Medal Count 2014 Olympics: Latest Reaction and Standings for Day 6 Results
A total of 18 medals were handed out on Day 6 of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and it was a much better day for Team USA.
After two days of watching some of the best athletes in U.S. history like Shani Davis and Shaun White finish out of a medal spot, Thursday brought better success and saw the first podium sweep in men's skiing slopestyle.
As a result, Team USA is now firmly back in the medal count along with the other top countries in the Games.
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Here is a look back at all of the Day 6 action and a breakdown of the results.
Note: All results via Sochi2014.com.
Medal Count
Biathlon: Men's Individual 20-Kilometer
| 1 | FRA | Martin Fourcade | 18:15:30 | 1 | 49:31.7 |
| 2 | GER | Erik Lesser | 18:20:30 | 0 | 49:43.9 |
| 3 | RUS | Evgeniy Garanichev | 18:00:30 | 1 | 50:06.2 |
| 4 | AUT | Simon Eder | 18:08:00 | 1 | 50:09.5 |
| 5 | AUT | Dominik Landertinger | 18:09:30 | 0 | 50:14.2 |
| 6 | FRA | Jean Guillaume Beatrix | 18:10:30 | 1 | 50:15.5 |
| 7 | NOR | Emil Hegle Svendsen | 18:04:30 | 1 | 50:30.3 |
| 8 | USA | Lowell Bailey | 18:29:00 | 1 | 50:57.4 |
| 9 | UKR | Serhiy Semenov | 18:13:00 | 1 | 51:07.9 |
| 10 | GER | Daniel Boehm | 18:30:00 | 1 | 51:09.4 |
Martin Fourcade has already won a gold medal, but is single-handedly giving a boost to his French team with his consistency in the biathlon.
The win for Fourcade wasn't always a given throughout the event, but his finish was yet another predictable one for the Sochi superstar. Following his performance, Fourcade spoke about the thrilling win, according to Vincent Duluc for L'Equipe:
The French athlete has already been sensational at the Olympics and has become a huge story in the sport. Finishing behind him, Erik Lesser won the first biathlon medal for the Germans and Evgeniy Garanichev won the bronze to add to Russia's medal count.
Cross-Country: Ladies' 10-Kilometer Classic
| 1 | 43 | POL | Justyna Kowalczyk | 14:21:30 | 28:17.8 |
| 2 | 40 | SWE | Charlotte Kalla | 14:20:00 | 28:36.2 |
| 3 | 46 | NOR | Therese Johaug | 14:23:00 | 28:46.1 |
| 4 | 37 | FIN | Aino-Kaisa Saarinen | 14:18:30 | 28:48.1 |
| 5 | 45 | NOR | Marit Bjoergen | 14:22:30 | 28:51.2 |
| 6 | 31 | GER | Stefanie Boehler | 14:15:30 | 29:04.3 |
| 7 | 20 | RUS | Natalia Zhukova | 14:10:00 | 29:15.5 |
| 8 | 41 | FIN | Kerttu Niskanen | 14:20:30 | 29:16.7 |
| 9 | 42 | NOR | Heidi Weng | 14:21:00 | 29:28.2 |
| 10 | 39 | FIN | Krista Lahteenimaki | 14:19:30 | 29:36.0 |
Justyna Kowalczyk not only won a gold medal for Poland, but she also claimed just the second medal overall for her country.
Following the win, Poland.gov's official Twitter account congratulated the Olympian on her hard-fought win:
Coming up just behind Kowalczyk were Sweden's Charlotte Kalla and Norway's Therese Johaug, who both finished over 19 seconds behind the Polish star.
Freestyle Skiing: Men's Slopestyle Final
| 1 | 34 | USA | Joss Christensen | 95.80 |
| 2 | 8 | USA | Gus Kenworthy | 93.60 |
| 3 | 1 | USA | Nicholas Goepper | 92.40 |
| 4 | 9 | NOR | Andreas Haatveit | 91.80 |
| 5 | 7 | GBR | James Woods | 86.60 |
| 6 | 25 | SWE | Henrik Harlaut | 84.40 |
| 7 | 15 | NOR | Aleksander Aurdal | 81.80 |
| 8 | 5 | AUS | Russell Henshaw | 80.40 |
| 9 | 3 | USA | Bobby Brown | 78.40 |
| 10 | 30 | NOR | Oystein Braaten | 66.40 |
For fans looking to see American success, it finally came in the form of three outstanding freestyle skiers who filled up the podium for Team USA.
Just a day after Devin Logan took home the silver medal in women's slopestyle, Joss Christensen led a pack of U.S. skiers who won all three medals in the men's slopestyle.
After the event, Christensen spoke about how his father, who passed away in August, inspired him during the win, per Lindsay H. Jones of USA Today:
"I hope I made my father proud. He had been supporting me since day one, through all the injuries I had, which I know scare parents a lot. He always supported me and never said stop. I wish he was here, but I hope he's looking down and smiling.
"
It was a story not only of inspiration for Christensen but also of triumph for both Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper, who won the silver and bronze, respectively.
Along with Kenworthy winning the silver, he's also winning over the hearts of Americans, and PETA, by adopting stray dogs that would otherwise be killed, according to USA Today:
The podium sweep by all three further solidified Team USA's dominance in the slopestyle events in both snowboarding and skiing. Of the four events in both sports and genders, Americans took home three of four golds and six of the 12 total medals.
With the skiing halfpipe still to come, athletes like Maddie Bowman and David Wise—both 2014 X Games gold medalists in the event—will look to continue the U.S.'s rule over freestyle skiing.
Luge: Team Relay
| 1 | GER | Natalie Geisenberger, Felix Loch, Tobias Wendl, Tobias Arlt | 2:45.649 |
| 2 | RUS | Tatyana Ivanova, Albert Demchenko, Alexander Denisyev, Vladislav Antonov | 2:46.679 |
| 3 | LAT | Eliza Tiruma, Martins Rubenis, Andres Sics, Juris Sics | 2:47.295 |
| 4 | CAN | Alex Gough, Samuel Edney, Tristan Walker, Justin Snith | 2:47.395 |
| 5 | ITA | Sandra Gasparini, Armin Zoeggeler, Christian Oberstolz, Patrick Gruber | 2:47.420 |
| 6 | USA | Erin Hamlin, Christopher Mazdzer, Christian Niccum, Jayson Terdiman | 2:47.555 |
In the first ever luge team relay event, it was a familiar country sitting atop the podium.
The Germans controlled the luge events throughout the Olympics and have their crowning moment with their fourth of the Olympics as a team, as Eurosport reports:
The team relay event was never really in doubt for the Germans, who controlled the track all week en route to claiming all three individual medals. Put those members together on a four-member super team and you have one of the most dominant countries.
Outside of maybe the Netherlands in speedskating or the Russians in figure skating thus far, the German luge team might be one of the best in a single sport.
Short-Track Speedskating: Ladies' 500-Meter
| 1 | CHN | Jianrou Li | 43.486 |
| 2 | ITA | Arianna Fontana | 43.405 |
| 3 | KOR | Seung-Hi Park | 43.392 |
| 4 | CHN | Qiuhong Liu | 43.478 |
| 5 | CHN | Kexin Fan | 43.288 |
| 6 | NED | Jorien Ter Mors | 43.572 |
| 7 | CAN | Marianne St-Gelais | 43.595 |
| 8 | GBR | Elise Christie | 43.402 |
| 9 | CAN | Valerie Maltais | 43.550 |
Jianrou Li of China was a long shot just to get into the 500-meter final, but with her teammate taking a tumble in the semifinal she got a second chance.
Ironically enough, the final went the same way for Li as she went from the back of the pack to the front as the entire group took a spill, earning her the gold medal.
Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports gives an account of the incident:
The win gave China its first gold of the Winter Olympics and the second overall medal for the country. While it was the first gold medal of the day for the Chinese, it certainly wouldn't be the last.
A slightly more deserving speedskater would be crowned later in the day.
Speedskating: Ladies' 1,000-meter
| 1 | CHN | Hong Zhang | 1:14.02 |
| 2 | NED | Irene Wust | 1:14.69 |
| 3 | NED | Margot Boer | 1:14.90 |
| 4 | RUS | Olga Fatkulina | 1:15.08 |
| 5 | NED | Lotte Van Beek | 1:15.10 |
| 6 | NED | Marrit Leenstra | 1:15.15 |
| 7 | USA | Heather Richardson | 1:15.23 |
| 8 | USA | Brittany Bowe | 1:15.47 |
| 9 | CAN | Christine Nesbitt | 1:15.62 |
| 10 | CZE | Karolina Erbanova | 1:15.74 |
China's dominance on the ice continued on Thursday morning as Hong Zhang surprised the entire field by giving the strongest run of the day early on in the event.
The win gave China its first ever gold medal in long-track speedskating, as Infostrada Sports notes:
Just behind Zhang were Irene Wust and Margot Boer, both from the Netherlands. With their two medals, the Dutch now have 12 medals in the sport, accounting for all of their total hardware in the Winter Olympics thus far.
But the biggest surprise once again was the failure of Team USA to medal in the speedskating events. Both Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe came in as heavy favorites to reach the podium, but came well short of their mark, as Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post reports:
Several events still remain in the Winter Olympics in the long-track speedskating portion of the Olympics, but the best is likely behind the Americans. Richardson's best event in the Games was expected to be the 1,000-meter, as was the case for Shani Davis, who lost in the event on Day 5.
With Davis earning a silver in the 1,500-meter in both 2006 and 2010, not all hope is lost. But the Americans have a lot of work to do to catch up with the Dutch on the ice if they plan to medal.
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