By JAMES ELLINGWORTH AP Sports Writer
MILAN (AP) — Small margins decided gold medals at the Milan Cortina Olympics as Eileen Gu had to settle for another silver in defense of her big air ski freestyle title and Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. finally won bobsled gold in her fifth Olympics.
Also on Day 10 of the Winter Games, a Norwegian contender’s emotional reaction overshadowed the last men’s Alpine ski event and the United States won its women’s hockey semifinal game. Canada plays next, which could set up yet another gold medal decider between the old rivals.
Silver again for Gu in big air
Gu came to Italy to fight for gold medals in three different freestyle ski events. She has two silvers and still has her best event, the halfpipe, to go.
After a long delay because of heavy snow, it was Canada’s Megan Oldham who soared to victory with a combined score of 180.75 to Gu’s 179.
It was still a remarkable performance from Gu, the San Francisco-born skier for China who hadn’t competed in big air in the four years since winning gold at the 2022 Olympics.
The athlete who beat Gu to the gold in slopestyle last week, Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud, was ruled out of the big air final when she injured her hip in practice hours before.
The wait is over for Meyers Taylor
Vancouver, Sochi, Pyeongchang, Beijing. Meyers Taylor won at least one medal at each of her first four Olympics, but the gold always eluded her.
No longer.
The 41-year-old American won that long-awaited medal by just four hundredths of a second in women’s monobob when the last competitor, Germany’s Laura Nolte, made a small but costly mistake on her final run.
Meyers Taylor’s sixth career medal extends her record as the most decorated Black athlete at the Winter Olympics. She’s also the oldest American woman to win gold at the Winter Games.
Meyers Taylor’s U.S. teammate Kaillie Armbruster Humphries was third, 0.08 off Nolte’s time.
McGrath’s moment alone in the forest
The men’s slalom race had a finish like no other.
Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath was leading the race and skiing last on the second run but straddled a gate and was out. He stopped, threw his ski poles over a fence and then started walking through deep snow to the forest for some time alone.
“I thought that I would get some peace and quiet, which I didn’t,” said McGrath, who said photographers and police tracked him down.
The dramatic finish overshadowed Loic Meillard of Switzerland winning gold, and an earlier fall for giant slalom winner and South American history maker Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.
It’s been an especially tough Olympics for McGrath, whose grandfather died on the day of the opening ceremony. McGrath was racing with an armband as a tribute.
Hockey semifinals
The United States is into the women’s gold medal game after routing Sweden 5-0 as goaltender Aerin Frankel preserved a shutout streak which now stands at 331 minutes.
The U.S. team is unbeaten and has allowed just one goal all tournament as it seeks a first gold medal since 2018.
The defending Olympic champion Canadians play Switzerland in the day’s other semifinal game.
More Dutch gold
Xandra Velzeboer won her second gold medal of the Olympics in the women’s 1,000-meter short track speedskating to match her Dutch teammate Jens van ’t Wout with two gold medals for the games.
Italy’s Arianna Fontana was chasing what would have been her 14th career Olympic medal but placed fourth.
Austria won the first-ever Olympic gold in men’s super team ski jumping. The Austrians were leading when the competition was cut short due to heavy snow and wind.
Still to come
The figure skating pairs event heads for its decider in the free skate, with Germany’s Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin leading after the short program.