By Associated Press - Sunday, February 18, 2018

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) - The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local):

12:40 p.m.

Canada set up yet another gold medal game against the United States in women’s hockey, and had to share an Olympic title with Germany after a tie in the two-man bobsled.Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir broke their own record for a short program and finished in first heading into the free dance.

Day 10 was a big day for the Canadians, but Norway picked up two-thirds of the medals - 2 of the 3 - awarded with speedskater Havard Lorentzen setting an Olympic record to win the 500-meters and Robert Johansson leading the Norwegians to victory in the large hill team ski jumping final.

At the end of the day, Norway led the standings with 11 gold medals and 28 overall. Germany was next with 10 gold and 20 overall, followed by Canada and Netherlands with six gold medals apiece.

Virtue and Moir will be aiming to wrap up gold in the ice dance, which is one of five medal events on Day 11.

___

11:35 p.m.

Robert Johansson nailed a jump of 136 meters in the final round to give Norway the gold medal in large hill team ski jumping, his third medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Norway went into the last round with a 22-point lead and finished with a total of 1,098.5, well clear of defending champion Germany, which took the silver medal with 1,075.7. Poland finished third with a total of 1,072.4 for its first Olympic medal in the team event.

Norway has won three of the four men’s team events in the World Cup this season and had the deepest team with its four jumpers in the top 12 in the standings. It was Norway’s 11th gold medal of the games.

Johansson also won bronze medals in the normal and large hill. The last ski jumper to win a medal in each of the three men’s ski jumping events at a single Olympics was Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer in 2010.

___

11:20 p.m.

It’s part of the routine now, as much a staple of the Winter Games as the medal ceremonies, or the sequins on the figure skating costumes.

Canada playing the United States for the Olympic women’s hockey gold medal.

Jennifer Wakefield scored twice and Shannon Szabados stopped 14 shots on Monday night to lead Canada to a 5-0 victory over the Russians and earn the four-time defending Olympic champions a spot in the gold medal game.

It will be the fifth time in six Winter Games since women’s hockey was added to the program that the North American neighbors have met in the final. No one else has ever skated away with an Olympic gold medal.

The Russians still have a chance for their first Olympic women’s hockey medal ever when they play Finland in the bronze medal match on Wednesday.

___

11 p.m.

Canada and Germany have tied for the gold medal in two-man bobsledding. It’s the second time two countries have shared gold in this event in Olympic history.

The Canadian sled driven by Justin Kripps and pushed by Alexander Kopacz will share the gold with the German sled driven by Francesco Friedrich and pushed by Thorsten Margis.

Both finished in 3 minutes, 16.86 seconds at the Pyeongchang Games.

It’s the third time the top two sleds have finished tied in an Olympic two-man race. Canada and Italy shared gold in 1998 - and Italy got the gold over West Germany in 1968, even though both sleds had the same time. The Olympics then utilized a fastest-heat tiebreaker, which gave the Italians the nod.

Latvia got bronze Monday, with Oskars Melbardis and Janis Strenga finishing 0.05 seconds back in the closest three-sled finish in Olympic history.

___

This item has been corrected to show that it’s the second time two countries have shared gold in the two-man bobsled in Olympic history, not the second dead heat in the two-man bobsled in Olympic history.

___

10:15 p.m.

The curling world was floored when word broke that a Russian Olympic curler was facing a doping charge because doping goes against the very essence of what curling is all about.

The charge against Alexander Krushelnitsky stands in stark contrast to curling’s noteworthy adherence to good sportsmanship, an ethos known as “The Spirit of Curling.”

The World Curling Federation’s rules state that a true curler would prefer to lose than to win unfairly.

On Monday, Krushelnitsky’s fellow curlers were trying to make sense of the scandal, with some openly questioning whether Krushelnitsky had been slipped a banned substance without his knowledge.

Though to the uninitiated, the idea of a curler using performance-enhancing drugs may seem bizarre, the sport does demand a high level of athleticism at the Olympic level.

___

9:50 p.m.

Havard Lorentzen of Norway has skated an Olympic record to beat Cha Min-Kyu of South Korea by 0.01 seconds and take gold in 500-meter speedskating.

Lorentzen crossed in 34.41 seconds for the record. Cha took silver, and Gao Tingyu of China took bronze.

Three years after a Dutch sweep, none of their three skaters made it on the podium Monday at the Pyeongchang Games.

Lorentzen symbolized the revival of Norway’s skating program after it was shut out of the medals at Sochi in 2014. He was the first Norwegian champion over the distance since 1948.

___

9:35 p.m.

Spain’s newest Olympic medalists are hoping their feats at the Pyeongchang Games will help boost winter sports back home.

Snowboarder Regino Hernandez and figure skater Javier Fernandez have returned to home soil after winning historic bronze medals in South Korea, saying now it’s time to get Olympic winter sports to grow across Spain.

Hernandez says in Spain, people participate in winter sports as a hobby, not professionally. He says, “The repercussion of this medal has been amazing. We hope it will help get more people on board.”

Hernandez won his medal on snowboardcross, while Fernandez won in men’s figure skating.

Spain has only four winter medals in total. The last one had been won in 1992.

___

9:10 p.m.

Short-track speedskater Elise Christie of Britain has returned to training for the first time since a dramatic crash in the women’s 1,500 meters at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Christie was back on the ice Monday and hopes to be able to compete in the 1,000-meter race Tuesday.

She crashed into the pads during Saturday’s race and had to be stretchered off. She was taken to the hospital for X-rays on her right ankle, which showed no broken bones.

The chef de mission for Britain says Christie has soft tissue damage to her ankle.

It’s not the first time Christie has experienced trouble at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

She collided with Chinese skater Li Jinyu in the 1,500-meter semifinals and also crashed in the 500-meter final.

In Sochi, Christie was disqualified three times.

___

9 p.m.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin is dropping out of the downhill at the Pyeongchang Games so she can focus on the combined event that was moved to the following day.

Shiffrin’s decision was announced shortly after officials said they were moving the combined up a day to Thursday because of strong winds in Friday’s forecast.

The downhill is Wednesday, so the 22-year-old American suddenly would have had to race on consecutive days. When she tried that earlier at these Olympics, she followed up her gold in the giant slalom by finishing fourth in the slalom.

Shiffrin had talked at the Sochi Games about aiming for five gold medals in 2018. Now she will end up competing in only three of the five individual events in South Korea.

___

8:45 p.m.

The most frantic finish in Olympic bobsled history may be happening.

There are five sleds all within 0.13 seconds of one another going into the final heat of the two-man competition Monday at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Canada’s Justin Kripps leads over Germany’s Francesco Friedrich, Germany’s Johannes Lochner, Latvia’s Oskars Melbardis and Germany’s Nico Walther.

That’s only the second time in Olympic history that five sleds have been within a quarter-second going into the last heat of a four-run race - in any sliding sport.

It’s also the second time it’s happened the last three days. There were five sleds within 0.23 seconds of the lead going into the final run of women’s skeleton on Saturday night.

___

8:40 p.m.

The women’s Alpine combined skiing event is being pushed up a day to Thursday because Friday’s forecast calls for strong wind.

That means the final women’s individual Alpine race will now share billing with the last men’s individual Alpine race. Competitors include 2010 Olympic downhill champion Lindsey Vonn and two-time gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin.

The men’s slalom features Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, who’s trying to become only the fourth ski racer in history to win three gold medals at a single Olympics.

This is the latest in a series of adjustments to the Alpine schedule because of concerns over fierce winds. It’s the third time during the Pyeongchang Games there will be a doubleheader of sorts, with one men’s race and one women’s race contested on the same day.

___

8:30 p.m.

The U.S. women have advanced to the semifinals of team pursuit with a chance to win a speedskating medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Heather Bergsma, Brittany Bowe and Mia Manganello were timed in 2 minutes, 59.75 seconds on Monday.

They finished fourth in the quarterfinals. The top four teams moved on.

The Americans have yet to win a medal at the big oval.

The Netherlands qualified fastest in an Olympic-record time of 2:55.61. Japan was second and Canada third.

The U.S. will be paired against the Dutch in the semis on Wednesday.

___

8:15 p.m.

The Netherlands has won its heat in the women’s team pursuit speedskating quarterfinals in Olympic-record time.

Marrit Leenstra, Ireen Wust and Antoinette de Jong were clocked in 2 minutes, 55.61 seconds on Monday at the Pyeongchang Games. That bettered the old mark of 2 minutes, 58.05 seconds set by the Netherlands four years ago in Sochi.

The teams with the four fastest times advance to the semifinals.

___

7:30 p.m.

The surprise winner of the super-G in Alpine skiing at the Pyeongchang Olympics is not even attempting to compete in the downhill.

Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic will be the first women’s super-G champion to not enter the downhill at the same Winter Games since Diann Roffe in 1994.

Ledecka stunned Lindsey Vonn, defending champion Anna Veith and everyone else by coming out of nowhere to win the super-G on Saturday after never finishing better than seventh in 19 career World Cup ski races.

She is also a snowboarder and is expected to enter qualifying for the parallel giant slalom in that sport on Thursday.

That would make her the first Olympic competitor in Alpine skiing and snowboarding.

___

6:20 p.m.

U.S. Olympic curler Matt Hamilton says a Russian bronze medalist who is facing a doping charge should lose his medal from the Pyeongchang Games.

Hamilton played against Russia’s Alexander Krushelnitsky in mixed doubles curling last week. Russian officials say he tested positive for meldonium.

Hamilton says he would feel bad if Krushelnitsky had not intentionally taken a banned substance. But Hamilton says athletes are ultimately responsible for what goes into their bodies.

Russian Curling Federation president Dmitry Svishchev says it’s possible someone spiked Krushelnitsky’s food or drink with meldonium.

The drug’s manufacturer says it is mostly aimed at people with heart conditions, though it can also be used for “physical and psycho-emotional overload” in otherwise healthy people.

Meldonium’s inventor has said it was given to Soviet soldiers fighting in Afghanistan to boost their stamina.

___

4:45 p.m.

One of hockey’s most time-honored traditions is in danger of not happening at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Officials have told players to fist-bump one another rather than shaking hands to prevent transmission of norovirus, which is highly contagious. U.S. defenseman James Wisniewski’s father tested positive for norovirus last week and is one of 49 of 283 confirmed Olympic cases still in quarantine.

The U.S. men’s team definitely isn’t shaking hands.

Women’s teams have decided to continue shaking hands, including the U.S. and Finland after their semifinal Monday. Players know about the warning and decided the meaning behind the postgame ritual outweighs the risks.

International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel is not sure it’s necessary for players to stop but figures it’s better to be safe than sorry.

___

4:15 p.m.

French ice dancer Gabriella Papadakis’ costume has come unhooked at the neckline, exposing her breast, during her performance at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The first notes of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” had just played Monday when Papadakis suddenly became aware that people were about to see a whole lot more of her shape than she had planned.

She calls it her “worst nightmare happening at the Olympics.”

The performance was being shown live on international television, and people immediately began posting screen grabs on social media.

An NBC spokesman says the network has edited the video for future television broadcasts and online replays.

Papadakis and her partner, Guillaume Cizeron, are in second place behind Canadian stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

Papadakis says she’s proud of their performance despite the wardrobe malfunction.

___

3:50 p.m.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has confirmed that Russian curling medalist Alexander Krushelnitsky has been charged with a doping offense at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The court said Monday that it has “initiated a procedure” involving Krushelnitsky, who won bronze in the mixed doubles event along with his wife, Anastasia Bryzgalova.

The court says no hearing date has been set.

If confirmed, a doping violation could affect Russian athletes’ chances of being allowed to march under their own flag at the closing ceremony.

It’s the second doping case of the Pyeongchang Olympics after a Japanese short-track speedskater tested positive for a banned diuretic.

Krushelnitsky was not with the curling team at the arena Monday.

___

3:35 p.m.

The Americans are back in the Olympic gold medal game in women’s hockey.

Dani Cameranesi scored two goals and an assist, and the United States advanced to the gold medal game for a third straight Olympics after beating Finland 5-0 in the semifinal Monday.

The Americans will play the winner of the other semifinal between Canada and the Russians. That game is Monday night.

Gigi Marvin started the scoring. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Hilary Knight had a goal apiece as they turned a 5-on-3 into two goals 34 seconds apart in the second.

Maddie Rooney made 14 saves for the shutout.

Finland remains winless now in eight games against the Americans in the Olympics and now will play for the bronze medal on Wednesday.

___

3:20 p.m.

A spokesman for the International Olympic Committee says a failed doping test by a Russian curler could keep the country’s banned federation from being reinstated and marching under the national flag at the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The Associated Press has identified the curler as mixed doubles bronze medalist Alexander Krushelnitsky. The IOC has declined to name him.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams says Russian athletes and staff must follow “the letter and the spirit of the law. If they haven’t, there will obviously be consequences.”

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic committee last year in connection with a massive doping scheme but said it would allow “clean athletes to participate.”

The IOC has allowed about 160 Russians to compete under neutral uniforms and without the national flag.

___

2:40 p.m.

Finland defenseman Ronja Savolainen is back in the game, the very next period after a scary, face-first collision into the boards.

Savolainen needed to be helped off the ice at the Gangneung Hockey Center as her legs dangled helplessly beneath her in the first period of Monday’s women’s hockey semifinal against the United States. But she returned to the game in the second.

There was no immediate announcement about her condition. The International Ice Hockey Federation lists “rubber legs” as one sign of a concussion that should lead to an evaluation by a team physician. A player can only return to the game if the team physician determines that she did not sustain a concussion.

The Americans led 4-0 heading into the final period.

___

2:15 p.m.

American Lindsey Vonn was third-fastest on the second day of Olympic downhill training, despite easing up and standing tall with arms spread at the finish.

The 2010 Vancouver Games gold medalist, who missed the 2014 Olympics after knee surgery, finished the 1¾-mile (2.8-kilometer) course at the Jeongseon Alpine Center in 1 minute, 40.10 seconds on Monday. That was nearly a second faster than the time she turned in Sunday to lead the opening training run.

There is more training Tuesday. The race is Wednesday.

Austria’s Stephanie Venier, the runner-up at last year’s world championships, led Monday’s session at 1:39.75, with Italy’s Sofia Goggia next.

Pyeongchang Olympics giant slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin was 16th-fastest. She and Vonn are assured of being picked for the four-woman U.S. downhill team, and Alice McKennis earned a spot by having the best time of other contenders Monday, arriving ninth overall.

Surprise super-G gold medalist Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic has not participated in either downhill training run and is expected to instead compete in her other sport, snowboarding, where qualifying for the parallel giant slalom is Thursday.

___

2 p.m.

Finland defenseman Ronja Savolainen went face-first into the boards and had to be carried off the ice during the women’s hockey semifinal against the U.S. at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Savolainen got her legs tangled with American captain Meghan Duggan inside the Finnish zone midway through the first period Monday and went hard into the boards. She crumpled to the ice, while teammates surrounded her and the training staff rushed to her aid.

After a few minutes, two people helped her off, with her arm around their shoulders and her legs dangling between them.

There was no immediate announcement about her condition.

Duggan was not penalized, drawing a jeer from the Finnish fans in the crowd.

The heavily favored Americans were up 2-0 at the beginning of the second period.

___

1:50 p.m.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir lead the ice dance competition at the Pyeongchang Olympics after a record-breaking short program set to the rock music of the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and Santana.

The Canadian duo scored 83.67 points to lead their training partners and biggest rivals, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, by more than a point heading into Tuesday’s free dance.

The French couple scored 81.93 points for their Latin short program.

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the U.S. are third, two-hundredths of a point ahead of their compatriots, Alex and Maia Shibutani. Fellow Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates are seventh.

___

More AP Olympics: https://wintergames.ap.org

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.