Olympic 2018 Medal Count: Every Winner from Thursday Morning Events

Thursday belonged to Norway at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The Scandinavian nation totaled six medals, including a trio of golds, during the busiest day of competition in Pyeongchang, South Korea, to date.

Norway's first-place finishes came in alpine skiing, biathlon and cross-country skiing, and it's total medal count moved up to 17.

The top American story from Thursday was Mikaela Shiffrin's first victory in Pyeongchang in the women's giant slalom, and there could be more reason for celebration in the coming days if she continues to perform at a high level.

Medal Count

Alpine Skiing

Men's Downhill

Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway)

The first Norwegian gold on Thursday came in the first alpine skiing event to experience perfect weather conditions after a week filled with high winds.

Aksel Lund Svindal topped the men's downhill charts in a time of one minute, 40.25 seconds, while fellow Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud took silver.

After the race, Svindal was still trying to let the moment sink in, per Reuters' Nick Mulvenney.

"It's one of those things where you keep looking up the hill because I want to make sure it's real, like no one comes and skis faster," Svindal said. "But this is fine.”

Women's Giant Slalom

Mikaela Shiffrin (United States)

As Thursday started in the Eastern time zone, Shiffrin took home the first of what is expected to be many medals in alpine skiing.

The 22-year-old used a second run of 1:09.20 to earn her second-career gold and first in the giant slalom.

Shiffrin posted a celebratory message, including a picture of her holding the American flag, on her personal Twitter account after Thursday's race:

The American phenom is expected to take home her second gold in as many days on Friday in the slalom, which is her best event.

Biathlon

Men's 20-kilometer individual

Johannes Thingnes Boe (Norway)

Johannes Thingnes Boe seized control of the men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon event after favorite Martin Fourcade missed two shots in the final of four shooting rounds.

Boe missed two shots of his own, but they didn't come at an inopportune moment like the ones by Fourcade.

After winning his first medal in eight Olympic events, Boe broke down in tears of joy and explained what the moment meant to him, per Tom Dougherty of NBCOlympics.com.

"It's very special," Boe said. "I was crying. Second time I've cried in the last 10 years, maybe. The first time was after my first world championship title, so this means a lot for us athletes. We train very hard for this and when you get the achievement, an Olympic gold medal, it's emotional."

Boe's gold was the third earned on Thursday by Norway, who added six to its medal haul. That total matched the single-day record at the Winter Olympics set by the United States in 2010, per Olympic Talk's Nick Zaccardi:

Women's 15-kilometer individual

Hanna Oeberg (Sweden)

A perfect shooting performance propelled Hanna Oeberg to gold in the women's 15-kilometer individual biathlon competition.

Oeberg became the third different Swedish athlete to take the top spot on the medal podium in Pyeongchang after Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson took home titles in cross-country skiing.

The first-time Olympic champion completed the race in 41 minutes and 7.2 seconds, which was 24 seconds ahead of Slovakia's Anastasiya Kuzmina in second.

Oeberg was one of three athletes in the competition to complete a perfect shooting round. The other two who accomplished the feat finished outside of the medal positions.

Cross-Country Skiing

Women's 10-kilometer free

Ragnhild Haga (Norway)

Norway's Ragnhild Haga smoked the field in the 10-kilometer free at the Alpensia Cross-Country Center, as her closest competition finished 20 seconds behind her.

Haga entered with a good feeling she would achieve success thanks to her training and fast start on Thursday, per the Associated Press' Steve Reed.

"I have trained a lot on the 10-kilometer free this year, and I got a feeling that I had a good start in terms of speed," Haga said.

Haga's first gold medal came in a field that included cross-country legends Kalla and Norway's Marit Bjoergen, who won her 12th Olympic medal with the bronze she shared with Finland's Krista Parmakoski.

Luge

Team Relay

Germany

Germany won its third gold in luge, as it captured the team event title on Thursday.

Natalie Geisenberger, Johannes Ludwig and the doubles pairing of Tobias Arlt and Tobias Wendl produced a combined time of two minutes, 24.517 seconds at the Olympic Sliding Center.

The combined mark bested Canada by 35-hundredths of a second and Austria by 47-hundredths.

The gold was the third in luge for Germany after Geisenberger took home individual honors in women's singles and Arlt and Wendl won the men's doubles.

Snowboard

Men's Snowboard Cross

Pierre Vaultier (France)

Pierre Vaultier survived a crash-filled set of races in men's snowboard cross to repeat as Olympic champion. 

The Frenchman was caught up in an on-course incident in the semifinals, but he recovered from the fall to take third and move on to the final.

In the championship race, three riders crashed behind Vaultier as he fought off the pursuit of Australia's Jarryd Hughes and Spain's Regino Hernandez.

Vaultier's victory was the third for France in Pyeongchang, with the other two golds coming in biathlon and freestyle skiing.

Speed Skating

Men's 10,000-meters

Ted-Jan Bloemen (Canada)

The Dutch dominance in speed skating was ended by Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen in the men's 10,000-meters.

Bloemen set the Olympic record while becoming the first Canadian to earn gold in the long-distance event.

The 31-year-old was born in the Netherlands, but joined the Canadian team four years ago, a decision Bloemen believed help him attain his Olympic dream, per CBC's Pete Evans.

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Bloemen said. "I have such a great team around me, I'm so proud and so grateful to them."

Bloemen broke the Olympic record in a time of 12 minutes, 39.77 seconds one heat after Dutchman Jorrit Bergsma shattered his own previous Olympic record with a skate of 12:41.98.

Canada has won four golds in four different sports in Pyeongchang, with curling, figure skating and freestyle skiing being the other three.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Olympic.org.