❄️ Day 10: Slalom Meltdowns and Monobob Miracles 🛷
If today taught us anything, it’s that the Olympics can be the cruelest stage or the most rewarding. Mother Nature threw a tantrum, but the athletes threw down some legendary performances.
🦅 Women’s Large Hill: The Historic Flight
For the first time ever, the women’s large hill was contested at the Olympics, and watching these ladies fly was absolutely breathtaking. It was a massive moment for the sport, even if Team USA had a bit of a "Lemony Snicket" kind of day.
The Heartbreak: Our girls gave it their all, but luck just wasn't on our side. One of our jumpers suffered an injury during the event, and another was disqualified because her skis were too long for her weight—the technicalities in this sport are brutal! Our third jumper made it through but didn't quite get the distance needed for the podium.
The Podium: Team Norway proved they own the air today.
🥇 Gold: Anna Odine Strøm (Norway) — She is now a double-gold medalist!
🥈 Silver: Eirin Maria Kvandal (Norway)
🥉 Bronze: Nika Prevc (Slovenia)
🥌 Men’s Curling: Down to the Wire
Final: USA 10, Norway 8
Talk about a nail-biter! This match against Norway went all the way to the very last throw of the 10th end. Team USA stayed composed under massive pressure to pull out the 10-8 win. It was a tactical battle of the minds, and the Americans came out on top!
⛷️ Men’s Slalom: The Stelvio Stomp
This was, without a doubt, the most unbelievable race I’ve ever seen. It felt like "Slalom Karma" was in full effect. We saw the weather flip-flop from perfect sunshine to a blinding snow squall and back again within minutes.
The Carnage: In the first round, the conditions were so treacherous that 44 out of 96 skiers (nearly half the field!) did not finish. We're talking about the best in the world—including many top seeds—just skiing out or wiping out.
The Silver Lining: Because so many favorites went down, the second round was a beautiful sight. We got to see countries that rarely get the spotlight—Haiti, Iceland, Chile, and African nations—all skiing down that hill. It was fantastic to see the "universality" of the Games in action!
The Results:
🥇 Gold: Loïc Meillard (Switzerland) — He survived the squalls to take his third medal of the Games!
🥈 Silver: Fabio Gstrein (Austria)
🥉 Bronze: Henrik Kristoffersen (Norway)
We have to talk about Atle Lie McGrath. He was sitting in the catbird seat—number one after the first round. But in round two, the pressure (and that tricky course) got him. He straddled an early gate, and honestly, you could feel his frustration through the screen. He didn't just walk off; he threw his poles, kicked off his skis, and eventually crawled through the fence to stomp off into the snowy woods alone. It was heartbreaking to see a gold medal slip away like that.
🛷 Women’s Monobob: The track Record and the Gold!
Team USA came into the day sitting pretty in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th spots, and boy, did they deliver.
The Winner: Elana Meyers Taylor is officially the Queen of the Hill! She pulled out a track record in her third run to leapfrog into the top spot. At 41 years old, she’s now the oldest American woman to win Winter Gold!
The Podium: 🥇 Elana Meyers Taylor (USA), 🥈 Laura Nolte (Germany), 🥉 Kaillie Humphries (USA). Two medals for Team USA in the "House of Speed!"
⛸️ Pairs Figure Skating: A Topsy-Turvy Finale
Today was all about the side-by-side jumps. If you could land them, you were on the podium. If you couldn't... well, just ask Team USA. Our pairs struggled with their jumps and unfortunately finished in 7th (Emily Chan / Spencer Howe) and 9th (Ellie Kam / Danny O’Shea).
The Surprise: Japan (Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara) skated the routine of their lives. No falls, perfect lifts, and absolute synchronicity. They took the Gold—Japan's first-ever in this event! They even surprised themselves and completely broke down in tears on the ice!
The Rest: Georgia (Metelkina / Berulava) stayed solid for the Silver, while the first-run leaders from Germany (Hase / Volodin) had too many mistakes and slipped to Bronze.
🏒 Women’s Hockey: The Semi-Final Shutout
Final: USA 5, Sweden 0
Team USA put on a clinic. Aerin Frankel was a brick wall in the net with 21 saves for the shutout. The scoring was spread out, but a late second-period blitz with goals from Abbey Murphy, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Hayley Scamurra put the game out of reach. Sweden was not happy about the lopsided score, but the U.S. is moving on to the Gold Medal game!
🚀 Women’s Freeski Big Air: High-Flying Revenge
The weather was a bit better here, allowing for some massive air.
🥇 Gold: Megan Oldham (Canada) — She avenged her 4th place finish from 2022 with a massive 180.75 score.
🥈 Silver: Eileen Gu (China) — Another silver for the "Snow Princess."
🥉 Bronze: Flora Tabanelli (Italy) — She delighted the home crowd with a clutch final run.
🦅 Men’s Super Team Ski Jump: Shortened by the Storm
This event was supposed to be three rounds, but those same snow squalls that hit the slalom forced officials to cancel the final round.
🥇 Gold: Austria (Jan Hoerl & Stephan Embacher)
🥈 Silver: Poland (Kacper Tomasiak & Pawel Wasek)
🥉 Bronze: Norway (Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal & Johann Andre Forfang)
⛸️ Women’s 1000m Short Track: Dutch Dominance
"Team Orange" continues to own the ice.
🥇 Gold: Xandra Velzeboer (Netherlands) — She secured the 500m/1000m double!
🥈 Silver: Courtney Sarault (Canada)
🥉 Bronze: Kim Gilli (South Korea)
🛷 Men’s Two-Man Bobsled: The German Wall
After the first two runs, Germany is currently holding the top three spots (led by Johannes Lochner). But Team USA’s Frank Del Duca is sitting in a dangerous 4th place, just a tenth of a second off the podium! Even crazier—Romania is sitting in 5th.
📺 Tonight on NBC Primetime (8:00 PM ET)
The Monobob Masterclass: Watch Elana Meyers Taylor’s record-breaking run for Gold.
Slalom Drama: See the "Stomp through the Snow" from McGrath.
Figure Skating Highlights: The beautiful (and heartbreaking) Pairs Free Skate.
🗓️ Looking Ahead: Day 11 (Tuesday, Feb 17)
Buckle up, because Day 11 is all about the "Need for Speed" and the "Grace on Ice." Here is the full breakdown of what’s hitting the mountains and the rinks.
Morning Session (Starting 2:00 AM ET)
🥌 2:05 AM — Men’s Curling: USA vs. China. After that heart-stopping win over Norway, the American men need to keep the momentum rolling. A win here puts them in a great spot for the playoffs.
⛷️ 4:00 AM — Men’s Aerials Qualification: Watch for Team USA’s Chris Lillis and Quinn Dehlinger to launch some massive "Full-Double-Full-Full" jumps to secure a spot in the finals.
🛷 4:30 AM — Men’s Two-Man Bobsled (Heats 3 & 4): 🥇 MEDAL EVENT. This is the big one for Frank Del Duca. He’s sitting in 4th place, just a blink of an eye behind the Germans. Can he break up the German sweep and grab a medal?
🏂 5:00 AM — Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Finals: 🥇 MEDAL EVENT. After today’s chaotic weather, let’s hope for clear skies so our girls can stick their landings and hunt for more hardware.
🎿 5:30 AM — Nordic Combined (Large Hill/10km): 🥇 MEDAL EVENT. The "Iron Men" of the Olympics take to the big hill first, then a grueling 10km cross-country race to decide the medals.
Afternoon & Evening Session (Starting 12:45 PM ET)
⛸️ 12:45 PM — Women’s Figure Skating (Short Program): The individual competition finally begins! Keep your eyes on the "Blade Angels"—Alysa Liu, Isabeau Levito, and Amber Glenn. They’re facing off against Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto in what’s going to be a battle of technical brilliance.
🏒 2:00 PM — Men’s Hockey: Qualification Playoffs. The "win or go home" stage starts now for the teams that didn't get a bye. Every hit is harder and every goal is bigger from here on out.
⛸️ 2:15 PM — Women’s 3000m Short Track Relay Final: 🥇 MEDAL EVENT. This is absolute chaos on skates. Expect some leaning, some shoving, and a whole lot of speed.
🚀 2:30 PM — Men’s Freeski Big Air Final: 🥇 MEDAL EVENT. Mac Forehand topped the qualifiers—if he lands his "Triple Cork," he could be looking at the top step of the podium.
⛸️ 3:20 PM — Speed Skating: Men’s & Women’s Team Pursuit Finals: 🥇 MEDAL EVENT. The ultimate test of synchronization and stamina. Team USA has a legitimate shot at the podium here.
📺 Tonight on NBC Primetime (8:00 PM ET)
NBC is focusing on the "Comebacks and Classics" tonight:
🛷 The Monobob Queen: Re-watch Elana Meyers Taylor’s historic, track-record-breaking run for the Gold.
⛸️ Pairs Perfection: Highlights from the historic Gold medal performance by Japan and that heartbreaking finish for the Germans.
⛷️ Slalom Survival: A look back at the "Snow Squall" chaos and that legendary pole-throwing exit by McGrath.
🏒 The Shutout: All the best goals from the Women’s Hockey 5-0 dominant win over Sweden.
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