South America breaks 102-year drought

Hiya from Milan and Cortina, the place Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen gained gold within the males’s large slalom, making historical past for all of South America. Plus, American Jordan Stolz continued his march towards doubtlessly profitable 4 speedskating medals at these Video games.

Our correspondents have all of it coated beneath and at NBC Information. Catch all of it streaming on Peacock.

Reside from Milan Cortina

In Jordan Stolz’s quest for 4 speedskating gold medals at these Olympics, he was alleged to face his hardest take a look at as we speak within the 500-meter remaining. In his pair, Stolz was matched with the Netherlands’ Jenning de Boo, one in every of his high rivals.

It didn’t matter.

Stolz sprinted to a time of 33.77 seconds, and de Boo ended up 0.11 seconds behind.

After they crossed the end line, de Boo slipped and slid right into a boundary. He sat on the ice as Stolz took a lap and waved to the gang.

Stolz is now 2 for two at these Video games. A number of days in the past, he gained gold and set an Olympic report on the 1,000-meter remaining. He’ll race within the 1500-meter remaining and the mass begin occasion subsequent week.

Additionally: Crew USA males’s hockey overcame an early deficit and finally overpowered Denmark, profitable 6-3.

On the slopes, Jaelin Kauf turned essentially the most adorned mogul skier in U.S. Olympic historical past as we speak when she took second within the debut of twin moguls to Australia’s Jakara Anthony. It was the third Olympic silver medal of Kauf’s profession, and he or she wasn’t the one American to medal, as Liz Lemley took bronze. Lemley had gained the person moguls gold medal simply days earlier.

Yesterday, in males’s curling, a shouting match erupted after Crew Sweden accused Canada of dishonest for allegedly touching the stone after it’d been launched. World Curling issued a verbal warning to Crew Canada “relating to the language used” because it defended itself.

Athlete Highlight

When it got here to incomes medals on the Winter Olympics, athletes from South American international locations had gone 0 for 102 years.

Till Saturday.

After Lucas Pinheiro Braathen of Brazil gained the boys’s large slalom, he stated he hoped the win would “encourage some youngsters on the market that, regardless of what they put on, regardless of how they give the impression of being, regardless of the place they arrive from, they’ll comply with their very own goals and be who they are surely. As a result of that’s the actual supply of happiness in life.”

Pinheiro Braathen grew up in Oslo, Norway, to a Norwegian father and a Brazilian mom. He skied for Norway till he retired three years in the past at 23. However after taking a visit to Brazil to decompress, he got here away resolved to return to aggressive snowboarding whereas representing his mom’s dwelling nation. It turned out to be a historic resolution.

“I’m not even in a position to grasp actuality, as I stand right here proper now,” he stated after profitable his first Olympic medal. “I’m simply making an attempt to get some type of emotion right here and translate it into phrases, although it’s completely not possible.”

Behind the scenes

Broadcasting these Winter Olympics requires greater than 800 cameras, however 25 have stolen the present in Milan Cortina, specifically.

Welcome to the drone Olympics, the place 25 drones — together with 15 “first-person-view” drones — are offering chicken’s-eye views of skiers, speedskaters, lugers and extra, footage that has drawn rave opinions from followers and a few athletes. Pilots corresponding to Jelmer Poelsma, a 26-year-old who has been flying drones for 11 years, have turn into as well-liked as some athletes. Like the remainder of the pilots who function 15 “first-person-view” drones, Poelsma wears goggles whereas sitting subsequent to a spotter who ensures the drone by no means will get too near the athletes.

“There isn’t a room for error,” Poelsma stated.

The drones are specialised for the game they cowl; these utilized in Alpine snowboarding can fly as much as 75 mph. For security, they have to be flown behind or to the facet of rivals. Swapping batteries requires a fast change that one broadcast government likened to an F1 pit cease. Drones have been utilized in Olympic protection since 2014, however their expanded use in Italy stemmed from organizers’ need to seize the eye of informal sports activities followers they are saying make up half the viewing viewers.

“We use a technological innovation,” stated Yiannis Exarchos, the CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Companies, “provided that it provides to the story that we’re telling.”

Picture of the day

When to observe

Mikaela Shiffrin seems to rebound after a disappointing run earlier within the Video games when she competes in girls’s large slalom. Erin Jackson seems to defend her title within the 500 meters, competing towards the Dutch duo of Jutta Leerdam and Femke Kok amongst others. Elana Meyers Taylor, essentially the most adorned feminine bobsledder and Black Winter Olympian ever, will formally compete in her fifth Olympics when she takes half in girls’s monobob.

All occasions are in Japanese, and an asterisk signifies a medal occasion:

Sunday, Feb. 15

• 3:05 a.m.: Curling, males’s round-robin (USA vs. Sweden, Germany vs. Nice Britain, Norway vs. Italy)
• 4 a.m.: Alpine snowboarding, girls’s large slalom run 1
• 4 a.m.: Bobsled, girls’s monobob warmth 1
• 4:30 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls 1/16 finals
• 5 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls 1/8 finals
• 5:15 a.m.: Biathlon, males’s 12.5km pursuit
• 5:20 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls quarterfinals
• 5:35 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls semifinals
• 5:46 a.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s twin moguls finals*
• 5:50 a.m.: Bobsled, girls’s monobob warmth 2
• 6 a.m.: Cross-country snowboarding, males’s 4×7.5km relay*
• 6:10 a.m.: Males’s hockey, Switzerland vs. Czechia
• 7:30 a.m.: Alpine snowboarding, girls’s large slalom run 2*
• 7:45 a.m.: Snowboarding, blended group cross quarterfinals
• 8:05 a.m.: Curling, girls’s round-robin (Japan vs. Korea, Denmark vs. Italy, Nice Britain vs. Sweden, USA vs. China)
• 8:15 a.m.: Snowboarding, blended group cross semifinals
• 8:35 a.m.: Snowboarding, blended group cross finals*
• 8:45 a.m.: Biathlon, girls’s 10km pursuit
• 10 a.m.: Speedskating, males’s group pursuit quarterfinals
• 10:40 a.m.: Males’s hockey, Canada vs. France
• 11:03 a.m.: Speedskating, girls’s 500 meters*
• 12 p.m.: Skeleton, blended group*
• 12:45 p.m.: Ski leaping, girls’s giant hill particular person spherical 1
• 1:05 p.m.: Curling, males’s round-robin (China vs. Canada, USA vs. Norway, Italy vs. Czechia, Nice Britain vs. Switzerland)
• 1:30 p.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s freeski large air qualification 1
• 1:45 p.m.: Determine skating, pair skating brief program
• 1:57 p.m.: Ski leaping, girls’s giant hill particular person remaining spherical*
• 2:15 p.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s freeski large air qualification 2
• 3 p.m.: Freestyle snowboarding, males’s freeski large air qualification 3
• 3:10 p.m.: Males’s hockey, USA vs. Germany
• That’s it for now! We’ll be again tomorrow.