2014 Olympics: Biggest Surprises Thus Far from Sochi
After a stunning spectacle in the opening ceremony, the first two days of the 2014 Winter Olympics were anything but predictable.
This is for the best. With the eyes of the globe feverishly watching each event and the medal standings table, the last thing anybody wants is a boring Games where the obvious happens more often than not.
Through Day 2, some of the most surprising things from Sochi, Russia are worth a second look.
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Julia Lipnitskaia Steals the Show
It is not a major surprise that Russia's Julia Lipnitskaia qualified for the Olympics at the age of 15 (not a typo), but it is a pleasant shock that she has been able to keep up with the competition.
Scratch that—dominate the competition.
Lipnitskaia did not just win first place in her first two events to start the Games and lead Russia to the gold medal in the inaugural team-skate event. She did it in front of Russian president Vladimir Putin, as Ice Network captures:
In fact, Lipnitskaia was so dominant that there are whispers as to whether or not she could take down Kim Yuna, as Yahoo! Sports' Joe Lago suggests:
Clearly, anything is possible.
Sage Kotsenburg Wins Gold
Shaun White of the United States and Canada’s Mark McMorris were the story going into the games, but now Sage Kotsenburg is the only name to know after the American's gold in the slopestyle event.
Kotsenburg posted a 93.5 on his first run, and that was that. No White. No incredible push from McMorris (88.75 for bronze). The new star took to Twitter to celebrate his big win:
Best of all, Jamie Anderson followed suit on Day 2 and gave the U.S. the complete sweep in the inaugural slopestyle event.
While it was not entirely out of the question going into the Games, the results have to make onlookers, especially those from America, very happy.
Russia's Rally
Entering Day 2, the host country's trophy case was looking rather empty as Day 1 saw the country win no medals.
That changed in a hurry.
First up was Olga Graf, who grabbed a bronze in the women's 3,000-meter speedskating event. Putin himself weighed in on the impressive performance, via Jim Bell of NBC:
Not to be outdone, Olga Vilukhina won silver in the biathlon sprint thanks to smooth accuracy with a rifle and speed on the skis, Albert Demchenko captured silver in the men's singles luge, and the figure skating team won the inaugural team event, led by the aforementioned Lipnitskaia.
Surprises are far from over in these Games, but Russia's ability to rebound in front of its home crowd and get back into the thick of things on the medal table will surely stand out when all is said and done.
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