Pyeongchang 2018

OFF TO THE RACES

Bobsled competition kicked off at the Olympic Sliding Center Sunday evening, with the first two heats of the two-man. All three Team USA sleds took to the track, with at least one college athlete competing in each U.S. run.

The duo of Justin Olsen (Air Force) and Evan Weinstock (Brown) currently rank the highest of Team USA’s three sleds, in 12th. The pair completed heat one in 49.66 and heat two in 49.55. With a cumulative time of 1:39.21, Olsen and Weinstock are less than one second behind the current leader.

The other two U.S. sleds both sit in the top 25. Nick Cunningham (Boise State) and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor (UVA – Wise) clocked in at 24th with a cumulative time of 1:40.07, while Codie Bascue and Sam McGuffie (Rice) sit at 25th with a cumulative time of 1:40.19.

The U.S.’ sleds hope to make the jump to medal contention in the final two heats of the two-man bobsled competition Monday evening.

Speedskating

Florida Atlantic’s Brittany Bowe wrapped up her last individual competition with a fifth-place finish in the 500m Sunday evening at the Gangneung Oval. Her finish marks the third-consecutive race Bowe has finished in the top five in South Korea.

The former women’s basketball player crossed the finish line in a time of 37.530, just .59 seconds shy of the gold-medal winner Nao Kodaira of Japan’s time of 36.94.

Bowe’s time and placement is a marked improvement from Sochi, where she finished 13th in the 500m.

Cross-country skiing

Vermont’s Scott Patterson played a key role on the men’s 4x10k relay team that raced to a 14th-place finish at the Alpensia Cross-Country Center. Patterson, along with teammates Resse Hanneman, Noah Hoffman and Andy Newell crossed the finish in a cumulative time of 1:42:29.1.

Norway’s squad won gold in a time of 1:33:04.9, while Olympic Athletes from Russia earned silver with a time of 1:33:14.3. France crossed the line in 1:33.41.8 to take bronze.

Men’s cross-country competition continues Wednesday with the men’s team sprint freestyle race.