PyeongChang Olympics Medal Count: Unstoppable Norway Tops in Overall Medals, Golds
There are only so many ways to say that Norway is completely dominating the 2018 Winter Olympics, but every day forces us to find a new way to do it. As they have virtually every day of the Games, the Norwegians continue to lead the overall medal count after adding two more to their total on Monday, with golds in the men's team ski jump and men's 500 meter speedskate. That also broke a tie with Germany for the lead in gold medals; Norway is crushing the competition no matter how you score it.
Norway's two golds upped the country's count to 28 overall and 11 gold; Germany is in second on both counts, with 20 and 10, respectively. The Germans were able to toss another gold onto their pile with a first-place finish in men's two-man bobsled, though the pair of Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis had to share the honors with Canada's Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz, as both teams tied with a time of 3:16.86. The bronze medal, meanwhile, went to Latvia's Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga—that country's first overall of the Games.
As for the ski jump and 500 meter speedskate, those belonged to the Norwegians. In the former, the fearsome foursome of Daniel Andre Tande, Andreas Stjernen, Johann Andre Forfang and the mustachioed wonder that is Robert Johansson easily topped the Germans for first place, with Poland just a few points behind Germany for bronze. On the ice, it was Norwegian speed skater Havard Lorentzen who took home gold and set an Olympic record in the process, skating the 500 meters in 34.41 seconds—and not only did he beat out South Korea's Cha Min-kyu for gold, but he also broke the record that Cha had just set. Everything really is going Norway's, uh, way in PyeongChang. China's Tingyu Gao was the bronze medal winner, and surprisingly, no Dutch skater was anywhere near the podium in the speedskating event, as the Netherlands' Ronald Mulder was the country's top finisher, placing seventh.
Behind Norway and Germany, the medal standings remain unchanged. Canada's bobsled gold ups the country's total count to 17, good for third, and its six golds are tied with the Netherlands for third. The Dutch remain fourth with 13 medals, and the Olympic Athletes from Russia round out the top five with 11, though they have yet to win any golds. The United States is still sixth with 10, tied with France, Austria and Japan. And while it's been a disappointing Games for Team USA with regards to medals, the U.S. stands a good chance to finish on the podium in two events today: the ice dance (where Americans sit third and fourth after the short program) and women's freestyle skiing halfpipe (where 2014 gold medalist Maddie Bowman looks to defend her title).
For a current tally of all the medals that have been won, check out our live tracker right here.
Check back tomorrow for an updated look at the medal count.
