Arakawa gives Japan sport’s biggest prize

Shizuka Arakawa skated off with Japan’s first medal of these Olympics – a gold in the showcase event. The 2004 world champion stunned favorites Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia to claim figure skating’s biggest prize Thursday night at Turin, Italy. (See related story/A1)

Arakawa did it with elegance and technical brilliance that had two-time Olympic winner Katarina Witt standing and applauding before the Japanese skater was done. Cohen fell twice and finished with a silver; Slutskaya fell once and took bronze.

The Japanese team has struggled in the mountains and on the ice. But Arakawa, third after the short program and a mere .71 points behind Cohen, was magnificent. Her spectacular spirals thrilled the crowd.

Women’s snowboarding

Three-time defending world cup champion Daniela Meuli of Switzerland gave her country and its red-clad, raucous, flag-waving Alpine fans a second gold in as many days, winning the parallel giant slalom at Bardonecchia.

Swiss Philipp Schoch won the men’s event Wednesday, with brother Simon winning silver.

The bronze went to Rosey Fletcher, the first U.S. woman to climb on the podium in the Olympics’ final snowboarding event.

Fletcher had a .24 lead over Meuli after the first semifinal run, but her board went out from under her when they switched courses, allowing Meuli to coast to the final round.

It was a similar story in the championship race, as German Amelie Kober crashed and slid into the safety fence just as it appeared she might overtake Meuli.

Women’s biathlon

At Cesana, Russia upset two-time defending Olympic champion Germany in the women’s 4x6km biathlon relay, and they did it without banished star Olga Pyleva.

Anna Bogaliy started in place of Pyleva, the only athlete caught so far in the tightest drug net in Winter Olympics history. Bogaliy gave her team a big lead at the first exchange and the Russians never trailed.

The Americans took 15th place, finishing more than 9 minutes off the pace in Rachel Steer’s final Olympic race. America’s best female biathlete, Steer is retiring at age 28 after the World Cup season ends next month.

Women’s curling

Stars of a head-banging music video back home, Sweden played a conservative game to beat Switzerland 7-6 with a double-takeout on the last stone of an extra end in the gold-medal game at Pinerolo.

Earlier, Canada beat Norway 11-5 in eight ends to take the bronze.

Men’s freestyle skiing

Han Xiaopeng of China won gold, Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus took silver and Vladimir Lebedev of Russia won bronze in aerials at Sauze d’Oulx.

After winning three golds in 1998 and three silvers in 2002, the U.S. team leaves with one medal – the bronze won by Toby Dawson in men’s moguls.