Sports

Olympic round up: top moments from the 2022 Beijing Winter Games

BEIJING — With the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics now officially closed, it’s time to reflect on all the notable headlines, outcomes and record-breaking performances that took place on the world’s biggest stage. While there were plenty of medals secured across all fronts, both local and national athletes etched their names into the history books during the 24th Olympic Winter Games.

National

The stars and stripes were well represented in Beijing as the United States finished fifth with 25 total medals. From those 25 medals, 57 members of Team USA secured Olympic hardware, 39 of which were women and the other 18 were men.

In addition to their medal count, Team USA also set multiple new records across several sports with some truly notable achievements.

Chloe Kim becomes first woman to win back-to-back gold medals in snowboard halfpipe

As the youngest athlete to have ever won Olympic gold in the snowboard halfpipe, Kim defended her title in commanding fashion to become the first woman to win back-to-back gold in the event. With her score of 94.00, Kim secured the gold after just her first run of the day.

Elana Meyers Taylor and Kallie Humphries become the first women to medal in monobob

In the inaugural event of monobob, a one-person bobsled, Americans Elana Meyers Taylor and Kallie Humphries crowded the podium as Taylor secured silver and Humphries brought home the gold. With their medals, the two women became the first to medal in the newly debuted sport. Notably, with her silver, Taylor also became the most decorated Black Olympian in Winter Olympic history.

Shaun White retires after 5th Olympic Games

Despite finishing 4th in the men’s snowboarding halfpipe, the greatest of all time decided to call it a career after his 5th Olympic appearance.

“Living that moment was pretty wild.” White said in an interview with People Magazine. “So that’s where all the emotions came from. But now I’m just kind of in the glow of it all, it’s been great. Very enjoyable.”

White retires as the most decorated X-Games and Winter Olympic Gold Medalist by a snowboarder.

Local

Erin Jackson becomes first black woman to win individual medal in speedskating

With her time of 37.04 seconds in the 500-meter speedskating event, Erin Jackson not only secured the gold but became the first Black woman to win an individual in speedskating. She joins Shani Davis, a fellow American who won gold and silver at the 2006 Turin games, as the only Black athletes to win speedskating medals.

Nathan Chen redeems 2018 performance with Olympic Gold in men’s free skate

Salt Lake City’s Nathan Chen is finally an Olympic champion after the 22-year-old American scored a 332.60 in the men’s figure skating free skate competition to bring home the gold.

Skating to a rendition of “Rocketman” and following an initial world-record breaking performance with a score of 113.87 in the men’s short program, Chen scored a 218.63 in the freeskate to secure the gold and cement himself as the best in the World.

Alex Hall wins gold in men’s freeski slopestyle

Park City’s Alex Hall went above and beyond in the men’s freeski slopestyle, capturing gold for the United States with a 90.01 on his very first run.

“It definitely was the best slopestyle run I’ve ever done, mainly because it embodied everything I love about skiing and how I approach it and I didn’t fade away from that to try and maybe get bigger scores,” Hall said in an interview with Olympics.com.

Casey Dawson win bronze in men’s speedskating team pursuit

Park City’s own Casey Dawson is an Olympic Bronze medalist after the U.S. Speedskating team shocked the Netherlands in the bronze-medal team pursuit, winning by an impressive 2.81 seconds.

Following a tremendous journey, which included four negative COVID-19 tests, several red-eye flights, nearly 12,000 miles traveled, and the temporary loss of his blades along the way, Dawson’s relentless pursuit to make it to Beijing was finally rewarded with some Olympic hardware.

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