David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, Colo.) was the top American in 18th in slalom Thursday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Mark Engel (Truckee, Calif.) was 31st.

Sweden’s Andre Myhrer won the gold, as Ramon Zenhaeusern took the silver and Austria’s Michael Matt took the bronze. Pre-race favorite Marcel Hirscher of Austria did not finish the first run.

Nolan Kasper (Warren, Vt.) did not finish the second run.

RESULTS
Men’s slalom

Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) added another Olympic medal to her collection, taking the silver medal in the alpine combined Thursday at the Jeongseon Alpine Center. Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) racing in her final Olympic event, won the first run downhill, but straddled a gate in the slalom and did not finish.

“To come away from this Olympics with two medals is insane – especially after the schedule changes on both ends of the event,” said Shiffrin, who opted to sit out the downhill to focus on the combined after the event was rescheduled to Thursday. “It was like someone was playing a game of ping-pong in my brain.”Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin won the gold, as her countrywomen Wendy Holdener took the bronze."

Shiffrin finished sixth in the downhill, then posted the third-fastest time in the slalom. However, Gisin finished third in the downhill - 1.21-seconds ahead of Shiffrin – and her advantage in the slalom for the victory.

“With my downhill today, I had a bit too much of a bobble at the top on the traverse to really feel comfortable sending it like crazy,” Shiffrin said. “After I made that mistake, I tried to be solid on my skis and not take too many risks, because for me, it doesn’t make sense to take a lot of risk on the downhill – for what? – I am not at that level yet. I knew I wasn’t going to win the race on the downhill today. Knowing it was a two-run race, I did what I could with the downhill and then switched my focus to the slalom.”

Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.) finished 15th in her first Olympic event. Shiffrin closes out the 2018 Games with a gold medal in giant slalom, fourth in slalom and now a silver medal in the alpine combined. Vonn closes out her Olympic career with three medals – bronze in Wednesday’s downhill; bronze in super-G and gold in downhill at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

RESULTS
Women’s alpine combined

After spills on his first two runs, it appeared that David Wise's chance to defend his Olympic gold medal in halfpipe was fading away Thursday afternoon at the Phoenix Snow Park.

Appearances can be deceiving. Wise (Reno, Nev.) validated that cliche by laying down a flawless final run and scored 97.20 to jump to the top of the leaderboard and win his second-consecutive Olympic halfpipe title. Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.) won the silver.

“I was hoping to have three runs to kind of work things in; sometimes you have a little bit of a bad landing or whatever - you get a little bit better run by run,” Wise said. “But I had to put it all on the line on run three, and I’m stoked I put it down.”

Ferreira set the bar early with his first run score of 92.60. Then upped the ante with a 96.00 on his second trip into the pipe. He finished with a flourish, earning 96.40 points on his third run to secure the silver medal. Nico Porteous of New Zealand won the bronze with 94.80 points on his second run.

“I worked really hard to be here and I’m just extremely happy to be part of the event,” Ferreira said. “We watched (Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall) get gold last night and I was screaming in front of the TV, I was like ‘ GO! GO!’ It was so cool to watch and that kind fired me up!”

Aaron Blunck finished seventh with a best run of 84.80, while Torin Yater-Wallace was ninth with his first-run score of 65.20. Ferreira was the only skier to post three clean runs.

RESULTS
Men’s Halfpipe

Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) won her second medal of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, picking up the silver medal in the inaugural snowboard big air event at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center.

With the top two scores out of three jumps used to determine the final rankings, Anderson led the field early with a pair of clean jumps for a total of 177.25. Challengers were lurking close behind, with Austria's Anna Gasser hitting two clean runs for a 174.50, as well as New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott, the only other rider besides Anderson to post a 90-plus score in the first two runs with her 92.00 second run and a 157.50 total after two trips off the kicker.

Entering the final jump with two solid scores in the bank, Anderson sat down on the landing of her final run – a double 1080 - leaving the door open for Gasser. The last rider down the hill, Gasser nailed her run to pick up a 96.00 and surpass Anderson to take the gold, scoring 185.00 to Anderson's 177.25. Synnott's two-run score gave her the bronze medal.

Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) was 10th and Jessika Jenson (Rigby, Idaho) 11th as both struggled to land their first jumps.

RESULTS
Women’s big air
 

ALPINE
Downhill Bronze for Vonn
Racing in her final Olympic downhill race, four-time Olympian Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) won the bronze medal, leading three Americans into the top-seven Wednesday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre.
"This is hard for me – I have so many emotions – this is my last Olympic downhill race in my career," Vonn said. "I am sad this is my last Olympics, I want to keep racing and I would love to be in the next Olympics, but I don’t think my body can take it.
"I wanted to win for my grandfather, but I think he would still be happy with bronze," Vonn added. "That is what counts. My family is proud of me – I am proud of me – and today, bronze feels like gold."
Vonn will compete in one more Olympic event, the alpine combined, which includes one run of downhill and one run of slalom Thursday. Joining her will be Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) and Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.), who will be competing in her first Olympic race. The downhill is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. KT / 9:30 p.m. EST Wednesday. The second run slalom starts at 3:00 p.m. KT / 1:00 a.m. EST … READ MORE / RESULTS / START LIST

Kasper To Lead Team USA in Slalom
Three-time Olympian Nolan Kasper (Warren, Vt.) will lead Team USA in the men’s slalom Thursday, first run scheduled for 10:00 a.m. KT / 8:00 p.m. EST Wednesday. Joining Kasper on Team USA will be David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, Colo.) and Mark Engel (Truckee, Calif.). The second run is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. KT / 11:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.
START LIST
Men’s slalom

FREESKI
Men’s Halfpipe Finals Thursday
Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.), Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.), Torin Yater-Wallace (Basalt, Colo.) and David Wise (Reno. Nev.), the defending halfpipe gold medalist, compete in the medal round Thursday, 11:30 a.m. KT / 9:30 p.m. EST Wednesday at Phoenix Snow Park.
START LIST
Men’s Halfpipe

CROSS COUNTRY
Diggins, Randall Win Historic Gold
Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) won the team sprint to give the United States its first-ever Olympic gold medal in cross country skiing.
“It’s a dream come true,” Randall said. “When Jessie and I won the World Championship together in 2013, I got to see that a team medal is worth far more than any individual accolade. What really kept me going over the last four years was trying to contribute towards a team medal, and to do it here and get to go with Jessie one more time, it's amazing.”
“This team brings out the absolute best in me and we had so many people working so hard to give us this opportunity,” Diggins said. “Kikkan and I both knew our jobs, and we both did them well today. That feeling of being able to cross the line and have Kikkan tackle me was the coolest thing ever.”
In the chaos of the finish, Diggins laughed when admitting she had to ask Kikkan what had just happened. Kikkan told her they had won!
In the men’s team sprint, Team USA of Erik Bjornsen (Anchorage) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) finished sixth, the best Olympic result ever for the United States in men’s cross country skiing. … READ MORE / RESULTS

SNOWBOARD
Mack, Corning, Gerard Advance to Big Air Medal Round
Kyle Mack (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) and Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.) advanced to the medal round in big air competition at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center.  Ryan Stassel (Anchorage, Alaska) finished 13th in qualifying heat 2 and did not advance to the finals.
The medal round is scheduled for Saturday, 10:00 a.m. KT / 8:00 p.m. EST Friday.
RESULTS
Qualifying heat 1
Qualifying heat 2

START LIST
Men’s big air finals

Women’s Big Air Finals Thursday
Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.), Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) and Jessika Jenson (Rigby, Idaho) will represent Team USA in the big air finals Thursday, 9:30 a.m. KT / 7:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.
START LIST
Women’s big air finals

HOW TO WATCH
*All times EST.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21
NBC
3:00-5:00 p.m. - Team sprint qualifying
8:00-11:00 p.m. - Men's slalom first run (live), men's halfpipe skiing finals (live), team sprint finals.
11:35 p.m.-12:30 a.m. - Men's slalom second run (live)

NBCSN
1:30-5:00 p.m. - Medal Ceremony

Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
12:00-12:30 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
7:30-9:15 p.m. - Women's big air snowboarding finals (Thursday)
8:00-10:20 p.m. - Men's slalom first run (Thursday)
9:00-10:25 p.m. - Women's alpine combined downhill (Thursday)
9:30-11:00 p.m. - Men's halfpipe skiing finals (Thursday)
11:45 p.m.-1:40 a.m. - Men's slalom second run (Thursday)

THURSDAY, FEB. 22
NBC
3:00-5:00 p.m. Nordic combined relay jump
8:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. - Women's alpine combined downhill (live), women's big air snowboarding (live)
12:35-2:00 a.m. - Women's alpine combined slalom

NBCSN
5:20 -7:45 a.m. - Nordic combined relay
7:45-10:45 a.m. - Medal Ceremony

Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
5:00-7:00 a.m. - Medal Ceremony (live)
12:00-12:30 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
12:30-1:45 a.m. - Women's alpine combined slalom
2:30-3:10 a.m. - Nordic combined team large hill jump
5:20-6:20 a.m. - Nordic combined 4x5k team event

FRIDAY, FEB. 23
NBC
8:00-11:00 p.m. - Alpine team event, big air snowboarding (live), men's parallel GS snowboarding.

NBCSN
12:30-4:00 p.m. - Medals Ceremony, men's 50k classic mass start (live)

Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
5:00-7:00 a.m. - Medal Ceremony (live)
12:30-1:00 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
8:00-9:45 p.m. - Men's big air snowboarding (Saturday)
9:00-10:55 p.m. - Alpine team event (Saturday)
10:00-11:30 p.m. - Parallel giant slalom snowboarding (Saturday)

Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) won the team sprint to give the United States its first-ever women's Olympic gold medal in cross country skiing.

“It’s a dream come true,” Randall said. “I got to see in 2013 when we won the World Championships that a team gold is worth far more than any individual accolade. What really kept me going over the last four year was trying to contribute towards a team medal here, and to do it here and get to go with Jessie one more time, it's amazing.”

“This team brings out the absolute best in me and we had so many people working so hard to give us this opportunity,” Diggins said. “Kikkan and I both knew our jobs, and we both did them well today. That feeling of being able to cross the line and have Kikkan tackle me was the coolest thing ever.”

In the chaos of the finish, Diggins laughed when admitting she had to ask Kikkan what had just happened. Kikkan told her they had won!

Team USA easily advanced through the early rounds, and after winning the semifinal, Randall and Diggins only seemed to get faster.

“I actually felt better every round today,” Randall said. “I felt strong in the semifinal, I was actually trying to conserve some energy, so in the final, I felt strong and stronger.”

Coming into the finals, both knew they had a job to do, and were determined to not only win a medal but win the race outright.

“Being so close to the medals this week so many times this week, I knew I was in good shape and I knew it could happen,” Diggins said. “I just felt unstoppable. I’m in the best shape of my life.

“A medal is not enough anymore, I wanted to win this stuff,” Diggins added. “I’m going to give this absolutely everything I can and play a tactical, smart race and see how it pans out. At that point, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

In the six-lap final, Randall set the early pace with Team Norway and Team Olympic Athletes from Russia right with her, tagging off to Diggins in fourth position, who then moved into third on the second exchange.

“Lap one I was skiing a little more conservative … so lap two I really started pushing the pace and trying to tire out some of the more pure sprinters,” said Diggins, who set a blistering pace matched only by Norway and Sweden. Following the final exchange, Diggins pushed the pace even further before playing a supreme tactical game down the stretch.

“Then on lap three I just went for it, and then purposely hung back a little bit because I wanted to come into the downhill third to be able to get the draft and get a slingshot into a really good position,” added Diggins, who out-sprinted Sweden’s Stina Nilsson for the gold by 0.19 seconds. “Then around that final corner, I felt kind of like I was coiling a spring and letting it go, giving it everything that I had and digging as deep as I could and leaving it all out there.”

In the men’s team sprint, Team USA of Erik Bjornsen (Anchorage, Alaska) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) finished sixth, the best Olympic result ever for the United States in men’s cross country skiing.

“We’re proud of what we accomplished,” Hamilton said. “Obviously it’s always our goal to be on the podium. We both know that we can be up there and maybe someday we will.”

RESULTS
Women’s team sprint
Men’s team sprint
 

Racing in her final Olympic downhill race, four-time Olympian Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) won the bronze medal, leading three Americans into the top-seven Wednesday at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre.

"This is hard for me – I have so many emotions – this is my last Olympic downhill race in my career," said Vonn after winning her third career Olympic medal. "I am sad this is my last Olympics, I want to keep racing and I would love to be in the next Olympics, but I don’t think my body can take it.

"I wanted to win for my grandfather, but I think he would still be happy with bronze," Vonn added. "That is what counts. My family is proud of me – I am proud of me – and today, bronze feels like gold."

Competing in her second Olympic Winter Games, Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, Colo.) came out of the 14th start position to finish fifth, while Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho), who was competing in her first Olympics, finished seventh. Two-time Olympian Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) was 15th.

"Lindsey is one of the greatest of all time, it’s an honor to have competed alongside her and been her teammate for the last nine years," McKennis said. "I’ve seen everything she’s gone through and her perseverance has been inspiring. That perseverance has helped me through my own struggles. She is going to leave a huge legacy behind."

Italy’s Sofia Goggia, who along with Vonn was one of the pre-race favorites after winning both the super-G and downhill test events on the Jeongseon Downhill course last season, laid down the gold medal run coming out of the fifth start position. Vonn, starting seventh, picked up time on the lower portion of the course, but came up almost a half-second short of Goggia’s gold-medal time, slotting in second at 0.49-seconds back.

Vonn held onto the silver-medal position until Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel, starting bib 19, took a shot at Goggia’s winning time, coming up just 0.09 second short to take the silver and knock Vonn into the bronze medal position. For Mowinckel, it was her second silver medal of the PyeongChang Games after finishing second to Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) in the giant slalom.

Vonn will compete in one more Olympic event, the alpine combined, which includes one run of downhill and one run of slalom Thursday. Joining her will be Shiffrin and Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.), who will be competing in her first Olympic race. The downhill is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. KT / 9:30 p.m. EST Wednesday. The second run slalom starts at 3:00 p.m. KT / 1:00 a.m. EST

RESULTS
Women’s downhill

START LIST
Women's alpine combined

Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) finished fourth and Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) was fifth in the third and final downhill training run at at Jeongseon Alpine Centre.

“I feel confident, I feel good and I’m going to give it my all tomorrow and we’ll see what happens,” Vonn told NBC following her final training run. “It’s all or nothing - same as super-G. I’m just going to give it all I have.”

Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill gold medalist, starts with bib 7 in Wednesday’s downhill, scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. KT / 9:00 p.m. EST Tuesday.

Joining Vonn for Team USA will be Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho), Laurenne Ross (Bend. Ore.) and Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, Colo.). Shiffrin will not start the downhill in order to focus on Thursday’s alpine combined.

RESULTS
Women’s downhill training run 3

START LIST
Women’s downhill

FREESKI
Sigourney Grabs Halfpipe Bronze
Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) nailed her final run to grab the halfpipe bronze medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games Tuesday morning at Phoenix Snow Park.

Sigourney put down solid scores in her first two runs to rank third going into the final run. Fellow American Annalisa Drew (Andover, Mass.) briefly overtook Sigourney with a strong final run score of 90.80, but Sigourney responded, earning 91.60 to cement her bronze medal finish.
Cassie Sharpe of Canada won the gold medal with 95.80 points, as Marie Martinod of France, who took silver with 92.60 points. Drew finished fourth.

"I just feel to proud and honored to are a part of this group of girls," said Sigourney. "It was such an inspiring competition. They put down the greatest runs I’ve ever seen in a halfpipe." … READ MORE

All Four Team USA Skiers Advance to Medal Round
Aaron Blunck (Crested Butte, Colo.), Alex Ferreira (Aspen, Colo.), Torin Yater-Wallace (Basalt, Colo.) and David Wise (Reno. Nev.), the defending ski halfpipe gold medalist,  all qualified for the medal round Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. KT / 9:00 p.m. EST Tuesday at Phoenix Snow Park.

Blunck led the way in qualifying with a score of 94.40 on his second run, which surpassed Ferreira, whose 92.60 was the best first-run score. Torin Yater-Wallace scored 89.60 on his first run to place third. Wise rallied to a 79.60 on his second run to finish eighth.

RESULTS
Men's halfpipe qualifying

START LIST
Men’s Halfpipe

CROSS COUNTRY
Randall, Diggins and Bjornsen, Hamilton Ready for Team Sprint
Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Jessie Diggins (Aton, Minn) will represent Team USA in the team sprint on Wednesday 5:00 p.m. KT / 3:00 a.m. EST. Representing Team USA on the men’s side will be Erik Bjornsen (Anchorage, Alaska) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.), starting at 5:50 p.m. KT / 3:50 a.m. EST.

“We are very excited to be starting two experienced teams that will be fighting for medals,” head coach Chris Grover said. “Kikkan and Jessie haven’t raced a skate team sprint together perhaps since they win gold together in Val di Fiemme (World Championships) in 2013. Both women are in top shape and are recovered from the relay and ready to go.

“Erik and Simi finished fifth in this event in Lahti (World Championships) last season, and have been targeting this race since last spring,” Grover added. “We have long known that this event is our best chance at a medal in PyeongChang and our service team will be pushing hard to ensure that we have great skis.”

START LISTS
Women’s team sprint
Men’s team sprint

NORDIC COMBINED
Fletcher 17th in Final Individual Olympic Event
Skiing in his final individual Olympic event, Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) put in another strong performance to finish 17th in the large hill nordic combined event. Germany swept the podium in a race that came right down to the wire with Johannes Rydzek leading the charge to take gold.

Fletcher soared 120.5 meters to finish 23rd in the jump, starting two minutes, four seconds behind jump leader Akito Watabe, who ended up fifth.

“I put together a pretty decent jump,” said Fletcher. “It wasn’t the dream jump I had been hoping for but a solid performance. It put me into the chase group to give me a chance for a top 10 if I had a really good race.” … READ MORE

SNOWBOARD
Men’s Big Air Qualifying
The inaugural Olympic Winter Games men’s snowboard big air competition gets underway Wednesday with two qualifying heats.

Men’s slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard (Silverthorne, Colo.), Chris Corning (Silverthorne, Colo.) and Kyle Mack (West Bloomfield, Mich) will compete in heat 1, 9:30 a.m. KT / 7:30 p.m. EST Tuesday. Ryan Stassel (Anchorage, Alaska) will start in heat 2 at 11:45 a.m. KT / 9:45 p.m. EST Tuesday.

START LISTS
Men’s qualifying heat 1
Men’s qualifying heat 2

Women’s Big Air Finals Rescheduled
Due to predicted strong winds Friday, the women's snowboard big air finals have been rescheduled to Thursday, February 22, beginning at 9:30 a.m. KT / 7:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.

Jamie Anderson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.), Julia Marino (Westport, Conn.) and Jessika Jenson (Rigby, Idaho) will represent Team USA.

START LIST
Women’s big air finals

HOW TO WATCH
*All times EST.

TUESDAY, FEB. 20
NBC
3:00-5:00 p.m. - Nordic combined 10k
8:00 p.m.-12:30 a.m. - Women's downhill (live), men's big air snowboarding qualifying (live)

NBCSN
12:00-5:00 p.m. - Nordic combined 10k cross country

Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
12:00-12:30 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
7:30-10:45 p.m. - Men's big air snowboarding qualifying (Wednesday)
9:00-10:50 p.m. - Women's downhill (Wednesday)

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21
NBC
3:00-5:00 p.m. - Team sprint qualifying
8:00-11:00 p.m. - Men's slalom first run (live), men's halfpipe skiing finals (live), team sprint finals.
11:35 p.m.-12:30 a.m. - Men's slalom second run (live)

NBCSN
10:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. - Men's and women's cross country freestyle team sprint finals
1:30-5:00 p.m. - Medal Ceremony

Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
5:00-7:00 a.m. - Medal Ceremony (live)
12:00-12:30 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
3:00-4:30 a.m - Cross country freestyle team sprint qualifying
5:00-6:20 a.m. - Cross country freestyle team sprint finals
7:30-9:15 p.m. - Women's big air snowboarding finals (Thursday)
8:00-10:20 p.m. - Men's slalom first run (Thursday)
9:00-10:25 p.m. - Women's alpine combined downhill (Thursday)
9:30-11:00 p.m. - Men's halfpipe skiing finals (Thursday)
10:00-11:50 p.m. - Parallel giant slalom snowboarding qualifying (Thursday)
11:45 p.m.-1:40 a.m. - Men's slalom second run (Thursday)

THURSDAY, FEB. 22
NBC
3:00-5:00 p.m. Nordic combined relay jump
8:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. - Women's alpine combined downhill (live), women's big air snowboarding (live)
12:35-2:00 a.m. - Women's alpine combined slalom

NBCSN
2:00-5:20 a.m. - Men's parallel giant slalom qualifying
5:20 -7:45 a.m. - Nordic combined relay
7:45-10:45 a.m. - Medal Ceremony

Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
5:00-7:00 a.m. - Medal Ceremony (live)
12:00-12:30 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts

Olympic Channel: Home Of Team USA
5:00-7:00 a.m. - Medal Ceremony (live)
12:00-12:30 p.m. - Winter Olympics Daily with Jimmy Roberts

NBCOlympics.com - Live Streaming
12:30-1:45 a.m. - Women's alpine combined slalom
2:30-3:10 a.m. - Nordic combined team large hill jump
5:20-6:20 a.m. - Nordic combined 4x5k team event

Skiing in his final individual Olympic event, Bryan Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) put in another strong performance to finish 17th in the large hill nordic combined event. Germany swept the podium in a race that came right down to the wire with Johannes Rydzek leading the charge to take gold.

Fletcher soared 120.5 meters to finish 23rd in the jump, starting two minutes, four seconds behind jump leader Akito Watabe, who ended up fifth.

“I put together a pretty decent jump,” said Fletcher. “It wasn’t the dream jump I had been hoping for but a solid performance. It put me into the chase group to give me a chance for a top 10 if I had a really good race.”

His jump finish put him in a good position for the 10k cross country.

“There were a bunch of strong skiers around me so I expected it to pack up pretty strong,” he said. “I think I led a bit too much in the first three laps to be able to close the race with a good sprint. But I went out and had fun and just enjoyed the moment being my last individual Olympic race - just trying to enjoy that hurt locker a bit.”

The Germans all started 24-34 seconds back, working together to move up through the pack and take on Watabe and Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber, catching them on the final lap.

Fletcher’s finish matched his 17th in the normal hill event last week - both Olympic bests.

“This Games has been cool for me,” he said. “In the past Olympics, it was such a cool experience to compete alongside Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane, and my brother. I’m really happy with how we’ve turned around nordic combined the last few years and building a development pipeline. I’m happy to be leading that program and seeing it out over the next few years.”

In his first Olympic start, Ben Berend (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) was 39th with Ben Loomis (Eau Claire, Wisc.) 40th, and Jasper Good (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) 43rd.

“Those young guys are full of energy and passion for the sport,” said Fletcher. “I remember when I was that age in their shoes. It’s cool to be heading out of my career and watching theirs just taking off. Mentoring them a little bit the last few years has been really special. I hope they can go on to do great things.”

Competition wraps up with the team event on Thursday.

RESULTS
Gundersen LH HS140/10k

Brita Sigourney (Carmel, Calif.) nailed her final run to grab the halfpipe bronze medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games Tuesday morning at Phoenix Snow Park.

Sigourney put down solid scores in her first two runs to rank third going into the final run. Fellow American Annalisa Drew (Andover, Mass.) briefly overtook Sigourney with a strong final run score of 90.80, but Sigourney responded, earning 91.60 to cement her bronze medal finish.

Cassie Sharpe of Canada won the gold medal with 95.80 points, as Marie Martinod of France, who took silver with 92.60 points. Drew finished fourth.

"I just feel to proud and honored to are a part of this group of girls," said Sigourney. "It was such an inspiring competition. They put down the greatest runs I’ve ever seen in a halfpipe."

It was a welcome medal for Sigourney who had qualified second in Sochi, but finished sixth.

"I didn’t realize what I really wanted at the Sochi Olympics - I was just so happy and grateful to be there," she recalled. "I was in awe. But it was just gratitude for being there. I didn’t realize how much fire I would have this time around."

Sigourney showed in qualifying a day earlier that she was there to get the job done, launching huge amplitude in the Phoenix Park halfpipe.

"This time, I really wanted it," she said.  "But I don’t think I realized that until I dropped in on my final run and thought ‘I REALLY want this.’"

Each of Team USA's three finalists had their own unique Olympic story. For Drew, it was clean runs that kept her dancing in the medal spotlight. For defending champion

This team has been through a lot together - hard training days, good training days, good and bad competitions. I was there when Maddie won gold at the last Olympics and she was there for me today. She was so supportive. It’ just so touching and it makes you feel so much better when your teammates are there to back your success. Maddie Bowman (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.), the Sochi 2014 halfpipe gold medalist, finished 11th in the final after struggling to land her final trick on all three runs.

"This team has been through a lot together - hard training days, good training days, good and bad competitions," said Sigourney. "I was there when Maddie won gold at the last Olympics and she was there for me today. She was so supportive. It’ just so touching and it makes you feel so much better when your teammates are there to back your success."

All morning long, it was a parade of women dropping in for strong runs. "I don’t think it’s sunk in yet," said Sigourney. "I’m just so proud to he a part of the three girls on the podium - and Anna’s run in fourth place was just amazing!. I’ve never seen an entire field of women be pushed so high in one event. This was a high point for our sport."

RESULTS
Women’s halfpipe

Trick List
Straight air mute grab
Alley Oop Japan
Left 900 tail grab
Alley Oop 540 Safety
Left 540 Mute
Right 720 Mute