Olympic notes: Switzerland and Japan are big winners at Olympics

Japan’s Hanyu overcomes falls

Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu won the gold medal in men’s figure skating despite two falls during his free skate routine, largely because of the lead he built up with his record-setting short program. Canadian Patrick Chan, skating after Hanyu, won the silver despite three errors. World silver medalist Denis Ten of Kazakhstan took bronze.

Cologna wins second gold

Dario Cologna of Switzerland captured his second gold of the games, winning the sweat-drenched men’s classical-style 15-kilometer cross-country race. Sweden’s Johan Olsson captured the silver, finishing 28.5 seconds behind Cologna. Another Swede, Daniel Richardsson, took bronze. Cologna, who had ankle surgery in November, won the 30K skiathlon on Sunday.

Swiss add more gold in skiing

Sandro Viletta added another gold for Switzerland when he finished the downhill and slalom runs in a combined time of 2 minutes, 45.20 seconds to win the men’s super-combined. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia earned the silver and Christof Innerhofer of Italy got bronze.

Domracheva doubles up

Darya Domracheva of Belarus earned her second gold medal of the games by winning the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon race. Domracheva, who also won the 12.5K pursuit three days ago, missed one target before finishing in 43 minutes, 19.6 seconds. Selina Gasparin of Switzerland finished 1:15.7 behind to take silver. Nadezhda Skardino of Belarus got the bronze.

Tsuper surprise in freestyle skiing

Alla Tsuper of Belarus pulled off a stunning upset to win gold in women’s freestyle skiing aerials. Tsuper beat a field that included defending Olympic champion Lydia Lassila of Australia and two-time Olympic medalist Li Nina of China. The 34-year-old Tsuper had never finished higher than fifth in four previous Olympics. Xu Mengtao of China won silver while Lassila earned bronze.

Yarnold claims Britain’s first gold

Lizzy Yarnold of Britain won gold in women’s skeleton, beating rival Noelle Pikus-Pace of the United States by a full second. It was Britain’s first gold medal in Sochi. Winning the silver allowed Pikus-Pace to reach her goal of closing out her career with an Olympic medal. Elena Nikitina of Russia won the bronze.

China, Britain slide into first place

China and Britain won close games in the men’s curling tournament to move into a three-way tie with Sweden atop the 10-country field. China beat Norway 7-5, while Britain topped Denmark 8-6. In the women’s tournament, China beat South Korea, Britain defeated Japan, Russia beat Switzerland, and Denmark topped the U.S., all but eliminating the Americans from the playoffs.

Canada nets rout over Austria

Canada topped Austria 6-0 in the preliminary rounds of men’s hockey. Also, Sweden beat Switzerland 1-0, the Czech Republic downed Latvia 4-2 and Finland defeated Norway 6-1.