Steve Futterman

The Canadians have won five, including 2022.

For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Milan.

The dream gold medal match of the U.S.

versus Canada was on the brink twice on Wednesday.

In the end, both the Americans and Canadians survived, but each had to do it in overtime.

In the U.S.-Sweden game, the Americans were 91 seconds away from victory when Sweden tied the game 1-1.

In the overtime, Quinn Hughes, who plays for the Minnesota Wild, was able to get the winning goal to keep the Americans alive.

The Canada-Czechia game was even more dramatic.

The Czechs took a 3-2 lead with less than eight minutes left in regulation.

Canada, minutes away from elimination, was able to tie the game and then, like the U.S., win in overtime.

The two teams now advance to Friday's semifinals.

For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Milan.

When it was over, when she crossed the finish line and realized she had won the gold, Michaela Schifrin says there was a sense of relief.

The frustration of failing to win a single medal in Beijing four years ago could be set aside.

Schifrin had a huge eight-tenths of a second lead after the first run.

The only question was whether she could get through the second run without falling or missing a gate.

These moments, we do build them up for sure.

Like I said, the biggest task today was to simplify and focus on the skiing.

At one point during her post-race news conference, Schifrin became emotional talking about her father who died in 2020.

This was her first Olympic medal since his death.