Sochi Medal Count 2014: Where Top Countries Stand After Day 7
It wasnโt exactly a banner Day 7 in Sochi for the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in terms of medals, but the Red, White and Blue still finds itself in a tie atop the medal count with Norway with 13.
The highlight of the day for the Americans was in womenโs skeleton, where Noelle Pikus-Pace grabbed the silver medal with an impressive performance.
The Netherlands, largely because of its complete dominance in speedskating, and host-country Russia are right behind the United States and Norway.ย
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Here is a look at the updated medal count:ย
There were a number of medals handed out during Day 7:
| Cross Country: Men's 15-kilometer | Dario Cologna (Switzerland) | Johan Olsson (Sweden) | Daniel Richardsson (Sweden) |
| Alpine Skiing: Men's Super-Combined | Sandro Viletta (Switzerland) | Ivica Kostelic (Croatia) | Christof Innerhofer (Italy) |
| Biathlon: Women's 15-kilometer Individual | Darya Domracheva (Belarus) | Selina Gasparin (Switzerland) | Nadezhda Skardino (Belarus) |
| Men's Figure Skating | Yuzuru Hanyu (Japan) | Patrick Chan (Canada) | Denis Ten (Kazakhstan) |
| Women's Skeleton | Lizzy Yarnold (Great Britain) | Noelle Pikus-Pace (United States) | Elena Nikitina (Russia) |
| Freestyle Skiing: Women's Aerials | Alla Tsuper (Belarus) | Mengtao Xu (China) | Lydia Lassila (Australia) |
Notable Day 7 Results
Star Americans Fail to Medal in Super-Combined
The United States has owned the menโs super-combined in recent Olympics, but 2010 gold medalist Bode Miller and 2006 gold medalist Ted Ligety both failed to medal in the 2014 version.
The course was notably bumpy, which gave trouble to a number of the worldโs top skiers. As a result, relatively unknown Sando Viletta of Switzerland captured the gold medal.
Following Viletta was silver medalist Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, who is known for his prowess as a slalom skier and became the first alpine skier to win four Olympic silver medals.
However, the big story, at least from an American perspective, was Millerโs sixth-place finish and Ligetyโs 13th-place finish. Ligety, who also won the most recent World Championship, had issues in the latter half of the slalom run.
Miller discussed his troubles with reporters in comments that were passed along by Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury News:
"I don't have enough confidence in my slalom to go out and just pin it. I tried anyway 'cause that's what I had to do to be on the podium. I just made a lot of little errors. The errors were really weird, too.ย
But when you're skiing, you feel them. The snow was really responsive so the skis just pull back underneath you. You feel your speed go.
"
Yuzuru Hanyu is Golden on the Ice Despite Mistakes
Japanโs Yuzuru Hanyu had a record-setting performance in the short program, but he struggled a bit in the free skate.
Despite Hanyuโs two falls in his quad salchow and triple flip, he still took home the gold medal. It was Japanโs first gold in Olympic menโs figure skating.ย
Canadaโs Patrick Chan had the opportunity to pass Hanyu with an impressive performance, but Chan struggled with a number of small errors. He had to settle for the silver medal, which, according to the Canadian Olympic Teamโs Twitter account, was a personal disappointment:
Kazakhstanโs Denis Ten took home the bronze medal.
Noelle Pikus-Pace Wins Silver
The one American medal in Day 7 came in womenโs skeleton.
It was even more special for Pikus-Pace because she came out of retirement two years ago. Her husband and two children have traveled across the world to watch her compete since and were in attendance to watch her take home the silver medal in the Sanki Sliding Center.
The gold went to Lizzy Yarnold of Great Britain, who also won the World Cup overall title this season. Russiaโs Elena Nikitina won the bronze.
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