Medal Count 2014 Olympics: Latest Reaction and Standings for Day 8 Results
For those Americans who woke up early enough on their Saturday off from work, they were treated to a wonderful and memorable morning of Olympic action, as performances on the snow and ice didn't disappoint.
There were close calls in speedskating and an epic comeback in cross-country. There was a brutally unforgiving super-G course and a bittersweet finish to the men's skeleton for the United States.
Sure, the men's hockey matchup between the United States and Russia may have gotten all of the attention, but plenty of medals were awarded on Saturday, too. Let's take a look back at each and every one.
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Medal Count
Results
| Gold | Poland | Kamil Stoch | 278.7 |
| Silver | Japan | Noriaki Kasai | 277.4 |
| Bronze | Slovenia | Peter Prevc | 274.8 |
It was a two-man race the entire way in the men's large hill on Saturday, but Poland's Kamil Stoch slipped past Japan's Noriaki Kasai by 1.3 seconds to claim his second gold medal of the 2014 Games.
Stoch had an early lead thanks to a score of 143.4 on his first jump, but Kasai was only three points behind. Stoch had already won gold in the men's normal hill earlier in the week, so his ability to fend off the field in the medal round after starting hot is no shock.
Perhaps most impressively, Stoch overcame injuries he suffered in training for the event, as he told the media, via Reuters: "I feel very good and my jumps were also good. My elbow is hurting slightly but it's not a big problem."
Peter Prevc of Slovenia rounded out the podium with a score of 274.8. Other noteworthy names to miss out on a podium appearance who had found success in past events were Simon Ammann and Gregor Schlierenzauer. No Americans qualified for the medal round.
| Gold | AUT | Anna Fenninger | 1:25.52 |
| Silver | GER | Maria Hoefl-Riesch | 1:26.07 |
| Bronze | AUT | Nicole Hosp | 1:26.18 |
Julia Mancuso finished eighth. Leanne Smith finished 18th. Stacey Cook and Laurenne Ross were two of the 12 contestants among the top 30 who didn't finish the course.
In other words, the super-G wasn't kind to the United States.
It was kinder to Austria's Anna Fenninger, who was nearly flawless in her run and held off German superstar Maria Hoefl-Riesch and compatriot Nicole Hosp to earn the gold.
Fenninger praised her coaches for her clean final run, telling David Leon Moore of USA Today, "I had a good run, but I must say the key to my run was the last section to the finish. I thank my coaches. They had a good report on the radio and gave us the right input."
For the United States, the struggles continued on the slopes, but the team still has five races to turn things around. Skiers such as Mancuso, Mikaela Shiffrin, Bode Miller and Ted Ligety can hopefully get the U.S. skiing team back on track.
| Gold | Sweden | 53:02.73 |
| Silver | Finland | 53:03.26 |
| Bronze | Germany | 53:03.62 |
On the final leg of the cross-country 4x5-kilometer relay, Sweden would not have been expected to win. Finland and Norway had huge advantages, while Norway was nipping at the heels of the Swedes. But as Mattias Karen of The Associated Press (via ABC News) writes, the Swedes managed to shock everyone:
"When Charlotte Kalla started her anchor leg of the women's cross-country relay, the two leaders were 25 seconds ahead and four-time Olympic champion Marit Bjoergen was chasing close behind.
In other words, she was skiing for bronze. But for Kalla, bronze wasn't good enough.
The Swede erased a massive deficit on the final leg and then won a three-way sprint Saturday to give her country its first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics.
"I just wanted to go for gold," Kalla said. "I knew that if I fight really hard it was possible to cross the finish line first."
"
Shockingly, Norway finished fifth in a hugely disappointing result for a team that was widely favored to win the race. According to Karen, the country hadn't lost this particular event since 2009. But on Saturday, nobody was going to top Kalla and the Swedes.
| Gold | CHN | Yang Zhou | 2:19.140 |
| Silver | KOR | Suk Hee Shim | 2:19.239 |
| Bronze | ITA | Arianna Fontana | 2:19.416 |
China's Yang Zhou is 22 years old, folks, and she already has back-to-back gold medals in the 1500-meter short track. Just let that sink in for a moment.
Despite initially false-starting, she managed to win a race that was marred by a major crash that wiped out wiped out Jianrou Li of China, Alang Kim of South Korea and Emily Scott of the United States. While Scott recovered from the crash to finish fifth, Li was unable to finish, and Kim was disqualified.
Suk Hee Shim of South Korea took home the silver, while Italy's Arianna Fontana captured bronze, as both were able to avoid the spill.
But Zhou was the story, and she could yet add to her medal tally with China in the 3,000-meter relay on Tuesday.
| Gold | RUS | Victor An | 1:25.325 |
| Silver | RUS | Vladimir Grigorev | 1:25.399 |
| Bronze | NED | Sjinkie Knegt | 1:25.611 |
Russia earned its first ever short-track gold medal on Saturday, as Victor An triumphed for the country. For good measure, Vladimir Grigorev added a silver for the home country.
And it just wouldn't be a speedskating even if the Dutch didn't have some say, as Sjinkie Knegt won bronze.
If the name of the gold-medal winner sounds familiar, it is because An won three medals in the 2006 Games. At the time, he skated for the South Koreans, but he has since changed nationalities, according to BBC Sport.
The Russians are pleased he did.
| Gold | RUS | Alexander Tretjyakov | 3:44.29 |
| Silver | LAT | Martins Dukurs | 3:45.10 |
| Bronze | USA | Matthew Antoine | 3:47.26 |
Poor John Daly.
In contention for a bronze medal coming into his final run, disaster struck the American from the start as his sled jumped out of the grooves. He managed to regain control and stayed on his sled, but the damage was already done.
Around the U.S, people sympathized with him, especially after he gave an emotional post-race interview. Chris Rose of MLB.com was one of many who shared his pain:
Daly talked about what it was like knowing his chance at a medal was over at the beginning of the race, via Jay Busbee of Yahoo! Sports:
Although Daly was the story here in the States, in Russia the focus was on Alexander Tretjyakov, who triumphed on his home track over Martins Dukurs—who won silver four years ago in Vancouver as well—and American Matthew Antoine, who was in a battle for bronze with Daly until the final run.
| Gold | POL | Zbigniew Brodka | 1:45.006 |
| Silver | NED | Koen Verweij | 1:45.009 |
| Bronze | CAN | Denny Morrison | 1:45.22 |
It wouldn't be a long-track speedskating event in Sochi without a Dutch skater reaching the medal podium. But it was Poland's Zbigniew Brodka who won the gold, not the Netherlands' Koen Verweij, who had to settle for silver.
And the margin of victory was minuscule—as in three one-thousandths of a second.
Canada's Denny Morrison earned his second medal of these Games, winning the bronze. Meanwhile, Shani Davis once again failed to medal for the United States. In fact, he didn't come close, finishing 11th.
The differences between Brodka and Verweij couldn't be starker. Brodka is a firefighter who has never won a major competition in long track. Verweij expected a gold and nearly had one. In fact, according to Paul Newberry of the AP (via Yahoo! Sports), he was quite peeved with the result:
"When the ''1'' beside Verweij's name switched to a ''2,'' he appeared to scream an expletive and shook his head in disbelief, his long blond hair flowing behind him as he glided around the track. Even during the flower ceremony, he found it hard to muster a smile, despite giving the Dutch their record-tying 13th medal of these games.
The Netherlands has five more events to blow by the mark set by East Germany's speedskating team at the 1988 Calgary Games.
Not that it made Verweij feel any better.
''Silver is losing,'' he said. ''It is in very small things that I could have made the difference. It happened. I cannot get those thousands back.''
"
Brodka's message to Verweij at the medal stand?
Per Newberry, he said, ''I told Koen I am sorry, but this is sports. There should only be one Olympic champion. Even if I would have lost, there should only be one winner."
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