x
Breaking News
More () »

5 things you missed on Feb 8 at the Olympics

Here's what to know about the first day of competition in PyeongChang.
Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim of the United States compete in the Figure Skating Team Event - Pair Skating Short Program during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Here are five things you might have missed from the first day of Olympic competition in PyeongChang.

Even though the Opening Ceremony isn't until Friday, events began Thursday with team skating, curling and freestyle skiing.

Men’s team skating

Figure skating started off on a shaky foot with several falls in the men’s team skate short program.

American favorite Nathan Chen fell flat during his first-ever Olympic debut. A major fall prevented the 18-year-old from ending in the top three, but he was still able to snag fourth place.

Japan’s Shoma Uno took first, Israel’s Alexei Bychenko came in second, and Patrick Chan of Canada took third place.

Former figure skating stars Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir provided commentary during the program and made it clear they weren’t impressed with the athletes’ overall performances-- but the internet complained they were being too harsh.

Mixed skating

Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim represented Team USA in pairs’ team skating. They’re the first married couple to compete for Team USA in pairs at the Olympics since 1998.

The two came in second, just ahead of Japan but trailing Team Canada.

Mixed Doubles curling

The Wisconsin brother-sister team made up of Matt and Becca Hamilton fell 4-9 to Switzerland in the first round robin competition of mixed doubles curling, as of 11:30 p.m. EST/8:30 p.m. PST.

They’ll be back on the ice later on Thursday and again on Friday.

This is the first time curling mixed doubles has been included in the Olympics.

Matt garnered some Twitter attention when he tweeted a photo that compared him to video game character Mario—must be that mustache.

Freestyle Skiing

Three American women qualified in the first round of Women's Moguls: Morgan Schild, Jaelin Kauf and Keaton McCargo. For the men, Troy Murphy successfully moved on to the next round.

Morgan Schild of the United States competes during the Ladies' Freestyle Skiing Moguls qualification ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Russian athletes can't compete

The International Olympic Committee rejected appeals by 45 Russian athletes plus two coaches who were banned from the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The ICC refused to invite the group of Russians, saying it had evidence of alleged doping in Russian sports.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport handed down its rulings Friday, less than nine hours before the opening ceremony.

Before You Leave, Check This Out