Pyeongchang Olympics: Dahlmeier shoots her way to gold in Biathlon sprint

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Wonderful shooting from Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier earned her the gold in the women’s 7.5Km sprint Biathlon at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. The 22 year old didn’t miss a single shot at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre finishing 24.2 seconds ahead of silver medalist Marte Olsbu of Norway and Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic for the bronze.

Two time defending Olympic champion Anastasia Kuzmina sat way behind in the start while Austria’s Lisa Theresa Hauser had the pole position since finishing 25th in 2014. Darya Domracheva who won a couple of medals in Sochi still had a chance to make things happen in the sprint, but had new competitors looking to make a name for themselves. American Susan Dunklee earned a sixth-place start hoping to make her mark made. A total of 87 women competed in the event each starting one after the other.

Hauser took off with a 30 second interval before the remainder of the leaders got their own sprint. After the first kilometer, Hauser had 5.8 seconds on Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg giving her plenty of room while she closed in on completing the first of three 2.5km laps. The wind picked up heavily which no doubt played a role in their skiing and shooting. The leader had a bad start in the prone position missing three up which sent her to the penalty roundabout to complete three laps for each miss.

Germany’s Denise Herrmann and Oeberg got through clean to move into the second lap first and second. Dunklee missed just once while Switzerland’s Selina Gasparin had it worse off missing three. Domracheva missed just one that would cost her time to catch up on the main group.

Kuzmina came out to start a lap down on the leaders while Herrmann came back into the shooting range missing twice while in the standing position. Oeberg lead after the second shooting range with Hauser right behind her and Herrmann 35 seconds back. Dunklee missed four in the standing position but somehow remained in sixth place after the second round of shooting. Domracheva missed one on her second round taking her out of the running for a medal.

The best of the night went to Dahlmeier who missed not one shot in both the prone and the standing positions. Tatiana Amikova of the United Team also went clean but finished 1:18 behind. Austrian Dunja Zdouc also went clear throughout the competition but finished 48^th.

At the end of it all, Oeberg was first to come across the finish line at 21:32 followed by Herrmann at 22:25.8. The standings changed up significantly when many came in to finish the event as Herrmann’s time was being topped by many who came in to complete the event. After Kuzmina’s solid 4 of 5 in the stand position, she finished things 53.9 seconds back that was not good enough to win a third consecutive medal. Dunklee finished way out of placing high with a time of 24:13.1 after missing five targets.

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In front was Dahlmeier who posted a time of 21:06.2 which was a good spot to be in first but there were many still to come in. As nearly half the competitors crossed the finish line, Dahlmeier’s time continued to hold strong having come in 24.2 seconds faster than current second place Marte Olsbu of Norway who missed just one target overall. Czech biathlete Marketa Davidova had one miss but finished 57.1 seconds back to sit in 14^th. All the competitors completed the shooting rounds with only 15 left to come in. When it was all said and done Dahlmeier remained in the first with Olsbu winning silver and Vitkova taking home the bronze.

Pyeongchang Olympics: Kalla wins gold in women's 15km Skiathlon

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The roles were switched at the women’s 15km Skiathlon Saturday at the Alpensia Cross Country Centre. Sweden’s Charlotte Kala made a big push with two kilometers left in the freestyle leg to win the gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Norway’s Marit Bjeorgen ended her two gold medal winning streak to take silver and Finland’s Krista Pamakoski winning bronze.

The two-time defending champion along with the current silver medalist and bronze medalist respectively all returned to gain another medal in contention against the pack of 62 starters. American Jessica Diggins gained a huge spot to start up front with Heidi Weng, Ingvild Flugstad Osterberg and Kalla.

The top Swede led the way at the head of the pack through the first six minutes with all the major competitors alongside at the two and a quarter kilometer mark. At the five-kilometer mark, the pack was still very large with no clear signs of a leader from any of the defending medalists.

Prior to the six-kilometer mark, the defending gold medalist opened with a lead with the silver medalist and bronze medalist right behind her. The final one and a half kilometers were crucial to gain ground on the rest as freestyle skiing would conclude the competition switching to the required blades. Bjeorgen, Kalla and Weng were the first to exchange. When they got to the next course, Norway’s Weng, Osterberg and Bjoergen all came out as one to begin the second 7.5 kilometers. Diggins held in the top ten 5.4 seconds back of the lead showing her strengths to be up near them.

A big climb came two kilometers in with Switzerland’s Nathalie Von Siebenthal overtaking Bjoergen. Kalla ran fourth with Weng back in the seventh with Diggins right behind her in eighth. The downhill saw Bjoergen back out front with Kalla right on her tail in second at the 11.25km mark. The Swiss regained the lead going back up the hill with Von Siebenthal back in front. At the peak of the climb, Kalla got clear of everyone having the strength to overtake everyone in front of her and stretching a gap for herself.

With two kilometers to go the Swede opened the gap to 9.6 seconds on Bjoergen with Sweden’s Ebba Andersson and Pamakoski in the top four all 10.9 seconds or less from the lead. With Kalla completely in control, Bjoergen was in trouble with the Finn very much fighting to take her over with the others very close for a spot on the podium.

When it was all said and done, Kalla secured the gold medal seven seconds ahead with Bjoergen holding on for silver and Pamakoski winning bronze. Diggins had a solid finish in fifth with Poland’s Justnya Kowalczyk finishing way back in 17^th compared to her sixth-place finish in 2014.

Pyeongchang welcomes the world with spectacular Winter Olympic opening ceremony

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Korea officially made its statement to world at the opening ceremony of the XXIII Winter Olympic Games Friday night. With scenes of Korea’s beauty and culture and its own style of pomp and circumstance, the Olympics were officially opened at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium.

Digital imaging was a huge factor in South Korea’s opening ceremony which began as usual with the Olympic countdown. A video showing the previous Winter Olympic sites was followed by scenes of the city of Pyeongchang. The countdown inside the stadium began with a massive Korean peace bell in the middle that gonged once before a fireworks display illuminated the sky.

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A following video began with children playing in the snow until they found a crystal ball that showed them a map. The children set off to find a cave surrounded by ice where many digital objects took shape describing the culture of Korea. A white tiger moved by a set of puppeteers took center stage in the stadium with the children from the video.

A performance of Korea’s nature and traditional dance took shape with over hundred performers dancing to music of the host country. The segment finished with a dome of digital constellations signified the universe as a whole. The second part had over a few hundred women come out with drums before taking the shape of their country’s flag which followed while being carried by eight former Olympic athletes from South Korea.

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Six members of the nation's traditional military carried the flag to be hosted in the stadium during their national anthem. The Rainbow Children’s Choir sang the anthem that ended with a cheer from the fans. The parade of athletes soon came with Greece coming into the stadium first as the country that originates the modern Olympic games. They were welcomed by dancers who moved to popular Korean music including K-Pop. Each country was followed with a model holding a metallic branch with the name of the country in English and Korean.

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Using the Korean characters, the 91 nations marched into the stadium with the United States coming in a third of the way in with Luger Erica Hamlin of Michigan being chosen as the flagbearer. The parade concluded with the host nation ending things to an eruption of cheers from their countrymen in the stands. The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea joined South Korea as a whole to show peace and unity during the games. Two flagbearers carried a flag with the nation of Korea as a whole over a white background.

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When all the athletes took their place in the stands, a video was shown of the beauty of Korea as the seasons passed by. An old man sang an ancient song while the children were floating on a wooden raft moved across the floor over moving images of flowers. A video then showed the children moving ahead in time through a doorframe where they were all grown up enjoying their professions of a doctor, inventor, performance artist, teacher, and an architect.

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The doorframe that was used in the video took shape as many were placed on the stage where along with video graphics created a unique performance. Lee Hee-beom, President and CEO of Pyeongchang Organizing Committee spoke to the host nation. IOC President Thomas Bach expressed fair play and following the rules to respect the Olympic spirit. He made it clear of all the athletes coming together despite their differences to send an inspiration to those around the world.

After Korean President Moon Jae-in opened the games of the 23^rd Olympiad, the show continued on with the children passing a light to a family who then passed it along to others that made two doves. In between were singers In-Kown Jeon, Eun-mi Lee, Hyun-woo Ha and Ji-yeong An who took turns singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” while in a video side box, musicians from around the world were shown playing different instruments to the song.

Lights were then used to create a snowboarder which made its way to the alpine skiing venue where many skiers and snowboarders carried flares before creating the shape of the Olympic rings. The lights also did the same which was followed by the carrying of the Olympic flag by eight winter Olympians and future Olympians. The flag was then raised during the anthem of the Olympic Hymn.

After the Olympic Oath was taken by a Korean athlete, judge and a coach, a video was shown of the Olympic torch and its journey across Korea from the ground, the water, and sky. The Olympic flame entered the stadium where it was lit by figure skating champion Yu-na Kim.

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The opening ceremony ended with another dance performance that finished with a fireworks spectacular that brought an end to the festivities in 2 hours and 17 minutes. While some of the events began before Friday, the majority of the competition would begin on Saturday until Feb. 25.