While you were sleeping: Mikaela Shiffrin nabs giant slalom gold, pulls out of Super-G

Tanya Ray Fox

While most of the United States was fast asleep, the Winter Olympics were in full swing on the other side of the world in PyeongChang, South Korea. Luckily we stayed awake to monitor the fun. Here are the most important things that you missed while you were sleeping.

Results

ALPINE SKIING: Team USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin took home gold in women’s giant slalom, the first of four alpine disciplines in which she’ll compete in PyeongChang. Her total time of 2:20:02 was enough to edge Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel by less than a half of a second. Italy’s Federica Brignone won the bronze.

FIGURE SKATING: German pairs skaters Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot became the Cinderella story of the Winter Games thus far with their emotional and historic gold medal win. Savchenko is one Germany’s most decorated skaters, but the gold had eluded her through four previous Olympic appearances. She and Massot earned 159.31 points in their free skate, setting a world record. Their 235.90 points topped China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong by less than half a point. Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won bronze.

ICE HOCKEY: The rivalry between the Canadian and American women’s teams was on display during their group play showdown. The U.S. outshot Canada 45-23 only to lose 2-1 in overtime, a familiar finish that echoed the American women’s heartbreaking loss to Canada in overtime of the gold medal game in Sochi in 2014.

Click here for more of the day’s results.

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Headlines

Mikaela Shiffrin will not race in Super-G, ending potential quest for five golds: American superstar skier Mikaela Shiffrin will not participate in Saturday’s Super-G event, ending speculation that she would attempt to win five events at the PyeongChang Olympics, per her declaration four years ago in Sochi … Continue reading.

Adam Rippon tweets about Parkland from PyeongChang: ‘These shootings have to stop’: The 28-year-old figure skater and breakout star at the 2018 Games put his moment in the spotlight into perspective on a day when 17 people lost their lives to mass murder in Parkland, Florida, at the hands of a 19-year-old armed with an AR-15 … Continue reading.

Austrian snowboarder breaks his neck in scary fall: In one of the worst moments of the Winter Games so far, Austrian snowboarder Markus Schairer crashed during the men’s snowboard cross quarterfinals on Thursday, breaking the fifth cervical vertebra in his neck. Thankfully he is in stable condition … Continue reading.

Nathan Chen’s list of top 5 all-time NBA All-Stars is something else: The American figure skater and NBA superfan’s list of the greatest All-Stars ever definitely reveals his youth, and his blatant Utah Jazz bias … Continue reading.

More Olympic coverage from Yahoo Sports:
• Olympic snowboarder breaks neck after scary fall (video)
• Skating coach warned after attempting to fix Sochi race
• Chen’s top five NBA all-time All-Stars list is total nonsense
• Busbee: Video gamers may be getting Olympic medals soon
• Wetzel: We’ve already seen enough, bring the NHL back to Olympic hockey