Team USA Gold Medals: Which Americans Won Their Events? [2014 Winter Olympics]

Before the start of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the United States was predicted to finish with the second most gold medals. It’s been five days since the first event, and Team USA has some catching up to do.

At the conclusion of competition on Tuesday, Feb. 11, the U.S. has two gold medals. That placed them tied with Switzerland for fifth overall. Norway and Canada are at the top of the list with four golds each.

Both of the first-place finishes for the USA came in the same event. On Saturday, American snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg won the country’s first gold medal of the Games in the men’s slopestyle. Less than 24 hours later, Jamie Anderson did the same on the women’s side.

For Kotsenburg, it was his first appearance in the Olympics. On his first of two runs in the finals, the snowboarder earned a score of 93.50, which was good enough to give him the win. Norway’s Stale Sandbech earned the silver with a 91.75 on his second run, and Mark McMorris of Canada picked up the bronze.

His win came four days after teammate Shaun White withdrew from the event. Kotsenburg flew under the radar with the face of the sport on his team, but ended up winning the gold as an underdog. White did not race in the slopestyle to concentrate on the men’s halfpipe, for which he did not earn a medal.

Unlike her male counterpart, Anderson was the favorite in her event, and lived up to expectations. She had a dominant performance, posting a 95.25 to give the United States its second gold medal of 2014. Anderson outperformed second-place finisher Enni Rukajarvi of Finland, who scored a 92.50 of her own. Jenny Jones made history by claiming the bronze, giving Great Britain its first ever medal in a snow sport.

The U.S. came close to winning a third gold medal on Tuesday. Devin Logan took home the silver in the women’s slopestyle skiing event. Her 85.40 barely edged out Canada’s Kim Lamarre, who won the bronze medal. Logan competed in her first Olympics less than two years after suffering a serious knee injury.

Seven total medals has the United States tied for fourth place. Norway leads all countries with 11.