Superstar skier Mikaela Shiffrin tried for her second gold in two days in the slalom, figure skater Nathan Chen was back on the ice after falling in his Olympic debut and Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis had another chance to show what she can do after disappointing finishes in the last three Olympics.
Here are our 6 to Watch recap for Friday (Thursday night in the U.S.):
Heavy Favorite Shiffrin Struggles in Slalom, Finishes Fourth
Mikaela Shiffrin, the heavy favorite to win the women's slalom and claim her second gold medal in as many days, missed the podium and finished in fourth place in Pyeongchang on Friday.
Shiffrin’s fourth-place finish is an astonishing upset, as the slalom is her specialty: Last year, she became the first woman to win three consecutive slalom world titles in 78 years and she won gold in Sochi.
Frida Hansdotter of Sweden took gold, Wendy Holdener of Switzerland took silver and Katharina Gallhuber of Austria won bronze.
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The 22-year-old American vomited before her first run, saying her nausea was "kind of sudden" and "almost felt like a virus." Although she used the break between runs to rest up (literally—she is known for her love of napping) second run wasn’t enough to get on the podium.
The day before, Shiffrin took gold in the giant slalom.
Chen Stumbles Again But Advances to Final With Teammates Rippon, Zhou
After a shaky debut, Nathan Chen stumbles again in Pyeongchang, falling three times to finish 17th in the men’s short program.
Leading up to the Games, Chen said he’s worked to improve every aspect of his performance, adding "more passion in my skating and more of a connection to the music.” But can he find momentum after two sub-par starts?
Chen, a pre-games favorite, missed on all his jumps, plummeting to 17th place with a tentative and passionless showing.
Chen’s teammates will advance, finishing above the 18-year-old. Veteran Adam Rippon, 28, lived up to his flair for the dramatic programs, performing to techno song "Let Me Think About It" by Ida Corr vs. Fedde Le Grand, earning him seventh. Seventeen-year-old teammate Vincent Zhou finished the short program in 12th.
Chen, Rippon and Zhou will go for gold Saturday morning (Friday night in the U.S.).
Redemption Denied: Lindsey Jacobellis Fails to Medal in Snowboard Cross
Lindsey Jacobellis, the most decorated women’s snowboard cross athlete ever, will finish her fourth Olympics just like the first three: without a gold medal.
Jacobellis, a five-time world champion, reached the finals of the event, then held onto a lead for the first two-thirds of the race. But she faded late, and finished in fourth place.
Italian Michela Moioli, France's Julia Pereira De Sousa Mabileau and the Czech Republic's Eva Samkova finished in the top three.
For Jacobellis, it's just the latest moment in a disappointing Olympic career. It began 12 years ago, in Torino, when she seemed to have the gold medal wrapped up, with a huge lead down the race’s final stretch. But she tried a flashy move off a jump and fell, and settled for silver.
Since then, the Olympics have been her kryptonite. She crashed in early rounds in both 2008 and 2012, and failed to reach the final.
And now, one more disappointment: A solid run, but a finish just off the medal stand.
Ryan Donato Carries USA Hockey to Victory Over Slovakia
College players have led the United States to a much-needed 2-1 victory over Slovakia in group play Friday (Thursday night in the U.S.) at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Ryan Donato, a forward at Harvard University and Boston Bruins prospect, scored two power-play goals and University of Denver star Troy Terry dominated with his speed.
Donato delivered the kind of offense USA Hockey wanted when it picked four NCAA players for its no-NHL Olympic roster. The National Hockey League decided that it would not allow its players to participate in the 2018 Winter Games for the first time since 1998.
Slovakia will face Slovenia next, after splitting its first two games of the preliminary round. Team USA will face the tournament favorite, the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
Belarus' Huskova Wins Gold in Women's Aerials; USA's Madison Olsen Crash-Lands on her Final Jump
A crash on the final run for American freestyle skier Madison Olsen kept her from medaling in the women's aerials event. Hanna Huskova of Belarus won her country's second straight gold medal in the event, with two Chinese skiers, Xin Zhang and Fanyu Kong, winning silver and bronze, respectively.
After the second of three final-round runs of women's aerials, only Madison Olsen from Team USA remained. Olsen's second-run score of 83.23 kept her in medal contention, but a crash on her final run kept her from making the podium.
Still, Olsen wasn't unhappy with her performance. The jump she crash-landed, a back full-double full, was one she'd never performed before in competition.
"It’s definitely nerve-wracking,” she told NBC. “We’ve been working on this trick all summer long. There wasn’t a better time to do it.”
Korea's Yun Sungbin Wins Skeleton Gold, Daly in 16th
Happy new year, Yun Sungbin.
On a national holiday in Korea — the start of a lunar new year — Yun became a national hero, winning gold in the men's skeleton event at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
His four-run time of 3 minutes, 20.55 seconds was 1.63 seconds ahead of silver medalist Nikita Tregubov of Russia. It was the biggest victory margin in Olympic skeleton, topping 1948, when Italy's Nino Bibbia topped Jack Heaton of the U.S. by 1.4 seconds in a six-heat race.
Dom Parsons of Britain was third.
For the U.S., 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Matt Antoine was 11th and three-time Olympian John Daly was 16th.
