The Winter Olympics in Beijing concluded on Sunday after a 16-day run with two Milwaukee-area athletes bringing home medals and others turning in noteworthy performances. Goaltender Alex Cavallini of Delafield and forward Brianna Decker, a native of Dousman, captured silver medals as members of the U.S. women’s ice hockey team.
Cavallini, an Arrowhead High School graduate, started four games in goal, including the gold-medal matchup that the U.S. lost 3-2 to Canada.
The U.S. falls to Canada, 3-2, in the gold-medal game and will bring home the silver medal.
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 17, 2022
Recap → https://t.co/YAFLpicE8u pic.twitter.com/rASE1Y3vh6
The U.S. won the three other games in which Cavallini appeared in net. Prior to the final game, Cavallini had surrendered just two goals in the three games. Cavallini, 30, recorded a shutout in her first start, an 8-0 drubbing of Switzerland.
Decker’s Olympic appearance turned out to be brief. She suffered a serious leg injury in the opening game against Finland. The top-line center’s ankle was broken when she was tripped from behind just minutes into the first period. She had to be removed from the ice on a stretcher. Despite the injury, Decker remained with the team throughout the Olympics.
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Cavallini and Decker were members of the 2018 squad that captured the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Decker also played on the silver medal-winning team in the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
The pair were teammates on the University of Wisconsin hockey team that captured the 2011 national championship.
Speedskater Jordan Stolz, of Kewaskum, competed in his first Olympics at the age of 17. He earned a spot on Team USA after winning the 500-meter and 1,000-meter races at the U.S. Olympic Long Track Trials at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee in January.
In Beijing, Stolz, who some figured had an outside shot to win a medal, finished a respectable 13th in the 500 meters and 14th in the 1,000 meters.
West Bend teenager Courtney Rummel earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic snowboard team that competed in the Beijing Games.
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Rummel, 18, was among a contingent of 26 snowboarders who represented the United States. In her Olympic debut, Rummel didn’t qualify for the final of the snowboarding slopestyle event and finished in 18th place. Rummel also failed to qualify for the final of the women’s big air event. She finished 19th.
Pulaski native Deedra Irwin, 29, turned in one of the most compelling performances among U.S. athletes competing in the Winter Games. Irwin had a seventh-place finish in the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon race. It marked the best-ever finish for an American biathlete at the Olympics.
Irwin’s performance stunned observers of the sport, given that she had never finished better than 36th place in world cup competition.
The Olympics return with the Summer Games in Paris, which will run from July 26 to Aug. 11, 2024.
The next Winter Games will be held in Milan and Cortina, Italy, starting on Feb. 6, 2026.
