U.S. skate team in a nice spot

Team USA put itself in position to medal in the team skating event after the ice dance and ladies short programs on Sunday from Gangneung Ice Arena.

The U.S. got a strong performance to the required Latin theme from siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani and Bradlee Tennell set a season best in the ladies short program to stay only six points behind Canada for first place.

“I’m super happy with the performance I put out there,” Tennell said. “It’s what I’ve been training a long time for.”

Joining Canada and the U.S. in the team finals are the Olympic Athletes from Russia. Japan and Italy.

The team event concludes with medals handed out after the men, ladies and ice dance free skates on Monday.

Winds postpone men’s downhill

Strong winds that were expected to increase throughout the day forced the postponement of the men’s downhill Sunday, in what would have been the first Alpine skiing event of the Pyeongchang Games.

“With this being an outdoor sport, this is not abnormal,” said Sasha Rearick, the U.S. men’s Alpine coach. “The excitement, the energy on the team right now is fantastic…. Now the key is to take that energy and harness it, stay relaxed and then be able to ramp back up.”

The event has been rescheduled for Thursday and the men’s super-G pushed to Friday, originally an off day.

Bryce Bennett, Tommy Biesemeyer, Jared Goldberg and Wiley Maple are scheduled to compete in the downhill for the U.S. None of them placed in the top 3 during three days of training runs.

Despite gusts that pushed wind chills below zero, competition continued Sunday at Phoenix Snow Park, about a 30-mile drive from the downhill site at the Jeongseon Alpine Center.

The first Alpine event will now be the the women’s giant slalom Monday at the Yongpyong Alpine Center, where U.S. star Mikaela Shiffrin will challenge for a gold medal.

--Nathan Fenno

IOC official confirms ‘attack’ on internet and Wi-Fi at opening ceremony

An International Olympic Committee official has used the word “attack” to describe an outage that hit the internet and Wi-Fi systems of the Pyeongchang Olympics just minutes before the opening ceremony. The network at some venues was disabled for several hours.

Organizers initially declined to use the charged word. IOC spokesman Mark Adams is now calling it an attack but says “the best industry practice is you don’t talk about an attack at this stage.”

Adams says “we’re not going to comment on the issue because it’s an issue we’re dealing with. We wouldn’t start giving you the details of an investigation before it’s come to an end.” He described the Olympic systems “as secure.”

Organizing committee spokesman Sung Baik-you says “we know the cause of the problem and we have decided with the IOC that we’re not going to reveal the source.”

The opening ceremony was attended by several heads of state and included North Korea’s ceremonial leader, Kim Yong Nam, and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Also on hand was U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

The games are being held about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border between North and South Korea, countries that technically have been at war since an armistice in 1953.

Canda continues curling dominance

Canada has secured a first place spot in curling’s mixed doubles semifinals on the last day of the Olympic competition’s round robin.

The Canadians beat Korea, bringing their record to 6-1. Canada’s John Morris shared a triumphant grin with teammate Kaitlyn Lawes at the end of the game, exclaiming: “We did it! We’re in the playoffs!”

Canada will be joined in the semifinals by Switzerland and a team of athletes from Russia. A tiebreaker match on Sunday night will determine whether China or Norway secures the final playoff spot.

American sibling duo Matt and Becca Hamilton lost 7-5 to Finland, ending the U.S. team’s Olympic mixed doubles bid. The Hamiltons will compete with their respective teams in the traditional single-gender curling matches that begin later this week.