Winter Olympics Sochi 2014: Day 4

Day 4 was Julia Mancuso's day. She won what Bode Miller called, "a hard earned" bronze and Picabo Street said she "rocked". Mancuso became the U.S.'s most decorated Alpine Skier competing in three Olympic Games and winning four medals. Mancuso hasn't trained much in slalom this year, but working in her favor were the warmer weather conditions and the soft snow, similar to the conditions she trains in in California. Talk about good company, Mancuso joins Bonnie Blair and Apolo Ohno as the only Americans to medal at three Winter Games. She sited her grandfather who died a year ago as her inspiration for this Games because he so closely followed her skiing career. Gold Medalist Hoelf Reisch  of Germany (friend of Lindsay Vonn's) could win up to five medals at this Games.

The Results:

Alpine Skiing: Women's Super Combined Slalom

1. Maria Hoelf Reisch Germany, 2:34.62
2. Nicole Hosp Austria, 2:35.02
3. Julia Mancuso USA, 2:35.15

The US Women's Ice Hockey team is all business as they soundly beat Switzerland 9-0!

Exciting night on the short track tonight as the Men's 1,500 m medalists were determined. The US team did have hope with J.R. Celski, but he finished just off the podium in fourth place. He made the rookie mistake of not moving up soon enough. By the time he started to move up, he couldn't dig himself out of fourth place because he didn't have any more time. For gold medalist Charles Hamelin, this was his weakest race, so I must wonder what his strong races look like. Lastly, Victor An earned Russia their first medal in short track.

The Results:

Short Track: Men's 1,500 m

1. Charles Hamelin Canada, 2:14.985
2. Tianya Han China, 2:15.055
3. Victor An Russian Federation, 2:15.062

4. J.R. Celski USA 2:15.624

What surprised me on day four? The Netherlands did it again, they swept another speedskating event. Even more than one country sweeping yet another event, this time around, twin brothers ended up on the podium winning gold and bronze in the Men's 500 m. If you'll recall on day two, two Canadian sisters, the Dufour Lapointe's made it atop the podium in freestyle skiing winning gold and silver. Apparently, sibling rivalry has taken on a whole new meaning.

photo from sochi2014.com

The Results:

Speedskating: Men's 500 m

1. Michel Mulder Netherlands, race one: 34.63, race two: 34.67, total: 69.312
2. Jan Smeekens Netherlands, race one: 34.59, race two: 34.72, total: 69.324
3. Ronald Mulder Netherlands, race one: 34.969, race two: 34.49, total: 69.46

Another country that continued to dominate a discipline was Canada in moguls, I already mentioned that the Dufour Lapointe's went gold and silver in the Women's Moguls. Today, two Canadian men won gold and silver in Men's Moguls. Although they are not blood, they are friends. What's more is that gold medalist Alex Bilodeau was the defending Champion from Vancouver and he dug deep and did it again.

The Results:

Freestyle Skiing: Men's Moguls

1. Alex Bilodeau Canada, Score: 26.31
2. Mikael Kingsbury Canada, Score: 24.71
3. Alexandr Smyshlyaev Russian Federation, Score: 24.34

photo from sochi2014.com