7 U.S. Women Who Made History at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games
The Olympics are all about high-stakes, high-drama competition, and it’s been no different with the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang. In the last two weeks, athletes from around the world have achieved amazing feats and firsts in 102 events across 15 different sports.
As the games come to a close on Sunday (see below for details on when/how to watch the closing ceremony), we take a look at the Team USA women whose kickass performances will live on in the history books well beyond PyeongChang.
1. Mirai Nagasu
On February 12, the 24-year-old figure skater from California became the first U.S. woman and third ever to land a triple Axel at the Olympics during her performance in the women’s free skating portion of the team competition.
The triple Axel, which involves three and a half rotations, is particularly challenging because it’s the only jump with a forward (versus backward) takeoff. Only eight women in history, including Nagasu, have been able to successfully land a triple Axel in competition.
Nagasu nailed the move just 21 seconds into her nearly flawless routine, scoring 137.53—her personal best and the second highest of the ladies free skate. This helped Team USA secure bronze in the team competition later that night.
2. Chloe Kim
When 17-year-old Kim nabbed first place in the women’s snowboarding halfpipe competition on February 13, she became the youngest-ever gold medalist in that event and the first female to land consecutive 1080s in the halfpipe at the Olympics. Even more impressive? She did so while tweeting about ice cream, breakfast sandwiches, and hanger, which was probably (read: definitely) a world first as well.
Kim’s dazzling (and dizzying) Olympic performance earned a near-perfect score of 98.25, which was 8.5 points more than the silver medalist, Liu Jiayu of China.
But this wasn’t Kim's first history-making feat. At 15, the Californian became the first female snowboarder in history to land back-to-back 1080-degree spins in competition. She’s also a four-time X Games gold medalist.
3. Lindsey Vonn
Four-time Olympian and World Cup champion Vonn, 33, won bronze in the women’s downhill skiing competition on February 21, becoming the oldest female Alpine skiing medalist in Olympic history. Her time of 1:39.69 came in 0.38 seconds behind Norwegian silver medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel, 25, and 0.47 seconds behind Italian gold medalist Sofia Goggia, also 25.
Vonn, who plans to retire after next winter’s racing season, won gold in the same event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver but wasn’t able to defend her title at the 2014 Sochi Games due to an ACL injury.
After the medal ceremony in PyeongChang, Vonn delivered a tear-jerking speech about her late grandfather, Don Kildow, who died in November and had helped teach her how to ski. The Coloradan dedicated the 2018 Winter Games to him, and skied with his initials inscribed on her helmet.
4. Jamie Anderson
By winning gold in slopestyle and silver in big air, the 27-year-old Californian became the first female snowboarder to take home two medals from one Olympics.
In the slopestyle finals on February 12, Anderson overcame exceedingly windy conditions to secure the highest score of 83.00, edging out Canadian silver medalist Laurie Blouin by 6.67 points and successfully defending the gold medal she won at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Then, just three days later during the finals of big air, a new Winter Olympic event this year, she landed a front-side 1080, one of the sport’s toughest maneuvers, which nabbed her a total of 177.25 points for a second-place finish behind Austrian Anna Gasser.
With three Olympic medals now under her belt, Anderson joins Shaun White and Kelly Clark as snowboarding’s only three-time Olympic medalists.
5. Elana Meyers Taylor
When Meyers Taylor and her teammate, brakeman Lauren Gibbs, won silver Wednesday night in PyeongChang, Taylor joined Steven Holcomb and Patrick Martin as one of the most decorated U.S. Olympic bobsledders—they each have won three medals.
Meyers Taylor and Gibbs finished just 0.07 seconds behind Germany's Mariana Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz.
In Sochi, Meyers Taylor became the most winningest U.S. woman in the sport, so this win continues her streak. She also helps continue Team USA's streak as the only nation to medal at every Games since women's bobsled became an Olympic sport in 2002. Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries of Canada are also the only women in the world who have won three Olympic bobsled medals.
6. Jessie Diggins and 7. Kikkan Randall
Diggins, a 26-year-old from Minnesota, and Randall, a 35-year-old from Utah, broke the U.S.’s 42-year cross-country skiing medal drought with their first-place finish in the women’s freestyle team sprint event on February 21. The badass duo made history as the first American women to ever win a medal—let alone a gold medal—in cross-country skiing.
It was an unexpected and nail-biting victory, as Diggins powered from behind to eclipse gold-medal favorites Norway and Sweden in the final lap, inching into first place with just 25 meters remaining.
As a nod to Diggins’s gutsy performance, the United States Olympic Committee announced today that she was selected by fellow Team USA members to carry the American flag in Sunday’s closing ceremony. Diggins, who notched four other top-six finishes at the 2018 Winter Games, is the first cross-country skier to be selected as the U.S. flag bearer for the closing ceremony.
How and when to watch the closing ceremony:
The 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony will begin this Sunday, February 25, at 6 A.M. E.T. (8 P.M. Korean Standard Time). You can watch the festivities as they happen live, but there won’t be any TV anchor commentary. The produced broadcast will air later that day on NBC at 8 P.M. EST. To learn more, visit nbcolympics.com.
