After cross-country ski gold, Diggins will carry U.S. flag
This has been a good week for Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins.
On Wednesday night, they became the first U.S. women to earn a medal in cross-country skiing, winning the team sprint freestyle. The next day, Randall was elected as an athlete representative on the International Olympic Committee.
Friday, it was Diggins’ turn for more good news as her teammates selected her to serve as flag bearer for the American squad at the closing ceremony.
“This is such an incredible honor for me,” Diggins said. “I’m really humbled and moved that the athletes voted for me.”
The two-time Olympian joins a list of closing ceremony flag bearers that includes Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden.
“Jessie’s breakthrough performances here in Pyeongchang have been inspirational and historic,” U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Executive Scott Blackmun said.
Mack had a chance to better the gold medalist, Sebastien Toutant of Canada, but sat down on his final jump.
“We deserve to be there, and the best team will win,” Russian forward Ilya Kovalchuk said.
After winning back-to-back gold medals in Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014, Canada’s self-described band of journeymen were outplayed by coach Marco Sturm’s German team.
“They came out ready to play,” Canada forward Rob Klinkhammer said. “We didn’t. They were the better team.”
Russian Bobsled Federation President Alexander Zubkov said a drug-test sample given by Nadezhda Sergeeva was positive.
“This won’t win us any extra credit,” Russian delegation leader Stanislav Pozdnyakov said. “Unfortunately, this case speaks to negligence by the athlete. She has let us down.”