U.S. trio begins quest for women’s figure skating medals

A trio of U.S. figure skaters start their charge for the women’s medals at the Olympics, and there are big tricks in store in snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

Day 11 at the Milan Cortina Games also sees a world record-holding U.S. team chase speedskating team pursuit gold and a crunch game for Sweden in men’s hockey.

U.S. skaters have plenty of rivals for gold

Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito are American skating stars for a new era. Rivals from Japan and Russia are sure to challenge.

The medals won’t be won today but medal hopes can be dashed in the short program. Watch out for Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, a three-time world champion, and her teammate, Ami Nakai.

Then there’s Adeliia Petrosian, who has barely skated outside Russia but could shake up the whole competition. Competing as a neutral athlete, Petrosian has big jumps and a controversial coach, and seems to have shaken off injury concerns.

It might be easy to miss Petrosian, since she skates second of 29 competitors, with the other main contenders at the end.

Big air and slopestyle

It’s a big day for big tricks, with medals available in women’s snowboard slopestyle and men’s freestyle big air.

New Zealand snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is going for a second Olympic gold in slopestyle. She is the reigning world champion and led qualifying on Sunday.

Her leading rival will likely be Kokomo Murase of Japan, who qualified second. Murase has already won a gold at the Milan Cortina Games after winning the big air final.

Mac Forehand of the United States had the best score of qualifying ahead of the big air final. Birk Ruud of Norway already has a gold from the Milan Cortina Games in ski slopestyle and is seeking a second in big air.

On the speedskating track, women’s and men’s team pursuit medal rounds are Tuesday. Three skaters from each country participate together, starting at opposite sides of the track.

The U.S. set the world record for men’s team pursuit in November and took home a bronze from the 2022 Beijing Games.

Men’s hockey playoffs begin

It’s time to win or go home in men’s hockey as the playoffs begin.

The U.S. and Canada already earned quarterfinal spots in group play but not so for Sweden, which has a tricky extra game against Latvia to get through. Win and the reward is a meeting with the unbeaten American team in the last eight. Czechia and Denmark play for the right to face top-seeded Canada.