Winter Olympics Close; Elana Meyers Taylor Sets Record

The 2022 Winter Olympics came to a close with the United States winning a total of 25 medals—8 Gold, 10 silver, and 7 bronze. Norway led the way with 37 total medals. That nation has the most Winter Olympic medals all time.

There were some ups and downs for the U.S. Perhaps the biggest down was the poor performance by the Alpine Ski Team. Mikaela Shiffrin was 0 for 6, something no one saw coming. The entire team won a total of one medal, a silver. It was the worst showing in 34 years. Jesse Diggins won a bronze and a silver in cross country skiing; any medals in that sport are almost a bonus for the U.S. so it was a good showing. Things were better in snowboarding as the U.S. won four medals; it was even better in freestyle skiing where the Americans won eight—or nearly a third of the entire U.S. total. Long track speed skating continued to be dominated by the Netherlands, but the U.S. came away with three medals, their most since 2010. The Women’s Hockey team won silver. The U.S. won a gold, silver, and bronze in figure skating/ice dancing, with Nathan Chen leading the way with Gold in the Men’s Single Skating.

While the Netherlands continue to dominate speed skating, the Germans continued to dominate the sliding events winning 16 medals in luge, skeleton, and bobsled. But there were some breakthroughs on the U.S. women’s team. In a brand new women’s only event, the monobob, a bobsled with only one occupant instead of two or four, Kaiilie Humphries won gold and Elana Meyers Taylor won silver. Then in the 2-Woman event, Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman took the bronze. It was a history making event for Meyers Taylor; it was her fifth Olympic Medal of her career (in her fourth Olympics), the most ever by a black athlete in the Winter Games.

Here’s that record setting bobsled run