Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Olympic 2014 Results: Tracking Medal Count for Each Country on Day 5

After two days of competition in Sochi, Norway is atop the medal table.

Marit Bjoergen (cross-country) and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (biathalon) have captured gold medals, while Staale Sandbech (snowboarding) won a silver and four other Norwegian athletes have already notched third-place finishes.

Norway is tied with both the United States and Netherlands for gold medals, but in terms of total count, they have established an early commanding lead after taking home three bronzes on Sunday.

It's still early, though, and Day 3 will see several more medals awarded. Here's a look at the updated tally as Monday's events play out:

Note: You can click here for a complete look at Monday's (Day 3) schedule and results, courtesy of Sochi2014.com.

First up on Day 3 is the women's super combined slalom.

Germany flag-bearer Maria Hoefl-Riesch, who won gold in this event at the 2010 Olympics and then again at the 2013 World Championships, is undoubtedly the favorite.

On Friday, though, she expressed concern with the course, via Reuters, courtesy of NBCOlympics.com:

I think it's a bit over the top to move the gate around before the jump they reduced yesterday, and add even more curves to the track, because it wasn't fast anyway yesterday. The jump was not a good one, but the pace wasn't too fast. But now they've reduced the pace even more, so that part is not a downhill. It's too slow - not a downhill.

If Hoefl-Riesch's discomfort with the course dislodges her from the top of the podium, there's a good chance an Austrian will take her spot.

Nicole Hosp (2013 bronze medalist in the super combined at the World Championships), Anna Fenninger (2011 world champion in the super combined) and Michaela Kirchgasser (two-time world champion) are all legitimate contenders for the podium.

Slovenia's Tina Maze and the United States' Julia Mancuso will also challenge Hoefl-Riesch. The latter hasn't had a great season, but as Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden wrote, that means very little:

Finally, Marie-Michele Gagnon of Canada, who should make some considerable noise in her Olympic debut, is another name to watch in the stacked field.

Over on the oval, two finals will take place.

On the short track, Canada's Charles Hamelin, who won two gold medals in Vancouver and has three Olympic medals total, will be the slight favorite in the 1,500 meters, but South Korea's Lee Han-Bin and Sin Da-Woon, Russian Victor An and American J.R. Celski are strong contenders.

In the men's short-distance (500 meters) speeskating, 2010 Olympic gold medalist Mo Tae-Bum of South Korea is undoubtedly the skater to watch. In addition to his win in the Vancouver Games, he has two straight World Championship titles in this same event.

He has competition, though, especially from the Netherlands. Brothers Michael and Ronald Mulder should challenge Mo, while countryman Jan Smeekens is a solid bet to be in the mix at the finish line. The Americans will lean on Tucker Fredricks and Mitchell Whitmore to help bring gold back to the United States, which won this event in 2002 and 2006.

Finally, we have the men's 12.5-km pursuit, where Bjoerndalen will go off first in search of a record 13th Winter Olympics medal.

American Tim Burke, who will start 19th in the event, had high words of praise for the decorated Norwegian, via NBCOlympics.com's Nick Zaccardi:

He’s single handedly changed the sport. He really turned it into a professional sport, in the late ‘90s, I would say. He’s very innovative, and he became so dominant that everyone else had to react to the way he was training to be competitive.

This usually isn't an event that is too popular, but on Monday, there's a good chance you'll get to witness history with Bjoerndalen.

This blog is sponsored by: http://8070132083.acnshop.eu

No comments:

Post a Comment