NorCal Olympians Hang Tough With World's Best in Pyeongchang
By Garvin Thomas ••
They didn't bring home a medal for the United States Thursday, but they held their own competing against the best athletes in the world going for gold in Pyeongchang.
Lake Tahoe-based skier Bryce Bennett finished 16th in the men's downhill competition while Palo Alto's Joanne Reid settled for 22nd in the 15km individual biathlon event.
Bennett, who is competing in his first Olympic Games, believes his experience in South Korea will only help him moving forward in future competitions.
"What I really took away from this whole experience is you have to have all your ducks in a row, and you have to have everything in your career lined up and set in place so when this day comes and when it does come, you can execute," he said.
Execute is exactly what Reid was able to do in the women's 15km individual event. She has a disappointing finish in last week's sprint event, missing most of her targets and finishing second to last.
She managed to brush that performance aside and finish 22nd in Thursday's event, nailing 19 of 20 shots.
Reid pulled out that result just hours after learning that she would actually be competing in the event.
"I was actually the alternate for this event, so I wasn't even supposed to race in it, and then because the race got moved and a weird series of events, here I am," she said. "So I didn't want to disappoint my roommate who really wanted to race this race, but also taking her spot and having a bad one, so I just wanted to go out here and shoot as well as I could for her."
Unfortunately for Reid, the 15km event was postponed due to wind conditions. That meant her parents, who had scheduled a flight to leave Pyeongchang earlier Thursday, couldn't see their daughter compete in person.