Several Minnesotan athletes are among the competitors in this year’s Olympics, which began Feb. 6 and will end Feb. 23 in Sochi, Russia.

Men’s Hockey

With its first Olympic event Feb. 13, this year’s men’s Olympic hockey team features 8 Minnesotan athletes. These athletes include David Backles (Minneapolis), Justin Faulk (South St. Paul), Paul Martin (Minneapolis), Ryan McDonaugh (St. Paul), T.J. Oshie (Warroad), Zach Parise (Minneapolis), Derek Stepan (Faribault)  and Blake Wheeler (Minneapolis). The U.S. team won its first game against Slovakia 7-1. It also beat the host team Russia 3-2 in a shootout in which Oshie had 6 of the 8 shootout shots and was the only scorer for the U.S team, getting 4 of the 6 shots in the net. The team followed it up with a 5-1 win against Slovenia and a 5-2 win against the Czech Republic in the quarter finals. The team lost to Canada in the semi final game 1-0. In the bronze medal game, the U.S team lost 0-5 to Finland, and walked away with no medal.

Women’s Hockey

After a 3-1 win in the first round against Finland and a 9-0 win against Switzerland, the U.S. women’s hockey team experienced its first loss to the Canadian team 2-3. After a 6-1 win against Sweden in the semi-final rounds, the U.S. team faced the Canadian team in the gold medal game, only to walk away with silver medal in a 3-2 overtime loss. The women’s team includes 3 Minnesotan women. These women include Gigi Marvin (Warroad), Anne Schleper (St. Cloud) and Lee Stecklein (Richfield).

Men’s Curling

This year’s men’s Olympic curling team lost its first match to Norway 4-7 and proceeded to lose to China 4-9. The team ended its losing streak with a win against Denmark by a score of 9-5, but this was short-lived after a 5-3 loss to Great Britain. It was able to redeem itself in an 8-5 win against Germany, but came up short against Russia in a 6-7 loss. It lost 6-8 to Canada and 4-6 to Sweden. This was followed by a 3-6 loss to Switzerland in its final game and did not advance to the semifinal or medal rounds. This team is led by 4 Minnesotan athletes. These athletes include Jeff Isaacson (Gilbert), John Landsteiner (Mapleton), John Shuster (Chisholm) and Jared Zezel (Hibbing).

Women’s curling

This year’s women’s curling team lost its first match against Switzerland 4-7 and proceeded to lose a game to Russia 7-9. This losing streak continued with a 4-7 loss to China but was broken with a 8-6 win against Japan. This win was short lived after a 2-9 loss to Denmark, followed by a 6-7 loss against Sweden and a 6-7 loss against Canada. The team lost its last game to Korea 2-11 and did not advance to the semi final games. This team includes only one Minnesotan athlete, Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie).

Women’s cross country skiing

This year’s women skied in the final round Feb. 8. Minnesota native Jessie Diggins (Afton) finished in eighth place with an overall time of 20:01.7 and was only 1:31.9 seconds slower than the gold medalist from Norway.

Men’s Biathlon

Men’s biathlon held its final round with only one Minnesotan competing. Leif Nordgren (Forest Lake) finished 45th overall in the men’s 10k biathlon sprint Feb. 8.

Women’s speed skating

Competing in Long Track 3000 meter speedskating, Minnesota native Anna Ringsred (Duluth) took 26th place overall in the final rounds of Olympic women’s long track speedskating Feb. 9.