Alex Hall, Ben Ogden Claim Skiing Silver Medals, USA Gets Bronze in Alpine Combined

Team USA’s medal count is now at five thanks to solid ski showings.

Ben Ogden delivered America’s best cross country skiing performance ever, securing the silver medal in the men’s cross country sprint classic with a finish time of 3:40.61. Ogden was just 0.87 seconds behind Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who finished with a 3:39.74. Ogden finished ahead of Klaebo’s teammate Oskar Opstad Vike, whose 3:46.55 finish time was good enough for bronze.

Ogden’s silver is only the second medal ever won by an American in cross country skiing of any discipline. It’s the first medal won by the States since Bill Koch’s silver medal in the men’s 30km at the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria in 1976.

Meanwhile, Alex Hall overcame miscues on his first run to secure the silver medal in the men’s freeski slopestyle. Hall entered the competition as the reigning gold medalist and had a really strong second run, scoring an 85.75. Freeski slopestyle keeps the best score of three runs, and Hall’s third run did not improve.

Skiers had a particularly challenging first two rails, which had a zigzag design midway through. Hall’s second run put him less than a point behind Norway’s Birk Ruud after nailing the first two rails, but Ruud could not be caught. Hall finished ahead of Luca Harrington of New Zealand, who posted an 85.15 on his third run which was good enough for bronze.

In the women’s team combined alpine skiing event, Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan posted a bronze medal-winning performance of 2:21.91. Wiles was fourth in the downhill portion of the competition with 1:37.04 and Moltzan was fourth in the slalom run with 44.85 seconds. Olympic gold went to Austria’s Ariane Raedler and Katharina Huber. Germany’s Kira Weidle-Winkelmann and Emma Aicher claimed silver.

Women’s alpine downhill gold medalist Breezy Johnson was paired with Mikaela Shiffrin and placed fourth in this competition just six hundredths of a second away from Wiles and Moltzan.

Today’s performances make Tuesday the best medal day so far for the US. Team USA is guaranteed to medal in the curling mixed doubles finals later today, with more events still to come.