Canada Gets Home Gold and USA Wins First Medal Ever In Nordic Combine

Early on Canada was still looking for its first ever home gold medal. Las night Jennifer Heil was expected to win as defending champ in women's moguls but instead the USA's Hannah Kearney took it. Grab your red Canadian mittens (good luck finding any as they are the "must have" item at this winter olympics) and some cocoa and enjoy the Winter Olympic Valentine's day wrap up.

Mens Biathlon 10km sprint (cross country skiing + rifle shooting)

The Biathlon was called "the most unfair event I have ever been a part of" by the American biathlete Jeremy Teela. For those in the middle of the field, like Teela, a storm blew in and left fresh snow which made the skiing very slow for many biathletes. After the storm the sun came out and warmed the snow and made it fast again. One of the oldest events in the Olympics is the Biathlon and the USA has never received a medal and they would not get one today. Vincent Jay from France won Gold took home the gold.

Luge

Four runs in luge make an event. Two last night and two today. The germans dominate at this and Loch, whose father is a one of the german luge coaches, is leading after 3 runs.

Nordic Combine (cross country skiing + ski jumping)

The Nordic Combine combines ski jumping and cross country skiing. In this olympics the event was awesome as three americans were in the top 8 for much of the race with American Johnnie Spillane leading for most of the race until literally the last turn when Frenchman Lamy Chappuis gutted it out at the end to win gold by just a fraction (4/10ths) of a second. Johnnie Spillane, from Steamboat, Colorado, became the first American to medal in the event and is it was the 5th medal for the USA team this olympics. In 1988 Calgary games the US only earned 6 medals the entire winter games.

Mens Mogul Skiing

Mens mogul skiing involved defending champ Dale Begg-Smith who is from Canada but has duel citizenship with Australia and competes for Australia. The US hopeful here was Bryon Wilson who had a great second run but it was not enough to earn a medal. This time Canada would not be denied as Alexandre Bilodeau came through with a gold medal run that consisted of hard jumps and crazy speed. The frenchman was the only one left to knock him off and even though he had the fastest time his scores only got him to 6th. Canada finally got their home gold.

Looking Ahead

Many of the Alpine skiing events that have been postponed are scheduled to take place this Monday February 15, 2010. I have been waiting to watch the Men's Downhill, which was postponed because of the poor snow conditions. Let us hope that snow was trucked in and the course is safe for these amazing athletes.

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