Sochi Winter Olympics Medal Count 2014: US Takes First Place After Maddie Bowman Wins Gold in Ladies' Ski Halfpipe
The United States has taken the lead at the Sochi Winter Olympics with 24 medals after Maddie Bowman took the gold in ladies' ski halfpipe, beating out the Russia Federation in the total medal count.
Bowman completed the American sweep of the gold in the Olympic debut of the event, joining David Wise, who won the gold in men's ski halfpipe on Tuesday. According to USA Today, Bowman earned a score of 89.00 in her winning run, improving on her score of 85.80 in her opening run.
Marie Martinod of France took the silver, and Japan's Ayana Onozuka took the bronze.
The U.S. won one gold medal on Wednesday after Ted Ligety snagged the gold in alpine skiing. He won the run with a time of 2:45.29, with France taking the two other medals; Steve Missillier took the silver with a time of 2:45.77 and Alexis Pinturault took the bronze at 2:45.93.
While Ligety won the only gold medal on Wednesday for the U.S., another American won a medal—but not for the United States.
Washington-born Vic Wild, who represents Russia, won the men's parallel giant slalom finals in snowboarding. Nevin Galmarini of Switzerland took the silver and Zan Kosir of Slovenia took the bronze.
Yesterday, the U.S. also took the silver and bronze in women's bobsled. Elana Myers and Lauryn Williams took the silver, and Aja Evans and Jamie Greubel took the bronze.
Switzerland took the gold in the women's snowboarding event, while Tomoka Takeuchi of Japan won the silver and Russia's Alena Zavarzina—the wife of gold medal-winning Wild—took the bronze.
Scandinavian countries dominated in cross-country skiing, with Norway taking gold, Finland the silver and Sweden the bronze.
In the men's, Germany was leading the pack until a crash wiped out skier Tim Tscharnke, letting Finland win the gold. Finland was followed by Russia, which took the silver, and Sweden, which took bronze.
The U.S. also gained a gold medal Tuesday after 23-year-old David Wise took the gold in men's halfpipe skiing.
America now leads with 24 medals total and eight gold medals, and Russia is in second with 23 medals. Netherlands is in third with 22.
Norway is in fourth with 21 total medals, but is number one in the gold medal count with 10 gold medals.