For the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics, there were almost as many female competitors as there were male competitors. According to their website, 40.3 percent of the participants were women. Plus, this year, the women competing for Team USA brought home more medals than the men did. We are making strides, ladies! Here are four of the many female highlights from this year’s Winter Olympics:
1. Chloe Kim
Kim won a gold medal in the snowboard halfpipe event. A native from Long Beach, California, she’s the youngest woman to have ever received a snowboarding medal. At only 17 years old, she’s known as “the future of women’s snowboarding.”
2. Mirai Nagasu
Nagasu was the third woman to land a triple axel — the most difficult women’s figure skating jump — during the Olympic Games. In fact, no other figure skater even attempted the jump, while she pulled off the stunt perfectly.
3. Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall
As gold medal winners in the cross-country skiing team sprint, Randall and Diggins added a first to Team USA’s trophy case. They beat Sweden by 0.19 seconds to win the first medals American women have won in the sport. Norway trailed for bronze.
4. The U.S. Women’s Hockey Team
USA’s women’s hockey team beat Canada in an intense shootout, winning 3-2. This is big, as it’s the first Olympic gold medal for the USA women’s hockey team since 1998. As students at the University of Wisconsin, this is especially cool because there are many former Badgers on the team.
Two words: girl power. We’re making strides as females and as female athletes!