Hello from Milan and Cortina, where American figure skater Alysa Liu summed up today’s events quite succinctly. After her nearly flawless performance in the women’s free skate, cameras caught Liu saying, “That’s what I’m f—ing talking about!”
Liu won the gold medal in women’s singles figure skating, the first for an American woman since 2002, before Liu was born. And the U.S. women’s hockey team beat rival Canada, 2-1, in overtime to win its first gold medal since 2018.
Our correspondents have it all covered below and at NBC News. Catch it all streaming on Peacock.
Live from Milan Cortina
During her free skate today, Alysa Liu seemed to be smiling the whole time, as she moved gracefully across the ice. When she finished, she smiled again, stuck out her tongue and raised her hands. Liu had left figure skating after the 2022 Beijing Games, only to return, on her own terms, and fall back in love with the sport.
Then Liu had to wait for two more skaters to go before she learned: She had won gold. Soon, she was being guided through a back hallway toward the medal ceremony. In that quiet moment, NBC cameras caught her reflecting on her performance.
“I just, like, can’t process this,” Liu said. “There’s no way. I really liked my skate a lot.”
On Tuesday, Liu had ended the short program in third place. Then she scored a 150.20 during today’s free skate, giving her a total score of 226.79, vaulting her into first place.
Fellow American Amber Glenn had started the day in 13th, after a mistake cost her points during the short program. But she made a spectacular recovery today, scoring a season-best 147.52 in the free skate, which helped her finish in fifth.
After she finished her routine, she appeared to mouth the words “So close.”
About an hour earlier, the U.S. women’s hockey team had its own chance at glory.
For about 57 minutes today, Team USA couldn’t break through. After scoring more than 30 goals in the tournament, the U.S. had been held scoreless and trailed Canada 1-0. All the U.S. needed, Hilary Knight said afterward, was to “put one good shot on net.”
With just over two minutes left to play, Laila Edwards fired toward the goal, where Knight had camped out in front of the goalie. Knight deflected the puck into the net, tying the game.
Then, in overtime, Team USA’s Megan Keller made an incredible individual play, maneuvering around a defender and then chipping the puck past the goalie.
“We knew it was a matter of time, just leaning on them, slowly, slowly,” Knight said in an interview with NBC. “But you can also run out of time against a great team. Fortunate that we have an amazing squad to be able to get the job done.”
This marked Team USA’s third gold medal and first since 2018. The Americans finished these Olympics 7-0 and outscored their opponents 33-2. With that goal, Knight also became the all-time leading scorer for U.S. women’s hockey at the Olympics.
“I’m just happy to have a gold medal,” she said. “Oh, my gosh, this feels amazing.”
Speedskating Corner
After Jordan Stolz crossed the finish line of the 1,500-meter speedskating final, he bent over, put his hands on his legs and breathed heavily. Stolz had finished second behind China’s Zhongyan Ning, by only 0.77 seconds, and took silver.
“Ning’s time was a surprise. He had the race of his life,” Stolz told reporters after the race. “I didn’t know much about placings until I crossed the finish line. But I was hoping if it wasn’t going to be gold, I hoped I could get a silver.”
Stolz got off to a slow start and admitted he “didn’t have one of [his] best” races. He still has a chance to secure his third gold of these Games: He’ll compete in the speedskating mass start event Saturday.
Photo of the Day
When to Watch
In the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament, three of the four games went to overtime. The semifinals should be appointment viewing. Are the USA and Canada on a collision course for the gold medal game? Or can Finland or Slovakia pull off an upset? Tune in to find out.
All times are in Eastern, and an asterisk signifies a medal event:
Friday, Feb. 20
- 4:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s aerials qualification 1
- 4:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s freeski halfpipe qualification 1
- 5:15 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s aerials qualification 2
- 5:27 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s freeski halfpipe qualification 2
- 6 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, women’s ski cross 1/8 finals
- 6:35 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, women’s ski cross quarterfinals
- 6:54 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, women’s ski cross semifinals
- 7:10 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, women’s ski cross finals*
- 7:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s aerials finals*
- 8:05 a.m.: Curling, women’s semifinals
- 8:15 a.m.: Biathlon, men’s 15 km mass start*
- 10:30 a.m.: Speedskating, women’s 1,500-meter*
- 10:40 a.m.: Men’s hockey, semifinals, Canada vs. Finland
- 12 p.m.: Bobsled, two-woman heat 1
- 1:05 p.m.: Curling, men’s bronze medal game*
- 1:30 p.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s freeski halfpipe final*
- 1:50 p.m.: Bobsled, two-woman heat 2
- 2:15 p.m.: Short track speedskating, women’s 1,500-meter quarterfinals
- 3:02 p.m.: Short track speedskating, women’s 1,500-meter semifinals
- 3:10 p.m.: Men’s hockey, semifinals, USA vs. Slovakia
- 3:30 p.m.: Short track speedskating, men’s 5,000-meter relay finals*
- 4:07 p.m.: Short track speedskating, women’s 1,500-meter finals*
That’s it for now! We’ll be back tomorrow.
Leave a Reply