The weather may have tried to blow Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympics off course, but not even the whipping winds could stop Canada from breezing to double gold in Pyeongchang Monday.
While the wind has wreaked havoc on the slopes, forcing the postponement of the women’s giant slalom, it could do little to unnerve Canada’s new golden boy, Mikael Kingsbury.
The 25-year-old lived up the pre-Olympics hype with a scintillating performance in the six-man finale to add gold to the silver he won fours years ago.
His success was one of two Canadian gold medals Monday as the nation’s ice skaters, including Eric Radford, the first openly gay man to win gold, came out on top in the event to eclipse the silver medal it won four years ago.
‘Safety first’
The wind also blew some of the women’s slopestyle competitors off course, leading to complaints the event was unfair and even dangerous, but American Jamie Anderson held firm to clinch back-to-back golds ahead of another Team Canada athlete Laurie Blouin.
Austria’s Anna Gasser, who fell on both runs and finished 15th, said the event was “not a good show for women’s snowboarding.”
However, organizers said safety was their “first priority,” according to International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams.
Anderson admitted conditions were tough, but said she used her “lion power” to pull off a gold medal-winning performance.
“I had a lot of pressure and I’m just so proud of myself,” she said.
US ski star Shiffrin, who became the youngest ever Olympic slalom champion at the age of 18 in Sochi, will now compete first in Wednesday’s two-run slalom.
The giant slalom has been rearranged for Thursday. Shiffrin is also set to race in the alpine combined (downhill and slalom) and may add the super-G and downhill depending on how she is feeling.
In other events, Dutchwoman Ireen Wust became the most decorated Olympic speed skater with victory in the 1,500m to take her tally to 10 medals, including five golds.
Martin Fourcade of France put the disappointment of eighth in Sunday’s sprint event behind him to win the men’s 12.5km biathlon pursuit. The 29-year-old became the first biathlete to defend the Olympic pursuit title.
Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier won the women’s 10 kilometer pursuit to add to her 7.5km sprint title from Saturday.
On a cold night in Pyeongchang, Norway’s hot favorite Maren Lundby, 23, took gold in the women’s normal hill with a huge final leap of 110 meters to beat Katharina Althaus.