Olympics

As expected coming into the tournament, Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee will play for the Olympic gold medal in men's hockey. 

Finland shut out Slovakia 2-0 in the first semifinal on Friday to reach the gold-medal game for the first time since 2006. 

In the second semifinal, the ROC knocked off Sweden in a game that was decided by a shootout. The Russians have an opportunity to win their second consecutive Olympic gold medal. 

Friday's Semifinal Results

Finland 2, Slovakia 0

Russian Olympic Committee 2, Sweden 1 (3-2 shootout)

Men's Hockey Gold-Medal Game

Matchup: Finland vs. Russian Olympic Committee

Date: Saturday, Feb. 19

Start time: 11:10 p.m. ET

Watch: USA

Live Stream: Peacock

Finland and Slovakia met in the first game of the 2022 Olympics for both teams. The Finns cruised to an easy 6-2 victory on Feb. 10 en route to winning Group C. 

Friday's meeting was a tense defensive battle between the two sides. Sakari Manninen got Finland on the board with a goal that was assisted by Petteri Lindbohm and Sami Vatanen late in the first period. 

The 1-0 stalemate would hold until late in the third period. Harri Pesonen added a second goal for Finland with 39 seconds remaining after Slovakia pulled goalie Patrik Rybar to get an extra skater on the ice. 

Both goalies played very well in the game. Rybar stopped 25 of 26 shots before he was pulled by head coach Craig Ramsey. 

Harri Sateri recorded his first shutout in Beijing with 28 saves. He has allowed just one goal through two games in the knockout round. 

The Russian Olympic Committee and Sweden were involved in another defensive struggle. After a scoreless opening frame, Anton Slepyshev got the Russians on the board 15 seconds into the second period.

As it has done throughout the tournament, Sweden turned to Anton Lander for offense. He beat Ivan Fedotov early in the third period to tie the score at one. 

Lander's four goals are tied with Manninen for the second-most in the Olympics. 

Neither side scored for the rest of regulation, sending the game to a shootout. Both teams scored twice in leading into the final round. Max Friberg's attempt to give Sweden the lead missed when Fedotov got a glove on his shot attempt. 

With a spot in the gold-medal game on the line, Arseni Gritsyuk's wrister snuck past Lars Johansson to give the Russian Olympic Committee a win. 

Prior to winning gold in 2018, the Russians hadn't medaled at the Olympics since 2002, when the country of Russia was allowed a delegation at the Games.

(Russia is currently serving a two-year suspension from the Olympics, Paralympics and world championships as punishment for a state-sponsored doping program that included 15 medal winners from the 2014 Winter Games.)

Finland's men's hockey team has never won gold at the Winter Olympics. They previously won silver in 1988 and 2006. 

The Slovakia men's ice hockey team knocked out the previously unbeaten United States in the quarterfinals of the medal round at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. However, the Slovaks couldn't keep that momentum going into the semifinals.

Early Friday morning, Slovakia fell 2-0 to Finland, the only unbeaten team remaining in the men's event. Although the Slovaks couldn't advance to the gold-medal game, they'll have an opportunity to capture their first medal since they began competing as an independent nation at the Olympics in 1994, as they're set to take on Sweden in Saturday's bronze-medal game.

Sweden lost to the Russian Olympic Committee in the semifinals on Friday, which sent it to the bronze-medal game. The ROC beat the Swedes 2-1, outlasting them in an eight-round shootout.

Here's everything else you need to know heading into Saturday.

Bronze-Medal Game

Date: Saturday, Feb. 19

Start Time: 8:10 a.m. ET

TV: CNBC

Live Stream: Peacock, NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com

Preview

Even though Slovakia is 3-3, it will have an opportunity to leave Beijing with a bronze medal. But in order for that to happen, the Slovaks will need to take down Sweden.

Slovakia got off to a slow start at the Winter Games, as it lost back-to-back matches to Finland and Sweden to open the preliminary round. However, the Slovaks then defeated Latvia and won a qualification game against Germany to make it to the medal round.

In the quarterfinals, Slovakia notched its most impressive win of the Olympics thus far, as it beat the United States 3-2. Marek Hrivik scored a game-tying goal with 44 seconds to go in the third period, then the Slovaks went on to win in a shootout, during which Peter Cehlarik scored the lone goal.

After scoring at least three goals in each contest during its three-game winning streak, Slovakia was blanked for the first time in the Winter Games in its semifinal loss to Finland. Now, the Slovaks will look to get back on track offensively so they don't have to settle for a fourth-place finish in Beijing.

"It's a big thing that we made it to semifinals, but now we still have [an] unfinished job in here and we need to do our best [Saturday] that we can bring the medal home," Slovakia forward Juraj Slafkovsky said, per Steve Keating and Amy Tennery of Reuters.

When Slovakia and Sweden faced off in the preliminary round, it wasn't a competitive contest. Sweden scored three first-period goals and went on to earn a 4-1 victory. The Slovaks didn't score a goal until there was only one minute and 42 seconds remaining in the game.

This time, Slovakia will be looking for a different result. However, Sweden will be a tough opponent, even though it's coming off a semifinal loss to the Russian Olympic Committee.

The Swedes went 2-1 in the preliminary round, with their only loss coming against Finland, which is now in the gold-medal game. They defeated Canada in the quarterfinals, grabbing a 2-0 win that was among their most impressive of the Winter Games.

Sweden will have an opportunity to earn an Olympic medal for the first time since 2014, when it fell to Canada in the gold-medal game. The Swedes have won the bronze four times, but their most recent was in 1988.

Sweden goaltender Lars Johansson has been playing quite well. In the quarterfinals, he stopped all 22 of Canada's shot attempts. Then in the semifinals, he recorded 39 saves and had allowed only one goal heading into the shootout against the Russian Olympic Committee.

Although Slovakia is going to need to generate more offense, Johansson will likely make it tough to do so. If the Slovaks can find a way to score multiple goals, then that could be enough for them to take down the Swedes and earn the bronze.

However, Sweden will likely be the favorite in this matchup. It will just need to move past its tough loss to the ROC and bounce back with a strong performance.

If you say "figure skating scandal," what immediately comes to mind for many is Tonya Harding's ex-husband hiring a hitman to kneecap Nancy Kerrigan. For all its impact on popular culture and the top television ratings, however, the Harding vs. Kerrigan showdown at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, had few repercussions on the sport itself. And while other scandals over the years have forced changes in judging, the Beijing Games may force the sport to rethink radically who its athletes are, and whether they have agency over their own careers. 

By 1998, none of the key players who so captivated audiences four years earlier with their drama were still competing. A 15-year-old Tara Lipinski won surprise Olympic figure skating gold that year, though, and her youth and skillful incorporation of difficult jumping into her winning routine was a foreshadowing of what the sport would become down the road. 

But first, 2002. The figure skating competitions at the Salt Lake City Games were marred by a judging scandal. Two French skating officials fixed the pairs skating event, voting for a Russian duo to win (over an obviously superior Canadian team) in exchange for a Russian vote for a French win in ice dancing. Lipinski and her husband just produced a four-part documentary, Meddling, about the scandal for Peacock. 

That scandal led to an overhaul of the judging system used in skating. In 2004, the International Judging System (IJS) was introduced, and it was fully implemented by the 2006 Olympics. The ISJ replaced a 6.0 scale by which skaters were ranked by judges with a complex points system. Skaters receive a base score for each technical element—jumps, spins and step sequences—and a separate score evaluating the routine's presentation. The two numbers combined produce the skater's final score.

The IJS did introduce one wrinkle in the form of anonymous judging. Intended to prevent collusion as in the 2002 incident, anonymous judging was reportedly to blame for a 2014 scandal at the Sochi Games, when Russian skater Adelina Sotnikova won the women's individual event by a suspiciously wide margin over defending world champion Kim Yuna of South Korea, who had led the competition after the short program. There was some confusion over whether Russian and Ukrainian judges had inflated Sotnikova's performance marks or simply hewed more closely to technical elements in judging and less to the performance aspects, but it was impossible to know for sure because the scores were anonymous. Additionally, one Russian judge was the wife of the head of the Russian Skating Federation. 

Anonymous judging in figure skating ended in 2016. 

And skating, while by no means a meritocracy, has mostly adjusted to the IJS. But it has done so by demanding technical risk at the cost of young skaters' health. Lipinski had to have hip surgery to repair torn cartilage in the joint before the age of 20. American Gracie Gold, who won a bronze in the team event in Sochi, took time off three years after the Games to seek treatment for depression and disordered eating. Gold returned to skating in 2018 and placed 10th at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January. 

A 2018 New York Times article detailed career-derailing injuries to three young Russian Olympic medalists: Sotnikova, then 21, the center of the controversy in Sochi; Evgenia Medvedeva, then 18, who won silvers in women's singles and in the team event at the 2018 Games; and Yulia Lipnitskaya, then 19, who won gold in the team event in 2014 and who retired from the sport in 2017 because she had anorexia.

Everything came to a head in Beijing when Kamila Valieva, 15, of Russia was found to have tested positive in December for a banned heart medication. The positive test result was revealed last week, after Valieva led the Russian Olympic Committee squad to a win in the team event, but before she was to perform in the individual event. She should not have been allowed to skate again but was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to do so. They cited possible "irreparable harm" to Valieva if she could not compete. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) calls her a "protected person" because of her age.

On Thursday, Valieva performed in the free skate, fell several times and ended her Olympics off the podium in fourth place. Her teammates, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, won gold and silver, respectively; Kaori Sakamoto of Japan took bronze. The entire event was a colossal mess. It was an embarrassment for the Olympics, which needs to take steps to ensure that history does not repeat itself. 

Really banning Russia—not allowing Russian wolves in Olympic-flag sheep's clothing—until the country's doping practices are controlled would be one step in the right direction toward ensuring Beijing's events do not repeat in the future. Russia needs to be held accountable for its doping practices, which it carried out for many years on a grand scale. It took covering up the statewide effort across dozens of sports to a whole new level. Punishments have been cosmetic at best. Russians continue to dominate the sport of figure skating seemingly without missing a beat, even after being implicated in scandals in 2002, again in 2014, and once again this past week. When and if Russia is forced to really reckon with the impact of their actions, figure skating, and the young athletes who pursue it, will be safer.

Valieva and the other Russian skaters competing in Beijing toil under the same coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who has been widely criticized for running a so-called "skating factory" at the Sambo 70 club in Moscow.

Tutberidze berated Valieva when she stepped off the ice Thursday after her free skate. "Why did you stop fighting?" she said, in Russian, to Valieva, the New York Times reported. Rumors of harsh treatment, of weighing athletes and promoting eating disorders, and even of doping (although the skater who made those allegations eventually walked them back), have dogged her methods and her pupils for years. But because almost no one stays with Tutberidze until the age of 18, her methods have remained hidden by the "protected persons" she oversees.

Tutberidze also trained Medvedeva and Lipnitskaya, both of whom left the sport while still relatively young and after a brief period of elite competition.

But the coaching problems in figure skating do not stop with Tutberidze or the Russian program, and coaches in countries from China to the United States have been accused of abusive practices.

And these problems do not even stop with skating. Brutal coaching practices exist in every sport. The Larry Nassar scandal in gymnastics revealed a litany of coaching problems in that sport, including those of Bela and Marta Karolyi, who ran the U.S. Olympic program for years, and of Maggie Haney, who coached Olympian Laurie Hernandez in 2016 and was later suspended for eight years (now reduced to five) for emotionally abusing her athletes. Alberto Salazar, a famed running coach to Olympians and world champions, was banned from coaching after allegedly sexually abusing an athlete, per the New York Times. Kaillie Humphries, who won gold for the U.S. in the monobob in Beijing this week, stopped competing for her home country of Canada when she alleged that her coach was abusive. 

While all of these incidents are deeply concerning, the abuse of young athletes that's been pervasive in figure skating and gymnastics is particularly horrifying. One solution to some of the sport's problems may be to disallow minors from Olympic competition. The calls for the age limit to be raised from 15 to 18, citing concerns for athlete welfare, have already started. The U.S. delegation to the International Skating Congress voted yes in 2018 on a proposal by the Dutch delegation to raise the age limit to 17, but 39 other countries, including Russia, voted no, and the item never reached the agenda for serious consideration.

In a sport where teenagers churn in and out of the Olympic mix every four years, retiring from elite competition, perhaps it is time to allow skaters to mature and reach the age at which they can consent to their training regimens, their treatment by coaches and other officials, and to the medications and supplements they ingest. 

In the U.S., where training is extremely pricey but less rigorous at a young age, and where domestic competitions prize cleanliness in execution over dangerous tricks thrown by tiny bodies, skaters are able to remain in the sport longer. Two of the three U.S. skaters in the women's individual event were full-fledged adults: Mariah Bell, 25, and Karen Chen, 22. The third, 16-year-old Alysa Liu, told Sports Illustrated she would have waited two more years to compete if that became the rule in skating. "I've trained so long," she said. "Might as well do it a little bit longer." Still, the U.S. is no longer as competitive in skating as it once was, back in the Harding-Kerrigan and Lipinski days. 

But perhaps it is worth a diminishing of risk if the sport produces healthy adult athletes whose lives and livelihoods are not held hostage by the adults around them. It would be a legacy Beijing could be proud of. 

Only one team has gotten through the men's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics with an unbeaten record: Finland. And now, the Finns are one win away from the first gold medal in their history.

After notching a 2-0 victory over Slovakia in the semifinals early Friday morning, Finland advanced to the gold-medal game, where it will face the Russian Olympic Committee in the final contest in Beijing. 

The ROC secured its berth in the gold-medal game by beating Sweden in the semifinals on Friday morning, notching a 2-1 victory by outlasting the Swedes in an eight-round shootout.

Here's a look at the remaining schedule for the men's ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Games, followed by an early preview of this year's gold-medal game.

Upcoming Schedule

Saturday, Feb. 19

Bronze-Medal Game: Slovakia vs. Sweden, 8:10 a.m. ET, CNBC

Gold-Medal Game: Finland vs. Russian Olympic Committee, 11:10 p.m. ET, USA Network

Coverage can be streamed live on Peacock, the NBC Sports app and NBCOlympics.com

Gold-Medal Game Preview

No team has been more impressive at the 2022 Winter Games than Finland. Entering the gold-medal game, the Finns are 5-0 and haven't faced much adversity. And that's especially been the case in the medal round.

After notching victories over Slovakia, Latvia and Sweden in the preliminary round, Finland went into the medal round as one of only two unbeaten teams. The Finns then notched a 5-1 victory over Switzerland in the quarterfinals, advancing to a semifinal matchup against Slovakia.

Finland had already earned a 6-2 win over Slovakia, but the semifinal contest was much more competitive. However, the Finns' defense completely shut down the Slovaks, as all 27 of Slovakia's shots on goal were stopped by Finland goaltender Harri Sateri, who led his team to a 2-0 win.

Sakari Manninen scored a first-period goal for Finland in the semis, then Harri Pesonen sealed the victory by scoring with 39 seconds to go in the game.

"I knew coming into the Olympics that we're going to have a really good team, solid team, veteran team, a lot of experienced guys," Pesonen said, per Steve Keating and Amy Tennery of Reuters. "But you know, every tournament is kind of a mystery how it goes and how it ends, but I'm definitely happy and what a great opportunity for us to play for the brightest medal."

Although the Finns have won two silvers and four bronzes in their Olympic history, they've never captured the gold. The last time they had made it to the gold-medal game was in 2006. They lost 3-2 to Sweden and had to settle for the silver.

Now, Finland must try to take down the Russian Olympic Committee, which many considered the favorite to win the gold at the start of the Winter Games. The ROC went 2-1 during the preliminary round, then defeated Denmark in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, it needed a shootout to decide a competitive matchup against Sweden. Both teams scored twice in the first five rounds of the shootout before Arseni Gritsyuk's goal in the eighth round lifted the ROC to victory.

The ROC is looking to win the gold for the second straight Winter Olympics, as it defeated Germany in the gold-medal game in 2018.

This will be the first time that Finland and the Russian Olympic Committee have faced off in Beijing. And it's not a surprise that this is the gold-medal matchup, as both teams were expected to have strong showings at the Winter Games.

With how well both teams have been playing, the Finns and the ROC should deliver an entertaining matchup.

Norway made Winter Olympics history on Friday morning by winning its 15th gold medal of the Beijing Games. 

Johannes Thingnes Bo's triumph in the men's biathlon mass start event set the new record for most gold medals earned by a country at a single Winter Games. 

Norway is on track to win the overall medal count over the Russian Olympic Committee, Canada and Germany. 

The European nation won most its golds in the biathlon, cross-country skiing and nordic combined events. It won four of the six medals in the men's and women's biathlon mass start events held on Friday morning. 

Canada was second to Norway in medals earned from Friday's events. The surge of three medals from two events placed the North American nation into third place in the overall medal table over Germany and the United States. 

There are two full days left of competition in Beijing. Any shakeups in the medal table should occur from second down since Norway has a seven-medal advantage over the ROC. 

Medal Count Top 5

1. Norway (15 gold, 8 silver, 11 bronze) - 34

2. Russian Olympic Committee (5 gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze) - 27

3. Canada (4 gold, 7 silver, 13 bronze) - 24

4. Germany (10 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze) - 22

5. United States (8 gold. 8 silver, 5 bronze) - 21

Full medal table can be found on NBCOlympics.com.

Day 14 Medal Winners

Biathlon

Men's 15 km Mass Start

Gold: Johannes Thingnes Bo (Norway)

Silver: Martin Ponsiluoma (Sweden)

Bronze: Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (Norway)

Women's 12.5 km Mass Start

Gold: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (France)

Silver: Tiril Eckhoff (Norway)

Bronze: Marte Olsbu Roeiseland (Norway)

Freestyle Skiing

Men's Ski Cross

Gold: Ryan Regez (Switzerland)

Silver: Alex Fiva (Switzerland)

Bronze: Sergey Ridzik (ROC)

Women's Halfpipe

Gold: Eileen Gu (China)

Silver: Cassie Sharpe (Canada)

Bronze: Rachael Karker (Canada)

Speedskating

Men's 1000m

Gold: Thomas Krol (Netherlands)

Silver: Laurent Dubreuil (Canada)

Bronze: Haavard Lorentzen (Norway)

Norway Sets Gold-Medal Record

It is fitting that Norway broke the gold-medal record at the Winter Games in a sport it has dominated in Beijing.

Johannes Thingnes Bo captured Norway's sixth gold medal in biathlon in the men's mass start event. 

Bo won the fifth gold medal of his Olympic career by taking the competition by 40 seconds over Sweden's Martin Ponsiluoma. 

Norway won six of the 11 biathlon gold medals at the Beijing Games, and it had two athletes earn five medals each.

Marte Olsbu Roeiseland joined Bo as Norwegian biathletes with five medals, as she took bronze in the women's mass start competition.

Norway has two potential chances to add to its gold medal haul in the skiathlon events in cross-country skiing. Norway has four golds and six overall medals in the sport. 

Norway's final gold-medal tally will set the new mark for countries to aim for. The 2018 teams from Norway and Germany and the 2010 Canada team held the previous record of 14 golds at a single Winter Games. 

Canada Jumps Into Medal Table Top 3

Canada continued its run of silver and bronze medals on Friday. 

The Canadian duo of Cassie Sharpe and Rachael Karker finished second and third behind China's Eileen Gu in the women's skiing halfpipe competition.

Laurent Dubreuil added a silver medal to the Canadian haul through his performance in the men's speedskating 1,000 meters. 

Canada has been on a medal-winning tear over the last few days. It captured gold in women's hockey, the women's speedskating team pursuit and men's short track relay.

The recent run of medals put Canada five medals behind the mark set by the North American nation at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018. 

Canada's best chance to add medals before the end of the Games comes in the men's skiing halfpipe, where it has three of the 12 finalists. 

The first half of the pairs figure skating competition at the 2022 Olympics is in the books, with China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong sitting in first place with a score of 84.41 after the short program. 

Sui and Han had the second-highest element score (45.96) with a routine that featured a triple twist lift four and throw triple flip. They posted the best presentation score (38.45) of the day to finish 0.16 points ahead of Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov of the Russian Olympic Committee (84.25). 

The Russians occupy three of the top four spots in the standings after the short program. 

Pairs Short Program Results 

1. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong (China): 84.41

2. Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov (Russian Olympic Committee): 84.25

3. Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov (Russian Olympic Committee): 82.76

4. Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii (Russian Olympic Committee): 78.59

5. Cheng Peng and Yang Jin (China): 76.10

6. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier (United States): 74.23

7. Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc (United States): 74.13

8. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (Japan): 70.85

9. Karina Safina and Luka Berulava (Georgia): 66.11

10. Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise (Italy): 63.58

11. Laura Barquero and Marco Zandron (Spain): 63.34

12. Vanessa James and Eric Radford (Canada): 63.03

13. Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro (Canada): 62.51

14. Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Seegert (Germany): 62.37

15. Hailey Kops and Evgeni Krasnopolski (Israel): 55.99

16. Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (Italy): 55.83

17. Jelizaveta Zukova and Martin Bidar (Czech Republic): 54.64

18. Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer (Austria): 51.96

Withdrew: Ioulia Chtchetinina and Mark Magyar (Hungary)

Full standings via Olympics.com

The top of the standings look very similar to what happened two weeks ago in the pairs short program during the team event. 

Sui and Han had a slight advantage over Mishina and Galliamov the first time around. 

This time, Tarasova and Morozov are sandwiched between those pairs.

Sui and Han are looking to finish the job this time around. They were in first place after the short program four years ago but came in third in the free skate to settle for the silver medal. 

It won't be easy, as the free skate is Mishina and Galliamov's specialty. They earned 10 points for the ROC in the team event with a high score of 145.20, nearly six points ahead of Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (139.60). 

The American team of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier set a high bar for the rest of the field. They were the second pair on the ice and put together a routine that earned a score of 74.23. 

Among the first 12 teams that skated, only three finished with a score of at least 70. Team USA's Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc (74.13) and Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (70.85) were the others. 

Japan's Cheng Peng and Yang Jin set a new benchmark with a nearly flawless routine that earned a score of 76.10. There was one moment when Jin nearly lost her footing on a landing, but she was able to keep her balance to put the duo in first place. 

Things would pick up from there, with all three Russian teams and the Chinese pair Sui and Han blowing everyone out of the water. 

Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov briefly moved into the lead. Their routine generated a score of 82.76, making them the first pair at that point to surpass the 80-point barrier at that point. 

The lead didn't last long, as Sui and Han skated right after them. Tarasova and Morozov also moved past their fellow Russians with a near-flawless routine that saw them get a total score of 84.25, including a technical score of 46.04. 

Each of the top 16 teams in the short program qualified for the free skate. The final pairs figure skating event of the 2022 Games will take place on Saturday at 6 a.m. ET.

If Sui and Han are able to maintain the top spot after the free skate, they will be the first figure skating pair from China to win Olympic gold since Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo in 2010. 

Team USA figure skating is looking for a strong finish to the 2022 Beijing Olympics with a medal in pairs skating.

Americans have earned three medals during the competition so far, headlined by Nathan Chen's gold in men's singles. Two teams will look to add to that count with Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier slightly ahead of Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc after the short program Friday. 

Here are the select standings through the first day of competition.

Pairs Short Program

1. Sui Wenjing/Han Cong (CHN): 84.41

2. Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (ROC): 84.25

3. Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov (ROC): 82.76

6. Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA): 74.23

7. Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy Leduc (USA): 74.13

Full results via Olympics.com.

Knierim and Frazier had an early starting slot and set a high bar for their competitors with a 74.23.

The routine featured some impressive technical elements to move to the top of the standings:

There was a positive reaction from those watching along:

The competitors were also happy with their effort:

Other teams eventually produced better scores, but Knierim and Frazier have a chance to climb the standings if they can perform to expectations in Saturday's free skate.

This duo represented the United States in the team competition on the way to a silver medal, producing the third-best score in the short program. A fifth-place effort in the free skate still left much to be desired, putting pressure on the upcoming performance.

Cain-Gribble and Leduc are also in contention after their short program, scoring a 74.13 with several highlights along the way:

The 34.22 presentation score was higher than that of Knierim and Frazier, including an 8.71 mark for interpretation of music.

The routine was still far from perfect, and the mistakes proved costly:

With the Chinese and Russian Olympic Committee teams scoring well, it could be an uphill battle for either American duo to finish in the top three.

The United States consistently produces elite athletes in figure skating, although the pairs competition has been an Achilles' heel for the program. The last Americans to medal in this discipline were Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard in 1988.

One of the final top opportunities for the United States to win a gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics comes on Friday night.

David Wise is the only man to win the freestyle skiing men's halfpipe competition. He won back-to-back golds in 2014 and 2018.

Wise and three other Americans are entered into the 12-man field scheduled for Friday night. Alex Ferreira, Aaron Blunck and Birk Irving could all be in medal contention.

Ferreira won one of the four skiing halfpipe events on the FIS World Cup circuit, and Blunck took third behind Wise and Australia's Nico Porteous in the last World Cup event prior to Beijing. 

The United States could also be in the mix for a medal in the alpine skiing team event, but that may be harder to come by since the country produced a single medal across the 10 individual competitions in that sport. 

Friday Olympics Schedule

Bobsled: Two-woman Run 1 (7 a.m. ET)

Women's Curling: Japan vs. Switzerland semifinal (7:05 a.m. ET) 

Women's Curling: Sweden vs. Great Britain semifinal (7:05 a.m. ET)

Men's Hockey: ROC vs. Sweden semifinal (8:10 a.m. ET)

Bobsled: Two-woman Run 2 (8:30 a.m. ET) 

Bobsled: Four-man Run 1 (8:30 p.m. ET)

Freestyle Skiing: Men's Halfpipe final (8:30 p.m. ET, NBC) 

Alpine Skiing: Team event (9 p.m. ET, NBC)

Bobsled: Four-man Run 2 (10:05 p.m. ET)

All events can be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.

David Wise Looking for 3-Peat In Men's Skiing Halfpipe

David Wise won back-to-back gold medals to kick off the Olympic existence of the men's skiing halfpipe. 

Wise is one of four Americans with a shot at winning a medal in Friday's competition. 

Aaron Ferreira has one FIS World Cup victory and two other second-place finishes on the circuit. He is the reigning silver medalist from the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang. 

Birk Irving and Aaron Blunck are scheduled to hit the halfpipe 10th and 12th, respectively, in each of the three final runs after they qualified first and second. 

Blunck and Australia's Nico Porteous were the only athletes to record qualifying run scores over 90 points. 

Porteous is the biggest threat to Wise's three-peat, or another American victory. He won bronze in Pyeongchang and won the most recent stop on the World Cup circuit. 

Canada's Brendan Mackay also poses a threat to the top of the medal stand. He has two World Cup victories this season, but he must improve on the 87.25 score he earned in the qualifying round. 

Wise won the 2018 event by laying down a run that produced a 97.20 score. All three medalists from Pyeongchang recorded scores above 94 points. 

The competition is expected to be some of the best in a single event in Beijing. If the Americans ski at their best, they should at minimum contend for the gold. 

Prediction: Americans win two medals.

Alpine Skiing Team Event Takes Place Friday Night

The United States alpine skiing team disappointed across the board in the individual events. 

Ryan Cochran-Siegle's silver medal from the men's Super-G was the only podium finish by an American athlete in the 10 individual events. 

The disappointment was headlined by Mikaela Shiffrin's failure to finish in the top three in any of her five events. She crashed out of three races. 

The team event is held on a parallel slalom course, and the field will be narrowed down from 16 to two across a series of races. 

The Americans would seem to have a decent shot of winning a medal because the slalom is Shiffrin's best event, but she crashed out of the slalom event and the slalom portion of the women's combined. 

Switzerland is the reigning world champion in the team event, and it will defend its gold medal from the Pyeongchang Games on Friday.

The team event features four skiers from each team, two men and two women, and whichever country wins the most races in those heats advances. A tie is broken by the best cumulative time in the head-to-head matchup.

Switzerland, Austria and Norway medaled in that order in South Korea four years ago. Switzerland and Austria combined for 15 medals in the individual alpine skiing events. 

Prediction: Switzerland repeats in team event.