PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Switzerland knocked off top-seeded Austria in the gold-medal race of the Olympic debut of the Alpine team event on Saturday.
Norway edged France during the bronze-medal match as the Alpine ski program came to a close at the Pyeongchang Games.
The Alpine medals table was dominated by three countries – Austria, Switzerland and Norway, each of which went home with seven. Austria had three golds, the Swiss two and Norway one. The Americans finished with three medals – two by Mikaela Shiffrin (gold and silver) and another from Lindsey Vonn (bronze).
In the final match of the afternoon, Leading 2-1, Swiss ski racer Daniel Yule wrapped up the win when Austrian Marco Schwarz skied out along the side-by-side parallel slalom course.
Yule celebrated with the rest of his teammates that included in the gold medal match Denise Feierabend, Ramon Zenhaeusern and Wendy Holdener, who added to her medal tally. Holdener also earned silver in the slalom and bronze in the combined.
The Austrians rolled into the final without the world’s top ski racer, Marcel Hirscher. He skipped the race to refocus on the World Cup races.
Hirscher wasn’t alone with Shiffrin and Vonn skipping the event, too. The U.S. was eliminated by Great Britain on a tiebreaker in the first round.
Snowboarding
Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant soared to gold in the Olympic debut of men’s Big Air. Toutant scored a 174.25 in the final to give Team Canada its 11th gold of the Pyeongchang Games.
Kyle Mack of the United States took second with a score of 168.75. He had a chance to better Toutant but sat down on his third and final jump. Billy Morgan of Great Britain earned bronze in front of a boisterous crowd at Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre.
Ivanka Trump was also in attendance. The daughter of president Donald Trump took in the finals as part of a whirlwind tour during the penultimate day of the games. Wearing a red ski suit with a blue knit USA cap, Trump joined Kim Jung-sook, wife of South Korean president Moon Jae-in.
Red Gerard, who captured the first gold medal for the United States in Pyeongchang in the slopestyle event two weeks ago, finished fifth.
