Olympics Final Night Recap

What you missed in PyeongChang last night: Competition concludes

By: Stephanie De Lancey

The final night of competition concludes with the men's gold medal match in hockey and the figure skating gala.


Primetime spotlight

The Olympics wound down with the figure skating gala. All the medalist were able to perform on the ice to whatever music they wanted with whatever moves they wanted to include.

Germany was able to claim gold in the four-man bobsled event. It was pilot Francesco Friedrich’s second gold medal of the Games.

David vs. Goliath

Germany and OAR faced off in the gold-medal game for the men’s hockey tournament. Ultimately, OAR proved victorious in overtime, defeating Germany 4-3.

Germany already had to beat two favorites to make it to the title game. They upset Sweden in the quarterfinals and Canada in the semifinals. OAR was the pre-tournament favorites for gold.

Slava Voynov scored OAR’s first goal with .5 seconds left in the first period. OAR outshot Germany 12-6 in the first period.

In the second, Germany rallied. Feliz Schutz had a generous rebound find the back of the net to even the score at one.

OAR and Germany exchanged goals ten seconds apart to start the third period. Nikita Gusev scored the goal for Team OAR. He finished as the leading point scorer in the men’s tournament with 12 points.

With just over three minutes to go, Germany scored and then went on the power play. However, with under a minute to go, a shorthanded OAR answered evening the score at three all.

In overtime, Kirill Kaprizov scored the game-winning goal. At age 20, Kaprizov is the youngest player on OAR’s roster. He was a fifth-round drafty pick by the Minnesota Wilde in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, but he has not yet played in the NHL. It’s OAR’s second gold medal at the PyeongChang Olympics.

The odds for Germany to win at the beginning of the tournament were 66-1. The silver medal is Germany’s best-ever finish at an Olympic hockey tournament.

Canada won the bronze medal, beating the Czech Republic 6-4 in the bronze medal match.

A league of her own

Marit Bjorgen ended her PyeongChang Olympics winning her 15th Olympic medal and eighth gold medal all-time. She won the women’s 30km mass start. The 37-year-old leaves PyeongChang as the most decorated Winter Olympian ever. Her eight golds move her into a tie with Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Bjoern Daehlie for the most gold medals by a Winter Olympian. Bjorgen was defending her title as she won gold in the 30km in Sochi four years ago.

It was Norway’s 14th Olympic gold medal in PyeongChang. It ties the record for the most gold medals earned at the Winter Olympics by a country, set by Canada in 2010 (Germany also won 14 gold medals in PyeongChang). Seven of Norway’s 14 gold medals were won in cross-country skiing. The 20km race was the last event of the 2018 Olympics.

Last dance

Some of the figure skaters took to the ice one last time in the exhibition gala. Behind the men’s hockey gold-medal game, it was the second-most attended event in PyeongChang.

In the gala, figure skaters can dance to and do whatever they want. Usually it is the medalists who perform, plus skaters from the host country and other fan favorites.

Ice dance bronze medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani performed their dance from last season. It was an energetic performance to “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra featuring Jay-Z. Men’s bronze medalist Javier Fernandez performed an entertaining routine as “Super Javi” in an aerobics class.

The host country was well represented with a lot of skaters choosing to dance to K-pop. Both Alina Zagitova and Yevgenia Medvedeva performed in very different styles.  The closing honors went to men’s champion Yuzuru Hanyu, who dazzled with his artistry.

Twice as nice

Germany’s Francesco Friedrich won his second gold medal of the games by piloting the winning sled in the four-man event. He becomes just the sixth man to pilot a gold medal two-man and four-man sled in the same Olympics. This time around, he didn’t have to share gold with another team. However, there was still a tie in the event. South Korea and Germany shared the silver honors.

South Korea’s medal, won by Won Yun-Jong, was its first medal in the bobsled event. Germany’s Nico Walther piloted the other German sled that claimed silver. Friedrich’s gold medal was historic as well. It was Germany’s 100th gold medal all-time. It also gave Germany its sixth gold medal in sliding events, which was a record for Germany in a single Olympics.

Codie Bascue piloted the top American sled. They finished in ninth place. Nick Cunningham and Justin Olsen finished in 19th and 20th, respectively. The Americans were competing with heavy hearts after top U.S. pilot Steve Holcomb, who won gold in 2010 and double bronze in 2014, passed away in 2017.

Curling Cinderella no more

Sweden ended South Korea’s incredible run in women’s curling. Sweden beat South Korea 8-3 to win gold. Sweden has now won three of the six women’s Olympic curling tournaments. It was Sweden’s fourth-straight final. After shooting an impressive 99% in the semifinal, Sweden’s lead, Sofia Mabergs, had a 100% shooting percentage in the final. It’s the first time any woman in the tournament achieved a perfect rating.

South Korea earned its first-ever Olympic curling medal. It was the best result for any Asian team in Olympic curling. Before PyeongChang, South Korea had only won Winter Olympics medals in skating events.

South Korea was unable to generate offense, with skip Kim Eun-Jung missing a number of shots. As a result, Sweden’s skip Anna Hasselborg stole points in the fourth and fifth ends. They scored three in the seventh end to secure the win. At 28 years old, Hasselborg becomes the youngest woman to skip her team to Olympic gold.