KSL at the Games: Park City's Casey Dawson adds Olympic silver in team pursuit

SALT LAKE CITY — Casey Dawson's gambit paid off in the form of a medal after Tuesday's team pursuit speed skating final, but an upset on home ice dropped the world No. 1-ranked Americans to second place.

The Team USA speed skating standout from Park City pulled out of the 10,000-meter race Friday morning, where he was the only American to qualify for the final rounds, in favor of focusing on other races.

That included the team pursuit for Dawson, who debuted with the United States' Olympic team in Beijing and led Team USA to a second-straight media with silver in team pursuit.

The 25-year-old who was born and raised in the Summit County resort town made up one-third of the U.S. men's team that held three world records, five World Cup titles this season, an Olympic bronze medal and a world championship gold in the past five years.

Entering the Olympics with a six-race winning streak, the United States was favored by some to win gold and most to win a medal as the world's top-ranked team of Dawson, fellow University of Utah graduate Ethan Cepuran, and Emery Lehman — who also lives in Utah while training at and around the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns — crossed the line in 3 minutes, 44.29 seconds to finish second behind host Italy.

The Italians, who crossed in 3:39.20, clinched the 30th medal of the Winter Games to lead all countries.

United States finishes 4th in women's team pursuit

The United States cruised past China in the team pursuit semifinals, finishing nearly 8 seconds ahead in 3:44.29 in the second semifinal opposite Italy and the Netherlands. China would go on to edge the Dutch for bronze, the country's best finish in the event.

In the women's team pursuit final, Japan held off the United States' team by 3.5 seconds. Canada won its second-straight gold medal in 2:55.80, crossing the line 0.97 seconds ahead of the Netherlands.

That kept Team USA, which included Salt Lake Community College graduate Giorgia Birklenad and fellow Utah residents Brittany Bowe and Mia Manganello, from adding hardware to the group's first-ever medal, a bronze in 2018.

Park City freeskier takes big-air silver

Mac Forehand dropped a 98.25 on his final run to clinch the silver medal in big air in his first Olympics.

The 24-year-old from Norwalk, Connecticut who trains in Park City scored the near-perfect count on his final run before Norway's Tormod Frostad snatched gold with a 98.50 on a trick that was judged to. be more stylish and technical — if not witih as many rotations — as the American.

But Forehand's second triple cork 2160 with a safety grab was enough to land a spot on the podium with a total score of 193.25.

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