Speedskater Casey Dawson became the second athlete raised in Park City to win a medal for the United States early Tuesday morning when he helped the American men finish third in the men’s team pursuit.
The U.S. team advanced to the semifinals after a strong performance on Sunday and met the Russian Olympic Committee in the semifinals. Dawson, who helped the U.S. break the world record in the event in December, and teammates Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran were upset when their opposition broke an Olympic record.
Joey Mantia replaced Cepuran in the bronze-medal race Tuesday, and the Americans easily skated past the Dutch by 2.81 seconds to claim bronze.
Over on the slopestyle course, freeskier Marin Hamill’s Olympics came to a sudden end after a crash during the women’s qualification runs on Sunday. Hamill qualified for the finals on her first run, but she fell on the final jump of her second run and hurt her right leg. According to the Associated Press, she was sent back to the U.S. for further evaluation. Hamill, who came in 14th in big air earlier in the Games, finished 12th overall after a DNS in the finals.
The men also started their slopestyle competition on Monday with qualifying. Alex Hall came in fifth and Colby Stevenson finished in sixth to move on to the finals, which were scheduled to be held Tuesday evening.
Cross-country skier Rosie Brennan joined Hailey Swirbul, Jessie Diggins and Novie McCabe on the U.S. team for the women’s 4×5-kilometer relay on Saturday. The Americans finished sixth out of 18 teams in the event.
The U.S. women’s aerials team, which boasts several athletes who have moved to Park City to train, was in action Monday morning. Megan Nick became the first American woman to win an individual medal in aerials since 1998 when she finished in third. Longtime Parkites Ashley Caldwell and Winter Vinecki came in fourth and 15th, respectively. Kaila Kuhn came in eighth to round out the American team.
“The Olympics are incredibly stressful, and we put a lot of heart into what we do,” Caldwell said in a U.S. Ski & Snowboard release. “I gave it my all and it didn’t quite work. But I’m so proud of Tao Tao (Mengtao Xu) and I’m so proud of Megan Nick and I’m so proud of Hanna Huskova. They’re incredible athletes, and there is always heartbreak amongst great success.”
Park City native Jared Shumate was the highest finisher among the American Nordic combined team in the individual large hill/10-kilometer event on Tuesday in 17th place, his second top-20 finish at this year’s Olympics. Shumate finished 19th in ski jumping and had the 13th-fastest race time.
“I’m very psyched to have gotten another top twenty, I can’t be upset about that,” Shumate said in a USA Nordic release. “I fought hard during every second of that race, but I lost a couple spots in the last lap. Overall, I thought I skied well, and placing seventeenth was a step up from the first day. I usually struggle a little bit more on the large hill, so I was happy to put a good jump down and start the race in the top twenty.”