2014 Sochi Olympics results: Erin Hamlin wins first luge medal in Team USA history

There were two chances at history for Team USA, but only one came to pass in Sochi on Tuesday.

Erin Hamlin won the bronze in the women’s luge, making it the first time an American has made the podium in singles luge -- men or women -- in Olympic games history. She set a blistering pace with three sliders left and while she was pushed down the standings, it was enough.

Things weren’t so good for Shaun White, who struggled on the halfpipe and failed to medal. There was a good story at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park; a silver medal for Team USA courtesy of Devin Logan.

Overall, it was a disappointing day for United States athletes in Sochi despite the success on the luge slide, after failing to medal in several events and falling utterly flat in both men’s and women’s round robin curling.

The addition of slopestyle has been a huge boon to Team USA, and that continued with another medal at Sochi. Devin Logan captured silver with an excellent first run, though she had a nerve-wracking wait following a crash on the second to see if her score would stand.

Canada secured the gold and bronze, but one of the medals didn’t come from favorite Kaya Turski, who failed to make the final after crashing in qualifying.

Two medals were decided in the Men’s and Ladies’ Sprint Free Finals and Scandinavian countries predictably dominated the proceedings. Norway captured three medals overall, and managed to avoid a nasty crash in the men’s competition that took out three racers.

Sophie Caldwell of Team USA had the country’s best finish in Cross Country at Sochi so far, finishing sixth in the women’s race.

Speed skating

Team USA wasn’t expected to medal in the Ladies’ 500 m, and it went according to form. Heather Richardson posted a quick time of 75.75, but it failed to make the podium in an event where fractions of a second can be the difference between first and 20th.

The Netherlands won another speed skating medal, but had to settle for bronze when Sang Hwa Lee of Korea posted an Olympic record of 74.70 in the event. Her second race also set a new record at 37.28.

The medal for the Women’s 10km Pursuit was handed out on Monday with Susan Dunklee of the USA finishing in 18th place, best of the representatives for Team USA.

The USA has never won a medal in singles luge, but Erin Hamlin looked to change that when she took to the track at the Sanki Sliding Center.

With four sliders remaining she posted a blistering pace with a time of 3.21.145. It was unclear if this would be enough for gold with talented athletes remaining, but she managed to finish in third and win the first medal in U.S. history.

The men’s halfpipe finals took place on Monday as Shaun White vied to become the first American man to win three consecutive medals in the Winter Olympics. A crash on the first run followed by a lackluster second kept him off the podium. Fellow countrymen Danny Davis and Gregory Bretz crashed on both runs, making it a disappointing day.

It appeared for a while that Jessica Jerome of Team USA would have a chance to secure one of the first medals in Ladies’ ski jumping, but that didn’t come to pass as she was pushed off the podium by more decorated ski jumpers -- she finished in 10th place.

A historic moment at Sochi occurred when Carina Vogt claimed the first gold medal in women’s ski jumping history.

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