Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018: Day 0 Winners and Losers
Figure skating and freestyle skiing occupied the first prime-time slot of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and provided an entertaining day of medal-less action.
Canada put together superb showings in both disciplines, while Team USA enjoyed major success in women's moguls and fared well in the figure skating team event.
Both countries had a notable slip-up, though. A returning medalist for Canada has a challenging road to repeating on the podium, and America's marquee skater had a forgettable Olympics debut.
Mixed-doubles curling continued, but the most notable events happened on the ice and on the hill. We're recapping the best and worst from Thursday's activity.
Winner: USA Women's Moguls Team
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Four women are representing the United States in women's moguls, and three have already secured a place in the final.
Morgan Schild led the American contingent with a 77.74, and Jaelin Kauf—the event's World Cup leader—scored a 77.45. Keaton McCargo put down a 75.67 in Qualifying 1, during which the top 10 skiers automatically moved on to Sunday's final.
The last member of Team USA, Tess Johnson, finished 22nd out of 30 skiers. If she finishes in the top 10 of Qualifying 2, Johnson will join Schild, Kauf and McCargo in the final.
Medal contenders Perrine Laffont (France), Andi Naude (Canada), Justine Dufour-Lapointe (Canada), Britteny Cox (Australia) and Yuliya Galysheva (Kazakhstan) all advanced.
Loser: Nathan Chen, USA
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It was a disappointing debut for Team USA's Nathan Chen, who skated poorly in his portion of the figure skating team event.
Chen landed the first-ever quad flip in the Winter Olympics, but he missed a jump and later fell. Though the 18-year-old still finished fourth—earning seven points for Team USA—it wasn't what he anticipated in the short program.
"You're representing Team USA, and I didn't do that well," he said shortly after the skate, per B/R's Joon Lee.
Fortunately for Chen, the performance had no bearing on his pursuit of an individual gold. The men's singles event is Feb. 16-17 and begins at 8 p.m. ET both nights.
Winner: Chris Knierim and Alexa Scimeca Knierim, USA
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Because of Chen's surprising fall, the United States desperately needed a boost from Chris Knierim and Alexa Scimeca Knierim.
The husband and wife provided exactly that. Scoring a 69.75, the Knierims held a slim advantage through two groups before the elite pairs took over the leaderboard.
Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov (Russia) finished first, followed by Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford (Canada) and Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot (Germany). They are all medal contenders.
But the Knierims added seven crucial points, giving Team USA 14 total points to end Thursday at No. 2 overall in the team event. Canada leads with 17 points.
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Loser: Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, Canada
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Canada enjoyed a similarly favorable start with three qualifiers, but the silver medalist from the 2014 Sochi Games has work to do. Chloe Dufour-Lapointe will need to reach the final—and join Justine, her gold-medal sister—via Qualifying 2.
Chloe finished 13th with a 69.53, nearly three points behind the 10th-place score of 72.48 by teammate Audrey Robichaud.
Since the top 10 skiers in Qualifying 2 advance to the final, Dufour-Lapointe remains in fine position to advance. Still, this sets up a physically taxing Sunday because Qualifying 2 and all three final rounds would happen within a three-hour stretch.
Of the leading medal contenders, only Dufour-Lapointe will have to complete four runs if she advances all the way.
Winner: Mikael Kingsbury, Canada
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One of the most dominant skiers in men's moguls history, Mikael Kingsbury showed off that talent with a first-place finish in Qualifying 1.
The 25-year-old recorded an 86.07, posting the best score in the 30-man field by more than two points.
Kingsbury, who took silver in Sochi, has earned six consecutive World Cup titles and is heading toward a seventh in 2017-18. His streak of 13 straight World Cup wins ended in the final event before these Olympics.
The gold-medal favorite is off to a terrific start.
Aleksandr Smyshliaev (Russia)—the bronze medalist at the 2014 Games—finished second. Dmitriy Reikherd (Kazakhstan) ended third, and Troy Murphy (USA) was the only of four Americans in the field to reach the final via Qualifying 1.
Loser: People Who Need a Warmer Coat
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The weather at both the Vancouver and Sochi Games in 2010 and 2014 drew complaints for more warmth than expected.
Pyeongchang might spark complaints of the opposite.
Although the temperatures aren't expected to be miserable, piercing winds are especially annoying. But the worst-case scenario is when wind affects events, such as skiing and biathlon. Winds of 15-plus miles per hour are expected through Feb. 14, per Weather.com.
Athletes and spectators will be plenty bundled during Friday's opening ceremony and throughout the Games. Hopefully, everyone will stay warm enough and enjoy the events.
Follow Bleacher Report writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.
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