Olympic 2018 Results: Medal Winners, Scores from Saturday's Early Events
The United States' unlikeliest triumph at the 2018 Winter Olympics came Saturday morning, as the men's curling team captured the nation's ninth gold in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The Americans knocked off Sweden to win their first Olympic title in a sport dominated by Canada and the northern European nations.
In the other medal events, the Americans weren't as successful as they failed to capture medals in either speedskating mass start despite being favored to finish in the top three.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
The South Korean fans had plenty to cheer about Saturday, as the host nation picked up a pair of medals in speedskating after taking home silver in the men's parallel giant slalom in snowboarding.
Norway's record-setting haul of 38 medals is still far-and-away the best total, with Germany sitting in second at 29 medals and the United States in fourth with 23.
Medal Count
Saturday's Medal Winners
Cross-Country Skiing
Men's 50-kilometer mass start
Gold: Iivo Niskanen (Finland)
Silver: Alexander Bolshunov (Olympic Athletes from Russia)
Bronze: Andrey Larkov (Olympic Athletes from Russia)
Curling
Men's tournament
Gold: United States
Silver: Sweden
Bronze: Switzerland
Women's tournament
Bronze: Japan
Speedskating
Men's mass start
Gold: Lee Seung-hoon (South Korea)
Silver: Bart Swings (Belgium)
Bronze: Koen Verweij (Netherlands)
Women's mass start
Gold: Nana Takagi (Japan)
Silver: Kim Bo-reum (South Korea)
Bronze: Irene Schouten (Netherlands)
Top Performers
USA Men's Curling
The John Shuster-led curling squad captured the hearts of the American public, as many back home stayed up in the middle of the night to watch the United States win gold in the men's event.
The Americans used a massive eighth end in which they scored five points to seal the 10-7 victory over Sweden. NBC Olympics provided us with a glimpse of Schuster's shot to close out the eighth end:
Given the attention it received in the United States, it's no surprise some analysts are calling the gold-medal game a turning point for the sport back home. NBC's Kevin Martin chimed in with that opinion, per NBC Sports PR:
Shuster and his team started the tournament 2-4 and barely qualified for the elimination round, but a string of five consecutive victories propelled the Americans to gold.
The gold was the ninth of the Olympics for the United States, who should finish with 23 medals unless another unexpected medal appears Sunday, per NBCOlympics.com's Nick Ziccardi:
Shuster's squad joined the women's ice hockey team, the women's cross-country relay team of Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins, Mikaela Shiffrin, David Wise, Shaun White, Chloe Kim, Redmond Gerard and Jamie Anderson as American gold-medal winners in Pyeongchang.
Lee Seung-hoon
The first-ever men's mass start gold in speedskating went to South Korea's Lee Seung-hoon.
Lee's victory gave the host nation 15 medals, seven of which have come in speedskating, including a silver from Kim Bo-reum in the women's mass start.
Lee tried to put the emotions of winning gold in front of the home crowd into words after the race, per the ISU's official speedskating Twitter account:
The 29-year-old's third Olympic medal and first gold came in an event with a field of 16 competitors after eight were eliminated in the semifinals.
He won the 16-lap race by nine hundredths of a second over Bart Swings of Belgium, while the gap to Koen Verweij of the Netherlands in third was 27 hundredths of a second.
Lee's gold was the first in speedskating for South Korea, who collected a trio of golds in short-track speedskating and a fourth in the skeleton.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from Olympic.org.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
