Starting as early as the Opening Ceremony, Dartmouth athletes have been representing their countries, and their school, with extremely solid efforts as the 22nd Winter Olympics in Sochi hits its midway point.
If Fox Sports could declare a winner of the Opening Ceremony, Tucker Murphy ’04 would receive a gold. In temperatures below 40 degrees, Murphy, Bermuda’s sole representative, wore Bermuda’s iconic red shorts and blazer while carrying the nation’s flag, even temporarily trending on Twitter.
Once the actual events started, many Dartmouth athletes have experienced success as well as heartbreak.
Murphy competed in the 15-kilometer classic race and finished 84th, an improvement on his 88th place result in Vancouver.
Hannah Kearney ’15 was the favorite to win the gold in the freestyle moguls, and seemed prepare to defend her gold after earning the highest score during the qualification round. Had Kearney, considered the top-ranked and most consistent skier in the world since Vancouver, earned gold, she would have been the first back-to-back winner of an Olympic freestyle event.
Kearney, however, earned bronze after losing her footing temporarily at the start of her run. Sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe earned gold and silver ahead of Kearney.
Kearney, the next day, announced her retirement on NBC Sports in an interview with Lester Holt. However, after the interview, she clarified that she will compete in more World Cup events but her Olympic career is over, forgoing the 2018 Games in Pyeongyang, South Korea.
Representing Dartmouth on the Canadian women’s hockey team, Gillian Apps ’06 looks to earn a third goal medal. Apps, a three-time Olympian, considers Turin, Vancouver and Sochi as being incredible and unique in their own way.
“It's an incredible honor to have had the opportunity to represent my country at three different Winter Olympic Games,” Apps said.
Canada is the presumptive favorite and has won gold the last three Winter Games.
So far the Canadians have defeated Switzerland 5-0 and Finland 3-0 before clashing against an equally powerful American team that defeated Switzerland and Finland by a combined 12-1. Canada triumphed over America in a physical 3-2 win that featured the Americans outplaying the Canadians for most of the first two periods before a dominant third period performance that put Canada on top.
“Our team is still working on improving little parts of our game as we go through the tournament,” Apps said. “We're looking to be able to play a full 60 minutes as a group. If we can get to that point, that is where you will see us play our best hockey.”
In the Semifinal, Canada, and Apps, will face Switzerland on Monday in a rematch.
Apps has contributed seven shots on and 32 minutes on the ice in the three wins. Right now, Apps hasn’t made a decision about whether Sochi will be her final Olympic Games.
“I’m just focusing on the task at hand right now and enjoying my Olympic experience,” Apps said.
Sophie Caldwell ’12 surprised the world with a sixth-place overall finish despite falling during the final sprint when her ski tangled with another skier’s pole. Caldwell’s finish is the best ever for a U.S. female cross-country skier.
“I went into the Olympics without many expectations,” Caldwell said. “I know I ski the fastest when I'm happy and enjoying myself, so the best I could do to prepare was to soak up the experience. I definitely wasn't expecting that result going into the day, but I felt great and was so excited about everything.”
Caldwell finished second in her semifinal heat to claim the sixth spot in the six-person final, and was the only American to advance past the quarterfinals. Gold medal contender Kikkan Randall, who previously held the best Olympic mark before the race, Ida Sargent '11 and Jessie Diggins all missed out on advancing.
Sargent finished 19th in the event.
Caldwell, who came just short of becoming the second-ever American medalist in cross-country skiing since Bill Koch’s silver medal and the first in 38 years, has been enjoying every minute of her Olympic experience and doesn’t want it to end.
“I've received so many supportive messages from people back home and I think that's been one of the coolest things,” Caldwell said. “It's awesome to see people getting excited about the sport of cross-country skiing and I'm extremely grateful to have such a strong support crew!”
Caldwell and her teammates have also had a chance to enjoy the weather, which has been extremely warm for a Winter Games.
During some events, such the halfpipe, the snow has turned into slush, forcing the snow to be chemically treated until its hardened for snowboarders. And some skiers have been seen racing in topless or in t-shirts.
“We raced in tank tops yesterday because it was in the 50s,” Caldwell said. “It’s been so hot, but really beautiful weather.”
Susan Dunklee ’08 finished 14th in the 7.5km sprint to post the top Olympic sprint finish ever by a U.S. woman. Dunklee also ties Joan Smith, who finished 14th in the 1994 15km, for the best Olympic finish by a woman.
“I have never been so nervous before a race as I was yesterday morning,” Dunklee said. “However, once I started warming up and zeroing my rifle, everything felt very routine, which is exactly what you try to create on race day.”
Dunklee was 41.5 seconds behind first place biathlete Anastasiya Kuzima, and might have earned the bronze medal if Dunklee had not missed her final shot. Dunklee’s miss cost her 20 seconds as she completed a penalty lap.
“Missing my last shot was a little heartbreaking, but I was able to laugh it off, ski hard, and turn in one of my strongest performances of the season,” Dunklee said.
Sara Studebaker ’07 and Hannah Dreissigacker ’09 finished 44th and 65th in the sprint.
Studebaker had previously competed at the Vancouver Olympics, but for Dreissigacker, the sprint was her first ever-Olympic competition.
Understandably, Dreissigacker was nervous but not as much as she was during her trials races. In fact, she felt more excited and happy than apprehensive.
“I was thinking about my various goals and focuses for the race as well, and I definitely thought about how I wanted to do well, since so many people at home were watching and following me,” Dreissigacker said.
During the race, all Dreissigacker thought about was what she was doing at the moment and what she needed to do next. But after the race, she was mad and frustrated about how poorly she shot and, as a result, missed the cutoff for the 10-km pursuit. Dreissigacker had missed one shot prone and three standing.
“I haven't been competing in high-level biathlon races for that long, but I've been shooting well in practice, and I really expect better of myself than missing 3 in standing,” Dressigacker said. “I was really frustrated about that, and feeling a bit down, to be honest. But then I had to remind myself that I was at the Olympics, racing against the best biathletes in the world, and I was in a beautiful place having lots of amazing experiences, and so I had a lot to be happy about and couldn't give myself too hard of a time.”
All three biathletes agree that the biathlon course is challenging but the organizing committee has made the course safer after their test event by improving the banking downhill turns.
“Our course is hard, but really everything is great up here,” Dressigacker said. “Its not harder than other hard world cup courses. The stadium is big and really nice, and it’ss so beautiful up here! There's lots of snow, and it’s all very professional.”
Officials have been dealing with the warm conditions by salting the uphills to maintain firmness and prevent deterioration during the race. Competitors are then forced to ski in snow conditions, but conditions they consider normal for warmer weather.
The venue itself, according to Dunklee, suits her strengths as it’s loaded with hills.
Dunklee and Studebaker’s finish qualified them for the 10km pursuit two days later.
“I've felt very relaxed during these Games,” Studebaker said. “I feel well-prepared and confident and am really just enjoying the atmosphere of being at the Olympics. It's so exciting to see our team performing well and some of my teammates being so close to medals! I'm enjoying it and am trying to transfer that excitement and relaxed energy into my races.”
Dunklee continued to perform strong, moving up to the top-5 before she missed three shots, dropping her to 18th in the spring. Studebaker missed five of 10 shots as she finished 51st.
After the sprint, Studebaker was excited to have shot well and qualified for the pursuit, and was happy with her effort as it was her best result all season. But following the pursuit, she was disappointed because she had skied well and registered three solid rounds of shooting, but her first attempt went badly.
Dreissigacker had the best result of U.S. women in the 15-km Biathlon women’s individual, finishing 23rd with two penalties. Dunklee finished 34th with five penalties and Studebaker was 55th with four penalties.
Then on Sunday morning, Andrew Weibrecht ’09 stunned the world with a silver-medal finish in the men’s super-G, coming just fractions of a second ahead of more-heralded teammate Bode Miller who tied for the bronze.
Weibrecht’s top finish this season was 20th place at Beaver Creek, and he was never considered a medal favorite in Sochi. Weibrecht won a surprise bronze medal in Vancouver in the super-G but had been beset by injuries in the interim and was even dropped from U.S. Skiing’s “A” roster.
After a fast start that had him ahead of the gold-medal pace by over three-tenths of a second, Weibrecht faded over the last split, slipping into second place with a time of 1:18.44.
Weibrecht told NBC that he knew he had skied well but was surprised by his result. “I took a couple seconds and looked at the time,” he said in an interview with NBC. “I saw ‘2.’ I looked away. I looked again. I thought, ‘You have got to be kidding.’”
