American Olympic Athletes Disappoint Again on Tuesday

American Olympic athletes had a rough day in Pyeongchang on Tuesday, disappointing fans across the U.S. with their dismal results on multiple sports.

In the women’s downhill, Lindsey Vonn, who was a favorite to take the gold, barely squeaked by with a third-place finish, earning a bronze medal. CBS:

So, no gold medal for Lindsey Vonn in the downhill. Vonn, a once-in-a-generation ski talent, added to her Olympic medal collection on Wednesday morning in South Korea after settling for the bronze. Vonn, 33, was aiming to become the oldest woman to ever win a gold in the downhill but was beat by her good friend, Italy’s Sofia Goggia. Goggia crossed in 1 minutes, 39.22 seconds and in doing so became the first Italian woman to ever win gold in the event.

And in women’s figure skating, all three American women faltered in their short programs.

Mirai Nagasu, Karen Chen, and Bradie Tennell finished in 9th, 10th, and 11th places respectively.

New York Times:

Mirai Nagasu of the United States could not ace her triple-rich program set to Chopin. Her first jump was the toughest, a triple axel, and she ended it on the ice. But she recovered to nail her flip-toeloop and that extra triple, the loop. Even with the fall, the difficulty was off the charts, and Nagasu wound up in second, behind Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.

Bradie Tennell, 20, led off the night in the short program competition and surprised viewers with a rare fall at the outset of her performance. Tennell, the U.S. national champion, lacks international experience, which may have contributed to her shaky performance on Tuesday. Karen Chen, 18, put a hand down on the first jump of her triple-triple combo, which knocked her score down.

The women’s free skate will be held on Thursday, so American women still have a shot at the podium, although Tuesday’s lackluster performances made the quest for a medal much more difficult.

The lone bright spots on Tuesday were the American snowboarders—all of whom did well enough in the qualifying heats to move on to the finals in the big air competition—and the women’s bobsledders.

NBC:

All three Americans in the heat — Kyle Mack, Chris Corning and slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard — landed backside triple cork 1440s to book their spots in the final.

TeamUSA.org:

Team USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs set three records in just the first two heats of women’s bobsled on Tuesday night. They, along with teammates Jamie Greubel Poser and Aja Evans, will compete for medals in the final two heats of the event Wednesday night.

The U.S. medal count is currently 13, with five gold medals, three silver, and three bronze. Norway leads the medal count with 30—11 of those gold medals.

During the 2014 Winter Olympics, Team U.S.A. took home a total of 28 medals, including nine gold:

(Via TeamUSA.org)

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This article has been updated to note the final standings in women’s figure skating.