Olympic report
Figure skating Evan Lysacek became the first American man to win the Olympic gold medal since Brian Boitano in 1988, shocking everyone – maybe even himself – by upsetting defending champion Evgeni Plushenko. Lysacek, the reigning world champion, finished with a career-best 257.67, 1.31 ahead of the Russian. Daisuke Takahashi won the bronze, the first Japanese man to win a figure skating medal at the Olympic Games. Johnny Weir was sixth and U.S. champ Jeremy Abbott rallied to finish ninth.
Men’s hockey The U.S. squad will take a 2-0 record into its clash with Canada on Sunday following a 6-1 victory over Norway, with Phil Kessel and Chris Drury getting the club going with first-period goals. Goaltender Ryan Miller needed to make only 10 saves. Canada squeezed past Switzerland 4-3 in a shootout. Sidney Crosby put a wrist shot past Jonas Hiller on his second attempt of the shootout, then Martin Brodeur stopped a shot by Martin Pluss to seal it.
Women’s hockey The Americans cruised by Finland 6-0, getting a goal and two assists from captain Natalie Darwitz to cap an undefeated run through the preliminary round. Russia took down China 2-1.
Women’s halfpipe Australia’s Torah Bright became the 2010 champ in women’s halfpipe by beating the last two gold medalists, both Americans – ’06 champ Hannah Teter (silver) and ’02 champ Kelly Clark (bronze).
Skeleton With two of four skeleton runs in the books, the leader is Britain’s Amy Williams, who hasn’t even won a medal on the World Cup circuit this season. All three medalists from 2006 are in the field, with Canada’s gold-medal favorite Mellisa Hollingsworth in third, just nine-hundredths of a second behind. American Noelle Pikus-Pace is fifth.
Curling The Americans remained 0-for-Vancouver following losses by the men and women, both to Denmark by the score of 7-6.
At 0-4, the men are on the brink of elimination; they must win their remaining five matches to get to the semifinals. The women sit at 0-3.
Speedskating Canada’s Christine Nesbitt won gold in 1,000-meter speed skating, only winning by two-hundredths of a second over Dutch challenger Annette Gerritsen. Jennifer Rodriguez was the top American, finishing seventh.
Biathalon Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen won the men’s 20-kilometer individual event, denying his mentor, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, his sixth Olympic gold. With a silver, he became the first Olympic biathlete to medal in the same event in three straight Winter Games.
Tim Burke was the top American at 45th.
Norwegian Tora Berger dominated from start to finish in the women’s 15-kilometer individual race, becoming the first Norwegian woman to win an Olympic race at Vancouver. Berger’s medal also gave Norway their 100th Winter Olympic gold medal, the first nation to reach that milestone. Lanny Barnes was 23rd, best by an American since 1994.