Author: rb809rb

  • Winter Olympics 2026: U.S. women’s curling falls short of first medal as Canada prevails for bronze

    The Canadian women’s curling team scored three in the sixth and eighth ends and held on to win 10-7 in the 10th during the bronze-medal game against the United States on Saturday during the Milan Cortina Olympics.

    The American women fell just short of their first medal in the event.

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    Team USA staked itself to a 1-0 lead in the first end, but Canada answered right back to start what became a back-and-forth affair in Cortina.

    The U.S. recorded singles in the first, third and fifth ends, entering a pivotal sixth with a 3-2 advantage.

    But that’s when Canada capitalized on a pair of costly American mistakes. Tara Peterson sent a shot through the house, and her sister, Tabitha, didn’t create enough momentum to take a Canadian stone out of the paint, enabling the Canadians to score three in the end and take a 5-3 lead.

    Fortunately for the U.S., it bounced back in the seventh end to tie the game.

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    After Canada’s Rachel Homan threw a great freeze, Tabitha, the Americans’ skip, split a pair of stones with a draw that ultimately tapped off a Canadian rock and rested in the button, awarding the Americans a much-needed multiple.

    Any relief the U.S. felt was short-lived, though. The Americans left Team Canada another chance for three in the eighth end, and Homan — a three-time world champion who was in search of her first Olympic medal — seized the opportunity, making it an 8-5 game.

    Team USA wasn’t going away lightly. It made the most of the ensuing hammer, as Peterson’s final throw of the ninth end knocked a Canadian stone out of the four foot and nestled next to another American rock for two.

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    Down 8-7, the Americans needed a steal in the 10th end. They couldn’t conjure a last bit of Olympic magic to make it happen.

    Peterson’s final throw didn’t squeak past Canada’s guard, and the Canadians rejoiced to the tune of their 10-7 victory.

    After going 6-3 in round-robin play, the U.S. women made the Olympic playoffs for the first time since 2002.

    As was the case in Salt Lake City 24 years ago, the Americans fell to Switzerland in the semifinals. Also like the 2002 Games, Canada defeated the U.S. in the bronze-medal game.

    Team Canada got off to an uncharacteristically rough start to this year’s Games, winning just one of its first four games in round-robin competition. During that span, the American women notched their first Olympic win over a Canadian team that previously had their number in a sport that was introduced to the Games in 1998.

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    Led by Homan, though, the Canadians still found their way into the four-team playoff field.

    After winning five consecutive medals upon women’s curling’s Olympic debut, notably two golds, Canada finished just sixth in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and fifth in the 2022 Beijing Games, missing the playoffs both times, including once with Homan as skip.

    In this year’s Games, however, Homan and Team Canada persevered for bronze.

    Still, the United States’ run to the semifinals is encouraging. Earlier in this year’s Games, Cory Thiesse became the first American woman curler to win a medal, earning silver in the mixed doubles.

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    On Saturday, Thiesse eclipsed 190 ends played in these Games, the most anyone has ever played in one Olympics. Taylor Anderson-Heide swept her heart out, and the Peterson sisters gave it their all.

    The Americans just fell short.

  • Winter Olympics 2026: Mia Manganello races to bronze with final push in mass start

    MILAN — Mia Manganello narrowly missed the 2010 Olympics. She won bronze eight years later in Pyeongchang. And in her final Olympic race, she’s a bronze medalist again.

    It came in the women’s mass start — the most chaotic, unpredictable race in speedskating.

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    “It means everything. It means a journey for my parents, sacrificing everything, my loved ones, relationships, friends, coaches, teammates,” she said. “This is the ultimate goal. Any color, honestly.”

    Manganello is one of the handful of U.S. speedskaters who got their start inline skating before finding her way to the ice. But after coming up short of qualifying for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Manganello hung up her skates, hopped on a bike and became a professional cyclist.

    In 2016, she returned to the skates, qualified for the 2018 Games, where she took bronze in team pursuit. Four years ago in Beijing, she took fourth in the mass start — missing the podium by a little more than a second.

    Saturday, in the final race of her Olympic career, the 36-year-old won her first individual medal.

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    For most of the 16-lap race, where 16 racers are on the ice at the same time, the pack remained in tact, unlike in the men’s race moments earlier. It wasn’t until the bell lap that the race really began.

    Marijke Groenewoud of the Netherlands and Manganello were first to sprint out, followed tightly by Canada’s Ivanie Blondin. From there, it was a three-woman race for gold. Groenewoud pulled ahead of Manganello, then Blondin caught the American — beating Manganello to the line by .30.

    Groenewoud took gold with a time of 8:34.70, just ahead of Blondin (8:35.09) and Manganello (8:35.39).

    After crossing the line, Manganello raised her arms in triumph. Sixteen years after her first attempt at the Olympics ended before she ever got there, she’s won a second bronze on her way out.

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    “Did you see me cross the line? I screamed so loud. I started bawling; there was no other emotion but disbelief. It’s the most surreal moment of my life. It’s something that I envisioned every single day since I’ve been here.

    “It seemed so far-fetched. We discussed impostor syndrome a bit (before), not quite believing that I could be there. So to cross the line was a little bit of disbelief, even on the back stretch when I was in second, thinking to myself, ‘Hold it together, hold it together’.

    “To cross the line, the emotion just escaped me.”

  • Winter Olympics 2026: Jordan Stolz barely misses podium in chaotic mass start

    MILAN — The final race of Jordan Stolz’s Olympics did not play out the way he hoped it would.

    It wasn’t even just that Stolz came up empty in his bid for a fourth medal at these Olympics. The American speedskating phenom never even really had the chance to race for gold in the mass start — the most chaotic, unpredictable race in speed skating.

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    Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands took gold and Viktor Hald Thorup of Denmark grabbed silver after they broke away from the rest of the pack early in the 16-lap race. They extended their lead to as much as 20 seconds, taking advantage of the other skaters trying to conserve energy for a furious finish.

    By the time Stolz attacked with less than three laps to go, the gap between him and the leaders was so massive that he was essentially racing for third place. Bergsma clocked a winning time of 7:55.50, nearly five seconds ahead of Thorup. Italy’s Andrea Giovannini outsprinted Stolz for third, both of them finishing about nine seconds after Bergsma.

    When asked why he didn’t attack sooner, Stolz explained, “If I would have done that, I would have had no legs left at the end of the race.”

    Stolz spent much of the middle third of the race idling near the front of the chase group, waiting for others to help pursue the leaders. When other medal contenders didn’t take the initiative to accelerate and pass him, he felt as though they were trying to neutralize his explosive finishing kick and were unwilling to share in the work.

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    “I actually didn’t expect this to happen,” Stolz said. “I felt like the gold-medal favorites in the mass start were going to be more hungry to get a medal, but they all were just expecting me to go for it.

    “If they’re all sitting behind me at four laps to go and I’m not really building the pace and the two guys in front just keep getting further and further ahead, that’s clear to me that they were just kind of settling for third.”

    Had he won Saturday’s mass start event, Stolz would have become the first man since Norway’s Johann Olav Koss 32 years ago to leave an Olympics with three long-track speedskating gold medals. Entering the mass start, Stolz had already taken gold in the 500 and 1,000 meters before settling for silver in the 1,500.

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    Whereas long-track speedskaters are accustomed to racing against the clock, unencumbered by other competitors in their lane, the mass start is the outlier. The 16 athletes who qualified for Sunday’s men’s final started shoulder-to-shoulder and raced head-to-head for 16 laps around Milan’s 400-meter oval.

    Race strategy during the mass start is most similar to a cycling track or road race. Athletes conserve energy early in the race and draft off each other to reduce wind resistance, but they must be prepared to unleash a lethal finishing sprint over the final lap or two to have any hope of winning a medal.

    When asked to look ahead to the mass start earlier this week, Stolz acknowledged the threat of getting taken out by another competitor jockeying for position around a turn. He said he hoped to “try and defend myself in the group” because “there will be a lot of shoving.”

    Winning three medals on an Olympic stage is Stolz’s most remarkable accomplishment yet on a journey that began with watching the charismatic Apolo Anton Ohno at the Vancouver Games 16 years ago. Stolz has chased Olympic glory ever since, going from learning to skate on his family’s backyard pond at age 5, to winning his first U.S. title at 16, to snapping at the heels of the world’s fastest speedskaters soon after that.

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    Is Stolz happy with his Olympics despite falling short of his goal of four medals? He considers it to be “pretty successful.”

    “There’s things that could have gone better,” Stolz said, “but two golds and a silver? You’ve gotta be pretty happy with that.”

  • Winter Olympics 2026: Freeski women’s halfpipe postponed due to snowstorm

    LIVIGNO, Italy — The freeski women’s halfpipe, which was set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, has been postponed until Sunday after a continuous snowstorm extended into the evening, making the halfpipe unsafe for competition.

    The event is now slated to take place Sunday at 4:40 a.m. ET.

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    The event is the last chance for Eileen Gu, the American-born freeskier who represents China, to leave the Milan Cortina Olympics with a gold medal. She won silver in both slopestyle and big air, but the halfpipe — where she won gold in Beijing for years ago — is her favorite event.

    The 12-person field for the finals includes two Americans, Kate Gray and Svea Irving, but ironically one of the top contenders to beat Gu is another American-born athlete who represents another country.

    Zoe Atkin, who was born in Massachusetts while her parents (one from Malaysia, one from England) were working in the U.S., competes for Great Britain. She won the gold medal at the world championships last year and, like Gu, attends Stanford.

  • Michigan, Duke, Arizona, Iowa State headline NCAA tournament selection committee’s top 16 seeds

    Saturday’s matchup between No. 1 Michigan and No. 3 Duke in men’s college basketball carries even more significance with the Wolverines and Blue Devils named as the top two seeds among the 16 teams in the bracket preview released by the NCAA men’s tournament selection committee.

    Houston and Arizona also face each other on Saturday in a clash that could affect the top tournament seeds.

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    The teams with the largest objection to these preliminary rankings might be UConn and Houston, but this week’s results surely played a factor in the rankings. The Cougars were the No. 2 team in this week’s AP Top 25, but they lost to No. 6 Iowa State on Monday. Meanwhile, No. 5 UConn was upset by Creighton on Wednesday.

    Committee chair (and Sun Belt commissioner) Keith Gill acknowledged on CBS’s bracket preview show that the Huskies’ loss knocked them out of the top four. Yet in his view, “UConn’s three best wins are better than Houston’s best three wins.”

    Before losing to Creighton, Gill said UConn was under consideration for the No. 1 seed, along with Iowa State and Houston.

    Arizona getting the third No. 1 seed after losing to Kansas and Texas Tech might also raise some eyebrows. Star freshman Koa Peat will also miss time with a muscle strain in his lower left leg. However, the fourth-ranked Wildcats rebounded with a win over No. 23 BYU this week.

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    Texas Tech dropped to the No. 19 overall seed — or the fourth line — when star forward JT Toppin suffered a season-ending torn ACL injury on Tuesday, according to Gill.

    The top 16 seeds in the NCAA tournament selection committee’s bracket preview line up as follows:

    1. Michigan (25-1)
    2. Duke (23-3)
    3. Arizona (24-2)
    4. Iowa State (23-3)
    5. UConn (24-3)
    6. Houston (23-3)
    7. Illinois (22-5)
    8, Purdue (22-5)
    9. Florida (20-6)
    10. Kansas (20-6)
    11. Nebraska (22-4)
    12. Gonzaga (26-2)
    13. Texas Tech (19-7)
    14. Michigan State (21-5)
    15. Vanderbilt (21-5)
    16. Virginia (22-3)

    Saturday’s bracket preview will be the last reveal from the selection committee until the official NCAA tournament seedings are announced on Selection Sunday, March 15.

  • UCLA to continue to play home games at Rose Bowl in 2026

    UCLA’s flirtation with SoFi Stadium isn’t resulting in a move in 2026.

    The school told the California Post in a statement that it was going to play this season at the Rose Bowl. The school has been exploring the possibility of leaving the iconic stadium to play its home games at the home of the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers.

    “UCLA will play the upcoming football season at the Rose Bowl,” Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor of strategic communications, said in a statement provided to the California Post. “We know how much game day means to Bruins — to our students, alumni and fans who plan their autumn around Saturdays together.

    “Our priority is delivering a strong season experience for our student-athletes and our community, and we have great momentum in our football program. During this unprecedented time in college athletics, UCLA will always be guided by what’s best for our student-athletes and the Bruin community.”

    That exploration led to a lawsuit from the city of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl against the school. UCLA’s lease with the stadium stretches into the 2040s. A court date is set for Friday regarding that suit.

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    The suit was filed in October and said that the school was “unequivocally expressing its intent to abandon the Rose Bowl Stadium” to relocate to the NFL stadium. The Rose Bowl has been UCLA’s home for 44 seasons since the school moved from the Los Angeles Coliseum.

    Given the length of the lease remaining at the Rose Bowl, it’s likely that UCLA will have to pay a hefty sum to move to SoFi Stadium in the near future. And remember, UCLA has an athletic department that hasn’t exactly been flush with cash in recent seasons.

    UCLA has seven home games at the Rose Bowl in new coach Bob Chesney’s first season. The Bruins host USC to end the season, and teams like Illinois and Wisconsin also come to the Rose Bowl.

  • Timberwolves star Rudy Gobert suspended for 76ers’ game on Sunday after picking up sixth flagrant foul of season

    Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert will serve a one-game suspension for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the NBA announced on Saturday.

    The All-Star center picked up a flagrant foul at the end of the second quarter Friday against the Dallas Mavericks, triggering an automatic one-game suspension. The play, in which Gobert struck Marvin Bagley III in the face with his forearm while fighting for a rebound, was initially called a common foul, but officials ruled it a Flagrant 1 after review.

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    Gobert finished the game, a 122-111 Minnesota win, with 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting with 17 rebounds (a season-high 10 on offense) and three blocks.

    Gobert has already missed a game due to his flagrant foul total, as he served a suspension during a Jan. 13 game against the Milwaukee Bucks after a flagrant on Victor Wembanyama. No other NBA player has more than four flagrant fouls on the season.

    The Frenchman has now been called for six flagrants on the season, with seven total points (in which a Flagrant 1 equals one point and a Flagrant 2 equals two points). Players with five or six flagrant points in a season receive a one-game suspension if they’re hit with a Flagrant 1 and a two-game suspension in the event of a Flagrant 2.

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    But with Gobert now at seven points, he faces a two-game suspension if he commits any sort of flagrant foul for the rest of the season. The T-Wolves will be hoping it doesn’t come to that for the four-time Defensive Player of the Year.

  • Cowboys reportedly re-sign RB Javonte Williams to 3-year deal worth $24M

    The Dallas Cowboys reportedly agreed to terms with running back Javonte Williams on a 3-year, $24 million deal, according to the team. Williams will reportedly have $16 million in guaranteed money. His $8 million annual salary ties him with D’Andre Swift as the 16th-highest-paid running back in the NFL.

    The Cowboys signed Williams to a 1-year, $3 million contract last offseason. Williams is the first running back the Cowboys have extended since re-signing Ezekiel Elliott in 2019.

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    Williams broke out in his first season with the Cowboys, quickly outperforming his contract. He came into the season healthy, rushing for a career-high 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns. The 25-year-old running back also provided a spark to the Cowboys’ overall rushing offense. The Cowboys were ninth in rushing yards last season after finishing 27th in 2024.

    He also added 35 catches for 137 yards and 2 receiving touchdowns. He played in 16 games last season after missing Week 18 with shoulder and neck injuries. Despite suffering injuries late in the year, he still performed well.

    Williams spent his first four seasons with the Denver Broncos after being drafted in the second round out of the University of North Carolina in 2021. His role decreased in his last two years with the Broncos. Williams was part of a running back committee under Broncos head coach Sean Payton and was still trying to return to form after suffering an ACL, LCL and posterolateral corner injury in his right knee in 2022.

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    The Cowboys will now turn their attention to deciding on free-agent wide receiver George Pickens, while the free-agent running back class takes a hit after the loss of Williams.

  • No. 4 Arizona takes down No. 2 Houston 73-66 for first place in the Big 12

    Has Arizona seized control of the Big 12?

    The No. 4 Wildcats held No. 2 Houston without a field goal for over 10 minutes in the second half on the way to a 73-66 road win over the Cougars. After Chris Cenac Jr. hit a jumper with 12:57 to go, the Cougars had just six free throws before Kingston Flemings hit a 3-pointer with 2:28 to go.

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    Flemings’ shot cut Arizona’s lead to 61-57, but the Wildcats got an offensive rebound on their next possession before Jaden Bradley’s turnaround jumper in the lane with 1:33 to go extended the lead back to six and forced Houston to start fouling with 1:10 to go.

    The win pushes Arizona to 12-2 in Big 12 play and 25-2 overall while dropping Houston to 11-3 in the conference and 23-4. The Wildcats now have sole possession of first place in the conference with four games remaining.

    The game flipped as Houston missed 10 straight field goal attempts in the second half. Cenac put the Cougars up 48-46. But as Houston couldn’t buy a basket, Arizona outscored the Cougars 15-6.

    Houston had a similar drought in the first half too. The Cougars went over six minutes without a field goal late in the half as Arizona built up a 10-point lead. But a strong close to the first half cut Arizona’s lead to five at halftime.

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    The Cougars never led until there was 14:16 remaining in the game, however. And each of the three times Houston took a two-point lead, Arizona tied the game before pulling away during Houston’s dry spell.

    Anthony Dell’Orso shines again

    The senior tied his career high with 22 points in Arizona’s win over BYU on Wednesday. He did it again on Saturday.

    Dell’Orso started 28 of 37 games a season ago but moved to the bench this season thanks to Arizona’s stellar recruiting class. He’s played a key role even though he’s been out of the starting lineup and has stepped up in the absence of freshman Koa Peat.

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    Peat missed the BYU game after he suffered a lower leg injury in Arizona’s loss to Texas Tech a week ago. He also sat out Saturday’s game.

    Dell’Orso scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half as Arizona entered the break with a five-point lead. He was the only player to score more than 20.

    How the Big 12 race is shaping up

    Saturday’s game became even more significant in the Big 12 race right as it tipped off. No. 8 Kansas entered the day a game behind both Arizona and Houston with matchups remaining against both schools.

    But the Jayhawks are now two games behind Arizona and a game behind Houston after they shockingly lost 84-68 at home to Cincinnati.

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    While Kansas is still in the Big 12 mix, it needs wins over both Arizona and Houston to have a chance now. And that looks much more difficult after Saturday’s loss.

    No. 6 Iowa State, meanwhile, may be the biggest threat to Arizona if it beats AJ Dybantsa and No. 23 BYU late Saturday night. The Cyclones visit Arizona on March 2, two days after the Wildcats host Kansas.

    Live coverage is over28 updates
    • Yahoo Sports Staff

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      Just days after Anthony Dell’Orso dropped 22 on BYU, he did it again in a road win over No. 2 Houston.

      The Australian is on a heater, and the Wildcats are reaping the rewards.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      There’s just over a minute left and the Wildcats should win this barring a late meltdown.

      We’re at the 1-minute mark and it’s an 8-point game.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      The Wildcats will have to finish this one off without their big man, who just tallied his fifth foul.

      Arizona is up 60-54 with just over 3 minutes left.

    • Nick Bromberg

      Nick Bromberg

      The Cougars are again in a scoring drought. The Cougars’ last points came over four minutes ago. There’s 7:55 to go.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      Arizona’s backup guard has continued his torrid shooting in the second half and now has 21 points as the Wildcats retake the lead with just under 11 minutes left in the game.

    • Nick Bromberg

      Nick Bromberg

      Milos Uzan hits a 3-pointer to put the Cougars ahead. Does Arizona have a response?

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      The Cougars are right back in this thing as the game ticks toward the 15-minute mark. It’s a one-score game now.

    • Nick Bromberg

      Nick Bromberg

      As the Cougars have cut the lead to three, 10 players have seen playing time. Arizona has played eight players — and will go eight-deep barring significant foul trouble — and played on the road earlier in the week.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      Here’s how things are shaking out across the country today:

      Louisville 82, Georgia Tech 66
      Texas Tech 70, Kansas State 56
      Arkansas 11, Mizzou 11

      Ranked teams that took an L today: No. 8 Kansas and No. 19 Vanderbilt.

    • Nick Bromberg

      Nick Bromberg

      The game was in danger of getting away from the Cougars late in the first half. Now they’re right back in it.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      The Cougars were able to cut into the Wildcats’ lead a bit just before the break, but they’ll need to figure out a way to slow down Anthony Dell’Orso. The backup guard shredded BYU for 22 points on Wednesday and he has 14 points in the first half today.

    • Nick Bromberg

      Nick Bromberg

      The Cougars are getting to the free throw line, but that’s not enough to keep up with an Arizona team that has made five of its last six field goals while Houston hasn’t made one in five minutes.

    • Nick Bromberg

      Nick Bromberg

      The Cougars have now gone 3:29 without a field goal.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      Arizona has found a little bit of breathing room with just over 5 minutes left on the clock in the first half. Awaka and Dell’Orso are leading the way for the Wildcats with 7 and 9 points, respectively.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      We’ve got a TV timeout with 11 minutes left in the first half and the Wildcats are still in control but the Cougars are getting open looks from deep.

      Arizona’s Anthony Dell’Orso is picking up right where he left off against BYU with a few short-range pull-ups and the Cats are up 18-11.

    • Nick Bromberg

      Nick Bromberg

      The senior scored 22 against BYU earlier this week in what was just his second 20-point game of the season.

    • Yahoo Sports Staff

      The Wildcats are up 9-2 early after an and-one from Tobe Awaka. The Cougars are doing their best to make this an ugly game, but Arizona is winning the 50-50s early.

  • Winter Olympics 2026 medal count: Team USA enters final day with record 11 gold medals

    Medal table | Olympic schedule | How to watch | Olympic news

    Team USA will enter the final day of the 2026 Winter Olympics with its most gold medals ever, but it still won’t be anywhere close to first on the medal table.

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    The Americans won their 11th gold medal in the mixed team ski aerials on Saturday, thanks to the trio of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis. That gold broke a tie with Team USA's performance at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

    Here's the full list of American gold, in chronological order:

    With total medals, the Team USA sits at 32 after the team aerials gold and bronze medals from Mia Manganello in the women's mass start speed skate and the two-woman bobsled team of Kaillie Humphries and Deborah Levi. That leaves them two short of the record for total American medals in a single Winter Olympics, also accomplished at Salt Lake City in 2002.

    With three more medals in hand, the U.S. maintained its lead over Italy for second place in the gold race behind Norway, which is having the best performance in the history of the Winter Olympics. No one's catching the leader when it has 18 golds and 40 total medals, but the Americans are winning the battle for second.

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    Here's where the medal count stands going into competition on Sunday: