TUESDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS:
FOURTH ORANGE SWEEP
A Dutch sweep in the 10,000 meters was no surprise. The stunner came in the order of finish: Jorrit Bergsma knocked off the world’s greatest distance skater, teammate Sven Kramer, winning in an Olympic-record 12 minutes, 44.45 seconds. Bergsma shattered the Olympic record of 12:58.55 set by South Korea’s Lee Seung-hoon four years ago. The fourth 1-2-3 finish pushed its speedskating medal haul to 19 out of a possible 27.
A-MAZE-ING RUN THROUGH RAIN AND SNOW
Tina Maze of Slovenia handled the rainy and snowy weather better than anyone on the giant slalom course, winning her second gold medal of the Sochi Games after last week’s downhill. Maze’s two-run time of 2 minutes, 36.87 seconds was 0.07 seconds ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. Defending champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third.
FOG LIFTS, FRENCHMAN SOARS
Delayed a day by heavy fog, snowboardcross concluded with a course that was slushy and soggy. Pierre Vaultier of France held off hard-charging Nikolay Olyunin of Russia, while Alex Deibold of the U.S. grabbed bronze after narrowly edging teammate Trevor Jacob in the semifinals.
RUSSIA STRUGGLES BUT SURVIVES
Timely goals and two brilliant goalies are keeping the Russians alive in hockey. Alexander Radulov scored two goals and an assist and Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves in the second straight shutout for the fifth-seeded Russians, who beat Norway 4-0. They will face Finland on Wednesday, while the U.S. will play the Czech Republic, Canada will play Latvia and Sweden will meet Slovenia.
PUSSY RIOT MEMBERS DETAINED, RELEASED
Two members of the punk group Pussy Riot were released from a police station after being detained several hours for questioning in Sochi, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Olympic Park. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, and seven others, were held by police near Sochi’s ferry terminal, a popular area for fans celebrating the Olympics. Tolokonnikova said the detention followed three days of police harassment.
EARLY CELEBRATION NEARLY COSTLY
Norway’s Emil Hegle Svendsen began celebrating in the final stretch of 15-kilometer mass start race, and it nearly cost him his gold medal. French rival Martin Fourcade made one last attempt at victory with a sliding finish, pushing his left ski ahead to come within one-tenth of a second of stealing first place. Ondrej Moravec of Czech Republic took bronze for his second medal of the games after winning silver in the 12.5K pursuit.
SHORT TRACK TURNAROUND
South Korea won the gold in the short track 3,000-meter relay with a dramatic last-lap pass of China, a turnaround from Vancouver. Four years ago, the South Koreans finished first but were disqualified, propelling China to the gold. China found itself off the podium in Sochi, crossing the finish line second but getting disqualified for impeding. Canada got the silver and Italy got the bronze.
HALFPIPE SKIING DEBUTS IN SLEET AND SNOW
David Wise won the gold medal in the Olympic debut of halfpipe skiing, as the American cut through heavy snow to easily outclass the field with a score of 92 on his first run. Mike Riddle of Canada took silver and Kevin Rolland of France won bronze as conditions worsened throughout the evening, with the top of the pipe almost invisible from the base by the end of the contest.
MEDALS
The Netherlands and the United States are tied with 20 medals in Sochi, and both have six golds. Host Russia has 19 in all, five of them gold. Norway has 18 total, but seven are gold. Canada has 17 medals, four of them gold. And German has the most gold of anyone, with eight, and 15 overall.
WEDNESDAY’S HIGHLIGHT
The U.S. team of Lauryn Williams, a former sprint champion, and Elana Meyers leads at the halfway point of women’s Olympic bobsled - one of eight gold medals at stake Wednesday.
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