Jordan Stolz and Chloe Kim Arrive

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

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

Gart, it feels like today was sort of a buffet of sports.

I know the Olympics are always like that, but I feel like today in particular, I have a lot of notes about a lot of different things and maybe fewer big stories.

There are big things that happened, but I was just all over the place today.

How are you doing?

Yeah, we, we were just talking about the soft mic, and it was like, there were, there's so many different things happening.

I mean, we talked about how it's, there's fewer events in the Summer Olympics, so you kind of get lulled this false sense of security.

We go, OK, there's not that many things happening today.

They're in fact like long stretches of the day today where you're like, there's really nothing happening, and yet still I'm like, you know, I'm, I'm scanning through my notes frantically going, what are we gonna hit on first?

Yeah, they gave us that like 9:00 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. break again, which we've now had twice in the last three days, which is interesting.

Um, and the day, I feel like it also got off to a later start.

Uh, the Chloe Kim on the halfpipe was very early, but then there was kind of a break before things picked back up at 7 a.m. Uh, maybe as opposed to yesterday when things are all over.

But anyway , before we get into the sports, I haven't done this in a little while, but, uh, I heard from some listeners, uh, we both did from a couple, and I wanted to give some shoutouts.

Uh, first of all, the, uh, a couple of Apple Podcast reviews, there's always like a delay on this.

For some reason, it takes a while to, uh, come through.

So sometimes they like come in in batches a couple of days later.

But, uh, I got one in particular that I just wanted to read, uh, a part of from New Katie 19.

63, who says this podcast, it was the best way to go through Paris and now we get to do Italy together.

You guys are the right blend of journo and fan.

And she says, I plan to grow old with you two doing these every two years.

Deal?

Uh, new Katie, deal.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much for, uh, checking back in with us and, and sure, let's all grow old together doing these podcasts.

Yeah, maybe the, the person's, uh, birth year and the username.

It might be a giveaway of just how long, much longer we have to do this until they grow old.

But, uh, but no, we appreciate the kind words.

And then second, I got a message on Instagram from someone named Chris, who said, listening from Melbourne, Australia, we only get information and news on our athletes doing freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

No one mentions the niche sports that are my favorites like biathlon, cross-country, curling, etc.

The podcast is great.

Well, listen, we are definitely here to talk about biathlon and we're gonna.

Do that again today, I promise.

Um, but yeah, I was gonna say like, hey, uh, who's listening from farthest away?

Uh, let's hear from more international listeners, but it's gonna be pretty tough to top Australia.

Um, so you may not beat Chris, but if anyone else out there is listening from somewhere interesting, I would love to hear from you.

So you can check in.

You can find us on social media or hit us on Apple.

But, uh, thanks so much.

It's been awesome.

We've been hearing from a lot of people and, uh, I thought I'd share a, a great message and also a note from somebody in Australia.

I just think that's fun.

Yeah, we love hearing from folks, especially, especially when they have good things to say, so we're never, never gonna turn those away.

Um, where do you want to start here, Mitch?

Oh my goodness, uh, should we just start with Jordan Stowes?

I feel like he is gonna be like a, uh, you know, a name, a household name by the end of the Olympics, and he was awesome today, and so there were, there were a few stars in action today, but he was one that, uh, like I'm still thinking about him on that last lap, that was very exciting.

So do you want to take us over to speed skating?

Yeah, I mean, like you said, we have lots of notes, maybe not a ton of notes on everything.

My notes here on Stoles are like pretty brief, you know, like, like you said, that last lap, it's really the last corner, the last turn.

He just, you know, it seemed like he was kind of neck and neck with his competitor, a, a Dutch skater named, uh, Duboe, and really neck and neck, and then just on that last turn, Stolles kicks into this other gear.

It was amazing to watch, and like you said, it really Um, you know, whetted the appetite for seeing him in the rest of these Olympics.

Um, he, he ran, he, he skated, in fact, a, um, an Olympic record time.

I actually, I don't see the number in front of me, but yeah, an Olympic record in this event, um, we've seen a lot of Olympic records been falling in, in these Olympics.

I don't know what the, the reasoning behind that is, but, um, some kind of a fast track there, they've constructed in Italy and Souls is a beneficiary of it.

Yeah, so not just a lot, I can tell you all 4 speed skating races on the Big Oval have been Olympic records so far.

Um, a, a cool stat that I saw before this race started, the record that he broke today in the men's 1000 was actually the oldest, uh, speed skating record that was still standing, and then he ended up smashing it, which is pretty cool.

Um, yeah, like you said, he's got a chance to rack up more golds.

Uh, people are saying he really has a chance to win 4 gold medals at these games, which I think he'd be the first person since Eric Haydn.

I forget if he'd be the first since Haydn or if they would be the only two, but the other events he has coming up are the 500, the 1500.

And the mass start, uh, and yeah, and I can tell you to my untrained eye, I did, did my research on, uh, on YouTube before these Olympics started, but I'll tell you, I didn't think he had it, um, because Debo was, uh, they were both under the leader pace, you know, they're showing the splits coming up, um, at the, uh, this is like 2.5 laps around the track, uh, so they show you the splits at like 200, 600, 1000, and you can see that they're both green, they're both ahead of pace, um, but Debo was out way in front, and then he had.

I don't know if it's an advantage, um, having the inside lane last because I think they do a good job splitting it up so that, um, you know, nobody's advantage or disadvantaged based on where they are, but he definitely had the, uh, had the advantage just on that final go, and you could see him, we're, we're more used to seeing track and field, I think, when someone's coming around the corner, uh, and they just kick it into high gear and pass somebody, but he just like zoomed past them.

I have a few times here, um, I don't know how exciting it is as audio for me to like read splits, but basically at the 600 mark, uh, He was 0.4 behind Deboe and ended up beating him by 0.5. So he just like made up almost a full second uh on that final lap.

The Olympic record is 106.

28.

So, uh, just like an unbelievable day for him.

I think all the speed skating has been a lot of fun.

I've really enjoyed it.

Every, I think every single event we've seen has been exciting, and, uh, yeah, excited to see him three more times, and, uh, it was, it was pretty dramatic because, uh, as we've talked about, there's, uh, they separate into pairs.

And they put the uh expected medal winners basically last, uh, and those guys were actually together in the 2nd to last uh heat, um, and then they were supposed to be the 2nd to last.

They ended up being 3rd to last because there was actually a re-skate.

So, uh, I think a lot of people thought he had a gold.

I'll be honest, I thought he had a gold, and then someone was like, oh, hang on there, like one more skater is gonna go.

Um, was he, he was a Dutch skater.

Also, I think, or no, he was from Korea.

No, he was Dutch.

His name is Joak Venomars.

Um, he ended up getting, so in his, in his pair, um, there was like a procedural issue where the Chinese skater Lian Zi Wen didn't yield to him.

You know, there's that area where, uh, the lanes kind of, uh, disappear or they're they're no longer drawn on the ice and you're allowed to go, you know, have the full width of the rink, right?

Um, Zuen didn't, uh, early on is the last name actually, uh, didn't allow him to, um, get his proper position, and they actually bumped each other.

And then, so after the heat, he had, he still posted a pretty good time, um, but after the heat, he said, hey, I, I give me a chance to try it again because, you know, I, I, I was , it was unfair.

Um, Leon actually ended up getting disqualified and then, uh, Venomin's, he got the retry, and then there was like, you know, the announcement said, OK, it looks like he's probably not gonna be able to catch that, uh, that fast time set by, by Stolles and Debo , but maybe he can, uh, sneak in for bronze.

He didn't he ended up finishing, I think, 4th or 5th.

Yeah, that has to be tough doing it by yourself, cause I feel like, you have the adrenaline from the crowd and being at the Olympics, but also having that person skating with you.

Um, I just imagine that has to help push you to go even faster.

Uh, they also mentioned like fatigue could be an issue because he had just skated his heart out, like as hard as he could for, uh, for the whole 10,000 m, and that was, I think like 2030 minutes before that, so he, you know, he'd already emptied the tank thinking it was.

His Olympic final, and then they ask him to go again by himself.

Uh, it's almost like in the, uh, NBA some guys shoot like the technical free throws, some guys don't feel comfortable, and there's like nobody standing there in the lane, uh, except this is different because you actually can depend on somebody, uh, to like help be a pace for you going around the lane.

So it just feels like it's weird to be out there by yourself when you're so used to doing this team, uh, doing this sport like in pairs, uh, you know, with a competitor, but still with a, with a second person out there.

Yeah, it's odd.

My, I think my one last thought on Stowles.

Um, they made this point where they, they made this point during the, um, the broadcast talking about his upbringing, you know, his path here, how much the family sacrifice his father working nights, all these things, right?

Um, Stowles was from Wisconsin.

He grew up about 90 minutes from Milwaukee.

And I find the reason I bring this up is because there's only two, indoor.

rinks in the United, like long track speed skating rinks in the United States.

They're in Milwaukee and, um, Salt Lake City.

And so it just, you know, when you're looking at the hometowns of many of these athletes, somebody, one of our coworkers joked, uh, she said, if you're, if you're born in Vail, Colorado, are you're just like, all, like, basically guaranteed to be an Olympian, a Winter Olympian, and it's like, well, you know , like, to an extent, you know, where you're from.

is a big factor in this because um he's from a place where he had access, you know, kind of fringe access an hour and a half away to this rink that he was able to train on and then become the best in the world.

So, it's interesting to think about, you know, what, how, you know, his life might have been different, how his athletic career might have been.

Obviously an insanely athletic guy, what sport he might have chosen had he been from Montana or Kansas or whatever.

Yeah, well, that is true though, so much of like what country you're born in, like, certain countries have different advantages and we've talked about like, uh, with, um, I think we were talking with Ken about this, about how like some countries just have more like lose tracks than others.

And so it's like if, you know, if you're born in the right part of the world, uh , or, you know, let alone the right part of the country you're in, you'll just have different advantages.

But yeah, I mean, I think that's true with like the, the skiing and the snowboarding and all of it.

It's just there, it is funny to see like how many.

People are concentrated from certain states, um, the hockey players too, even, even though they have hockey rinks all over, but still you see, you know, Wisconsin, Minnesota, some of these other places where, uh, just a ton of athletes from there and shout out to those places.

I know all those towns and states people get excited about, uh, you know, all the pride of their locals who are, uh, who are on the Olympic stage.

Yeah, you mentioned briefly earlier, Chloe Kim.

Should we move on to that?

Yeah, we can do that one next.

Yeah, so, so she was in the, uh, women's half pipe qualifying today, and she was great.

I mean, she was, I think, Mitch, you watched this live and the guy caught the replay, woke up just a little bit too late to see her live, but I, I caught the replay.

I was, you were talking a big game about, about going for the live broadcast.

I wasn't gonna bring it up, uh.

But once you, once you said it, I had to correct the record.

I can't lie about it and, and pretend that I was up.

No, part of it was, part of the issue was that there was like that nice break afterward.

So it was like, you know, if you missed the Chloe Kim on the halfpipe, you can actually grab like the hour following that, so no, but I, I, I'm caught up.

I did watch the replay of the event, so I, I've seen it all.

Yeah, so I, I watched it too.

It was fantas.

I mean, great, great run, not as good, uh, in the men's qualifying later in the day.

There was an Australian guy scored a 94, like a really, really high score, but, um, Kim, she had, um, again, I don't have the number in front of me, it was like an 88 or something.

Um, like a really high number, uh, first place in the, in the qualification, um, just perfect, you know, like she, you're used to seeing her do this, um, but it's come out in, in recent days.

She's actually, uh, snowboarding through a torn labrum in her shoulder.

She dislocated that shoulder in a crash in training in January.

Um, but she's got a brace on it and so it actually might help her in some ways.

It helps her keep that back arm tighter to help with the rotations.

Um, so, you know, she's obviously it didn't really affect her too much today.

Um, she did have, I, I found this quite interesting though, she told Olympics.

com, her performance today, which, by the way, great first run.

Second run, she came out hot, maybe looking to , to raise the bar, um, but there was One trick, she didn't quite land perfectly, so then she just said, all right, forget it.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna just, uh, you know, glide to the bottom and, and, you know, I'll, I'll be happy with that first score.

But so, you know, I told you how great that first score was, like, really, really good, but even still, uh, Kim says to Olympics.

com, quote, that was a 6 out of 10, and we're going for a 10 tomorrow.

So she was really great today, but she thinks she has better things in store tomorrow.

Um, well, this is funny because I have a different Chloe Kim quote that I was planning to read in my notes, and I was like, oh, let's see if he's gonna steal my quote, but you went with a different one.

I saw this one was tweeted by, uh, Zach Kiefer from the Athletic, uh, who's also a very good football writer, uh, and he's over there covering the Olympics.

I don't know if this was like exclusive to him or if he just, um, tweeted it out, but, uh, talking about how this was her first competition of the entire season.

In because of that injury you were talking about.

And she said, uh, rust, no rust, I'm not rusty.

I've been snowboarding for 22 years.

I might be better at snowboarding than I am at walking, which is just a great, that's, uh, talk about being confident and, and she should be confident.

She's, uh, and I think, and she's 24, 25.

So when she says she's been snowboarding for 22 years, that's like since she was 3 years old, basically.

Uh, we talked with, uh, Michael Rosenberg about her cause he wrote that profile, um, of her that we talked about before the Olympics and how, uh, Rosenberg thinks she might retire like at the end of these games, um, but she talked to him about how she has a date in mind and she's not wavering, and, uh, and he came away thinking that that date might be like a month from now, uh, but yeah, she was great.

I also want to shout out, uh, Maddie Mastro, who also qualified.

I believe she had.

The 3rd, uh, best score today.

This is a little bit different from some of the other sports in that, uh, the, the scores from the qualifying run get wiped out.

Um, so all you have to do is, uh, make it through to the final and then everybody starts fresh with new scores.

Um, so another reason why it, you know, it didn't matter.

She had already qualified before she went on her second run, I think, and so, um, went big, but her first score she knew would be more than enough to move on.

Um.

So yeah, I think there might be a couple other Americans um tomorrow, one more actually also named Kim, Kim.

Oh, that's right, yeah, yeah, 10th today, that's right.

So the three of them, uh, fresh scores, Chloe Kim will definitely be the favorite and, and we'll repeat ourselves again here that this would be her 3rd consecutive Olympic gold in that event, uh, which would be amazing, and, uh, from what we saw today, I think she's got a great chance at it.

Yeah, 3 of the 4 American men qualified as well.

The top one was Alessandro Barbieri, who qualified 4th, the other 2 barely snuck in.

The last thing I want to bring up on the halfpipe, did you see that crash from the the Chinese snowboarder?

Oh, I didn't see this actually.

No.

Oh, wow, it was, I mean, it, I mean, in fact, I recommend you don't see it.

It was, it's a really brutal crash.

Um, so the snowboarder from China, Liu Xiao, um, so she went up and, you know, the commentators talking about how the pipe, you know, I think like the athletes, they make it look so small with like the amount of air they get, but the walls are like something like 22 ft high, 25 ft.

They're like they're really tall walls, and they're going up above that, and, you know, and the snow is really unforgiving when you land.

So she had a trick, you know, didn't go according to plan.

Her board kind of hit the lip of the pipe, and then she landed hard, like face first, like rolled over in a very awkward way, was motionless on the, on the bottom of the pipe.

Um, but the, the, the official Chinese state media, uh, agency reported that she has no spinal injury.

She was treated, however, for a head injury.

Um, and she, and she was one, you know, she was the one to watch here.

She's 33 years old and won silver in 2018, um, but this obviously ends her Olympics.

So a really, really scary moment.

And if people had seen the video, I want to update them that, that she appears to be, um, at least not serious, terribly seriously injured, at least not the spine.

Yeah, oh, I missed that one.

glad you shared that, and, and yeah, I don't know when you say, don't watch the video, it's, I say when you tell me don't watch the video, that's like makes me wanna watch the video even more maybe, but maybe I shouldn't.

I don't know.

Yeah, it's pretty gnarly.

Yeah, well, uh, OK, I don't know.

Well, I'll update everyone tomorrow on whether or not I've watched it.

Sure.

Uh, let's see, shall we go to the, uh, let's talk skiing after we, we accidentally snubbed the skiing yesterday and, and, uh, pushed Mikaela Shiffrin into the D block of the show.

Um, today was the, uh, men's super G, and, uh, Ryan Cochran-S Siegel, by the way, we talked about him earlier.

We talked about his, uh, sort of disappointing showing in the downhill, I'd call it, because we, I think we thought he was a medal contender and didn't.

I don't think we said this on the show, but I didn't realize he was actually dealing with a bout of food poisoning when he had his, uh, his off the podium finish, uh, in the downhill.

So , um.

Two things, two quotes here now, uh, lots of quotes today.

So Ted Ligety, uh, on the broadcast describing it, said that he quote, uh, redecorated the gondola, which was, was his way of, uh, describing the, uh, describing the food poisoning.

Um, but then, uh, I saw this that B Ryan Cochran-S Siegel said, uh, he said, coming into these games, I was so focused on the downhill, uh, it felt like that was my opportunity.

But Super G, she's a fickle lover at times, knowing that anything could happen.

So, uh, there he goes, he won a silver medal in that fickle lover we all know as the super G, um, and he won, uh, he won silver in this 4 years ago, so this is back to back silvers in this event for him.

Um, and then remember, he is the skier we've talked about where his mom Barbara won a gold medal, I think in the 70s and comes from like a skiing dynasty family basically in Vermont.

Um, their whole family.

He won it in fact 55 years ago to the day.

I'm sorry, 54 years ago to the day.

Yeah, so that was a, a fact that was going around today in the aftermath of his, of his uh second place finish.

Would have been very, very cool if he had won it on the actual anniversary.

But, uh, I'm sure, you know, he can still for the rest of his life say he won a silver on the anniversary, and that is still pretty good too, um, as, uh, as we learned from Ben Ogden and many other athletes we've seen who are very, very happy to win silver so far these Olympics .

Um, but the reason he didn't win, it was, uh, Franho von Olmen, and that is the name people are getting used to hearing.

Yeah, I think we came into these Olympics talking about, uh, Marco Odermott, the Swiss blade, who.

Has been like dominating the World Cup scene, um, and world championships for the past several years, and people were talking about him having a chance to win a whole bunch of medals.

It has actually been, uh, a different Swiss man, Franho von Olmen, who already now has 3 gold medals in these Olympics.

He won the downhill and the team combined, and now the super G.

He is 24 years old, and he's the first man with 3 golds in skiing since 1968, um.

And that was, uh, Jean-Claude Killy of France.

Uh, so just an unbelievable showing from him, and, uh, yeah, you know, shows you never, you never quite know who the heroes are gonna be, and, and sometimes you think one guy is gonna win 3 medals and it's a totally different guy winning all 3 races against him.

So, uh, yeah, yeah, very cool to see that, and we've got a couple other repeat names who we'll be talking about, but yeah, that was, that's a big one.

Yeah, Marco Odermat, you mentioned he won bronze today.

So, you know, we talk about him getting on the medal stand, at least he did there.

Um, but he's actually, I don't believe von Alman will race in, in the, um, giant slalom, but Odermatt will.

Uh, he's in, he's, he'll be in that event, um, which is on Saturday.

He's the defending gold medalist in that event, in fact, um, and he's, like you said, dominating the World Cup circuit.

He's been the world.

Number 1 in the downhill super G and and giant slalom for the past 3 seasons.

All 3 of them #1 all the last 3 seasons.

So, um, you know, I think he'd be definitely disappointed if he got, if he left, uh, Cortina or they're actually in Bormio, but if he left, uh, you know, these Olympics without a gold, and it seems like the giant slalom on Saturday could be, could be his chance to do that.

OK, but we shall see.

He was favored in these races too, so you never know.

That's very true.

Should we, I wanna mention briefly the, uh, the Nordic combined.

Um, I know, you know, we've been, we've had this kind of, uh, fascination with it, I guess is a good way to put it, with, you know, it's, it's an odd sport, it's an endangered sport in the sense that it might not be included in the next Olympic program, but, um, I did watch this today.

Uh, so the format, I did not, I mean, well, I should say, I watched the cross-country ski portion.

I did not watch the, uh, ski jumping portion.

Um, so cause I was like insanely early in the morning, but the, the cross country ski, it's a 10 kilometers, it took about a half an hour.

I, I threw it on while I was writing my newsletter and, you know, it held my attention.

The interesting storyline of the, you know, different athletes who have, uh , the staggered start times based on their ski jumping positions.

So, you know, people are, are gaining and losing ground.

Um, I'll just mention briefly the, um, Uh, the winners were from the gold for Norway, silver for Austria, and, uh, bronze for Finland.

The reason I bring it up though is because I, I couldn't get this thought out of my head as I'm watching this.

So, um, the winning time today in the, um, in the cross country ski was just about a half an hour, 29 minutes, 59 seconds, uh, 59.4 seconds.

So, As this thought I was having, I couldn't get out of my head.

I go, I really wanna see our friend Johannes Clabo in the Nordic combined, because I looked up cause I was like, oh, the guy, I'm sure he, I'm sure he can't jump to do the ski jumping, he's never done it before, I'm I'm sure, but Um, I compared that time, again, 30, essentially 30 minutes to Clabos, and then I should mention also, it's the, um, it's the freestyle skiing style, not, not the classical.

So, uh, when Clabo skied the 10K freestyle portion of the ski athlon, he skied a 22, 22.5. So about 7 minutes faster.

And then get this, it was after he had already skied 10 kilometers in the classical style.

So, we're gonna see a little later in these games how fast he can ski 10 kilometers on the same course that the, the Nordic combined folks did today.

But I just can't, can't stop thinking about the idea that put him at the back of the pack, give him a 7-minute, you know, give everybody else a 7-minute head start and then watch him, you know, chase him down.

That's amazing.

I love that thought.

Um, yeah, it almost, uh, you wonder if that would just like ruin Nordic combined forever, if you realize that the top cross country skiers are all good enough that they can just sort of fake it on the hill and qualify and get in, um, but yeah, that's amazing.

I would love to see that.

I actually, I've got some notes.

I was more entertained by the Nordic combined than I thought I would.

And, uh, by the way, this one of my favorite uh nicknames of the Olympics came out of this event, so I don't know if you know that or if I'm gonna be telling you this for the first time.

I didn't, I was on mute for portions of this, so I, I might have missed it .

OK, well, first, before we get there, uh, well, yeah, I'll say, so, uh, Jean Laras Oftebre is the guy from Norway who won the gold medal, um.

His, uh, brother is Einar Luras Oftabro, who was in 4th place after the jump.

So, uh, two brothers named Offtabro, and they call them the Offta brothers, which is great.

That's good, yeah, I like that.

So, um, one thing that I liked about this, the 3 guys who finished.

On the medal podium, they finished, they were, uh, 7th, 6th, and 10th after the jumping.

So it sets up this , uh, this idea that you figure like the, the people who win are sort of well rounded and so the, um, people in the back of the pack, uh, are like chasing them.

You think that they are better skiers than jumpers because that's the reason.

They're in this and they're successful .

So it sort of sets up this, uh, element where like the people in the front know that they're getting chased by people who can catch them and they're just trying to hold them off.

So I was actually really entertained by this, and, uh, the guy, uh, the, the after bro, the, the after brother who won, uh, he made up 28 seconds on the skiing based on where he started from.

Um, and he actually, he like clipped a wall with his ski while they were going around, and I saw this, and it was amazing how quickly he recovered from this because he like banged it.

They, the broadcaster said like he was fortunate that he didn't damage any of his equipment, but he basically like clipped it and he went off to the side and like 4 or 5 guys were in front of him, and they were like, oh, you know, he hit a wall, and they're like, but I think he'll catch up and then they cut to like a different camera angle.

And then they came back and he was like already leading the race again.

And it was like, how did that happen so quickly that he caught them?

But I was actually, I, it's, it's funny, you're right.

I think fascination is a good word for, uh, our, this podcast's relationship with the Nordic combined.

I also missed the ski jumping.

People have gotten my take on the ski jumping already, these Olympics, but I was, I was definitely entertained by the race.

I know I can be entertained by almost anything, especially at the Olympics, um, but no, I found it fun.

Yeah, and, you know, the, the reason it takes like a half, the, the final port takes like a half hour.

Like, you know, you can, you can carve out some time for that, especially we mentioned kind of a, a lighter sleet in the, in the, uh, in the mid-morning hours.

So, um, you know, I think, uh, they'll, they're, they're gonna have two more, uh, Nordic combined events.

They're gonna have the, so this was, we should say, this was the normal hill.

And the 10K, I don't know if I said that before.

So they're gonna have the large hill followed by the 10K later, and also the um relay event, the team relay.

Um, so, uh, a couple more chances to catch in order to combined and, um, you know, it's, uh, if you, if you find yourself wanting to do something in the early morning, this could be, this could be the thing.

Yeah, the cross-country skiing is just great.

You should be watching people doing the skiing every day, I'd say.

And sometimes they've jumped already.

All right, quick shout out to one of my favorite things in my closet right now, Cozy Earth.

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I, um, I watched also in the, in the similar time frame, I watched the women's moguls.

I, I was really enthralled by this, in fact, um.

So, uh, it was, uh, American Liz Lemley who won gold and Jalen Kough who won silver.

Cough had won, um, uh, silver the last time out as well.

Um, but the reason I found this interesting, I, I, I, I wanted to bring it up is because it's, it's interesting to me, um, how the format varies in some of these sports.

We talked about how I was initially a little confused by the, Um, by the big air versus the slopestyle where in the big air, uh, skiing and snowboarding, there's 2 out of your 3 runs count, but in the slopestyle, only 1 out of the 3.

So then in this one, there's this like, uh, kind of elimination format where you have preliminaries and then there's a, uh, uh, actually the they call it a final 1 and final 2.

But the, the time from the first final doesn't count.

It gets totally wiped out and then only your time in the second final counts.

And so, it, you know, that determines, however, the, the starting order, so there is that chance for, you know, whoever is, is number 1 in the 1st, uh, final race to then, um, You know, to then, uh, go last and have the opportunity to, to not be surpassed, right?

So, um, what happened this time, there was an Australian, Jakara Anthony, she was number one in that final number one, and then, uh, so she's going last, she has an opportunity to, you know, uh, put up a good score, get on the medal podium, knock one of these medalists off the, off the podium .

And she lost control, skidded out of control, and, uh, you know, she finished dead last, and , you know, her great run at the beginning.

Now, look, it wouldn't have mattered, uh, you know, her score was so poor that it wouldn't have mattered even if she were able to combine it with the other one, but, um, I just thought that was an interesting little wrinkle and something to keep in mind as you move forward here to the men's moguls and the um, the, uh, dual moguls later in these games.

I agree 100% with everything you said.

I wrote down the same thing as I was watching.

I, I wrote down opposite of freestyle rail, big air, all runs matter or all runs are key, I think it says in my chicken scratch, and then, and then like immediately after that, it was like she messed up, but it was that idea of like you're seeing them go all out all the time instead of like, uh, some of these races where somebody messes.

Up a trick and they bail out of it very quickly after the rail in the freestyle air.

Um, she was also, we should say she was the defending gold medalist, um, and they were talking about her being like a celebrity who was like on the cover of Vogue Australia.

She was like a big deal, um, and was going for back to back golds.

She had it like all set up perfectly where she was gonna go last and like put in the top score, um.

I will say on the format you left out what I think is the most confusing part is that just the, the format itself for how this is scored, they like multiple times flashed the graphic up on the screen to explain.

And cause, and for those who didn't see it, it's like the mogul skiing, um, but then they're also like going off of a ramp and doing tricks, but they're also getting timed, and it's just so funny to me that there's a time element on a, uh, on a run where there's also tricks, so it's like, I wanna fly in the air as high as I can and do flips and twists, but also I have to get to the finish line quickly, and they explained that your score is made up.

60% on the turns, which I think is like the technical stuff on the moguls, 20% based on the jumps and 20% based on the time.

So it's like a hybrid, like, score judged time thing, which is just like very strange and and a little confusing to follow.

I was like, relying on them a lot to tell me, like, you can look at it and be like, oh, that one was pretty good, but like, let me just wait for the score just to confirm that it's as good as I thought it was.

Yeah, it's weird and, and it's, we talked about the um the snowboard parallel slalom.

So the dual moguls is, is kind of similar to that where there's people racing side by side, but the interesting wrinkle here is because there's the judging element.

Um, and I had to make sure because I was like, I, I watched like a World Cup race.

I was like, I was like, is this really the way they do it?

And it is.

It's the same, you know, there's a judged element to it, so they reached the bottom and then both competitors to stand there next to each other and wait for the scores to come in.

So there's an additional level of tension there where they think, am I gonna win, you know, and a lot of times they're doing the same trick as the person beside them, so, um, it's a, it's an interesting wrinkle there.

I also, my, my one last point.

I, uh, we talked about how, you know, every run counts, and man did, uh, Frances Perry Lafont really seize on that.

So she was last, she was the last qualifier in that, um, in that first final.

There's, I think, 10 skiers who started, the top 8 qualify.

She sneaks in at number 8 and then gets on the podium with bronze.

So, um, you know, we talked about this is an opportunity for a lot of, uh, a lot of added drama with the, the way that these things are scored.

All right, I'm gonna take biathlon.

This, I have, I have almost nothing to say about the biathlon race itself.

Uh, my notes pick up with, uh, the aftermath of the race and also things that happened months ago.

Um, but this was a story that I saw getting a lot of attention and for good reason .

Uh, the gold medal was won by France's Julia Simone.

And the interesting thing about her, well, I guess being an Olympic gold medalist is an interesting thing about her, but, uh, lots of athletes are gonna win Olympic gold medals these times.

Not a lot of athletes, uh, serve a suspension and receive a 3 month jail sentence for stealing their teammates' credit cards and running up charges and being arrested on credit card fraud.

Uh, but Julia Simone has that, uh, on her resume as well.

Um, so this is like a crazy story.

She was sentenced to a 3 month suspended jail sentence.

She was also banned by the, I don't know the official name, but the French, uh, skiing governing body, um, a 6 month ban, but they basically Uh, timed it so that she could still compete at the Olympics because obviously that's just a classic sports , uh, organization where they say, well, we definitely want to suspend you, uh, to make a statement, but also we'd love you to win a gold medal or two for us, uh, over there.

So I guess I, I, I think the ban is upcoming.

Um, but this is just such a wild story, and I saw these quotes, um, I think I was reading this, uh, it might have been AP, it might have been ESPN, but, um, she was accused of repeatedly using the bank card of teammate, uh, Justine Brassa Boucher and that of a French team staff member to make online purchases.

Totaling more than €2000 she admitted the thefts and offered apologies to the victims, and her quote during the trial, she said, I can't explain it.

I don't remember doing it.

I can't make sense of it, which is not exactly accountability or an apology.

Simply, I can't explain it and I don't remember doing it.

Um, France did win gold and silver, uh, in this event, which I was excited to see if it was actually the person whose credit card was stolen who came in second, uh, just imagining them.

I don't know what that conversation is like, but no, uh, Justine Brassa, uh, Boucher, who had her card stolen, she finished in 80th place.

She was here, which is, you know, good, I don't know, um.

Where she was at that time that this all happened, but, um, you know, she is still an Olympian, um, and did still finish the race.

But, uh, yeah, Julius, oh, and the part that I left out is that after she won, she like turned and did like the, you know, shush motion.

I don't know if she was doing it to the crowd or to the media or whoever, but I saw people sharing it like she was like, shushing the hate.

but it's like you did this.

Like, I know that you, I know you don't remember doing it and can't explain it, but like, people were not like doubting your skiing abilities.

They were saying like, you know, you're, you're receiving a ban and a jail sentence.

But yeah, wild day biathlon, that's 2 days in a row that we've just had these crazy viral stories out of nowhere.

Yeah, congratulations to the French Doug Gottlieb there.

Great deep cut.

Doug Gottlieb, uh, did the same thing, got kicked out of college.

Uh, anyway, for us, for our listeners who are not big, uh, ninetiess college basketball fans , for anyone out in Australia or anywhere else, that's not, yeah, exactly, or the French for that matter.

Um, I think, uh, we should probably get to some hockey, and, um, I know I've been kind of designated our, our hockey guy here.

So, um, I wanna issue a blanket apology to all of our listeners in Bratislava for doubting the Slovakian team in their chances against, uh, against, uh, Finland in their, in their opening game here.

This was a surprise.

So, so Slovakians up winning 4-1.

And the reason it's a surprise, now, Slovakia is, um, The defending bronze medalist, uh, of course, that's a, that's kind of a, you know, an, not an asterisk, but something to, to keep in mind there, there, there were no NHL players at the last Olympics, so the medal table looked a little funky uh compared to what we're expecting to see this time around.

Um, but Slovakia only has 7 NHL players on the roster, uh, compared to all of them on the Finnish team are, uh, are, are from, are playing in the, or there might be one Finnish player who's not in the NHL but it's a former NHLer.

So anyway, big, big, uh, talent discrepancy there.

And, uh, it didn't really look like it though on the ice because, um, One of, uh, Slovakia's NHL players is Yai Slarikowski.

Um, he plays for, uh, the Canadians.

He's 21.

He was part of the team, uh, that won in 2022 when he was still, this is before he was drafted.

Um, he was the number one pick in, in that year's draft later that year by the Canadians.

Uh, also a great start here in his fourth NHL season on set, on pace to set a new, uh, career points record.

Um, but he had two goals.

The second one was nasty, like filthy, just like, you know, as, as they say in hockey, a snipe, he was fantastic.

Um, Slovakia had an empty netter later in the game to, to put it out of reach, but, um, The Slovak goalie Samuel Halai, I think is how it's pronounced, uh, he was incredible.

I like, and this is a guy I'd never heard of before, um, because he's not in the NHL.

He plays, in fact, for the, uh, Iowa Wild of the AHL, that's the top minor league.

Um, he's 24 years old, um, he's kind of been bouncing around, uh, the Minnesota Wild's like minor league system, but, uh, he was fantastic, um, really kept them in the game with a bunch of saves against, you know, they're getting outshot by Finland, um.

And then the other result, which was a surprise before, before you move on, I'll just hop in.

You mentioned the, uh, Slovakian guy playing for the Canadians, and I'll say that is the Montreal Canadiens.

Just for anyone, anyone out there who follows hockey even less than I do and was a little confused by that.

That is just, that is a team in the NHL.

So there, I just wanna, just wanna chime in with my hockey, my, and I used to have hockey knowledge.

I could name so many players from NHL '94 on Sega.

Genesis with the correct team.

I could do that with a lot more players from NHL '94 than I could with current players in the NHL, but my, my knowledge for whatever reason sort of ends there.

But yes, I will, I will, for clarity's sake, I will say Kennajin or the Habs as they're known in, in Montreal.

Uh, the Winnipeg Jets are back, right?

Is that true?

They are back.

Yeah, yeah.

No Tim Musilani anymore, but they're, but I know they're back.

Yeah, all right, uh, the former Atlanta Thrashers anyway, um.

Italy also had a really great showing, an upset bid against Sweden, fell short just as we finished recording here.

I will check the final score because it was not finished when we recorded.

It was 5 to 2.

Um, so, but, uh, Italy scored first, gave up two goals, and then came back to tie it.

They're getting outshot by 1 mile.

It was like , not even close, um, but they had a couple sneak past the goalie.

Uh, the first one was called, was scored by Luca Frigo.

Uh, his name means fridge in Italian.

Uh, I don't think, I think the name predates the refrigerator, but I just found that funny.

And the second was a guy named, uh, I'm not sure what part of Italy he's from, Matt Bradley.

Um, but he scored the 2nd Italian goal.

Uh, Italy has no players who play in North America.

Uh, we've talked about the advantage that Italy is, that every home country has at the Olympics, and Italy, are really seizing on that so far.

In other sports, it translated a little bit here in hockey, not enough to get upset victory over Sweden, but, um, they were fantastic.

The, the Italy.

Team, like I said, nobody plays in North America, no NHL players, no AHL players, no, uh, American college players.

They all play, or most of them play for two Italian teams.

There's a, there's a league called the Ice Hockey League.

ICE is an acronym in that instance, um, that has 8 Austrian teams, 2 Italian, 2 Hungarian, and 1 Slovenian.

Uh, so about half the roster plays for either of those two Italian teams.

Shout out here to Italy goalie Damian Clara.

Uh, he was fantastic.

He really kept them in this game.

He saved 46 of the 49 shots that he faced.

He was then injured later, unfortunately.

uh, had to be pulled.

And I think, um, the backup game of those final two goals.

Uh, but Clara, he was a second round pick by the Ducks in 2023.

He's playing professionally in Sweden right now.

He's only 21, not yet getting over to the NHL, but, uh, definitely, you know, a name to watch after we saw what he did today.

Yeah, and I will say I checked out a little bit of the hockey.

Uh, my one real takeaway was that I, uh, the, the crowd was like really into it, I noticed today, um, and, uh, and it just felt like noticeably louder.

This was the start of the men's tournament, we should say.

We've been watching women's hockey for a bit, um, and so I was like interested by that, and then you and I were talking about that earlier today, and, uh, I didn't realize that this was the, the first game, uh, besides yesterday's women's, uh, US Canada women's game that was.

At the big arena.

So it's probably not, not necessarily like an enthusiasm thing, but also just like physically more people in there at a bigger arena, and yesterday the game was, was kind of a blowout, and these were some close games, so that might have been it.

But I could , I mean, I could hear the crowd in there.

I'm sure this is one of those events that, um, you know, we talk about fans traveling well.

I'm sure people from all over Europe, uh, are, are pumped.

A lot of them are pumped for a lot of different sports, you know, the Dutch are in there for the speed skating and, and a couple of countries have their thing, but I'm sure a lot of people are out there for the hockey and, and getting super into it.

Yeah, the, the atmosphere was great.

It really sounded like an NHL game in a lot of ways.

They had like that, that hard rock music.

I heard some Rage Against the Machine coming through the coming through the speakers and, uh, you know, it sounded like, uh, like your typical NHL arena environment in there, but also another reason why it sounded like an NHL game is because playing the organ, the pipe organ.

Is Dieter Ruhle, who plays the organ for the Dodgers and the LA Kings.

He's been playing at at many of the games at this arena.

Um, so, you know, and everybody loves him, all the fans out in LA, he's like, he's very well known as being like one of the best organists in, uh, in pro sports.

And so, uh, cool gig for him to get, uh, out there at the Olympics.

Yeah, and I just, I want to be very clear that I was not trying to imply that there's less fan interest in the women's hockey.

I think everybody is, yeah, yeah, yeah, like we, I know lots of people are very excited about that also.

I just, um, you know, a lot of the, uh, the NHL players, uh, are, are very well known, and, and, yeah, and it was a big arena, and I don't know, just wanted to make sure I said that.

I think it's very clear that you and I are both very excited about all the women's sports too, obviously, as we've been, yeah, there were just about, about twice as many people at, at this game as there were at the, the smaller arena, so it makes sense.

That'll do it.

All right, we are, uh.

Getting into lightning round territory here, uh, looking at the clock, but, uh, we should probably talk about the figure skating because this is, uh, one of the marquee events that we've been talking about a lot.

Um, so today was the finals in the ice dance, the, uh, the longer free skate program, and we've been talking about Madison Chalk and Evan Bates a lot.

And remember, they were in 2nd place going into today.

They had a, uh, they were narrowly behind that French team, which we talked about on yesterday's show, um, after the, uh, rhythm dance, the shorter program.

And so, uh, the way it sets up was basically they were going 2nd to last, and I think everybody knew coming into today that they were gonna be gold and silver in some order, and it was just a matter of, uh, what order they would be in based on how they skated.

So, uh, Chalk and Bates went first, and they did their, uh, the Matador routine, which we have seen before, uh, where they skated to paint it black, and they were in slightly different outfits, but she once again had the, like, uh, basically the red skirt that she used as a cape, and, uh, they were great, and they actually had their highest score of the season in that routine.

And so, I think the announcers thought like, oh, here's a great opportunity, they might win gold.

Um, the French team that we talked about yesterday, uh , they did come through and actually have the winning score.

Um, there was a lot of separation at the top between the two of them, they were very close, and then 3rd place was like a decent jump down, that was, uh, the Canadian team.

And then there was like another big jump down to 4th place, um, which was a team from Great Britain, which by the way, I loved their, uh, outfits.

They were in like, uh, it was like, it looked like a, like the plaid you would see in a kilt, but like had turned it into like pants and a dress, and their music was like a little bit bagpipes, a little bit, uh, I would walk 500 miles by the Proclaimers, and I think their skate was not as good, uh, but they, but I loved everything surrounding it.

I thought they had, they had good vibes, I thought.

Um, I believe the pattern is called tartan.

Tartan, OK, there we go, thank you for that.

Appreciate you chiming, that's helpful to know.

Um, but yeah, I, I thought, I thought Jack and Bates were great again, like I, I think that's a really cool routine and like an inventive way of, uh, using, well, first off, real music and not AI as we talked about the other day.

But no, I just thought the thing with like the, the bull and the cape and, and everything was like a clever routine and also they're unbelievable at their, um, you know, their performance and Uh, they talked on the broadcast about how like they've been together for 15 years as skating partners.

They're also married now, um, and how the, uh, the French team has only been together as skating partners for about 1 year, and talking about how that experience can be so crucial, but still the, uh, longtime vets were, were taken down, but they remember they did win gold in the team competition and a silver here, so I feel like they are going to be two of the people that are just like, become like celebrities here in the US like.

I would bet so much money that they are gonna end up on Dancing with the Stars, which I think is, is a fate that is common for like celebrity figure skaters and, and people like that.

I feel like they're gonna be in that stratosphere or they're gonna be people that like 8 years from now, they'll be commentators on the broadcast and we'll be like, oh yeah, I remember them, um, you know, they've had such a long, successful career and now 2 medals, including a team gold.

I just, I feel like, cause I think he's 30.

6.

so we, this may be the end of seeing them at the Olympics, but I feel like, uh, I feel like it's not the end of seeing them at the Olympics, just maybe, you know, uh, performing on the ice.

Right?

I think you'd struggle to find two guys less qualified to talk about like the details of this, um, but I like, they both, both teams looked great.

They're both so fluid, um, you know, it's just like, I, I, my take here is that I think.

Um, because it, because the ice dance is where, you know, you're not allowed to leave the ground, or, well, you know, the, the, the, the male partner can lift his, his other partner, uh, off the ground, but not, they can't throw him, you know, nobody's allowed to jump.

Anyway, I feel like that, there's like, Uh, there's no real opportunities for, like, big mistakes the way that it is in like the figure skating portion, the, the, the pairs dancing or, or the singles for that matter, where you can leave the ground and stumble as you, as you come back to earth.

Um, and so, as a result, there's just these tiny little things that cost you a, uh, you know, a fraction of a point here and a fraction of a point there, and, um, it's just a really strange, um, you know, fate for the, for these two teams that they're, you know, they can both be so fantastic and, and.

You know, these little issues on the margins, they add up and then they cost you.

Yeah, that's a really good point.

It, yeah, you really, you have to be perfect because there's not, uh, there's not like that big move like you're talking about.

Yeah.

Look at this, we're, we're becoming experts.

If, if the Olympics lasted 6 months and we watched this every day, I think we'd know a lot by the end.

We're gonna have to watch glitter and gold afterwards.

Maybe, I don't know.

I think the plan was for the, uh, you know, a break on the podcast feed , but maybe we'll have to come back with like a, a glitter and gold recap.

show.

There you go.

I think my, my, the last thing in my notes, uh, for this portion would be, uh, I did watch a little bit of luge.

I did feel like a luge genius for like maybe a half an hour when I saw that the US men's duo of Mueller and Hausha had set a track record in the first run of the men's final, and we're in first place going into the going into the second run.

Then they had trouble in the second run.

They finished sixth.

They were, uh, 0.

224 seconds.

Behind the winners, Kintzwalder and Rieder, who are of Italy, not, uh, they're not German as their names might lead you to believe they're from that German speaking part of Italy.

Um, but yeah, I, you know, tough showing for them, um, a little disappointing.

Um, the only other thing that I noticed from this that was just a funny moment during the men's, uh, doubles luge was the Slovakians team.

Um, they, they crossed the finish line and then immediately crashed into the wall, and the guy who was on top, he's like rubbing, he like hurt his elbow , he's rubbing it.

He also ripped his suit.

I was like, you guys went all the way down this dangerous track, no issues, and then you get to the finish line and crash and the guy hurts himself, but, uh, it seemed to be OK, but I think they finished out of medical tension anyway.

Yeah, I really thought we were getting an American medal at luge for a while, even, even during their second run, they were off to a really good start and then kind of banged a wall on the way down, and it was really like the, the last third, uh, where you could see their split starting to go down, um, but yeah, for a while I thought they had it.

I really did.

Um, last sport I've got is we should talk about, uh, curling at least a little bit, um, because, uh, we, we enjoyed the mixed doubles curling so much.

Uh, the US men made their Olympic debut and started with a win over Czechia.

Uh, they were down 5-4 and then put up a big 3 spot in the eighth on the hammer.

Now keep in mind, uh, the rules are gonna be slightly different now it's 4 on 4.

Now the games are gonna be.

10 ends instead of 8.

so they took that lead, then they gave up 2 in the 9th, it was tied, and then basically pulled it out on the last shot in the 10th.

So I think we'll get a lot more into the, uh, curling.

The men's and women's competitions are both gonna be underway very soon.

So, um, I think later in the week, now that we're looking at the time, I think later in the week we'll get into a little bit more of the, uh, the differences between the mixed doubles game and the, uh, 4 on 4.

I also enjoyed the uh Canada versus Germany game, which went to an extra end and Canada pulling that out.

That was a good one as well.

All right, I missed that one , but, uh, but we will get, we've got lots of curling coming up.

Um.

All right, well, we are gonna get to our, uh, day 6 preview.

I can't believe it's already, we're finished 5 days, moving on to day 6.

but we will preview tomorrow's sports.

Before, before we do that, I had a couple of news items and I think you have one as well.

So I wanted to slide this in here.

Uh, we went on a rant a couple of days ago about the, uh, Czech team skating to AI generated music.

It was like ACDC, uh, with like an AI beat behind it.

I have seen more about this story and it has taken kind of a wild turn.

Uh, and so I just wanted to share this update here.

Uh, Roger Sherman, who was on our podcast to preview before the game started , uh, I saw that he posted this video on Blue Sky and he might have put it in a couple other places.

Um.

They, uh, they got busted with a much more egregious use of AI before the Olympics, and they basically had an AI generated track that just totally plagiarized the song You Get What You Give by the New Radicals, and it, it was like a totally different beat and melody, but just stole their lyrics, and it's like very recognizable lyrics , like the line, every night we smash.

Mercedes-Benz is like pretty clearly stolen from that song and not just like thought up.

Uh, it also took wake up kids, we got the Dreamer's Disease, obviously lifted.

You gotta find this video because it's just like so weird to hear these like, uh, very familiar song lyrics to just like a totally different tune and watching them skate like it's no big deal.

Um, so I don't, I don't know when, I didn't read like the full backstory.

Story behind this of like, when this was pointed out to them, like, uh, no, you're not gonna be able to use this in competition, certainly not at the Olympics.

So then they had to switch to their other AI track behind uh AC DC, but yeah , it's just like a ridiculous video and uh just wanted to share because I think I, we were talking about it and it was like, oh, the big AI check story, and then it turns out what we were talking is not even like the biggest, funniest thing of this story.

So I wanted to make sure we got that on the podcast today.

I love that the world economy is currently being reoriented around the giant plagiarism machine.

That's a really good thing for the future of the world.

Um, I had a, uh, just a really brief update on the viral biathlon cheater story we talked about yesterday.

Um, so maybe we should have done this at the, maybe we should have done this at the top of the podcast.

These are the important stories people, people come to us for.

This is a weird one though, you know, it's like.

Uh, I think, like, you know, like what to make of this guy, like, you know, we talked about obviously sees the spotlight from , uh, his teammate and also like, obviously he's been, uh, you know, unfaithful to his partner and so you're like, it's, it's kind of an icky one, and there's a quote here from, uh, the ex-girlfriend involved here.

Um, she spoke anonymously to a Norwegian newspaper.

I'll just read her statement here.

Uh, quote, I did not choose to be put in this position, and it hurts to have to be in it.

We have had contact and he is aware of my opinions on this.

Um, I am grateful to my family and friends who have embraced me and who supported me during this time.

Also to everyone else who has thought of me and sympathized without knowing who I am.

Um, so, you know, she's, she's spoken out, she's made it kind of made it pretty clear, I'm not interested in getting back with this guy, bronze medal or not, um.

And uh I think that seems like it'll put this story to bed and uh we can just leave it at that.

Yeah, sounds like it's uh time to move on, I think for the both of them.

Yes, well, it sounds like one of them already has moved on, but yeah, I think she's, people were fascinated in this, and so were we, but now she's made it clear she's sounds like that's a very polite way of saying anonymously to a Norwegian newspaper that you don't want to hear from this man again.

And so I think now it's, uh, I, I think, I think we're all done with this, like you said, that'll probably be our last update that should end that.

Yes, all right.

Uh, last thing that I had on my list is, um, so we've talked a bunch about the, uh, team combined, uh, alpine skiing event, and this is one where, and, you know, I've talked about this, like, I've, uh, uh, I've covered the Summer Olympics a lot more than the winter, uh, in my career, and so we're, uh, some of this is stuff we're just like picking up on a little bit, you feel that .

With like the history and the events.

Well, anyway, we, we talked about the, uh, Downhill team combined as like a fun, interesting idea for an event and you get a chance to see some of those stars out there and people get another chance to compete and maybe win multiple medals.

Um, but I did just want to mention that it is interesting, the team combined has replaced the individual combined, which, uh, is an event that had.

Existed for a long time.

And so, um, I have a quote here.

I was reading something from NPR and that story says, uh, the team format has replaced the traditional individual combined event in international skiing as the speed and technical disciplines have diverged to the point that it has become rare for skiers to race in both.

And then there's a quote from the president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

And he says, we had slalom skiers that looked like Bambi on ice in the downhill track, and downhillers, and downhillers who looked like they needed a compass to get through the slalom course, and very few that could actually do both.

Um, and so, uh, the 2026 Winter Games were the Olympic debut of the new format, and on Tuesday, he called the results, quote, a spectacular success.

So, I'm very torn on this actually, because I do, I, sure, if you want to call it a success, like he's a better judge.

Of that than I am, though, of course, he's gonna spin it positively.

Um, I do like it, like, I think it is cool, um, and like the team of Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin and, um , some of those other like superstar teams, but, uh, but yeah, to me that does actually feel like a loss that they used to have this individual combined.

I was reading another story, I think I lost the tab to that one, that like people viewed the individual combined as just like this amazing measure of who's the best all-around skier and somebody who is able to excel at both.

And so, I just thought it was, uh, worthwhile to bring this up for our audience, uh, in case you, in case people were not familiar or didn't realize, um, that, you know, I think we've gained something interesting, but we also did lose something, and I think, uh, that idea that, that used to be something that was celebrated, somebody who was so good at these two things that are very different, um, you know, and that we don't have that anymore.

And so I just wanted to point that out as we talk about, you know, I think a lot of times we celebrate the new sports, but, uh, I thought it was worth giving a shout out to, uh, something that, that we have lost from the Olympics.

Yeah, in sports, I always, I always tend to really favor and, and enjoy a breadth of skills, you know, like, obviously Shohe Otani hitting and pitching or like, my my favorite basketball players are always like the small forward who like, they could play inside, they could play outside, they're rebounding, they're passing, they're shooting.

Um, you know, so I, the idea of like the individual combined is saying, OK, I, I wanna, you know, specialize in, in, in both of these things, or at least you develop some kind of passive familiarity in both of these disciplines.

I think that's really admirable.

It's also like, I feel like, um, this is maybe not the same thing, but like, there's such a, there's such a trend in sports these days in specialization.

You know, elite athletes are no longer, it used to be, if you're a great athlete in high school, you'd play baseball, football, and basketball, or, you know, you play all different sports all three seasons, and now these days, everyone's focusing on one sport and to their detriment, you know, cause it, it, uh, you know, you're, you're putting additional wear and tear on different muscle, on the same muscle groups all year round.

Um, you know, I think it's probably a little bit different in skiing.

You're probably using a lot of the same muscle groups, but just the idea of people specializing in one thing and, uh, letting the other thing fall by the wayside, it's a, it's a shame the way things are going, but, um, you know, it's, it's a reality.

Yeah, I agree.

A lot of people have written a lot about this and debated this.

I, I think you are right that the two different skiing disciplines are more similar than like the kids who decide they can't play basketball when they're 7 years old because their parents want them to specialize in baseball for a scholarship or whatever and they're thinking way in advance.

I think skiers are skiers and probably try everything in the same way that uh Joe Brebeck was telling us that the kids these days are coming up doing Nordic combined cause they're doing the ski, the cross country skiing and the ski jumping.

Um, but yeah, I'm always impressed by people who can do multiple disciplines, and, uh, so yeah, so that's, that is something we've lost.

All right, I think it's probably just about time to move on to day 6, right?

So, uh, we'll go through, try to go through this quickly causes a lot of stuff on the docket and, uh, you know, we're running a little bit over time here.

Um, I'll start with, I guess we're just talking about skiing.

Uh, the women's Super G is tomorrow.

So there's 4 Americans in the field.

They're all grouped together pretty tightly on the start list.

Uh, Keely Cashman, Breezy Johnson, Mary Bocock, and Jacqueline Wiles.

They will all race between number 18 and 22.

There's 1 Frenchwoman in between them.

So, uh, if you're able to tune in to catch the first one of those, which I believe is Cashman.

Um, you'll be able to catch a ball.

OK, uh, women's snowboard halfpipe, we already talked about this, uh, so I won't say too much else, but 1:30 p.m. again, C Khloe Kim is gonna be going for the gold medal, uh, for her third consecutive gold medal.

Uh, Maddie Mastro and B Kim are also the other two Americans, and remember scores, uh, do not carry over from previous rounds.

Everybody's starting fresh, but Chloe Kim definitely the favorite and could be a pretty historic day for her.

The US and Canada have their first men's hockey games tomorrow.

We'll see if these are a little more uh comfortable than the, the first games you saw today.

So, the US has Latvia at 3:10 and earlier in the day, Canada has Czechia at 10:40.

All right, I'm gonna go a little bit off the board and you're gonna be surprised that I bring this one up so early.

But one of my, one of my, uh, sleeper picks for underrated event of the Olympics, the luge team relay, it's at 12:30 p.m. Remember, there's no, no heats, no practice runs, they just go, you get one time per country.

This is the one where it's like continuous motion, because one of the teams is gonna get to the finish line and slap a gate, and then their teammates are just gonna start right away at the top.

So it's like 4, sleds per country and they're just gonna be going quickly.

Uh, Team USA definitely has a chance to win a medal.

Um, they're gonna have the two guys who nearly medaled today are gonna be in this.

Ashley Farquharson, who we talked about earlier, who won a bronze medal yesterday.

So the US is definitely a medal contender.

We know Germany is gonna be good.

But yeah, you only get one chance to see the luge team relay.

It's at 12:30 p.m. right in the middle of the day.

You have no excuses.

Take your lunch break.

If you're stuck in an office somewhere, if you're home, uh, it should be even easier, but yeah, make sure you check out the luge.

Oh, while we're talking about sliding.

Earlier in the day on the sliding track is the first bobsled action of these games.

Um, it's just training, it's the two-man training at 6:50 a.m. and the women's model bob at 9:30, but if you're looking forward to seeing more sliding, uh, that's on offer.

It's, uh, won't won't be any medals handed out until Sunday, however.

OK, uh, the women's speed skating, uh, has one medal event tomorrow, and it's the longest race.

It's the 5000 m.

So that is 3.1 miles, 12.5 laps around the track.

Uh, for those who are wondering, the world record is 6 minutes and 39 seconds, so that gives you an idea.

Uh, this is gonna be a much smaller field than we've seen in a lot of the other speed skating races .

There are only 6 pairs going.

Um, each one's gonna take, you know, more than 6.5 minutes, so it, it'll still be a lengthy event, um, but in those 6 pairs, there are not any Americans.

Um, there is a, a favorite from Norway, and also, uh, Francesco Lalla Brigida of Italy, who we saw win an exciting gold medal on.

I if it was day one or day two, whenever that was, um, but I think she's in the final pair, um, so that should be a fun event to see and, and just like a really good test to skate a full, uh, full 5k around the track, uh, in, in under seven minutes.

That'll be an interesting, uh, test of endurance.

Yeah, the Norwegian dimension Ranja Vickland, she won silver in that same 3000 m where the La Brigia took gold .

Um, earlier, so also in the, uh, in the speed skating, but in the short track version, you're gonna have two medals handed out.

They're gonna be the women's 500 m and the men's 1000 m.

Uh, the quarterfinals begin at, uh, 2:15 and 3:30 respectively.

Uh, there are 22 Americans qualify for the 500 quarters, that's, uh, Kristen Santos Griswold of Fairville, Connecticut, and, uh, Julie Letai, and then one American in the 1000 on the men's side, that's Clayton Di Clementi.

OK, and it's a rare chance to see, uh, like afternoon short track because we talked about how short track is sharing an arena with the figure skating, which usually gets the primetime treatment.

No figure skating tomorrow, so if you have been interested in short track but couldn't tune in cause it's at 4 o'clock in the morning, uh, here you go.

You've got a chance, a rare chance to see some afternoon speed skating.

Um, the men's freestyle skiing moguls, we talked a bunch earlier in the show about the women's, uh, finals, and so now if you missed it, you can check out the men, although it's, uh, it's pretty early.

The finals are at 6:15, and so also, uh, I don't know what time people listen to this podcast.

If, if people listen at like 7:00 a.m. on their morning commutes, then maybe it's already happened, um, but if not, maybe you'll catch it live, or if you listen to this in the evening, uh, or you can go back and check out a replay, but, uh, one American name to know is Nick Page, who, uh, I believe should be a medal contender here.

I always love any sport in the Olympics that has the word cross in it, the BMX cross, the ski cross , the snowboard cross.

The snowboard crosses tomorrow, uh, starts at 4:00 a.m. They do this event all in one day, starts at 4:00 a.m. The final is gonna be at 8:56 a.m. This is the one where it's like a, a head to head race with, uh, it's like 6 competitors per heat, um, you know , racing down the mountain on a kind of obstacle course kind of thing.

Uh, there are 4 Americans in the field, including the 44-year-old Nick Baumgartner.

He won gold in the mixed event with Lindsay Jacob Ellis in Beijing.

All right, and there are 9 medal events, and I think we've talked about 8 of them already, so I'll give you the 9th.

It's the, uh, over in cross-country skiing, the women's 10K interval, which is gonna start at 7 a.m. There are 4 Americans in it, that does include, uh, Jessie Diggins, although we talked about her the other day that she's dealing with bruised ribs.

Um, and I I don't think this is her best chance at a medal, even if she was at full strength.

Um, she has medaled in 3 different events in past Olympics, and this is not one of them.

Um, but interested to see how she's doing and if she's healthy.

And it also feels like you never know .

And, and like Michael Rosenberg again, also we now 2 Rosie mentions on this episode of the podcast.

Hello, if you're listening to it.

over in Italy.

Um, but he wrote that story about her before the Olympics that we talked to him about, um, just about her mental toughness in, uh, that longer race that she had when she won the medal last time around.

So, uh, so who knows?

Let's see what she's got in her, um, but also 3 other Americans in the field, and I've just really enjoyed the cross country.

So, uh, a chance to see another one of those races for those who are up in the morning.

Yeah, she, she tends to favor the freestyle, which is, or she tends to do better in the longer events, but the freestyle is her preferred style, so, uh, kind of, uh, you know, at odds there, we'll see what she does.

Um, I think the last thing on my board is, uh, the curling, women's curling, uh, Corey TC, her, she's gonna be in the part of the US women's team.

She's not the skip, but she's part of the team, having just won the silver in the mixed doubles.

So she has her first two games or the team does it rather.

Uh , 3 in the morning against Korea, but also 1 o'clock in the afternoon against Sweden.

Isabel Varana, Isabella Varana, the, um, the Swede who was part of that gold medal winning mixed doubles team, she is not on the Sweden team, however.

Yeah, that's, uh, 3:05 a.m. Eastern.

That's just after midnight on the West Coast.

So shout out to our West Coast listeners.

Any anyone in Hawaii, it's a great, probably a great time slot for you to watch it .

Um, and we should say the men are back in action also.

Uh, the US men play against Switzerland at 8:05 a.m. All those games start at 5 after the hour.

I don't know if that's for just like a late, a late, yeah, late arriving crowd or whatever.

Yeah, that's true.

We have been talking about that, yeah.

Um, it's just like baseball.

It's on at 3:05 in the morning.

Well, you know, NPP, yeah, right, I think, uh, we've, we've talked enough Olympics for today.

We've bend people's ears a little bit.

So, uh, I think, uh, unless you got anything else, I think we'll head out of here.

I've got nothing.

Thanks as always to everyone for listening and following along.

I think, uh, people can tell how much fun we are having doing this, and it's been great hearing from people who are also enjoying it.

So, uh, yeah, what the hell?

Let's do 11 more days of this, shall we?

Hope everyone enjoys day 6, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

All right, take it easy.