White, Vonn, and Davis grab gold

The U.S. vaulted into the medal count lead on Wednesday with the help of a new U.S. record: three gold medals in a single day of competition. Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, and Shani Davis each won gold while competing in the men's halfpipe, women's downhill skiing, and men's 1000 meter speedskating, respectively.

Germany's medal count lead was short-lived, as the U.S. stormed the board, winning 6 medals on Wednesday, bringing the U.S. count up to 14 medals. Germany managed just 1 medal and currently sits at 10. France, at 3rd, has 7 medals. The U.S. has also amassed 5 gold medals, 2 more than any other country.

Shaun White

Shaun White dropped into the Olympic halfpipe just 22 days after winning the gold medal in the X-Games superpipe event. White's X-Games win was huge considering the fall he took while practicing, shown below.

The X-Games win gave White mementum heading into the Olympics. On his first run (in a best of 2 format) White produced the highest score while holding back on his final trick. In the second round no one was able to touch his score, and White had the gold medal in the bag.

His final run, however, was even more impressive than his first. Instead of backing off and taking home the medal with a simple victory run, White held nothing back and blew the crowd away with huge tricks and enormous air. His victory run was so spectacular it earned the highest score in Olympic competition. American Scotty Lago took the bronze medal, while White repeated his gold medal performance from the Torino games.

“I wanted a victory lap that would be remembered,” White said. “I achieved that. I just felt like I didn’t come to Vancouver not to pull out the big guns. It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird.”



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Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold in downhill skiing. Vonn has been the World Cup downhill skiing champion the past two seasons, and has won of all but one of six races in the event this season. The Olympic gold continued that trend.“I dreamed about what this would feel like but it is much better in real life,” said Vonn. “I got what I came here for -- a gold medal.” U.S.A.'s Julia Mancuso took the silver medal in downhill skiing.


Shani Davis

Shani Davis took the gold in the men's 1000 meter speedskating, his second gold medal in as many years in the event. He is the first man to repeat gold medals in this event. Chad Hedrick took the bronze in the 1000.