Olympics report
Christensen leads sweep for U.S.
For only the third time in Winter Games history, a U.S. team swept the podium. Joss Christensen led the way with an amazing performance during slopestyle skiing that featured four near-perfect runs over the rails and jumps at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper captured the silver and bronze, as the U.S. skiers matched the country’s previous sweeps in men’s figure skating in 1956 and men’s halfpipe in 2002.
Kowalcyzk skis to gold despite injury
Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, skiing with a fractured foot, led nearly all the way in the women’s cross-country 10-kilometer classical race, finishing in 28 minutes, 17.8 seconds and beating silver medalist Charlotte Kalla of Sweden by 18.4 seconds.
Li maintains 500 title for China
Li Jianrou’s win in women’s 500-meter short track speedskating keeps the Olympic title with China. Arianna Fontana of Italy took the silver and Park Seung-hi of South Korea earned the bronze.
Zhang races for China’s first gold
In the women’s 1,000-meter race, Zhang Hong pulled off a stunning victory to give China its first gold in Olympic speedskating. Her time of 1 minute, 14.02 seconds, broke the track record and just missed the Olympic mark set by Chris Witty at the 2002 Games.
France’s Fourcade makes it two
Martin Fourcade of France earned his second gold of the Sochi Games with a victory in the men’s 20-kilometer individual biathlon. Fourcade, who won the 12.5K pursuit on Monday, finished 12.2 seconds ahead of silver medalist Erik Lesser of Germany. Yevgeny Garanichev of Russia won the bronze.
Germany lunges ahead in luge
Germany scored a golden sweep of all four luge events by winning the inaugural team relay. Felix Loch, Natalie Geisenberger and the doubles team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt finished their runs in 2 minutes, 45.649 seconds, beating Russia for the title by 1.030 seconds. Latvia won the bronze.
Two giants set to spar Saturday
The United States defeated Slovakia 7-1 and Russia topped Slovenia 5-2 in preliminary rounds of the men’s ice hockey competition, setting the stage for the two powers to battle on Saturday. Also, Canada defeated Norway 3-1 and Finland beat Austria 8-4. In the women’s tournament, Germany defeated Japan 4-0 and Russia beat Sweden 3-1.
Pressure builds for undefeated China
Gold medal favorites Canada, Sweden and Britain posted wins in the men’s curling tournament, keeping the pressure on undefeated China. In the women’s competition, Canada swept away its fifth straight opponent, while Sweden knocked Switzerland from the ranks of the undefeated. Britain revived its chances of making the semifinals with a victory over China.
Britain pulls down top two spots
Lizzy Yarnold of Britain and Noelle Pinkus-Pace grabbed the top two spots midway through the women’s skeleton competition. The final two runs are today.