Olympic 2018 Results: Winners and Top Scores from Thursday's Qualifying Events

While the opening ceremony isn't until Friday, the 2018 Winter Olympics are underway from Pyeongchang, South Korea.

A handful of sports began their qualification rounds Thursday as the top athletes in the world took one step closer to earning medals. Although no medals were given out, the action was enough to give fans a taste of what is to come over the next couple of weeks.

Here is a look at the latest results, courtesy of Olympic.org.

Figure Skating

Team - Men's Short Program

1. Shoma Uno (JPN) - 103.25

2. Alexei Bychenko (ISR) - 88.49

3. Patrick Chan (CAN) - 81.66

4. Nathan Chen (USA) - 80.61

5. Matteo Rizzo (ITA) - 77.77

Team - Pairs Short Program

1. Vladimir Morozov/Evgenia Tarasova (OAR) - 80.92

2. Eric Radford/Meagan Duhamel (CAN) - 76.57

3. Bruno Massot/Aljona Savchenko (GER) - 75.36

4. Chris Knierim/Alexa Scimeca Knierim (USA) - 69.75

5. Hao Zhang/Xiaoyu Yu (CHN) - 69.17

The team competition is all about consistency, with the depth of a team being more important than simply having one great performer.

NBC Olympics provided a breakdown of the team results through two events:

Shoma Uma was the clear star in a men's program that featured a lot of mistakes. The Japanese skater was almost 15 points ahead of second place with a nearly flawless routine:

Patrick Chan fell twice while Nathan Chen fell once and lost points with a missed element, pushing the two top contenders further down the standings.

The Olympic Athletes from Russia got the top spot in the pairs short program thanks to the duo of Vladimir Morozov and Evgenia Tarasova who scored an 80.92. Their technical score was by far the best in the field and it was enough to earn 10 points for their team.

Curling

Aaron Favila/Associated Press

Mixed Doubles Standings

1. SUI 3-1

1. CAN 3-1

1. NOR 3-1

1. OAR 3-1

5. KOR 2-2

6. CHN 1-3

6. USA 1-3

8. FIN 0-4

There was a lot of parity over the first few rounds of the curling round robin in mixed doubles, but the top half of the field has begun to separate itself.

Switzerland has been the best thanks to its clutch effort at the end of matches. Martin Rios and Jenny Perret won by one in the eighth and final end over Finland, won by two in an extra end against China, then came from behind in a win over the United States. The team was down 4-3 going into the last end against Team USA before putting up a six for what ended up looking like a blowout 9-4 victory.

They couldn't keep it going against Norway, but still should be tough to beat.

Meanwhile, the United States struggled mightily with three straight losses after an opening win. Paul Myerberg of USA Today discussed the disappointing finish:

"

And the US mixed doubles curling team has been mercy-ruled by Korea, which wins 9-1 after six ends. This is not a proud moment.

— Winter Olympics Expert (@PaulMyerberg) February 9, 2018"

Canada got off to a slow start with a loss to Norway, but John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes remain top contenders after their wins over the United States, China and Finland.

Ski Jumping

Men's Normal Hill

1. Andreas Wellinger (GER) - 133.5

2. Kamil Stoch (POL) - 131.7

3. Dawid Kubacki (POL) - 129.6

4. Richard Freitag (GER) - 129.1

5. Stefan Kraft (AUT) - 128.6

Germany and Poland dominated the qualifying round for the men's normal hill ski jumping as 57 entries dropped to a 50-man field.

Andreas Wellinger didn't have the longest jump—that honor went to Dawid Kubacki of Poland at 104.5 meters—but the German topped the field thanks to his superior form. He also earned extra points for facing a harsher wind, which was enough to lead all competitors in the opening round.

Kamil Stoch, who won the gold medal four years ago, remains in great shape, though, as he finished in second place in the qualifier.

The 50-man field, including four Americans, will continue its hunt for a medal Saturday.

Freestyle Skiing 

Kin Cheung/Associated Press

Women's Moguls

1. Perrine Laffont (FRA) - 79.72

2. Andi Naude (CAN) - 79.60

3. Morgan Schild (USA) - 77.74

4. Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN) - 77.66

5. Jaelin Kauf (USA) - 77.45

Men's Moguls 

1. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) - 86.07

2. Aleksander Smyshliaev (OAR) - 83.93

3. Dmitriy Reikherd (KAZ) - 81.23

4. Troy Murphy (USA) - 80.95

5. Ikuma Horishima (JPN) - 80.35

The qualification round for both men's and women's moguls meant a trip to the finals for 10 competitors in each field. The other skiers will get another chance to reach the finals in the second qualification on Saturday.

Although these scores don't carry over, the first competition was a showcase for a lot of top contenders.

Defending gold medalist Justine Dufour-Lapointe only managed fourth place in the women's draw while Morgan Schild qualified in third place behind an impressive, yet surprising run:

Perrine Laffont was the best of the bunch, though, excelling on her turns to pull away from the field.

In the men's competition, Canada's Mikael Kingsbury finished on top thanks to his blazing time of 23.87 seconds. Although this is only a part of the score, it was key in his success and makes him a top contender for gold this weekend.