Hello from Milan and Cortina, the place Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen received gold within the males’s large slalom, making historical past for all of South America. Plus, American Jordan Stolz continued his march towards doubtlessly profitable 4 speedskating medals at these Games.
Our correspondents have all of it lined beneath and at NBC News. Catch all of it streaming on Peacock.
Live from Milan Cortina
In Jordan Stolz’s quest for 4 speedskating gold medals at these Olympics, he was imagined to face his hardest check right this moment within the 500-meter closing. In his pair, Stolz was matched with the Netherlands’ Jenning de Boo, one among his high rivals.
It didn’t matter.
Stolz sprinted to a time of 33.77 seconds, and de Boo ended up 0.11 seconds behind.
After they crossed the end line, de Boo slipped and slid right into a boundary. He sat on the ice as Stolz took a lap and waved to the group.
Stolz is now 2 for two at these Games. A number of days in the past, he won gold and set an Olympic file on the 1,000-meter closing. He will race within the 1500-meter closing and the mass begin occasion subsequent week.
Also: Team USA males’s hockey overcame an early deficit and finally overpowered Denmark, profitable 6-3.
On the slopes, Jaelin Kauf turned essentially the most embellished mogul skier in U.S. Olympic historical past right this moment when she took second within the debut of twin moguls to Australia’s Jakara Anthony. It was the third Olympic silver medal of Kauf’s profession, and she or he wasn’t the one American to medal, as Liz Lemley took bronze. Lemley had received the person moguls gold medal simply days earlier.
Yesterday, in males’s curling, a shouting match erupted after Team Sweden accused Canada of dishonest for allegedly touching the stone after it’d been launched. World Curling issued a verbal warning to Team Canada “regarding the language used” because it defended itself.
Athlete Spotlight
When it got here to incomes medals on the Winter Olympics, athletes from South American nations had gone 0 for 102 years.
Until Saturday.
After Lucas Pinheiro Braathen of Brazil received the lads’s large slalom, he stated he hoped the win would “inspire some kids out there that, despite what they wear, despite how they look, despite where they come from, they can follow their own dreams and be who they really are. Because that is the real source of happiness in life.”
Pinheiro Braathen grew up in Oslo, Norway, to a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mom. He skied for Norway till he retired three years in the past at 23. But after taking a visit to Brazil to decompress, he got here away resolved to return to aggressive snowboarding whereas representing his mom’s dwelling nation. It turned out to be a historic determination.
“I’m not even able to grasp reality, as I stand here right now,” he stated after profitable his first Olympic medal. “I am just trying to get some sort of emotion here and translate it into words, even though it’s absolutely impossible.”
Behind the scenes
Broadcasting these Winter Olympics requires greater than 800 cameras, however 25 have stolen the present in Milan Cortina, specifically.
Welcome to the drone Olympics, the place 25 drones — together with 15 “first-person-view” drones — are offering hen’s-eye views of skiers, speedskaters, lugers and extra, footage that has drawn rave opinions from followers and a few athletes. Pilots corresponding to Jelmer Poelsma, a 26-year-old who has been flying drones for 11 years, have develop into as well-liked as some athletes. Like the remainder of the pilots who function 15 “first-person-view” drones, Poelsma wears goggles whereas sitting subsequent to a spotter who ensures the drone by no means will get too near the athletes.
“There is no room for error,” Poelsma stated.
The drones are specialised for the game they cowl; these utilized in Alpine snowboarding can fly as much as 75 mph. For security, they have to be flown behind or to the facet of rivals. Swapping batteries requires a fast change that one broadcast government likened to an F1 pit cease. Drones have been utilized in Olympic protection since 2014, however their expanded use in Italy stemmed from organizers’ need to seize the eye of informal sports activities followers they are saying make up half the viewing viewers.
“We use a technological innovation,” stated Yiannis Exarchos, the CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services, “only if it adds to the story that we’re telling.”
Photo of the day
When to observe
Mikaela Shiffrin seems to be to rebound after a disappointing run earlier within the Games when she competes in girls’s large slalom. Erin Jackson seems to be to defend her title within the 500 meters, competing towards the Dutch duo of Jutta Leerdam and Femke Kok amongst others. Elana Meyers Taylor, essentially the most embellished feminine bobsledder and Black Winter Olympian ever, will formally compete in her fifth Olympics when she takes half in girls’s monobob.
All occasions are in Eastern, and an asterisk signifies a medal occasion:
Sunday, Feb. 15
- 3:05 a.m.: Curling, males’s round-robin (USA vs. Sweden, Germany vs. Great Britain, Norway vs. Italy)
- 4 a.m.: Alpine snowboarding, girls’s large slalom run 1
- 4 a.m.: Bobsled, girls’s monobob warmth 1
- 4:30 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls 1/16 finals
- 5 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls 1/8 finals
- 5:15 a.m.: Biathlon, males’s 12.5km pursuit
- 5:20 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls quarterfinals
- 5:35 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls semifinals
- 5:46 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls finals*
- 5:50 a.m.: Bobsled, girls’s monobob warmth 2
- 6 a.m.: Cross-country snowboarding, males’s 4×7.5km relay*
- 6:10 a.m.: Men’s hockey, Switzerland vs. Czechia
- 7:30 a.m.: Alpine snowboarding, girls’s large slalom run 2*
- 7:45 a.m.: Snowboarding, combined staff cross quarterfinals
- 8:05 a.m.: Curling, girls’s round-robin (Japan vs. Korea, Denmark vs. Italy, Great Britain vs. Sweden, USA vs. China)
- 8:15 a.m.: Snowboarding, combined staff cross semifinals
- 8:35 a.m.: Snowboarding, combined staff cross finals*
- 8:45 a.m.: Biathlon, girls’s 10km pursuit
- 10 a.m.: Speedskating, males’s staff pursuit quarterfinals
- 10:40 a.m.: Men’s hockey, Canada vs. France
- 11:03 a.m.: Speedskating, girls’s 500 meters*
- 12 p.m.: Skeleton, combined staff*
- 12:45 p.m.: Ski leaping, girls’s giant hill particular person spherical 1
- 1:05 p.m.: Curling, males’s round-robin (China vs. Canada, USA vs. Norway, Italy vs. Czechia, Great Britain vs. Switzerland)
- 1:30 p.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s freeski huge air qualification 1
- 1:45 p.m.: Figure skating, pair skating brief program
- 1:57 p.m.: Ski leaping, girls’s giant hill particular person closing spherical*
- 2:15 p.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s freeski huge air qualification 2
- 3 p.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s freeski huge air qualification 3
- 3:10 p.m.: Men’s hockey, USA vs. Germany
- That’s it for now! We’ll be again tomorrow.