Team USA at the Olympics: Medal drought ends for Americans with silver lining

Team USA's two-day medal drought is over.
Pittsburgh-born speedskater John-Henry Krueger claimed the silver medal in Saturday night's 1,000-meter short-track speedskating event. Team USA had not medaled since Mikaela Shiffrin struck gold in Thursday afternoon's women's giant slalom. Krueger's silver was the first short-track speedskating medal for the U.S. since Apolo Ohno's bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Krueger and gold-medal winner Samuel Girard of Canada were the only two left standing after the rest of the field wiped out. South Korea's Yira Seo was the bronze medal winner. Krueger missed the 2014 Sochi Games because of an illness, but got healthy in time to make this year's games although he had struggled over the last year.

"It's the ultimate redemption. I'm finally able to put away the story about how I was a young kid who had swine flu and ended up missing the Olympics. Now I'm the young kid from Pittsburgh who came back from an adversity and who ended up being the top in the world."

The U.S. entered Sunday in Pyeongchang with just nine medals and eight fourth-place finishes to add to the heartbreaking disappointment.
Team USA added another medal Sunday in the men's ski freestyle slopestyle at Phoenix Snow Park. It wasn't Gus Kenworthy, however, who made it to the final round before struggling and placing 12th. American Nick Goepper won the silver medal, finishing just behind Norway's Oystein Braaten.

YESSSSS!! 🥈 FOR @NickGoepper!!! pic.twitter.com/NuShOZTzC1
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 18, 2018

The U.S. had four skiers in Sunday's men's giant slalom, including two-time gold medalist Ted Ligety. But "Mr. GS" had a disappointing first run and wasn't able to recover as he finished 15th. Vermont native Ryan Cochran-Siegle was the highest-placed American, coming in 11th at Yongpyong Alpine Centre. Tommy Ford was 20th while Tim Jitloff was unable to complete the course. Austria's Marcel Hirscher, the event favorite, won the gold.

The women's cross-country relay team missed out on a medal Saturday with a fifth-place finish, 1.2 seconds behind the gold medalists from Norway.
American ski jumper Kevin Bickner placed 20th in Saturday's final as Poland's Kamil Stoch captured the gold.
The struggles for the U.S. hockey team continued Saturday morning in Pyeongchang with a 4-0 loss to the Olympic Athletes of Russia. Team USA is now 1-2 in Group B play and faces an uphill climb to medal. "We have to reset ourselves," USA winger Brian Gionta said. "We have to come back and play our way in."

Who said what?

It's safe to say Krueger's mom, Heidi, was shocked and excited to see her son medal at the Olympics.

John-Henry Krueger’s mom is thrilled. Her son is going home with a silver medal. pic.twitter.com/tjPWgmYW7O
— Alex Ptachick (@alexptachick) February 17, 2018

Did you see this?

A broken thumb would not tamp Kenworthy's aggressiveness in his first slopestyle run.

Impressing his BFF @BritneySpears one jump at a time. @gusKenworthy, y'all. #WinterOlympics #BestOfUS https://t.co/u9yVbhqze0 pic.twitter.com/OCSBO6wRB6
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 18, 2018

What's next?

Team USA's Jon Lillis, who won the 2017 World Championships, and Mac Bohonnon are must-watch in the men's aerial finals (10:15 a.m., NBCSN / 3 p.m. NBC). In the ice dance short program, siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani represent one of three U.S. duos, and they are big contenders to podium (Live starting at 8 p.m., NBC)