Hello from Milan and Cortina, where Team USA’s “Blade Angels” began the women’s figure skating competition. Alysa Liu skated as if floating on air and finished the day in third place, Isabeau Levito had a solid performance and now sits eighth, and Amber Glenn missed a triple loop, which left her in 13th.
All three will get a chance to improve during Thursday’s free skate segment. Our correspondents have it all covered below and at NBC News. Catch it all streaming on Peacock.
Live from Milan Cortina
After Amber Glenn finished her routine in the short program today, she clutched her chest and breathed heavily at the center of the ice. She already knew she’d made a mistake.
She had nailed her triple axel, the hardest jump of the program. But later she had landed a double loop when it should have been a triple loop. That was marked as an invalid element that earned her zero points.
As she skated off, she burst into tears. She hugged her coach and lamented the missed opportunity.
“I had it,” she said.
Earlier, Isabeau Levito, whose grandmother lives in Milan, made her Olympic debut with a routine that delighted the crowd with beautiful spins and extensions.
But the top American was Alysa Liu, whose routine looked effortless and included a difficult triple lutz, triple loop combination, giving her a score of 76.59.
“I’m really confident in myself,” she said afterward, explaining her calm demeanor. “Even if I mess up and fall, that’s totally OK too. I don’t know, I’m fine with any outcome so long as I’m out there — and I am, so there’s nothing to lose.”
The only skaters who performed better were Ami Nakai (78.71) and Kaori Sakamoto (77.23) of Japan. Liu might be Team USA’s best shot at gold. An American woman hasn’t won gold in women’s singles figure skating in more than two decades.
Elsewhere, in the speedskating team pursuit final, the Italians upset Team USA, leaving the Americans with silver. The American women also lost the bronze medal team pursuit race to Japan.
Germany dominated the two-man bobsled competition and swept the podium — earning gold, silver and bronze medals — for the second straight Olympics.
Athlete Spotlight
In a thrilling men’s freeski big air final, Team USA’s Mac Forehand needed a big score on his third and final run if he wanted a gold medal. He had been the top qualifier but was now trailing Norway’s Tormod Frostad.
Forehand came up clutch, landing a 2160-degree nose-butter triple cork, earning a score of 98.25 that vaulted him past Frostad.
But moments later, on the final run of the night, Frostad responded with a score of 98.50, stealing the lead right back from Forehand.
After Frostad’s score came in, the crowd went wild, and Forehand gave him a hug. Frostad had won gold, Forehand silver. As NBC cameras took in the scene, microphones picked up someone on the ground, presumably one of the skiers, saying: “Oh my God. … That was nuts!”
Forehand told reporters that he contemplated choosing a safer trick for his third run, knowing he was already guaranteed a medal, “because these tricks are so dangerous and so gnarly.”
But he decided he had to go big.
“I couldn’t do that. I had to fight for the gold,” Forehand said. “I was in that moment. It’s hard to be in that position ever again. Like, second place, last run, you have to go, you have to bump the first-place person out.”
Ilia Speaks
Ilia Malinin admitted today he was “not ready” for the spotlight on him at the Olympics.
In an interview on “TODAY,” Malinin said the immense expectations on him heading into the Olympics played a role in his mistake-filled free skate performance, which dropped him from first to eighth in the men’s individual event.
“Honestly, it’s not a pleasant feeling is the most honest way to say it,” Malinin said of the high expectations. “So many eyes, so much attention. It really can get to you if you’re not ready to fully embrace it. That may be one of the mistakes I made. I was not ready to handle that to the fullest extent.”
Can Malinin rebound from his subpar performance? NBC News spoke with sports psychologists, including one who worked with Simone Biles, who believe he can recover mentally.
“His reality is that he experienced something embarrassing and humbling,” said Michael Heck, a sports therapist. “But through the mindset of excellence, you take this as a really difficult part of your process. You can really learn from being humbled.”
Photo of the Day
When to Watch
Highlights tomorrow include Mikaela Shiffrin’s last, best chance at a medal when she competes in women’s slalom, and the U.S. men’s hockey team will play its quarterfinal game.
All times are in Eastern, and an asterisk signifies a medal event:
Wednesday, Feb. 18
- 3:05 a.m.: Curling, women’s round robin (China vs. Denmark, USA vs. Great Britain, Sweden vs. Korea)
- 3:45 a.m.: Cross-country skiing, women’s team sprint qualification
- 4 a.m.: Alpine skiing, women’s slalom run 1
- 4:15 a.m.: Cross-country skiing, men’s team sprint qualification
- 5:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, women’s aerials finals*
- 5:45 a.m.: Cross-country skiing, women’s team sprint finals*
- 6:10 a.m.: Men’s hockey, quarterfinals, Slovakia vs Germany
- 6:15 a.m.: Cross-country skiing, men’s team sprint finals*
- 6:30 a.m.: Snowboard, men’s slopestyle*
- 7:30 a.m.: Alpine skiing, women’s slalom run 2*
- 8:05 a.m.: Curling, men’s round robin (Italy vs. Canada, China vs. Czechia, Norway vs. Switzerland, USA vs. Great Britain)
- 8:45 a.m.: Biathlon, women’s 4X6km relay*
- 10:40 a.m.: Men’s hockey, quarterfinals, Canada vs. Czechia
- 12:10 p.m.: Men’s hockey, quarterfinals, Finland vs. Switzerland
- 1:05 p.m.: Curling, women’s round robin (Great Britain vs. Japan, Switzerland vs. Denmark, Canada vs. Italy, China vs. Sweden)
- 2:15 p.m.: Short track speedskating, men’s 500-meter quarterfinals
- 2:44 p.m.: Short track speedskating, men’s 500-meter semifinals
- 3 p.m.: Short track speedskating, women’s 3,000-meters relay*
- 3:10 p.m.: Men’s hockey, quarterfinals, USA vs. Sweden
- 3:32 p.m.: Short track speedskating, men’s 500-meter finals*
That’s it for now! We’ll be back tomorrow.
