th in the combined event and finished 12th in the slalom.
Schedule
All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Sunday, February 9th
*2 AM – Men’s Downhill
Monday, February 10th
2 AM – Women’s Super Combined Downhill
*6 AM – Women’s Super Combined Slalom
Wednesday, February 12th
*2 AM – Women’s Downhill
Friday, February 14th
2 AM – Men’s Super Combined Downhill
*6:30 AM – Men’s Super Combined Slalom
Saturday, February 15th
*2 AM – Women’s Super-G
Sunday, February 16th
*2 AM – Men’s Super-G
Tuesday, February 18th
2 AM – Women’s Giant Slalom Run 1
*5:30 AM – Women’s Giant Slalom Run 2
Wednesday, February 19th
2 AM – Men’s Giant Slalom Run 1
*5:30 AM – Men’s Giant Slalom Run 2
Friday, February 21st
7:45 AM – Women’s Slalom Run 1
*11:15 AM – Women’s Slalom Run 2
Saturday, February 22nd
7:45 AM – Men’s Slalom Run 1
*11:15 AM – Men’s Slalom Run 2
US Team’s Recent World Championship History
Alpine Skiing’s world championship is the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, most recently held in February 2013 in Schladming, Austria.
The men’s downhill event featured four US Olympians. Two of them, Marco Sullivan and Travis Ganong, did not finish the event while Steven Nyman finished 25th and Andrew Weibrecht finished 22nd.
The men’s super combined only involved one of the US Olympians from this year, Ted Ligety, but Ligety stole the show for the US by wining the race by over a second.
Two Americans were in the men’s giant slalom event with Ted Jitloff finishing in 16th. Once again though Ligety was the start with another world championship, again by almost a second.
Two Olympians were part of the US team in the slalom event, but both Ted Ligety and David Chodounsky did not finish the race.
Ted Ligety won his 3rd event at the world championships in the super-g, though this time by just a fifth of a second. The only other Olympian in the field for the US was Andrew Weibrecht who did not finish.
On the women’s side in the super combined four Olympians competed (Julia Mancuso, Stacey Cook, Laurenne Ross, and Leanne Smith) and all had great downhill runs placing in the top 20. Smith was the best of all in 12th after the downhill but she didn’t complete the slalom portion. Cook came in 18th, Ross came in 11th while Mancuso was 8th.
The downhill event also featured American threatening to medal, but once again none did. Julia Mancuso came closest in fifth place with Stacey Cook right behind her in sixth. Both were within a second of the winner. Leanne Smith came in 12th for the US.
Three Americans also competed in the giant slalom event. This time the top American was Mikaela Shiffrin who came in sixth. Julia Mancuso came in 22nd while Laurenne Ross finished the first run 35th but didn’t finish the second run.
Mikaela Shiffrin was again the top American in the slalom event, this time taking the event for the US. The only other American in the field was Resi Stiegler who finished 22nd but had the eighth best second run.
Finally in the super-g Julia Mancuso medaled for the US with a third place finish while Leannne Smith came in 16th and Laurenne Ross was 26th.
US Olympic History
The men’s downhill event has been home to very few medals for the US. They won golds in 1984 and 1994 while Bode Miller grabbed Bronze in 2010. Outside of that the US has not medaled in the event.
The slalom event has seen five more medals for the US all-time, but none have been won since 1984. While four Americans competed in Vancouver only one finished (Nolan Kasper) and he finished 24th.
The giant slalom event has been held 16 times with the US only grabbing one medal, a silver by Bode Miller in Salt Lake City. The US did have a top-ten finish in Vancouver with Ted Ligety finishing 9th.
The super-g has only been held seven times but the US has three medals. They have not won a gold yet but are coming off of a silver (Bode Miller) and a bronze (Andrew Weibrecht) in Vancouver.
The US didn’t win a medal in the first six combined events, however they have now medaled in three straight games. That includes golds in the last two Olympics by Ted Ligety (Turin) and Bode Miller (Vancouver).
In the women’s downhill the US has won seven medals and won their first ever gold in Vancouver thanks to Lindsey Vonn. Julia Mancuso’s silver made it the first Olympics they had won multiple medals in the downhill in.
The US won the slalom event three times and has five total medals, but they haven’t won a medal since 1972. 2010 saw two Americans fail to finish while the best American came in 16th (Sarah Schleper).
The US has seven all-time medals in the giant slalom with the most recent a gold by Julia Mancuso in 2006. Mancuso was the top American again in Vancouver, finishin in eighth.
The US has three medals in the seven all-time super-g events. They won back-to-back golds in 1994 and 1998 but haven’t won the gold since then. Lindsey Vonn’s bronze in Vancouver was the only medal since.
Julia Mancuso’s silver in Vancouver was the first medal for the US in the combined event since a silver in 1948. The US has never won the event.
Julia Mancuso on the medal stand after her second place finish in the super combined at the Olympics in 2010.
The US entered their first round matchup with Great Britain riding a winning streak of four ties against the Brits and not having lost to them since 1935. Additionally the British hadn’t won a World Group first round tie since 1986. We knew that Andy Murray was a heavy favorite to beat both Americans and with the Bryan brothers as big favorites on Saturday in the doubles rubber it seemed likely this would come down to James Ward’s play as the #2 singles player for the Brits. Could Ward steal a rubber and take the tie for Great Britain?
Well we were right… it did come down to Ward, and amazingly it came down to his first matchup. It wasn’t his Sunday rubber with the #2 US singles player where he made his mark, it was his Friday rubber against #1 US singles player Sam Querrey where Ward stole a match and basically gave Great Britain the tie.
James Ward was the difference maker for Great Britain with his upset of Sam Querrey on Friday.
Querrey started off his match with Ward in great fashion taking set one quickly with a 6-1 win. Set two was much more competitive and came down to a tiebreak where Ward was able to even things with a 7-3 tiebreak win, the first sign of trouble for Querrey. Querrey came back to win set three 6-3 and even held a 4-2 lead in set four before the wheels came off. Ward went on to win 10 of the final 11 games, winning four straight to take set four 6-4 and then winning set five 6-1. It was a distasteful turn of events for Querrey and the US.
Sam Querrey’s loss to James Ward on Friday ultimately doomed the US vs. Great Britain
Querrey did give a strong effort on Sunday against Murray as he forced a tiebreaker in both of the first two sets. He lost the first 7-5 before winning the second 7-3 to even things at one set each. Murray then shut the door dominating the rest of the way en route to a 6-1 and 6-3 wins in the final two sets to clinch things for Great Britain.
What does this mean for the US?
It means that instead of trying to reach the final for the first time since 2007 the US now is focused on not falling out of the World Group. Its’ been 26 years since the US was not playing in the World Group and they don’t want to end that streak anytime soon. The US will play in one of the World Group playoffs in September against a country still to be determined. Potential opponents will be determined after the next round of play in early April. The US will be one of the eight seeded teams in the draw and so we know the US won’t face any of the top eight ranked teams that are involved with the playoffs. If the favorites win in April the eight teams in the un-seeded pool should be Austria, Croatia, Brazil, Ukraine, Israel, Uzbekistan, India and the Dominican Republic. The US could have to travel for the tie, and depending on the matchup it could be a bit tricky, but the US will likely be favored no matter what.
The US right now is not a great men’s tennis country and anytime they face off against an opponent with one of the best players in the world the margin is going to be thin. The US had some bad luck in drawing one of the few countries that aren’t among the top eight in the world and still have one of the very top players. The US also were without their best player in John Isner who might have had a better chance to upset Andy Murray. Hopefully Isner is healthy for the US come September and the US can keep their place in the World Group for 2015.
