Wisconsin Olympians At The Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games

The 2018 Winter Games are underway in Pyeongchang, South Korea, with some of the world’s best athletes competing against each other to take home a medal.

As people across the globe tune in to watch or listen to the Olympics, some Wisconsinites may want to keep a closer eye on how athletes from Wisconsin are doing in the Olympic Games.

Curling

In curling, players take turns lunging down the sheet of ice while pushing a rock that’s 42 pounds. They sweep the ice with a special broom to help glide the rock to a target, known as the house. The team that has rocks closest to the center of the house gets the points.

The USA’s Olympic Curling Team this year is dominated by upper Midwesterners. Most of them come from the Duluth Curling Club, including the men’s team skip John Shuster of Superior. One athlete belongs to the St. Paul Curling Club in Minnesota. There are also three competitors from McFarland who belong to the Madison Curling Club: women’s team skip Nina Roth, women’s lead Becca Hamilton, and men’s second Matt Hamilton.

The Hamilton siblings are also playing together in mixed doubles curling, a sport making its Olympic debut this year. They are the only mixed doubles team for the U.S.

Hear more from Wisconsin’s curlers.

Mixed Doubles

• U.S. won 9-3 against Russia on Thursday, Feb. 8.
• U.S. lost 6-4 against Canada on Thursday, Feb. 8.
• U.S. lost 9-4 against Switzerland on Friday, Feb. 9.
• U.S. lost 9-1 against South Korea on Friday, Feb. 9.
• U.S. lost 6-4 against China on Saturday, Feb. 10.
• U.S. won 10-3 against Norway on Saturday, Feb. 10.
• U.S. lost 7-5 against Finland on Sunday, Feb. 11, taking them out of medal contention.

Women’s

• U.S. lost 10-5 against Japan on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
• U.S. won 7-4 against Great Britain on Thursday, Feb. 15.
• U.S. lost 6-5 against Switzerland on Thursday, Feb. 15.
• U.S. won 7-6 against Russia on Saturday, Feb. 17.
• U.S. lost 11-3 against Canada on Saturday, Feb. 17.
• U.S. won 7-6 against Denmark on Monday, Feb. 19.
• U.S. won 10-4 against China on Monday, Feb. 19.
• U.S. lost 9-6 against South Korea on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
• U.S. lost 6-9 against Sweden on Wednesday, Feb. 21, taking them out of medal contention.

Men’s

• U.S. won 11-7 against South Korea on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
• U.S. lost 10-9 against Italy on Thursday, Feb. 15.
• U.S. lost 10-4 against Sweden on Friday, Feb. 16.
• U.S. won 9-5 against Denmark on Friday, Feb. 16.
• U.S. lost 8-2 against Japan on Sunday, Feb. 18.
• U.S. lost 8-5 against Norway on Sunday, Feb. 18.
• U.S. won 9-7 against Canada on Monday, Feb. 19.
• U.S. won 8-4 against Switzerland on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
• U.S. won 10-4 against Great Britain on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
• The U.S. won 5-3 against Canada on Thursday, Feb. 22 in a semifinal game.
• The U.S. will play Sweden in the gold medal game Saturday, Feb. 24.

Hockey

In a cold-weather climate like Wisconsin, it’s not surprising that both the 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s and Women’s Hockey Team have their fair-share of Wisconsin blood from both the players to the coaching staff.

This year’s Men’s Hockey Team is being led by UW-Madison Men’s Hockey coach Tony Granato. Joining the team is NHL Milwaukee Admirals player Bobby Butler.

Five of the 23 women playing for Team USA this year have Wisconsin ties. Meghan Duggan, Brianna Decker, Hilary Knight and Alex Rigsby all played for UW-Madison. Amanda Kessel played for the University of Minnesota, but is from Madison.

Hear more from Granato.

Hear more about the women’s hockey team.

Women’s Hockey

• U.S. won 3-1 against Finland on Sunday, Feb. 11.
• U.S. won 5-0 against Russia on Tuesday, Feb. 13.
• U.S. lost 2-1 against Canada on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
• U.S. won 5-0 against Finland in the semifinals Monday, Feb. 19.
• The U.S. won 3-2 against Canada, taking home the gold medal on Thursday, Feb. 22.

Men’s Hockey

• U.S. lost 3-2 against Slovenia on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
• U.S. won 2-1 against Slovakia on Friday, Feb. 16.
• U.S. lost 4-0 against Russia on Saturday, Feb. 17.
• U.S. won 5-1 against Slovakia on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
• U.S. lost 3-2 against the Czech Republic on Wednesday, Feb. 21, taking them out of medal contention.

Speed Skating

Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee is a hotbed for training Olympic athletes. This year’s Team USA Speed Skating includes three athletes — Brian Hansen, Emery Lehman and Mitch Whitmore — who call the Olympic oval at Pettit home.

At the Olympic level, there are seven different speed skating races for women and men. The majority are time-trial races with distances ranging from 500 to 10,000 meters.

Another style of race is called the team pursuit and involves two teams of three skaters. To win the whole team must either cross the finish line before the other team’s three skaters, or they must overtake the other team entirely.

The newest race to the Olympics this year is the mass start. It squeezes as many as 24 speed skaters on the start-line who then skate 16 laps, accruing points with a combination of sprint times and by crossing the line first, second and third.

Milwaukee also has ties to maintaining the ice speed skaters depend on. Paul Golomski, facility director at Pettit National Ice center, has been asked to maintain the ice in Pyeongchang, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Hear more from Wisconsin’s speed skaters.

Long-track

• Emery Lehman finished 21st in the men’s 5,000-meter Sunday, Feb. 11.
• Brian Hansen finished 15th in the men’s 1,500-meter Tuesday, Feb. 13.
• Mitch Whitmore finished 15th in the men’s 500-meter Monday, Feb. 19.
• Mitch Whitmore finished 10th in the men’s 1,000-meter Friday, Feb. 23.
• Brian Hansen is competing in the men’s mass start at 8:45 p.m. UTC Saturday, Feb. 24.

Skeleton

In the skeleton, athletes slide down an icy track head first on a sled, reaching speeds of up to 90 miles per hour. Whoever has the fastest time, wins.

Prairie du Chien native Matt Antoine is competing in his second Olympic games, after winning the bronze medal at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. Antoine told WPR, “It looks a bit like a daredevil sport and it certainly has that aspect to it, but I don’t think any of us necessarily think we’re daredevils.”

Hear more from Antoine.

• Antoine placed 12th in the men’s heat 1 and eighth in heat 2 on Thursday, Feb. 15.
• Antoine finished 11th in the men’s heat 3 on Friday, Feb. 16.

Ski Jumping

Ski jumping isn’t for the faint of heart. Ski jumpers ski down what’s called an in-run, jump and fly in the air only to land safely on their skis as far down the hill as possible. From start to finish, the jump lasts less than 10 seconds.

Ski jumping is considered to be one of the original Olympic Winter Games sports, but the first time women could compete in ski jumping in the Olympics was the 2014 Winter Games.

This year, 25-year-old Nita Englund from tiny Florence, Wisconsin, will be participating in the games. She is one of three women jumping for the U.S.

Hear more from Englund.

• Englund was eliminated Monday, Feb. 12 in the ladies’ Normal Hill Individual Competition. She finished 31st, and the Top 30 moved on to the final round.

Nordic Combined

Nordic Combined brings together two exceptionally difficult and incredibly different sports: ski jumping and cross-country skiing.

It’s a delicate balance for the athletes. They have to remain light and have the necessary lower body strength to jump the farthest off a “normal hill” and a “long hill.” Meanwhile, they’re using almost every muscle in their body and building up extreme endurance for the 10-kilometer cross-country race.

Eau Claire native and 19 year-old Ben Loomis is competing in the Olympic games.

Hear more from Loomis.

• Loomis finished 41st in the Individual Gundersen Normal Hill/10-kilometer on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
• Loomis finished 40th in the Individual Gundersen Long Hill/10-kilometer on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
• Team USA finished 10th in the Team Gundersen Long Hill/4×5-kilometer on Thursday, Feb. 22.