The 22 Annual Winter Olympics is being held in Sochi, Russia. This series of multi-sport events is taking place from February 3, 2014 – February 23, 2014. The United States is currently in third place in the medal standings.
As of right now, the United States has seven gold medals, four silver medals, and ten bronze medals. Being third in the running, Norway has taken first with ten gold medals. Second runner up is Germany with eight gold medals. Then the third place is currently occupied by the United States.
In figure skating, Meryl Davis and Charlie White have of the United States’ six gold medals for Ice Dance. The pair also has a bronze medal in the Team Competition.
For snowboarding, Sage Kotsenburg has another gold medal for Men’s Slopestyle. In the qualification round, he ranked eighth bringing him to the semifinals where he placed second. He then moved on to the finals where he won another gold medal for the United States.
Another gold medal was awarded to Jamie Anderson for Women’s Slopestyle in snowboarding. She placed second in the qualification round bringing her to the finals where she won first.
Joss Christensen also brought the US a gold medal in Men’s Ski Slopestyle. Both in the qualification round and finals, Christensen placed first.
The United States’ next gold medal was awarded to Kaitlyn Farrington for Ladies Halfpipe in snowboarding. In the qualification round, Farrington placed fourth in her division. Then, in both the semifinals and finals, she placed first.
The most recent gold medal was won by the United States’ Ted Ligety. He raced in Men’s Giant Slalom for Alpine Skiiing. The first round was the Men’s Super Combined Downhill race where he placed ei. In Men’s Super Combined Slalom, which was the second round, he came in eighth place. In Men’s Super-G, Ligety placed fourteenth. In the first round of the final competition (Men’s Giant Slalom), he ranked first. In the second round he placed fourteenth which got him the United States’ seventh gold medal.
When talking to North Harford students, they all had very different opinions on how the United States will finish in this year’s winter olympics. Based on the fluctuation of the United States’ ranks, many North Harford students believe the US will end up in the top five. A few believe they won’t be able to keep up for much longer and will fall from the top five before the end.