Pyeongchang 2018

HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING

With two days left of competition in South Korea, Team USA’s collegiate athletes competed in bobsled, alpine skiing, men’s bobsled and men’s cross-country skiing.

Bobsled

Three U.S. sleds competed in the first two heats of the four-man bobsled race Saturday morning at the Olympic Sliding Centre. Team USA’s trio of sleds sit in ninth, 20th and 21st after the first day of competition. Of the 12 bobsledders who raced today, all but two competed collegiately.

Pilot Codie Bascue, along with Evan Weinstock (Brown), Steve Langton (Northeastern) and Sam McGuffie (Rice) lead the three U.S. sleds in ninth with a cumulative time of 1:38.43, just 0.88 off the first-place German sled. All three push athletes competed collegiately in the sport of track and field, while McGuffie also participated in football.

Boise State’s Nick Cunningham, with push athletes Hakeem Abdul-Saboor (Virginia – Wise), Chris Kinney (Georgetown) and Sam Michener (Idaho) posted a two-run time of 1:39.10, while the final sled of Justin Olsen (Air Force), Nathan Weber, Carlo Valdes (UCLA) and Chris Fogt (Utah Valley) clocked in at 1:39.33, for 21st.

All three sleds will look to move up the standings during the final two runs on Sunday morning.

Read more about today’s race on TeamUSA.org.

Cross-Country Skiing

Vermont’s Scott Patterson wrapped up competition with an 11th-place finish in the men’s 50k mass start classic. The first-time Olympian finished with a time of 2:13:14.2, only 4:52.1 off the gold-medal pace of Finland’s Iivo Niskanen (2:08:22.1). Patterson recorded the top U.S. finish in the race.

Alaska Fairbanks’ Tyler Kornfield also competed for Team USA, crossing the finish line in 48th place. The former Nanook skier registered a time of 2:24:36.5, only 16:14.4 back of the race leader.

Read the full story on TeamUSA.org.

Alpine Skiing

Dartmouth’s David Chodounsky competed for Team USA in the inaugural Olympic alpine team event Saturday at Yongpyong Alpine Centre. Although Team USA ultimately fell to Great Britain, Chodounsky finished his race .36 faster than his competitor.

Read more about the team’s performance on TeamUSA.org.