A Curling Medal and a Glory Run

Hello and welcome to Sports Illustrated's Daily Rings, SI's daily Olympics podcast.

I'm Mitch Golddi here as always with Dan Gartland.

Gart, it is late on day three.

We just finished watching the figure skating tribute to the 90s.

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

I want you to tell me, uh, about your morning after being up, uh, until the wee hours after editing our Super Bowl coverage.

Yeah, nobody cares about my morning specifically, but yes, I'm a little bit, uh, a little bit lighter in the notes today.

Thank you.

Uh, you, I think you'll be doing some heavy lifting.

Uh, yes, I was up until about 2:30 in the morning, uh, editing NFL coverage, which people can absolutely check out, uh, at Sports Illustrated SI.

com.

Go visit the MMQB.

Uh, we have lots of great stories.

Um, so yes, I was not.

At, uh, for the, the 3 a.m. luge trials or some of the 55 a.m. hour skiing.

I'm gonna lean on you for some stuff in the morning.

But I feel caught up.

I, I don't have as many notes as I usually do, but I, I caught some action.

Don't you worry.

It was a lighter schedule, and there was a helpful little break, uh, from like 9 to 10:40 a.m. I think when there was just nothing live happening.

So I'm, I'm somewhat caught.

I've had some more editing responsibilities later.

Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm good to go.

Let's talk Olympics.

Here we go.

Do, do you want to get into the action on the, on the field of play today?

Should we start with a little bit of news?

Uh, we can start with news.

It's, it's a dealer's choice, as I said, following your lead on this one.

So if you want news, let's, let's do news.

I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know if you had seen this news about the, the medals themselves, this cross your radar.

Uh, it did.

I actually, I almost brought this up yesterday, but, uh, but held off for today.

So , so yeah, take it away.

OK, yeah, so there's been a development in this story, right?

So there's a, uh, athlete's been complaining about the quality of the medals themselves that they've been awarded, um, among them, Breezy Johnson, the skier, and Alyssa Liu, the figure skater from the US, um.

The ribbon that, you know, you wear it around your neck, the ribbon has been coming uh loose from the medal itself, and the athlete, uh, Johnson, she was like jumping around after, you know, being presented with the medal, and the thing fell off at the ground.

So, um, a lot of athletes experiencing this issue and, uh, the committee said something they're looking into.

They're going to figure out if it's a problem with the metal or, you know, it seems like maybe they might try to blame it on the athletes, we'll see.

But, um, a quote here from Andrea Franchisi, who's the chief games operation officer for the Milan Cortina Committee.

He says, quote, this is from the Associated Press, uh, we are aware of the situation.

We have seen the images.

Obviously, we are trying to understand in detail if there is a problem, but obviously, we are paying maximum attention to this matter as the medal is the dream of the athletes.

So we want that obviously in the moment they are given it, uh, everything is absolutely perfect because we really consider it to be the most important moment, so we are, we are working on it.

Um, it's like you said, it's a, it's a really big moment and it's been kind of tarnished by this, um, low quality meal, and so, uh, hopefully this gets rectified soon.

Yeah, big hot take here.

The medals are important to the athletes.

They, they want them, uh, given to them after they win, and they'd like to take them home, uh, in one piece and have them for the rest of their lives.

Yeah, I love, you know, we're, oh, we're monitoring the situation.

Don't worry, that's, uh, sure, but I, I think I did see that.

This kind of thing does happen from time to time, and they do, they'll fix it and, and make things right.

I think it just doesn't happen as often as it seems to be happening, uh, this time around.

And yeah, I mean, if it's a problem with the ribbon, that feels like it's easy to fix.

That's not like the, the metal itself would be a little bit more difficult.

And it's the second Olympics in a row that we've had issues with the medals, if you recall, uh, actually, it, it did actually come out during the 202024 Olympics, but, uh, shortly thereafter, many athletes began complaining that their their medals become tarnished and, uh, we're looking, you know, they had lost their luster, they get them, they're all shiny, and then they take them out a few months later and they go, what the hell, this is all.

It looks like it's been, you know, sitting in a dirty sink.

Um, and so they've received hundreds of requests to replace the tarnished metals, you know, but there's a whole process.

You can go on the Olympic website and if you are an athlete, they have instructions there for how to get them replaced.

So, yeah, like you said, it's something they, they definitely try to rectify once they're made aware of an issue, but just funny that it's happened now twice in a row.

Yeah, well, and, and we know that sometimes they'll award medals like many, many years after the fact when somebody fails a drug test and they find out or someone else is disqualified.

So obviously they've got a process, uh, that they can go to the book and figure out how to do this, and they can get people their proper medals.

So that's, that's good to see.

Yeah, it's a little unfortunate you want the like.

Photo op and, and I'm sure they walk around and and show them off to people, um, but hopefully everyone, yeah, gets that, that's all.

That's, that's an easy one.

That's like when you make a to do list of all the important things you have to do, it's like the medals, and then the hockey arena, and then some other things, but like the medals are up toward the top of the list.

I think we'll use that as an opportunity to transition to who actually won some medals today.

Some people early in the morning, Mitch, you might have, did you were able to catch up on the slopestyle.

Hang on there before we get to the action.

I had more news.

Have you been following this?

Have you been following the, uh, speaking of, of medal podiums, have you been following this figure skating podium story about the, uh, damaging the figure skates?

Have you seen any of this?

Oh, I haven't seen this, no.

Oh, well , then I'm, I'm happy to bring this to your attention.

Um, yeah, so I was following, I saw a couple of people posting about this, um, early this morning, um, Christine Brennan at USA Today, and Jackie Wong, who, uh, I know does a lot of figure skating coverage.

I'm forgetting for what outlet at the moment.

Sorry.

Um, and actually, I was reading a couple of things from Christine Brennan.

I feel like one of the things, uh, that's a little unfortunate about our timing is you and I try to, uh, Um, rush these tapings out, like right after the day ends, so people have it in their feeds.

And so we, we missed some of the, uh, sort of postgame conversation in some of these sports, and that happened a couple days ago.

Um, Ilya Malinin gave like an interesting quote about like 50% and there was like, uh, there were like some questions about whether he was talking about like his effort level or something else, and his agent had to like, clean it up.

There was also a story.

We had talked a few days ago now about, um, Olly Martin, the, um, big air snowboarder, uh, who finished 4th, and there was like a judging controversy.

And so sometimes, like, some of these things that happen late in the day, um, we just don't have.

But anyway, I was reading, um, Christine Brennan had a very good column after the, um, the team figure skating, which we talked about at length on yesterday's show, and she just wrote about the fact that the team event was kind of a dud, the 1st 3 times they did it.

2014, 2018, and 202022.

She called it, uh, quote, OK, but underwhelming, and then she wrote, Sunday night it arrived, and so did Ilya Mallin and uh is the end of her tweet.

And so that was just interesting.

I know she's covered figure skating forever and just seeing her perspective on it and how this was like really, um, almost like a transformative thing for the, the figure skating team event, um, but she dove into the issue we've talked about, about Ilya Mallinin, um, and she says from the column.

Uh, Ilya didn't want to skate the long program in the Olympic figure skating team competition.

He wanted to rest up for the more important individual men's event beginning Tuesday.

His coaches felt the same way, it was a definite no.

When US figure skating called upon him late Saturday night, saying the event was going to be too close, potentially lost without him, he had no choice but say yes.

It turned out to be the best decision of his young career.

And then he gave her quotes, and he said, absolutely, this is the, this is the smartest decision I've ever made, um, and talks about the.

Uh, the environment and getting a chance to be out there and to be able to win with everyone.

So that was cool.

But the, the other thing that I wanted to bring up, which Christine Brennan was tweeting about early this morning, is that I guess there was an issue on the podium itself.

So she tweeted, US skaters had to visit the skate sharpener in the arena after the medal ceremony Sunday.

The top of the medal podium was not covered in carpet or a similar soft surface, leading to scratches and potentially damage to their skates.

Uh, so then I saw again Jackie Wong talking about this, and then, um, Jay Busby of Yahoo has a statement from the, um, the Milan Cortina organizing committee to Yahoo on the podium.

Says, quote, uh, during the figure skating team event medal ceremony, the anti-slip surface of the podium caused some damage to the athletes' skates.

Uh, they are taking steps to replace the surface to prevent a reoccurrence, um, and to minimize the damage to their preparations.

They've made a skate sharpening service available.

Sorry, I'm sort of skimming and paraphrasing here.

They've also offered additional training sessions to those groups that are impacted, and then blah blah blah we.

understand the importance.

We apologize.

We want the best possible conditions for all the athletes.

So very interesting.

It was funny.

Uh, initially it was like, oh, I don't think they had the surface.

And then, uh, the statement was like, oh, no, the, the anti-slip surface just didn't work or something.

So it's just like a funny thing.

Like, of course, we had one, it just didn't work.

Uh, but anyway, interesting story.

I mean, imagine going over there and you're in this figure skating competition over multiple, uh, medal events going over multiple days.

And you win and get on the medal podium and damage your skates as a result.

Um, awful.

I'm, I'm sure people have like backup skates, but we've talked so much about equipment at these Olympics and like, what's more important than figure skates when you're going at, at those speeds and spinning so tightly and like every, just like millimeter matters so much.

Um, but yeah, hopefully everyone gets to sharpen their skates and, and fix themselves up and we get all the equipment in good working order.

But that was, that was just like a crazy story I saw.

Yeah, I, I didn't see that, but it makes sense, you know, like you said, the skate is, is the, that's their whole equipment, you know, it's that's, that's the, and you see, you know, we, there was a lot of talk on commentary during today's figure skating action about or ice dancing, I should say.

About how, you know, just like a couple of millimeters on a skate can really make a big difference and um, yeah, so obviously that's a big, a big factor when you're talking about, you know, the, the winner's podium, it's a little ironic that damaging your chances of maybe winning again, but uh sounds like they got it under control.

Yeah, I'm sure they'll figure it out and, and I'm sure again, they've got everybody has to have contingencies for everything, and they must have, you know, they, they're gonna make sharpeners available, and I'm sure this has happened in competitions where they say, OK, we have to, we have to get a quick sharpen in um before we take the ice again.

All right, with that, now I'm ready for you to transition to some of the events, and if you want to start in the morning, I will let you take the lead here.

OK, I will start in the morning.

Uh , did, now this was early, so, uh, Mitch just told us about his work schedule.

I'll tell you about mine.

So I was up, you know, about 6, 6:30 this morning, starting to write about the Super Bowl that I had seen the night before, and, uh, so I'm, I'm writing my newsletter and I've got the women's slopestyle ski on the, uh, on the background.

Um, trying to pay dual attention to that and to what I'm writing, uh, a little bit tricky, but, um, but, did you catch up on the results of this one, or, or are you going in totally blind here?

Um, I caught up a little bit.

Again, I'm, I'm, I'm leaning on you, but I, I saw that, I watched the highlights, but I don't have like detailed notes on them.

Yeah, so this was a really good event.

Um, it was, it was like, you know, you talked about the men's big air, that, that, uh , person being caught calling, calling it, uh, boring.

Opposite of that here.

So, um, but one thing I, I should, I should point out right off the top, and that I was confused about, and our listeners should keep in mind as they're watching these events going forward, I was confused because in the big air competition, you take 3 runs and you combine your best 2.

So I'm watching this slopestyle and I'm thinking, OK, they're taking 3 runs, they're gonna combine their best 2.

No, not the case, you only take your top run counts for your score.

So, with that in mind, we'll get on to the results.

Um, this is a, a battle between Switzerland's Mathilde Grimaud and, uh, China's Eileen Gu.

You'll remember Grimaud won the gold in the slopestyle in Beijing in 2022.

Actually, maybe you don't remember because Gu was the uh the real star of those Olympics in the big air, in the um in the halfpipe.

She came in second to Grimaud in the, in the slopestyle.

Yeah, you also might not remember because the time zone differences in Beijing meant that that probably happened at like 4 o'clock in the morning, but yes, yeah, you gotta be a real maniac to watch on that one.

Um, so, yeah, so Grimaud is the, is the is the reigning champion.

Um, she's trying to defend her title.

So, Guo and Grimaud both have fantastic first runs.

The judges give a slight edge to Guo, I believe it was about 1 point.

Uh, on the second run, and I should mention, uh, Grimaud was going 2nd in this in this instance, cause they were like neck and neck in the qualifying as well.

Grimaud got the edge, it's setting up this big showdown between the two top finishers from the, uh, from the previous Olympics.

So, uh, Guo goes 1st, Grimaud goes 2nd, uh, the judges give a slight edge to Guo.

Then Grimaud has a fantastic 2nd run after Goo had fallen in her 2nd run.

And then Gu has one last chance, so, so, uh, Grimaud then, you know, vaults over Gu.

Guo has one more chance to pass Grimaud.

And she falls on the very first rail, like, immediately, like, I, you know, I'm just starting, I like, I barely looked up from my, my writing to see her start and she falls, and it was interesting because NBC had footage earlier in the competition um of Goo in warm-ups having trouble on this rail , and then sure enough, she's she's trying to do a fairly complex trick into this initial rail to set like a good, uh, you know, foundation for a run, falls on this first rail.

Um, and then, uh, with the, she has a, uh, you know, it would have been, she had a chance to put up a good run and have and win gold, just didn't happen.

So then, really cool moment, Mitch, you mentioned how in the, uh, I believe it was the cross-country, uh, skiathlon, you love when a race is so far, so far, uh, you know, somebody's winning by such a wide margin, they're able to grab their country's flag from the stands.

It's even better in a situation like this that Grimaud faced because she now is at the top of the mountain, the top of the, the, the slope.

Knowing that she has won the gold medal.

She's the last person to go, nobody else can catch her, she's already in 1st place, this score is not gonna count.

So she wraps the Swiss flag around her shoulders and she has like a, like a fun run down the mountain that includes, uh, you know, she doesn't really do, I think her score was like 15 out of 100, like, you know, she's not doing any tricks to impress the judges, she's just having a good time.

She goes off the big final jump and she does like a Superman pose with the cape flying behind her or the flag flying behind her.

Like a cape.

It was a really fantastic moment, uh, you know, went totally viral, uh, with that, that jump, and, um, yeah , Mitch, I, I know your sleep is important, but you missed a good one there.

I saw the replay, yeah, so they, the nickname for this is a glory run, they call it.

Yes, when you basically have it already, you have the gold medal locked up and you get to just go down.

And yeah, it was fun to see just sort of the casual nature of like, I don't have to do tricks, but I'm just gonna kind of like get up there, like, get a lot of air and sort of like shift my way to the side and pose a little bit.

Um, yeah, that was, that was an awesome moment, really cool to have that.

It's, you know, as like an athletic competition, it would be nice to see it come down to like, OK, this person, it's their last chance, and they need to nail this jump, and they nail it and stick the landing and get a perfect score.

But then it's also just like, no, this is really cool too, to just see somebody like get to have that celebratory moment.

Yeah, this, this was, uh, I love this.

This, this is great.

Yeah, she, she was doing it with the flag.

Like I don't know if that's something you think about and dream about, like if I have the opportunity to do this, but that was, that was cool.

I'll just, I'll just end here on a quote from Grimaud.

This is from a Yahoo story by Dan Wilkin.

Uh, she said, the level today was crazy.

Definitely the craziest competition we've had so far, women's skiing.

Like there was a lot of talk from, from Grimaud and from Gu about this being kind of a watershed moment for women's freestyle skiing, um, them being, you know, these two rivals going back and forth, having a great day, and, uh, just really, you know, wowing the fans, and they, they hope that it can be something that the sport can build on.

Um, speaking of celebrations, by the way, I actually, I had one more news story that I meant to bring up before we got into the action, uh, that I'll, I'll bring up now.

So you and I talked a lot yesterday about, uh, Benjamin Karl, the Austrian who won the parallel giant slalom, and then quickly removed several layers of clothing and flexed shirt.

Um, well, I saw a story from the AP that says, uh, the move may have seemed spontaneous, but it was actually a long-planned tribute to alpine skiing legend Hermann Meyer, who is also Austrian and was nicknamed the Herminator, who often celebrated victories in a similar manner.

And so, uh, here's a quote from Carl.

Uh, he says, he was one of the greatest skiers of all time in Austria and he once did this.

I always wanted to do the same.

I lost the chance in Beijing because I was so overwhelmed from emotions, and today I took the chance.

I needed to wait 25 years to make this pose like Herman.

Meyer, now I did it, and this is the crown of my career.

And that's just like, very cool cause it did seem spontaneous and he was so excited, and it's nice to know that he was actually doing it to pay tribute to his countrymen and a legend.

And the final postscript on this, does, does that name ring a bell to you, Herman Meyer?

I, I, it does slightly, yeah, and especially the nickname, um, yeah, I, I can't quite place it, but it does, it does sound familiar.

So you and I talked about him, uh, a few weeks before the games, because he is on a very famous cover of Sports Illustrated from February 1998, caught with uh the big headline Thrills and spills, and he is like.

Flailing through the sky, like clearly in the middle of the fall, and I actually uh have a canvas print of this cover on the bookshelf behind me.

I don't know if our uh editors, it's kind of hard to see cause it's behind a bunch of flags, um, and I don't know with my uh lighting set up if we could zoom in for the YouTube audience or something.

Um, but yeah, Herman Meyer, uh, Thrills and spills, uh, one of my favorite SI.

Covers and, uh, this other guy that we loved yesterday was doing a tribute to him on the cover, uh, or, you know, after winning a gold medal, after winning his second one.

And it was one that he wished he'd done the celebration 4 years later , or 4 years ago.

4 years later, he comes back, he wins the medal again, gets a second chance and does it as he's walking off into retirement.

So I thought that was a very cool moment and, and a fun little extra story we have on it.

Yeah, that is great.

You know, the, the premeditated celebration, not always a hit, you know, a lot of these, these, uh, really intensely choreographed NFL celebrations, you kind of go, all right, you guys spent all week practicing that.

But when there's that tie-in where you're honoring some, you know, previous Olympian from your home country, uh, that's gotta be cool.

Yeah, yep, yep, yep, loved it.

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Let's talk about a sport that I did watch a lot of today.

Should I, should I lead us into the curling, which might have been the highlight of the day for Team USA?

Um, so we've talked a lot about the mixed doubles curling team, partly because they've just been like playing every day, um, and playing pretty well, but, uh, we knew after yesterday that they had guaranteed themselves a spot in the, uh, semifinals.

They did have one last game in pool play, which came against Italy early in the morning.

They lost that game, didn't matter, but what happened was it set up a rematch with Italy in the semifinals, and this was an awesome game.

First off, I feel like every time I watch curling, I just learn more about it and gain new appreciation for the technical skill and all the stuff they're thinking about.

This was my like 4th day in a row watching it or 5th day or something, and uh like.

At the very start of the game, the announcer just starts casually talking about how they use stopwatches to measure splits, like early in the game of how fast the rock is traveling so they can help, uh, calibrate like what kind of speed the ice has that day, uh, and it's just like, OK, like nobody said that, like, great idea.

Just like the, the number of things that they're keeping track of is just like unbelievable to me.

Um.

So let me just, I'm gonna read you the scores, cause sometimes the box score doesn't always tell you like how exciting the game was, but I'm gonna read the box score like end by end.

So, down 0-2, tied 2-2, down 2-4, up 5-4, tied 5-5, up 7-5, down 7-8, up 9-8 for a win, just like as back and forth as you can imagine.

Um, it was very interesting because early they were, they fell behind 2 to 4, and they actually put a graphic up on the screen.

Another thing I like about it is they show you the, uh, like shooting percentage of all the players, um, and I don't know exactly how they calculate like what is a hit versus not in a game, but I, but I like that they put that up on the board and they showed it after the 3rd end and the US was down 4 to 2, but was like.

dominating and shooting percentage.

And so you look at that and sometimes you say like, OK, uh, they're playing better, just stay the course, they're gonna pick it up and, and, you know, the numbers will normalize and they'll win this, or you say like, oh my God, like horrible missed opportunity, like they're, they're outplaying them and they're still down anyway.

Um, but no, they, they, uh, came back, like, I guess, multiple times here, and the ending was.

Very dramatic.

Uh, as I said, they were down 7-8 going into the last end, and they picked up 2, they, um, they did have the hammer and they picked up 2 points to win 9-8.

So Italy had the second to last throw of the game, and, uh, there was, there was in a position, there were a bunch of stones around the button, and basically the US was in position where they were gonna score.

Italy, uh, throws it out and knocks a couple of US stones out of the way and actually moves into the scoring position.

But the funny part was they left a really clear opportunity for the US to knock them out of the way and take the points and win the match.

And so it led to this very funny moment where Team Italy, their two players are both like, just like totally bummed out, you can tell.

They both know like, oh my God, we screwed this up, we're going to lose.

This is horrible.

Meanwhile, the entire arena is cheering because all these fans are just looking at that, looking at the circle and seeing like, oh, they're scoring, they knocked him out of the way.

This is great.

We're going to take the lead.

And it was, and the broadcaster is like, and I'm paraphrasing here , but he was like, uh, they don't quite realize what's about to happen here.

And it just, it was like dramatic irony when you're like, why.

Watching a show and, and like you, the audience knows something the characters don't, and then all of a sudden the US uh comes in and has a great shot, just like plays it perfectly, scores 2 points.

They, if they had gotten 1, they would have gone to extra ends, but they got the 2, they win the match, uh, it's over.

So it was just like an awesome win for them to, uh, pick up.

They're now guaranteed a medal.

Um, and the other thing is that in the other semi-final.

Uh, Sweden upset Great Britain.

So Great Britain was the #1 seed and had beaten the US earlier in the tournament.

So now the gold medal match is going to be the US against Sweden, and the US beat Sweden, uh, yesterday in pool play.

So I don't know if that necessarily means that they're favored, but at least they'll go, they'll go in knowing, hey, we can beat this team, we just beat them two days in a row.

Uh, and even if they don't guarantee the silver, which is awesome, um, but a chance at a gold medal, so that'll be, uh, one of the top things I'm excited to watch tomorrow.

Yeah, this is a great match.

I was really locked in.

It really, I think we've been talking a lot about the curling in baseball terms lately, and this really drove that home for me, no pun intended, but just really emphasized that to me.

Um, you know, it really felt like a ground rule double to me just, just for a home run with this mixed double anyway, um, no, because, you know, you mentioned how, um, Italy has that, that 33 run innings, so to speak, in the, uh, in the 7th end, the, the 2nd to last end.

And then, um, you know, the US's opportunity to come back with the hammer.

It, it, it felt almost like, um, you know, you have this opportunity, everything is a fresh slate at the start of every end, um, you know, it's, it's, you know, base is empty, so to speak, right?

And then, I, I, you know, like, then they have, you know, you mentioned how the US had the hammer, and the importance of having the hammer in that final end and not and being able to uh get multiple points there and not go to the extra end, because then Italy would have the hammer and the extra end.

But, you know, to me, you know, the hammer is almost like, um, Having, you know, being at bat in the bottom of the ninth, right, at the end, and you have the opportunity to, to hit a home run like they did with that, that final throw, um, you know, I, I think maybe, maybe real curling fans are finding this kind of patronizing or, or simplistic, but I think, you know, for the casual fan who's just gotten into curling in the past couple of days, this, this might be a helpful way to think of things.

Um, and it's, you know, and, and the, and the athletes themselves are talking about, you know, like the, the pressure they're under, right, in that, that final end.

It was Corey TC, the, the female Corey who had the final throw of that end, um, and a great quote from NBC where she said, I was shaking a little bit, right?

So, you know, you get the, the, you can imagine just the drama there, uh, you know, it was really like a, like a bases loaded kind of situation, and she, uh, she drove it home.

Yeah, and actually one last thing I want to say, we've, we've talked about the Corey throughout the week, um, haven't talked a ton about some of their opponents, I feel like, but, um, this team that they beat from Italy, they were actually the defending gold, uh, medalists from the Beijing Olympics.

And one cool fact, uh, Stefania Constantina, the woman on Team Italy, is actually from, uh, Cortina, and so she was the defending gold.

The medalist, won gold at the 2022 Olympics, and then knew that she would have a chance to defend her gold, uh, in like literally her hometown, not just her home country.

So that is very cool.

Um, but sorry, sorry to her.

Her, her dreams of, of, uh, winning the gold are dashed here, uh, by Team USA, but I thought that was a cool story and, uh, yeah, that's, hey, if you're gonna win, do it by knocking out the defending champs on your way to the gold medal match.

That's a, that's a cool way to do it.

It was, um, should we move on now to the speed skating?

Let's do it.

Yeah, I was watching a lot of that too, that was good.

Yeah, that was great.

So, I mean, it was a, it was a really great day on the, on the track with the women's 1000, kind of mixed results for the US.

Um, I thought it was a really great showing by the two Americans, Brittany Bow and Aaron Jackson.

Um, so Bo finished fourth, she finished, uh, 0.6 seconds away from a medal.

She was in the lead there for a little bit, but as we've talked about, you know, then the other skaters in these later pairings who have higher world ranking points, they come in and they, they smash it.

So, um, so she finished 4th, um, like we talked about, she turns 38 in 2 weeks, uh, it's gonna be her last Olympics.

And, um, this is her last chance.

the 1000 is like her main event, her, her specialty, um, so probably her best chance for a medal, but she will have two more chances to try to get one, a couple of last medals here in the 1500 in the team pursuit.

Um, but I was really impressed by Erin Jackson, uh, who was one of the US flag bearers at the opening ceremony because she's a specialist in the 500, the 1000 is really not her event.

Uh, she finished 6th, I mean, she really doesn't usually perform that well in this event.

She's only been racing in the 1000 since the 2022, 2020203 season, the year after she won, uh, that gold in, uh, in Beijing in the 500.

Um, she's only finished, she's raced 13 times in the World Cup in the 1000 m and only finished one time higher than she did today.

So, uh, and that was also that was, uh, the last World Cup event that they had before these Olympics.

So she's kind of rounding it to.

Here in the 1000 m, that was you can see and maybe somebody to watch in 2030, but, um, great performance, uh, by the two of them.

Um, I know you said you watched, maybe you want to tell people about the the great day for the Dutch finally.

Sure, yeah.

And so I, I was impressed by, um, Aaron Jackson, you know, they show like the splits, uh, compared to the other, uh, previous competitors, and they've got like, you know, red if you're behind pace and green if you're ahead of pace and her the first time.

The split came up for her, it was red, and then it was like she quickly pulled into green and it was like, oh, OK, and it was nice to see she was like gaining on them, which might not be what you'd expect for someone who like specialize in, specializes in a shorter race and then has to, uh, not has to, but then goes up to a bigger race.

Um, but then you saw like the final time came in and it was like, this is a few seconds behind Olympic record pace, which means probably some of these, uh, future skaters coming in are gonna surpass her.

Um.

But yeah, uh, so the final lap was between the gold and silver medalists from the previous Olympics.

Uh, it was, um, Uh, and now is it Mito or Miho Takasi, um, and, uh, Jota Liederdam, who is the Dutch skater, um, and she won the silver last time around, and then this time won gold and just like smashed the Olympic record.

It was, it was awesome.

I love watching this event.

The other thing that I really like about it that I appreciated today is, um, just seeing like how much of the lane they used.

So we talk about how it's a 400 m track just like the, uh, Olympic track is for the.

The running events, but there you see 8 lanes and they're all like in their narrow lanes and taking tight turns.

And I just love when they get a full head of steam and you see them like gliding back and forth.

It's not like they take a tight angle to get around.

They really like use up so much of the horizontal space in their lanes too.

They also, um, in this 12 competitors are going, they sort of like, uh, take turns like trading into the inside lane versus the outside.

It's just like such a fun, um, race to watch.

And then, yeah.

The Dutch picked up, um, gold and silver here.

I think it was, um, Femco Cock who was running against, uh, or skating, skating with Brittany Bowe, who then picked up the, uh, silver, and then Takagi, who was the gold medalist from the previous Olympics, uh, took bronze.

And then I think you said, um, yeah, Brittany Bow took 4th and Aaron Jackson 6th.

Um, it was also a very, uh, helpful day if you were wondering who all of these skaters are.

Uh, dating or married to, because I, I learned a few things.

We have talked about both Brittany Bow and, uh, Hilary Knight, the hockey player who, uh, tied the US record for goals.

Um, I did not know that they were together, and then I definitely did not know that, uh, Juder Leerdam, the Dutch who won gold, is engaged to Jake Paul.

There must be a lot of people who didn't know this, and now I thought in the same way that like you told us on the preview episode, um.

That Chloe Kim is dating Miles Garrett, which you didn't know until right before the Olympics, so I knew that a while ago.

I'm sure there are people who are like, yeah, we knew this.

How, how did you not know this?

But I don't know, I didn't know it, but now I do.

They just, it was, we got two big reveals, uh, a couple of hard launches during the speed skating event today.

The Jake Paul thing was crazy to me because they're showing a split screen of you to Leom warming up or you're getting ready to, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, the Dutch have a soft J.

You got, you gotta learn looms.

You gotta learn which languages have the soft and the hard J.

Dutch is one of those soft J's.

Now that the football season's over, I have more time to get into Dutch pronunciation.

Yeah, linguistics.

Um, anyway, so as she's warming up, or I forget whether she was actually warming up or just stretching or whatever, but, um, they're showing a split screen of her.

And then there's like this guy in the stands with.

The Dutch flag around his or not a Dutch flag, but like, like, uh, you know, one of their orange like jerseys or something around his shoulders like, geez, that guy looks like Jake Paul.

Like, I'm like, who knew they had a Dutch Jake Paul?

And then they says, oh, there's Jake Paul who's engaged.

And I was like, oh, really?

Like, who would have expected this, you know, American YouTube bozo is engaged to this elite athlete.

But yeah, I guess you learn something new every day.

You do.

I don't, I don't know which.

I don't know which Paul, I don't know if Jake or Logan, which one of them is, one of them fought Mike Tyson.

I don't know which one.

I think they've , that's Jake.

Jake is the boxer and Logan is the wrestler.

OK, I didn't know.

Good.

I said, listen, good for him.

Good for them.

He, they showed him.

He was like really emotional after the, he was after the race.

Yeah, which was awesome.

That's great.

It was just, yeah, but yeah, I just had no idea this is not on my radar at all, that that's what I would be seeing.

But yeah, um, anyway, we, unless you have any more uh, People magazine notes, maybe we'll move on to the, uh, The team combined skiing.

I thought you, you gave me the pasta or piece, uh, pop quiz.

I thought about giving you a, uh, celebrity dating quiz, and I was gonna ask you, I was gonna give you like a, a couple with like athletes, either two athletes together or like an athlete with a celebrity.

And I was gonna have some that were real and some that were made up and uh and have you try to try to guess them.

But then coming up with the fake relationships, I was just like, no, this feels a little, a little weird.

I was like, let's not, we'll we'll junk out and I'll come up with a different game for you for a segment a little later in the Olympics.

OK.

All right.

Um, anyway, uh, yeah, did you, you, I'm sure you didn't catch any of the team combined or maybe you did because this is one of the last things you mentioned that break in the middle of the day.

Um, this was the last thing before that, that long break, the men's team combined skiing.

Um, and I really, I want to bring this up for, for two primary reasons.

This could be pretty quick.

Um, so Switzerland won gold, and, uh, there was the team, they're actually Switzerland won gold and then there was a tie for silver in which Switzerland also won.

Silver, but, um, I bring it up because Franjo von Almen, the man who won the men's downhill, uh, he was part of this team who won gold, the 2nd gold.

He's the first athlete to win multiple gold medals at these Olympics.

Uh , his teammate Tongi Neff was this, he ran, he skated the slalom portion.

And then, yeah, I mentioned the tie.

This was unbelievable to me that there was a tie down to the 1000 of a second in this, uh, in this combined skiing event.

So, it was Switzerland's Marco Odermatt , and we mentioned him because he's the world number one in the downhill, uh, came up short of the podium in the men's downhill itself, but got redemption here to get a medal, the silver .

Uh, he was with a teammate in the slalom, Loi Mayar, and then, uh, Austria's Vincent Kriekmeyer and Manuel Feller, uh, they tied at 2 minutes 45 seconds.

03.

Um, and so I was like, I was fast, we talked yesterday about the fine margins in the, uh, in the snowboard slalom.

I guess interesting, interesting thing here, because they're going at separate times, you can't have a photo finish like you can with the, uh, with the snowboard, but this is just the 6th time in Olympic history, there's been a tie in alpine skiing.

And the first time since 2014, it happened twice that year, in fact, there was a, a tie for the bronze in the men's Super G that was Bode Miller involved in that, the American, and then also the women's downhill gold, there was a tie.

But, um, it's also like, if you, I think, uh, of those sixties, I think uh 4 of them have been since 1964.

So I, I, you're imagining like, I'm, I'm sure the timing was much less precise, uh, you know, before the You know, modern era, so to speak.

Um, so yeah, there was this like down to 10,100 of a second, they, they tied, and I just, I couldn't believe that as I was uh watching those results rolling.

Yeah, it's interesting cause they, they do have technology to do down to 0.

000 of a second, which, I think it's luge.

I know that one of the three sliding sports goes out of the 1,000s and it's luge, um, so it's interesting that they have it.

I, you know, it makes you wonder if they're just gonna start implementing that, but it's not like, it's not, again, it's not like this is happening all the time.

If it was, they probably would have to change it.

Um, but yeah , tie, tie for bronze is interesting because then just like more people get medals.

Tie for silver is interesting because then it's just like they're all up on the silver and it just makes for an interesting medal ceremony.

Um, but, uh, yeah, I did see that.

Um, well, we, we knew the margins could be close because remember Breezy Johnson won gold by 400 of a second just a day or two earlier.

Um, so yeah, not, uh, not totally surprising that it can happen, but gotta be a weird feeling to tie for silver.

Yeah, I, I, yeah, like you, you, you want, you know, I think, I wonder if like it does it lessen the silver for one of them, they're like when there's nobody in bronze behind them.

I don't know.

I, I'm sure they're both happy to get it, but that was a, that was a weird one for sure, and I just, I just couldn't believe it.

Yeah, I bet probably not.

I think a silver feels the same, and even gold .

I think two people tying gold probably still feel good, but I bet that, I mean, wasn't there an instance, um, at a recent Olympics?

I'm trying to, it was the high, it was the high jumpers who decided to share the tie, yeah, and they, instead of continuing to jump, they just decide, and they were like very, they were from different countries, but they were very good friends, and they were happy to and they looked more thrilled than anybody.

Uh, because they both got gold medals instead of, uh, settling it.

So, um, yeah, no, I, I don't think anyone is going to feel, uh, the silver is, is lessened at all just because there were , uh, multiple silvers, but also like in a team event, again, it's just a crowded podium.

And didn't they, they like put the flags because they like lift the flags and I think they like put them together and it look, I saw our, our guy Roger Sherman, who was a guest, uh, earlier this week posted like a photo of it that just like it looks kind of silly, I think .

That's, that's odd.

Um, should we do a little bit about the, uh, figure skating, which I guess is the first thing that I brought up on our, on our intro.

So, OK, so, um, the, uh, US , uh, ice dancing team, it was, um, uh, Chalk and Bates.

They, we saw them in the team event and they were awesome and they were the best, uh, in this, uh, in the rhythm dance.

They were back in the 90s today, so it was a very fun day because in the team event there were fewer, um, Uh, teams and routines.

This one, there were a lot more people in action, including three different pairs from the US.

Um, so you got to hear the full playlist of 90s throwbacks with this being the theme.

So there was a ton of Spice Girls.

I think I saw that like three different uh routines had the same Ricky Martin song in it, and, uh, who was it?

Somebody tweeted about how like the audience, the arena had like an audible groan, uh, realizing that they were gonna hear the same song again for the third time.

Um, but yeah, they had their, uh, Lenny Kravitz routine.

They were good, but they're, they were not as good as they were in the team competition, and they actually finished in 2nd behind, uh, a pair from France.

So it was, uh, and again, this happened like right, uh, as we were starting to record, so we haven't gotten a chance to see a ton of commentary, but I was watching it on, uh, Gold Zone, and, um, they have Ashley Wagner in the studio there at this time of day, and Scott Hansen, who made the quick, you know, don't talk about me being a hero, uh, get it going from Super Bowl.

Coverage to this podcast.

Uh, Scott Hansen is back on Gold Zone.

Mike Tirico made the trip all the way to Milan.

But anyway, Hansen was in studio with, uh, Ashley Wagner and did a great job.

He was like, I have 3 questions for you.

Are you surprised?

Was it fair?

And, uh, how close is this?

Uh, the answer is they are behind, but it's like a virtual tie.

They are like very, very, very close.

Um, this is, uh, one of two competitions that will go into the, um, ice dance medal.

Um, so they'll have the, this was like the rhythm dance, which was shorter, and they'll have the free skate, which is the longer program.

Um.

But yeah, uh, Ashley Wagner said she was surprised, um, it was funny, he was like, you know, was this fair?

And she was like, well, you know, is anything in life fair?

It's kind of like playing it off, didn't want to like complain about the judges.

Um, but no, they just, they had a lower score, um, and I think the French had a great routine , and the French are also good in the free skate.

So I think this is one where people looked at it and, and thought like, oh, this is a great chance for a gold medal, and I think, uh, it's definitely gonna be a little bit harder after what we saw today.

Um, I don't know if you have anything you want to add on the US, but I do have one other big note from the figure skating.

It's just that I saw a, uh, a Czech team, and they danced, the, uh, the broadcaster mentioned they were dancing to an AI generated track.

It was AC DC and so not like totally AI generated, but it was like the beat behind, she was just like, oh, the beat behind the beat on this is like an AI generated thing.

And just like said it like it was no big deal.

And I was like, what are you, how, how can you say it like it's no big deal, especially like this whole sport, it feels like 90% of it is like artistry and human creativity, and then they're just like, let's do an AI beat to this, and like, ah, I just, it's like.

It's just so stupid to me, um, especially like there are so many people in this sport who are around it who put so much thought into the musical selection and the outfits and the choreography, and the skills and everything, and so just like to use an AI track, and then, um, I posted this and a few people responded, like we've talked already.

These games about possible copyright issues.

And so some people were wondering, like, is this going to be the future of figure skating?

Like if it gets harder to copyright music, will you just use AI generated and it's like, well, that sucks.

Like, I'd rather you, uh, like find a musician to write you a custom track than just like use AI, um, so I don't know if this is really the future.

They, I did see the, um, skater, uh, one of them was like pretty young, so I don't know if this is like a generational thing.

Um, but I don't know, at least one group went in there and just like, proudly, I guess, told everyone that they were using an AI generated music track.

Um, which, you know, I just don't like, especially in that sport, like I said, um, it feels like it's a human sport for human artistry, and, uh, and anyway, there was, there was AI music, and I don't know if AC DC, you know, gave permission to have their stuff cleared, if they knew that it was going to be mixed over an AI track, um, I don't know.

I this rant has already gone on for longer than maybe it had to, but it was something I wanted to bring up, and then once I got started, I couldn't stop myself.

Yeah, if I was one of the judges, I would go rogue and just give him a big fat zero for once I learned that fact.

But uh, no, that's, I don't, I don't like that one bit.

Speaking of the music though, um, people who, who, you know, that you mentioned chalk and Bates, and they, they skated to real music, and so much so that their parents seem to love it.

Did you see the clip of both of their moms singing along to the the backing track?

I did, yeah, they said their um parents are, uh, like very close and sit together and every, like all four of them lined up and that was, that was adorable.

Yeah, I loved it.

Yeah, so I, you know, it goes to show you why it benefits to use real music instead of some AI crap.

Yeah, all right.

Um, anything else you wanted to get to?

I don't know if you wanna go like lightning round on the ski jumping or the, the big air.

The, so I, I can say the women's big air, I did not watch a ton of it, but, uh, from a reliable source, which is, uh, Michelle Bruton at Forbes, I saw she posted on Blue Sky, uh, in an emphatically not boring women's snowboard big air final, and I was glad to see that because this was the one where the, uh, the broadcaster.

After the men's competition was on a hot mic and said it was boring.

Um, but no, it looks like that was a, uh, an exciting competition with like some of the real top competitors and like past medal, uh, contenders were like back up at the top of the podium.

I don't have a ton of info on the results.

I don't know if you saw this, um, anything to add on, on that.

Yeah, I watched and, and we talked about, you, you mentioned during our talk on the slopestyle, you're like, oh, I wish there was like, you know, some competitor like landing a big trick to win it, like that happened here, um.

So I, I, in my notes here, the first it was Great Britain's Mia Brooks.

She had, you know, she's, she's trying to get to that top spot, trying to get on the podium.

She's sitting in 4th, and she's like, she goes, she goes big.

I had my, uh, my friend Christian texted me the other day, he's like, why don't they, like, why do they kind of play it safe?

And it but it was during qualifying.

I was like, no, you'll see, like, during the, during the competition, if, if they're trailing, they're gonna go for something really big and, you know, take a risk, they might not land, but if they do land it, they're gonna be on the podium.

So she did exactly that.

Took a big risk, you know, I don't know how many, how many revolutions it was.

I'm, I'm, you know, I have a hard time memorizing all those numbers, but she went for a, you know, a much more complex trick that she had in any of her previous runs, uh, and she fell and landed.

But, you know, great to see them, you know, going all out like that.

And then it was, uh, Japan's Kokomo Morase, she had, again, just like a really big trick, you know, going all out and she takes over the top spot.

She's, uh, she's in 1st place, and then after her was, uh, Sung Gun Yoo or Yu Seng Gun of the, uh, of Korea, who again, you know, attempts this big, this big trick.

She's now sitting in 3rd place, she fell, didn't get.

The medal.

Um, so yeah, just like really, they were going, you know, one after another, just trying to, trying to up each other.

Um, there was an athlete from New Zealand, Zoe Sinne Sadowski, who had gone previously was sitting in, in 2nd or had been in 1st and was overtaken by Moasse.

Um, you know, they're all trying to chase her, and some succeeded, some didn't.

It was some good drama there at the end.

All right.

Anything on the, uh, the ski jumping, on the ski jumping, I do have a just, just a couple of notes cause we, we've been following the ski jumping, um, and so this was not, this was happening at the same time as the, as the big air, so kind of, I caught just the very end of it.

But uh yeah, that happened last time too, remember I said that they just like they flipped the genders and, and by the way, and I had the same reaction.

I just, it was hard to get into the ski jumping like while the uh big air was going on.

I think I'm just out on ski jumping.

It's just, I, I know it's, I'm very impressed by them, uh, by their, by the jumps themselves and the fearlessness of them, uh, up in the air, but I just, it's like very repetitive and, uh, it's not because of the scandal.

I'm not, not upset about that, but just, I don't know, hard, hard one for me to get super into.

I think that I, I, I tend to agree with you.

I think there's very little that I, uh, that I can glean from the box score, that I can't, you know, that that I can't glean from the box score that I can glean from, like, watching it itself, because, um, so I, I saw like just a couple of last few , uh, skiers here, um, Germany's Philip Reymond.

Uh, he won gold.

He had a great, you talk about, you know, a great final performance.

He needed a big jump to secure the gold.

He got it.

Uh, he's 25, his first medal.

Um, and then there was a skier from Poland who got silver, and then there was a, we talked about ties, there was a tie, uh, for bronze between Japan and Switzerland.

Um, I bring it up mainly because we're talking about Norway and their chances in the ski jumping, and Norway was shut out in this event for the 2nd Olympics in a row.

We've talked about how they're usually this, you know, ski jumping powerhouse shut out again.

Uh, what I found interesting, so we talked about how there were the two, Uh, you know, suspended athletes who were in this competition, they finished pretty far down the , down the table, but, um, there was, uh, so the way they do this competition is there's two rounds, right?

And, uh, after the first round, they whittle down the field to just the contenders, they go again for, for placement, right?

So, um, after the first round, uh, Norwegian, Christopher Eriksson Sundal, he posted the 3rd best score, and I had seen this result after the 1st round, they take a bit of a break, and so I pull up the scores, I go, oh wow, look at that, this Norwegian guy has a chance at a medal, like, you know, make a note of that, uh, that might become relevant, we're talking about their chances.

Um, but his 2nd jump was only 19th best in that round, so we finished, um, I don't have it here, I think it was like 7th or something.

Um, interestingly, he had his, his second jump was farther, but he lost points for style.

That's what cost him, uh, cost Norway, cost him a medal.

Or maybe the uh the asset wore off before the second jump.

No, I'm just, I'm not trying to implicate anybody in particular.

No, no, no, just that was a joke.

Um, all right, well, should we, uh, get into, I can't believe it's already day 4.

I feel like we're, I'm gonna say this now like every day, the whole rest of the Olympics or the days are just gonna fly by , but, um, should we break down the, uh, day 4 schedule here, and I have already teased it.

I have already told everyone what I'm most excited about, uh, so I'll go first here, but the curling gold medal match, USA Sweden going for.

Um, the gold medal in mixed doubles.

Um, and that is, uh, gonna be at 120.

Now, if you want, if you haven't gotten into the, the mixed doubles, and we've said this, that I think the mixed doubles has been so much fun, we might like it more than the men's and women's, which, uh, has 4-person teams.

So you're running out of chances to watch it, but the bronze medal match is at 8:00 a.m. Eastern , um, with Italy and Great Britain, the two teams that lost in the semi-finals today.

So if you haven't seen any curling and you want like a quick, uh, warm-up match to get your bearings and understand everything before you see the US go for the gold, you can see that at 8:00 a.m. And then, uh, USA Sweden at noon.

Yeah, that's gonna be a fun one.

that's gonna conflict a little bit.

Well, actually, not, not, not too much because the, um, the men's figure skating short program that begins at 12:30.

It's gonna be your chance again to see Elia Mallin in the quad god.

However, he is skating 29th out of 29 competitors, so he's gonna be more in the 4:30-ish.

Strange, I would guess.

Um, so plenty of time after that, that curling match to, to tune up for the, the short program.

Um, the last competitor in that, in that, uh, competition is going to be Japan's Yuma Kayama.

He's going to go last.

He's the one who's emerged kind of as a rival of, uh, of Main at these Olympics.

Yeah, and hopefully everyone's skates are in good working order and then that won't affect the competition.

Um, so let's talk, uh, skiing, and it's the, uh, the women's alpine combined, which is the downhill is gonna be at 4:30 a.m. Eastern, 1:30 a.m. Pacific time if you're out there that, you know, if you're still up for that night owls on the West Coast, um, and then the slalom is gonna be at 8, and this is an awesome pairing cause the US is gonna have Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson teaming up together.

So Breezy, of course, just won the gold in the downhill a few days ago, um, and she's gonna go at 4:30, and then Mikaela Shiffrin, uh, in the slalom at 8 o'clock, which is just like an awesome team, and, uh, we talked about, um, you know, Mikaela Shiffrin's medal total in her career, and she's gonna have a chance for a couple more, um, in these Olympics, and Breezy obviously got a gold, uh, here, so this could be her second gold, so that's going to be an awesome event.

Um, there are 3 other American teams also competing, and then they're gonna be, um, you know, plenty of other great skiers.

It's gonna be a, a, you know, tough competition out there.

I don't think they're gonna, um, necessarily like walk away with it.

I, I don't know that they're like runaway favorites, but they're definitely top contenders, and so it'll be fun to see them.

And Shiffrin's first event at these Olympics.

So first chance to see her, and, you know, we talked about how she had that frustrating performance in 2022 in Beijing.

It's now a chance to get redemption.

Um.

We, uh, speaking of, of Americans on skis and, and all-time greats on skis, the cross country ski sprint, um, so this is gonna take place, it's like, throughout the morning, um, it's gonna be like really a solid block of skiing from 5:45 a.m. until about 8:00 a.m. Um, the sprint is about a 1 mile race.

It's, it's, uh, 80 ft shorter than a mile.

It's a knockout format.

There's a qualification round that starts with like 90 skiers.

They knock it down to 30, they whittle it down from there.

Um, the finals are set for the women at 7:24 a.m. and the men at 7:38.

The reason you want to tune in here, we talked about Jonas Klabo, the Norwegian great who's chasing all kinds of medal records.

Um, he's the defending goal.

Medalist here.

He's fantastic.

He's going to be a real, a real threat to contend with here, um, in the men's side.

And then on the women's side, Jessie Diggins, the American, she won bronze in this event in 2022.

Not her specialty.

This is the classical style of skiing.

Uh, we've heard before how she specializes in the freestyle, the kind of more skating style of skiing, but, uh, obviously, she's a contender here.

She won bronze four years ago.

Yeah, the schedule tomorrow morning is just like packed with medal events.

There's like a 90 minute stretch when there's just gonna be like a bunch of medals, uh, right in a row.

So it actually, it's unfortunate, it's, it's before Gold Zone starts at 8 a.m., so you're gonna have to like hop around the streams yourself and find it, or I don't, I honestly, I've been watching Peacock.

Cause, you know, I've been sharing these like schedules and people ask me like, well, what channel are things on?

And it's like, I'm just on Peacock and Gold Zone as much as I can be.

Um, I don't know what time or like if, if how many of these are going to be on live air, but I just recommend Peacock.

Listen, buy a month of it, you can cancel it after 1 month if you don't want it, but it is going to make your lives much better for the next 14 days or whatever.

Um, speaking of Americans on skates, uh, surprised we didn't even talk about this yet, but the, uh, US women's hockey team plays against Canada at 2:10.

This is like the big game.

Everyone expects these two top rivals to be in the gold medal game.

This is not for the gold medal, it is still in group play, but, uh, I think definitely a big game for determining seeding and also just like, you know, bragging rights and, and feeling confident going into the final, um, assuming that they do meet each other again.

Um, but yeah, just a big game.

We , they actually, the US team, they played today and won pretty easily.

We didn't even talk about it because it's almost like some of these games they're playing, it's, uh, you know, they're ahead, uh, by a comfortable enough margin that, uh, I haven't been, uh, glued to every minute of every game, but this is gonna be a big one, and this is one, where it's like , actually, hey, let's like block out time for a screen to keep an eye on this one cause it's gonna be a big game.

Yeah, and, and this is like effectively gonna determine who's the top seed in the playoff round because, uh, Canada will have one more game after this.

They're gonna have that makeup against Finland that was canceled because of the norovirus outbreak on the, on the, the Finnish team, um, but not expected to lose that one.

So whoever wins this one is probably gonna be, uh, top in the group and top in the playoff round.

Um, another big American event to look out for is the men's ski slopestyle final.

The first run is gonna start at 6:30, same schedule as the women today.

That one ended about 8 o'clock in the morning.

Um, so the, yeah, the first run at 6:30, last at 7:30, uh, give them about a half hour per round, so the, the final ones will be going down the, the mountain, uh, right about 8 o'clock.

Um, there are 3 Americans who qualified out of 4.

They are Alex Hall, Connor Ralph, and Mac Forehand.

Hall is the defending gold medalist and definitely a threat to win it again.

Um, luge is another sport.

There was, uh, a good amount on today, the, uh, women's runs, um, and we're gonna have the, uh, gold medal run at, uh, I think 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

Um, again, you and I didn't talk about luge, but I saw a little bit of it today, but, uh, not a ton.

I think the gold medal, uh, runs will definitely be more, uh, appointment TV for me.

Um, but yeah, there are, uh, 2 Germans who are at the top of the standings.

Um, after the 1st 2 runs, there's an American in 5th.

Um, so it'll be interesting to see if she can, uh, pop up onto the podium, but we've talked about how amazing the Germans are at all of the sliding sports and luge in particular.

So not surprising to see, uh, 2 of them at the top.

Uh, but yeah, if you have not checked out any of the luge, it's the women's singles and, uh, medals, uh, medals tomorrow.

As we start moving into the, um, you know, further into the Olympics, you're gonna see more sports making their debut.

And so, uh, this is your first chance tomorrow to see some skeletons, some short track speed skating, and some ski moguls .

They have training, heats, qualification, whatever they call them, those in their respective sports early in the morning tomorrow.

Um, you can look at the schedule if you want for all the details, but the thing I'll point out here is that the first short track medal will be handed out in the mixed team relay at 7:00 a.m. And then, uh, speaking of mixed teams, I think the last thing on my list is the mixed team ski jumping final, uh, is also going to be at 2 p.m. Um, I don't have a big scouting report on that one again in my, in my state with my notes, uh, that I was able to compile today, but, uh, uh, check that one out for the, uh, mixed team final at 2 p.m. I know you're going to be locked in on that.

All right.

I have one, final thing I want to say.

First off, uh, thanks again to everyone.

We didn't say it at the top, but everybody who's been listening and reaching out and sharing and commenting and, uh, leaving those Apple Podcast reviews and all that stuff, we appreciate it.

I've, I've read a couple of emails here, but I did, I got, I got complaints from multiple people.

I don't know if you see what's coming, Gart.

But yesterday during the, uh, parallel giant slalom, we were talking about a 15.

Over 2 upset and I just like rambled off a couple of them.

I think I talked about, uh, Saint Peter's and, uh, Florida Gulf Coast.

Heard from, uh, multiple members of our, uh, listening community who are Lehigh alumni who called me out that slip that I guess those are my two go to examples of, uh, 15 to 2 upsets and not the, uh, Lehigh win over Duke in 2020.

that I attended in person in Greensboro, North Carolina.

So I will say I got it and I, several people reached out .

And one was from, uh, Dave Yoo, uh, former, uh, uh, fraternity brother of mine who said, I want you to know I've been enjoying the podcast.

You asked for feedback, so here's mine.

You just referenced a 15-2 upset and, uh, didn't mention Lehigh Duke.

What I'm gonna, uh, I'm gonna bleep out an expletive here in his email.

Thanks, Dave.

Um, but then I also, the reason I wanted to bring it up is Uh, he told us how much he appreciated our preview of all the sports, and he said, can't wait for Skimo.

I'm refusing to watch clips of past ones to get me ready.

I want the first time I see it to be the real deal, which I love.

So, uh, get ready for Skimo.

I wouldn't necessarily suggest that.

I think it is fun to go watch it on YouTube, but if that's your strategy, we will make sure you know when the skimo is starting, if you are choosing to abstain until you can see the real.

Uh, the Olympic skimo competition.

If you want that to be the first skimo you've ever seen in your life, we can help make that happen for you.

But, uh, yeah, you just mentioned, uh, a minute ago that some new sports are making their Olympic debut.

Uh, that is really like their 2026 debut.

Skimo is coming for it's like actual Olympic debut, but, uh, debuted and also all of the, uh, upset, uh, Lehigh Mountain Hawks and engineers, thanks for reaching out.

Your complaints were heard.

Our apologies to CJ McCollum.

Yes, him especially.

All right, well, I think, uh, And, and Gabe Knutson, I don't, I bet I can name more members of that team than you can, but well, I'll, we'll just stop there.

Well, well, no more Patriot League basketball talk, and we'll save that for March, I think.

All right, sounds good.

Thanks everybody for listening and uh looking forward to another fun day tomorrow and we'll talk to you then.