The United States racked up two gold medals and a silver in men's and women's skeleton competition Wednesday at Utah Olympic Park.
Jim Shea Jr., who gave the Olympic oath and carried the torch in Rice-Eccles Stadium in the opening ceremonies, won the men's singles, while American women Tristan Gale and Lea Ann Parsley took their gold and silver in their event.
Shea had the fastest run of the first heat at 50.89 seconds and the third-fastest of the second at 51.07 for a two-run total of 1 minute 41.96 seconds, .05 seconds faster than silver-medalist Martin Rettl of Austria. Switzerland's Gregor Staehli took the bronze with a total time of 1:42.15.
Park City's Lincoln DeWitt placed fifth at 1:42.83 and U.S. teammate Chris Soule seventh at 1:42.98. They were placed ninth and 13th, respectively, after slower first runs.
As soon as he completed his second run, Shea ? a third-generation Olympian ? ripped off his helmet and took off a photograph of his late grandfather, Jack Shea, the double-gold speedskater from the 1932 Lake Placid Games who was killed at the age of 91 last month in a car accident in Lake Placid.
Gale and Parsley finished one-two after Wednesday's first run, with Gale finishing at 52.26 seconds and Parsley just .01 seconds behind. They were almost as close after the second run, with Gale at 1:45.11 and Parsley at 1:45.21 ? a .1 second difference. Great Britain's Alex Coomber took the bronze at 1:45.37.
In the women's curling semifinals at the Ice Sheet at Ogden, the United States fell to Switzerland 9-4. The Americans will face the winner of the Canada-Great Britain semifinal, which was tied 5-5 late in the match at presstime late Wednesday morning.
And in the women's slalom at Deer Valley Resort, both American skiers ? Kristina Koznick and Sarah Schleper ? fell and did not finish the morning first run.