In a breakthrough performance that may have resurrected an always-promising international career, Alissa Czisny won the ladies event at the Grand Prix final in Beijing over the weekend. For years, Czisny, a 23-year-old Bowling Green grad, has been considered a brilliant artist with the tightest spins and most elegant turns in the sport. But she's also a capable jumper who would often crumble under the spotlight of competition. This weekend, she put together two strong efforts, taking the lead during the short program and maintaining the margin through the free skate.
RICHMOND, British Columbia -- It didn't go the way Shani Davis had pictured it in his mind. For Davis, the presumptive favorite in the 1,500 meters, the world record holder who has rarely been beaten in the Kings race this season, he just didn't have it in him today.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Forget the NFL, and apologies to baseball:
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Is Chad Hedrick poised to become speedskating's Julia Mancuso, with Shani Davis playing the part of Lindsey Vonn?
Vonn, White and Davis all win gold for the U.S. in Vancouver. CNN's Alex Thomas reports.
Shani Davis astonished no one with the first of what's likely to be two gold medals at these Olympics, which he claimed with a blistering final lap in Wednesday's 1,000 meters.
Mark the day February 17, 2010 in an Olympic history book. Then hold it up as a benchmark for future days, because it may well have been the single greatest day the U.S. Olympic team has ever had at a Winter Olympics. No, there was no Miracle on Ice, and Eric Heiden didn't win a jillion gold medals, but here is the case: Never before has a U.S. team won six medals in a single day at the Winter Games. No other country has ever won more than six. At the 1988 Calgary Olympics, the last time a Winter Games took place in Canada, the United States won six medals over the duration of the entire Olympics.
VANCOUVER -- "Four years ago, Lindsey Vonn limped to the start of the Olympic downhill in the mountains north of Turin, Italy, deeply in pain from a terrifying training crash that left her lower back and hip bruised and sore. She was a shell of the dynamic racer who was a threat to medal in the race (or win it), but she skied anyway, and finished a game but disappointed eighth."
RICHMOND, British Columbia -- When it comes to the Winter Olympics and sports in which athletes strap on skates, there's the Double Salchow, the Triple Axel and the Full Heiden.
(This story appeared in the Feb. 8, 2010, issue of Sports Illustrated.)
SI.com's writers will preview each event from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Here's Alexander Wolff's look ahead to speedskating.
What a difference a week makes for Lindsey Vonn. The U.S. alpine star had been horrible in Aspen, failing to qualify in the giant slalom and skiing off-course in the slalom. This past weekend, though, she nearly won all three races in Lake Louise, Canada. What's more, Vonn performed brilliantly under the same kind of conditions that often plague skiers in Whistler, site of the upcoming Olympics.
Evan Lysacek is right where he wants to be.
U.S. speed skater Shani Davis' season got off to a blistering start in Berlin last weekend. Davis brought home his first two long-track gold medals of the season, winning the 1,000 meters on Friday in 1:08.53, a half-second faster than the previous track record.
Many U.S. athletes have not only been frustrated in their quest for Olympic gold, they could find themselves out of the running for advertisers' gold as well.
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