Winter Olympics Sochi 2014: Day 9

The controversy all started yesterday when the US Speedskating and Short Track team said they would be ditching their Olympic suits from Under Armour in favor of old suits that they wore for qualifying and Worlds. Thus far, the US team has been shut out of medals in these Games; Saturday was no exception. There were three more events-- in short track the ladies' 1,500 m and the men's 1,000 m and in speedskating the men's 1,500 m. The highest any American finished was Emily Scott in the ladies' event and she was in fifth place. So the big question continues, what is going on with the US Team in short track and speedskating? Shani Davis? Brian Hansen? JR Celski? Emily Scott? Heather Richardson? This is probably not just the biggest surprise of day nine, but one of the biggest surprises of this entire Games.

    from NBC Olympics website

For Shani Davis, the disappointment continues as the 1,500 was the event he wanted the most. Brodka and Davis were actually paired and the big shock was that Brodka came out the winner, the first gold for Poland in speedskating. Shocking.

    from BBC.com website

Victor An added to his hardware at this Olympics, he had a bronze and added a gold. Victor An continued his dominance in short track and helped the Russian's to go one and two in the 1,000 m. Arianna Fontana is also now a two time medalist at this Games adding a bronze medal to go with her silver; Denny Morrison did the same.

The Netherlands continued to add to their medal count at the rink at this Olympics, on Saturday they added a silver medal and a bronze.

Yang Zhou repeated her medal in the 1,500 where she also won gold in Vancouver four years ago.

The Results:

Short Track: Ladies' 1,500 m

1. Yang Zhou, China, 2:19.140
2. Suk Hee Shim, Korea, 2:19.239
3. Arianna Fontana, Italy, 2:19.146

5. Emily Scott, USA, 2:39.436

Short Track: Men's 1,000 m

1. Victor An, Russian Federation, 1:25.325
2. Vladimir Grigorev, Russian Federation, 1:25.399
3. Sjinkie Knegt, Netherlands, 1:25.611

Speedskating: Men's 1,500 m

1. Zbigniew Brodka, Poland, 1:45.006
2. Koen Verweij, Netherlands, 1:45.009
3. Denny Morrison, Canada, 1:45.22

7. Brian Hansen, USA, 1:45.59
11. Shani Davis, USA, 1:45.98

In Skeleton, the US team added a bronze medal when Matthew Antoine had the best runs of his career.

The Results:

Skeleton: Men's

1. Alexander Tretiakov, Russian Federation, total time: 3:44.29
2. Martins Dukurs, Latvia, total time: 3:45.10
3. Matthew Antoine, USA, total time: 3:47.26

Eight appears to be the magic number for Julia Mancuso, so far the only US medalist in skiing thus far at these Games. She finished third in the women's super combined slalom, but then finished eighth on Wednesday in the women's downhill and today she finished eighth in the women's super g. Atop the podium was first time winner and Olympic medalist Anna Fenninger of Austria. Hoefl Reisch or Germany and Hosp of Austria added to the medal count at these Games.

The Results:

Alpine Skiing: Women's Super G

1. Anna Fenninger, Austria, 1:25.52
2. Maria Hoelf Reisch, Germany, 1:26.07
3. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 1:26.18

8. Julia Mancuso, USA, 1:27.04

    from Sochi 2014 website

About one week ago, Kamil Stoch from Poland won a gold in ski jumping for the men's normal hill, today he repeated with a gold, this time in the men's large hill. He didn't expect a win, but it happened. He is only the third athlete to win double jumping golds in the same Winter Games. Kasai who won a silver medal has competed in his 7th Olympics at the age of 41, 20 years after winning a silver medal in Lillehammer in team competition. Peter Prevc won silver in the normal hill and picked up a bronze today, so there is real dominance in this sport.

The Results:

Ski Jumping: Men's Large Hill Individual

1. Kamil Stoch, Poland, total: 278.7
2. Noriaki Kasai, Japan, total: 277.4
3. Peter Prevc, Slovenia, total: 274.8

    from NBC Olympics website