PYEONGCHANG, Korea, Republic Of 鈥� A tense shootout, a dazzling deke and the end of an impressive streak.
The United States鈥� women鈥檚 hockey team beat sa国际传媒 3-2 on Thursday in a gold-medal game that claimed a spot among the Olympics鈥� most thrilling moments in recent memory.
鈥淭hey should make a movie on it,鈥� U.S. forward Hilary Knight said. 鈥淲e had all the drama and everything. It鈥檚 sort of a storybook ending to an incredible series of accomplishments.鈥�
It鈥檚 the first time the Americans won it all since 1998, when they beat the Canadians 3-1 in the first women鈥檚 hockey tournament at the Olympics. sa国际传媒 had won the last four Olympic golds, including four years ago in Sochi when it rallied from a two-goal deficit to shock the Americans.
This time, the U.S. bounced back from a 2-1 deficit in the third period to win in a shootout, capped by a jaw-dropping triple-deke by Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson for the go-ahead goal.
鈥淚鈥檝e butchered it a thousand times, just ran into tires, tripped over tires just working on my hands,鈥� Lamoureux-Davidson said. 鈥淛ust glad it worked out this time.鈥�
David Wise delivered another gold for the U.S., winning the men鈥檚 halfpipe in freestyle skiing.
It was the second straight Olympic gold for Wise, who put down the most difficult, technically precise run ever seen in the sport of halfpipe skiing. He edged out his Olympic roommate, Alex Ferreira.
鈥淚鈥檓 honestly just in disbelief right now,鈥� Wise said. 鈥淲inning, losing, whatever, just the fact that I landed that run in the moment when it needed to happen, on that that third run, just felt so good.鈥�
Mikaela Shiffrin couldn鈥檛 make it a third on the day for the U.S. , taking the silver as Michelle Gisin of Switzerland won the women鈥檚 Alpine combined.
In the men鈥檚 slalom, Andre Myhrer, a 35-year-old Swede, was the unlikely champion after Marcel Hirscher and Henrik Kristoffersen 鈥� the best slalom skiers on the World Cup circuit 鈥� couldn鈥檛 complete two runs.
In other events Thursday, Anna Gasser of Austria won the women鈥檚 Big Air snowboarding event, and Germany took the Nordic combined team title.
In short-track speedskating, Dajing Wu of China won the men鈥檚 500 metres, Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands took the women鈥檚 1,000, and Hungary was the winner of the men鈥檚 5,000-meter relay.
Belarus won the gold in the women鈥檚 4x6-kilometre biathlon relay, finishing in 1 hour, 12 minutes, 3.4 seconds.
In Gangneung, the U.S. women鈥檚 team won it all 20 years after their last gold medal in women鈥檚 hockey and 38 years to the day after the men鈥檚 famous 鈥淢iracle on Ice鈥� victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
The victory was redemption for the 10 Americans still on the team who watched sa国际传媒 snatch gold away four years ago.
Several members of the Canadian team wept on the ice while accepting the silver medals, and defenceman Jocelyne Larocque immediately removed hers from around her neck and held it in her left hand.
鈥淲e were going for gold,鈥� Larocque said. 鈥淲e were chasing a gold medal.鈥�
TAKING A CHANCE
With a third of the 12 riders limping off the course with injuries, Wise faced an all-or-nothing run after his ski bindings failed him in his two previous trips down.
鈥淲e cranked my bindings up as high as they would go,鈥� Wise said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e like, 鈥橸ou know what, my leg鈥檚 coming off before the ski does.鈥濃��
Everything stayed on, and he skied to victory.
GISIN鈥橲 GOLD
Gisin finished the Alpine combined in 2 minutes, 20.90 seconds to eclipse silver-medallist Shiffrin by 0.97 seconds. Wendy Holdener of Switzerland was 1.44 seconds back to earn the bronze.
鈥淚 tried to put my heart into that run,鈥� Gisin said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 insane.鈥�
Lindsey Vonn made a mistake early in the slalom and didn鈥檛 finish in what was likely the final race of her Winter Games career.
SLALOM SURPRISE
Hirscher skied off course in the opening run of the men鈥檚 slalom, while Kristoffersen set the fastest time. But Kristofferson couldn鈥檛 make it all the way down on the second run.
That left Myhrer at the top of the podium.
鈥淭o be able to do this after the season they have had,鈥� Myhrer said of Hirscher and Kristoffersen, 鈥渋s, of course, amazing for me.鈥�
Ramon Zenhaeusern of Switzerland won the silver, 0.34 seconds behind Myhrer. Michael Matt of Austria took bronze.
GASSED UP
After American Jamie Anderson overshot the landing a bit while trying to nail a cab 10 on her third jump in Big Air, Gasser had the opening she needed.
The Austrian did a 鈥渃ab double 10鈥� 鈥� two flips and three full rotations 鈥� to slip past Anderson. Her score of 96 was the highest of the day and boosted her two-jump total to 185.00.
鈥淢y mind was, 鈥橧 can only win here if I land, I can change the colour of this medal,鈥濃�� Gasser said. 鈥淚 decided to do a trick I wasn鈥檛 100 per cent sure it would work but a trick I really wanted to show and that鈥檚 what mattered to me the most.鈥�
GERMANY鈥橲 DOMINANCE
Johannes Rydzek crossed the finish line with an overwhelming 52.7-second advantage as Germany joined Finland as the only countries to win three gold medals in Nordic combined in one Winter Olympics.
Defending champion Norway was second, followed by Austria, which was first after the ski jump.