Winter Olympics 2014, Day 14: USA, Canada to meet in semis

With all medal events from Day 14 in the books, the United States has jumped out on top of the total medal count with 23, edging out Russia and the Netherlands who have 22 apiece.

Ted Ligety grabbed gold for the Americans in the men’s giant slalom with a time of 2:45.29, and the U.S. had two women’s bobsled teams finish on the podium for the first time in its Olympic history with silver- and bronze-medal-winning performances.

Team USA is developing quite a pattern at Sochi, win an Olympic medal every day. That continued on Wednesday and the color was gold, silver and bronze.

Some countries have dominated at speed skating or cross-country skiing, but the Americans are excelling on anything slope-related, whether it be in the Rosa Khutor extreme park or the Alpine slopes. There was unexpected success at the sliding center too, which saw another two medals fall to team USA.

It was a long wait for Gracie Gold and Team USA on Wednesday, but the phenom of American figure skating proved that it was well worth it in the women’s short program.

Gold was the 22nd skater to take to the ice of Sochi and dazzled with a performance that boasted a complicated jump combination. Things could have gotten off to a rough start on a triple lutz, triple toe combination in which she went off-axis, but managed to hang onto the landing. She sustained a few point deductions for her jumps, but avoided any serious deductions. It was a beautifully choreographed piece that earned her a 68.63, good for fourth in the competition.

The United States knew what it had to do to be successful against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals: Playing against an older Czech side that played a tight contest against Slovakia a day earlier, the Americans needed to play a physical 60 minutes against the Czechs and wear them out.

Mission accomplished.

There have been a lot of missed calls in the game between Latvia and Canada that have kept the game close, but none were so blatant as Kristaps Sotnieks stopping a trickling puck from going over the line with his glove.

It was pretty obvious to anyone, but the officials were too busy figuring out whether the puck crossed the line to pay attention to the fact that the reason it didn’t was a glove pulling it off the line.

Great Britain and Sweden each send one team to the curling finals and one team to the bronze-medal game, while the Canadians have a chance at double gold as the sport heads to its championship round in Sochi on Thursday.

The Canadian women took an early 3-0 lead on Great Britain through the first two ends of the match and never gave it up, adding an extra point in the tenth to secure the 6-4 victory and a chance at gold, where they’ll be facing Sweden. The Swedes will have their work cut out for them, too, as Canada has yet to lose a match at these Olympic Games.

In what has become like a real-life version of ‘Cool Runnings,’ United States bobsledder Lauryn Williams became the first American woman ever to medal in both the Summer and Winter Games after she and teammate Elana Meyers grabbed silver in the women’s bobsled finals on Wednesday.

And, oh, how close they were to gold. Williams and Meyers finished with a total time of 3:50.71, just a tenth of a second behind first place Heather Moyse and Kaillie Humphries of Canada (3:50.61). Meyers and Williams were actually in the lead after their first two runs, but they lost some time after skidding out a couple of times in the following two runs, costing them gold.

Tavares grabbed at his knee as he laid on the ice, though he skated off to the bench under his own power. Tavares remained on the bench for a little while, but eventually left to go back to the locker room and did not return in the second period.

This goal put the United States up 3-1 with less than two seconds left in the first period. The Czechs were playing well up until this point and probably deserved a better fate -- but, well, INGLORIOUS BACKES TIME. Talk about a soul-crusher.

There haven’t been many surprises in the Biathlon at Sochi and that continued on Wednesday with Norway dominating the Mixed Relay and winning by over 30 seconds.

Another gold in the event resulted in the 15th total medal for Norweigans in any sport involving an element of cross country skiing and their third gold of these Winter Olympics in the Biathlon. We’ve seen single counties dominate certain events at Sochi and it’s simply a case of Norway being far better than the pack.

This next picture was actually taken earlier in the game, but it certainly tells a story.

We’re not here to point fingers, but it kinda seems like this guy is overreacting:

The Dutch hold on the speed skating discipline in the 2014 Olympic Games has been nothing short of historic. Going into Wednesday’s women’s 5000m final, the Oranje have taken 19 of 27 possible medals, including six of nine golds. Martina Sablikova was having none of that.

The Czech skater won silver in the 3000m, bested by Ireen Wust of the Netherlands. In the 5000m, however, Sablikova turned the tables.

Varlamov finished with 12 saves on 15 shots in just under 26 minutes of play.

Too little, too late, Granlund’s goal appeared to finally wake up the Russians, who steadily pressured Finland as the second period wore on. Taking advantage of the long change, Russia trapped the Finns for long periods of play yet was unable to take advantage of the chances that were finally created. Solving the defensive shell of Finland is tough alone, yet scoring on a focused and sharp Tuukka Rask proved nearly impossible.

Alpine skiing would provide the United States its only gold medal of the early going on Wednesday, as Ted Ligety went down the run in 2:45.29. France grabbed the other two medals, with Steve Missillier taking the silver at 2:45.77 and Alexis Pinturault the bronze at 2:45.93.

Although Ligety was the only one to win a medal for the U.S., he was not the only American medalist. Vic Wild, born in Washington but representing Russia, won the men’s parallel giant slalom finals in snowboarding. Nevin Galmarini of Switzerland received the silver and Zan Kosir of Slovenia earned the bronze.

Heartbreak is part and parcel of the Olympics, but the German cross-country team had the rare opportunity to taste two different flavors of heartbreak in a single discipline.

In the women’s cross-country team sprint classic final, an overly adjectival event that requires a two-person team to take six laps (three apiece) along the course, the Scandinavian countries continued their dominance. Fifteen of the 21 medals of the discipline went to one of Norway, Sweden or Finland going in to Wednesday’s finals, and that trend continued as the finalists crossed the line.

Canada vs. Latvia

Game time: Noon ET / 9 p.m. Sochi time

TV: MSNBC (USA), CBC (Canada)

Streaming: NBCOlympics.com (USA), Olympics.CBC.ca (Canada)

Anti-government rallies in Kiev have left 25 people dead and hundreds injured due to clashes with police. The Ukraine Olympic team want to honor those who died, but according to one report they have been denied by the International Olympic Committee.

Athletes planned to wear black armbands during competition to commemorate the dead but the IOC will not allow the gesture, according to Shaun Walker of The Guardian. The decision isn’t surprising due to the committee’s desire to separate politics from the sporting event, especially given Kiev’s proximity to Sochi being less than 1,000 miles Northwest of the games.

Bode Miller has officially withdrawn from the men’s giant slalom which will end his Olympic Games in Sochi, according to the US Olympic Team.

Miller had high hopes for the 2014 Games, in which he was believed to have a chance at the podium in the men’s downhill, super combined and super-G, but managed to finish his games with one bronze medal in the super-G. Winning an Olympic medal is a huge achievement, but more was expected of the five-time medalist.

It’s a long road from Klickitat County, Wash. to Sochi. Luckily for Vic Wild, he had a layover in Moscow.

After quitting competitive snowboarding in 2011, the now-27-year-old was presented with an opportunity. If he married his girlfriend, Alonya Zavarzina, he could obtain Russian citizenship and compete for the Russian Olympic team alongside her, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Paul Sonne and Rachael Bachman. Unlike the American Olympic team, which is dependent on corporate sponsors that can easily look over the tiny market for parallel giant slalom snowboarding (Sonne and Bachman note that the lone American competitor, Justin Reiter, is semi-homeless), the state-funded Russian team was able to provide Wild with a Moscow apartment and opportunities to train.

USA vs. Czech Republic

Game time: Noon ET / 9 p.m. Sochi time

TV: USA (USA), TSN2 (Canada)

Streaming: NBCOlympics.com (USA), Olympics.CBC.ca (Canada)

The alpine slopes of Sochi have been a mixed bag for Team USA. There has been some great success and shattering lows, but mostly unexpected results. Ted Ligety ensured the former would rule Wednesday as he captured the gold medal in the men’s giant slalom.

Ligety attacked the course and stayed right on the edge of control in his first run. The slopes rewarded aggressive skiing, with most competitors choosing the conservative approach. This opened the window for a quick time, which the veteran Ligety obliged with a blistering pace of 1:21.08, almost a full second ahead of the competition.

There’s a lot of action in the Winter Olympics on Wednesday. Men’s ice hockey gets underway with the quarterfinal round, with both the U.S. and Canada featuring prominently. Figure skating has the women’s individual short program, with a ton of intriguing storylines. In curling, the men’s and women’s semifinal round takes place, and an American bobsledder is looking to make Olympic history.

Here are the top events to watch on Day 14.

The women’s short program will have the figure skating stage all to itself on Wednesday at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Russia’s Yulia Lipnitskaya will be the star of the show. Skating in her home country, the 15-year-old is expected to draw a massive crowd. Italian Carolina Kostner, the 2012 World Champion, should also be a strong contender for the gold medal, which will be awarded after the free skating portion of the event on Thursday. Those two will skate back-to-back. While Kostner has won five European championships, she is now 27 years old and still has not taken home an Olympic medal.

The combination of playing three games in four days and a lack of depth turned out to be too much for Slovenia as its magical ride at the 2014 Olympic hockey tournament came to an end on Wednesday in a 5-0 loss to Sweden.

Sweden, which is now guaranteed to play for a medal, moves on to the semifinal round where it will it face the winner of the Russia-Finland game.