Men’s Luge Singles
George Hakl was the fastest in the first three runs of the Winter Olympic men’s luge singles, which left the German about 49 seconds and one run away from becoming only the sixth athlete to win the same title in three consecutive Olympics.
Officials of the U.S. and Canadian luge federations say, Hackl has had some unneeded assistance.
They filed separate protests after the first run, claiming the boots worn by Hackl and teammate Jens Mueller violated two rules: They were not available to all competitors, as required, and they were shaped in such a way as to form an illegal angle, improving air flow.
The protests were denied after the second run by the international rules jury, which is composed of a German, American and Swede. The vote was 2-1.
Men’s speedskating
Three world records in the 5,000-meters race and all anyone wanted to discuss was the Dutch team’s latest controversial revolution in speedskating.
Gianni Romme and Rintje Ritsma used a major innovation in the form of aerodynamic stripes on their suits to give the Netherlands the gold and silver in a race in which all medalists broke the world record.
Romme won the gold with a time of 6 minutes, 22.20 seconds. Dutch-born Bart Veldkamp, a Belgian who had earlier become the first man to break the 6:30 barrier, won the bronze.
The stripes caught much of the speedskating world off guard because they were only announced by the Dutch and approved by the world governing body the previous night. One on the hood and two on each leg of the skater, the stripes - of an undisclosed material - are said to minimize resistance.
Women’s biathlon
Yekaterina Dafovska, an unheralded Bulgarian ranked only 51st in the world, won her country’s first Winter Olympics gold medal in the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon.
Men’s cross country skiing
Mika Myllylae of Finland won the first men’s cross-country gold medal of the games, the 30-kilometer classic race, in 1 minute, 33 minutes, 55.8 seconds. Pre-race favorite Bjorn Dahlie of Norway finished well out of the medals. Norway’s Erling Jevne won the silver, while Italy’s Silvio Fauner took the bronze.
Women’s curling
The strange combination of shuffleboard and housekeeping made its debut as an Olympic medal sport, with the Canadian women’s team defeating the U.S. 7-6. Sweden, Denmark and Britain also won.
Pairs figure skating
Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev of Russia were in first place after the short program of pairs. U.S. pair Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen were fourth, while Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, the other U.S. pair, were sixth. The pairs return to the ice today for the freestyle.
Men’s ice hockey
Canada’s hopes of a gold medal got a big boost when Paul Kariya, the star of the Mighty Ducks of the NHL, was cleared to play in the Olympics.
Slovakia eliminated Italy with a 4-3 victory, setting up a showdown with Kazakstan today. The winner clinches its bracket and advances to the next round.
Kazakstan and Austria tied 5-5.
Women’s ice hockey
The U.S. women beat China 5-0 to win their first Olympic hockey contest. Cammi Granato scored a pair of goals.
Canada outshot Japan 64-3 in a 12-0 victory.
Men’s combined
Snow falling at the rate of an inch and hour forced postponement of the slalom portion of the men’s combined event. It has been rescheduled for today.