The last day of the Winter Olympics offers a number of athletes one last chance at a medal. Here are the names and events to watch out for on Sunday:
Mikaela Shiffrin (still) has another chance: High winds forced organizers to postpone the parallel race of the alpine mixed team on Saturday to Sunday, the last day of the Winter Games. The decision meant some teams had to rearrange flights and accommodation, but all 15 participating countries will participate. The team event is the last chance for American Mikaela Shiffrin, the biggest star of alpine skiing, to win a medal. Shiffrin is one of the rare skiers to compete in all events of alpine skiing and has so far finished ninth in the super-G, 18th in the downhill and three Did Not Finish results. Switzerland is the defending Olympic champion in this event. The Norwegians come in as reigning world champions, and were also on the podium with bronze in PyeongChang four years ago.
Ice Hockey Final: Finland vs. ROC: One of the highlights of the final day is the men’s ice hockey final, where reigning Olympic champion Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) will try to defend the title against Finland. Russia has not retained the title since the glory days of the ‘Big Red Machine’, when a united team won gold at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games, after the former Soviet Union took the honors in Calgary 1988 and Sarajevo 1984. Finland has regularly made appearances on the podium, returning home with a medal from five of the previous seven Games, but have yet to reach the top step. Finland is the most successful hockey country without an Olympic gold medal, with 10 silver or bronze medals between the men’s and women’s teams.
Curling: Can British women do better than men? Twenty years later Rhona Martin skipped Britain to victory in Salt Lake City, women’s curlers are in the running to then win gold in Beijing Eve Muirhead led her team to the final. They hope to get one better than the men, who finished with silver on Saturday after trailing Sweden. Team GB will take on Japan, who finished fourth in the standings but upset Switzerland at the National Aquatics Center to reach their first-ever Olympic final in the sport. This happens to be a rematch of the 2018 Olympic bronze medal match, which Japan won for its first curling medal. Great Britain had not medaled at these Beijing Games until the men at least secured themselves silver, allaying concerns that there would be no podium finish for the first time since 1992.
Germany goes for more fame in the bobsleigh: Germany is poised to win a ninth gold medal in 10 sliding events. A four-man bobsled driven by Francesco Friedrich leads Johannes Lochner’s four-man sled by 0.03 seconds after the first two of four runs, which is a closer battle than expected. Friedrich, who bid to become the first driver to win gold for two-man and four-man at multiple Olympics, won 14 consecutive international four-man races until he finished second at the last World Cup. As of 2017, Friedrich has won the last five Olympic or world four-man championship titles.
