Russia dominate men’s speedskating
Viktor Ahn wins the gold in the men’s 1,000m short track speed skating whilst Sweden cause a shock in 4×5 km relay.
Anna Fenninger maintained Austria’s grip on the Olympic women’s Alpine skiing super-G title in a race where just finishing proved a big challenge for the early starters.
Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch, super-combined winner on Monday, was again thwarted in her bid to equal retired Croatian Janica Kostelic’s record haul of four golds and had to settle for silver.
On a bright, warm day on the softening Rosa Khutor slope, with the tight course set by Austrian Florian Winkler, Austria’s Nicole Hosp picked up a bronze to go with her super-combined silver.
Only one of the first eight starters made it to the finish and the carnage continued with Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin, who shared downhill gold with Slovenia’s Tina Maze on Wednesday, sliding off in a tangle of skis after starting 11th.
Hoefl-Riesch made a big mistake on the last jump and was surprised to have collected her first Olympic silver after three gold medals.
Swedish major upset
Elsewhere, Sweden won the women’s cross country 4x5km relay gold medal in a major upset.
Norway had won all the World Cup and world championships relays since the Vancouver Games, where they also won gold, but could do not better than fifth. Finland took silver while Germany won the bronze.
Charlotte Kalla started the final leg 25.7 seconds behind Finland in third position but caught Krista Lahteenmaki and German Denise Herrmann some 300 metres out and won the sprint to the line.
Chinese short track speed skater Zhou Yang successfully defended her 1,500 metres Olympic title when she won the gold medal.
Shim Suk-hee of South Korea won the silver medal and Italy’s Arianna Fontana took the bronze after a hotly-contested race at the Iceberg Skating Palace.
The 22-year-old Zhou timed her race to perfection, taking the lead approaching the final lap and sprinting clear to collect her third Olympic gold medal after she won two in Vancouver four years ago.
Russian gold and silver
Viktor Ahn won the gold medal in the men’s 1,000 metres short track speed skating, leading a Russian one-two in one of the sport’s premier events.
Competing for his adopted country Russia, Ahn reclaimed the title he last won for South Korea in Turin eight years ago, leading almost all the way in the five-man final.
Vladimir Grigorev, also of Russia, won the silver medal while the bronze went to Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands at the Iceberg Skating Palace.
Polish ice success
Zbigniew Brodka of Poland won the men’s 1,500 metres speed skating title by three thousands of a second as America’s lack of success continued despite a change of suit.
Brodka clocked one minute 45 seconds with Koen Verweij of Netherlands crossing the finish line in the same time in the
final heat.
Brodka and Verweij waited nervously for a few moments while organisers went down to thousandths off a second to split the duo, with the Pole proving victorious in 1:45.006 compared to 1:45.009.