Winter Olympics Update

Justin Chen

Starting on Feb. 9, the 2018 Winter Olympics began at PyeongChang, South Korea. The U.S team looked as strong as ever, with powerhouse ice skater Nathan Chen and many more.

If you haven’t been watching, there have been many memorable moments of this year’s Winter Olympics. First, we had the amazing opening ceremony. Not only did U.S have an enormous delegation (a whopping 242 athletes), but North and South Korea marched under one unified flag, a feat that stunned the audience.

Next, Red Gerard, a 17-year-old U.S Olympian, took an unexpected gold at the men’s slopestyle event, and also became the youngest American to achieve such an accomplishment. He emerged out of the darkness to steal the win from powerhouse Canadians Max Parrot and Max McMorris. With his fantastic triple cork 1440, Gerard was able to boost himself to number one for the event and win the U.S’ first gold for the Winter Olympics.

2-time gold winner Jamie Anderson won the women’s slopestyle for U.S once again, but many competitors were unhappy since the conditions for the final were horrendous. Organizers were pressured to postpone the final, but they did not give in. Anderson scored an 83 to win, but all she really did was make sure that she stayed upright and didn’t fall. All in all, however, another gold was added into the U.S medal count.

On the other hand, Chloe Kim had an incredible run at the women’s halfpipe final, where she landed all her jumps to perfection. Not only is she just 17-years-old, but she blew-out her competition.

U.S Olympian Shaun White managed to clutch a gold in a nail-biting final against Japan’s Ayumu Hirano, where the American had to pull off back-to-back 1440 flips. And White did not disappoint. With a stellar final run, White just barely won gold over the Japanese star, Hirano.

Finally, there was Nathan Chen, who pulled an amazing comeback after falling in the team competition and short program. In his final event, the free skate, he attempted 6 quads and landed all of them, easily breaking the Olympic record for quads. Proving to the world that the jitters had not gotten the best of him, we know that he’ll be back for the next Olympics.

The Winter Olympics at PyeongChang is one for the books, as many records were broken, and many minds were blown.