By Associated Press - Wednesday, February 21, 2018

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

1:45 a.m.

President Donald Trump has congratulated the U.S. women’s hockey team on winning Olympic gold.

Trump tweeted his congratulations Thursday “on behalf of an entire Nation.”

The American women defeated Canada 3-2 on Thursday to win the a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Games.

Canada had won the last four Olympic gold medals, including four years ago in Sochi, Russia, when the team rallied from a two-goal deficit to shock the Americans.

Trump has said little about the Olympics. He is sending Ivanka Trump, his daughter and senior White House adviser, to represent the U.S. at Sunday’s closing ceremony.

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11:05 p.m.

The U.S. women’s hockey team ended a 20-year gold medal drought by beating archrival Canada 3-2 in a shootout thriller on Day 13 of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

In other highlights Thursday, American Mikaela Shiffrin added silver to her burgeoning medal collection, coming in 0.97 seconds behind Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin in the women’s Alpine combined. Andre Myhrer of Sweden won a surprise gold in men’s slalom after the big favorites failed to finish the race.

Wu Dajing of China won the men’s 500 meters in short-track speedskating, breaking the world record he had set earlier Thursday in the quarterfinals. It was China’s first-ever Olympic gold in the sprint race.

And in men’s curling, the U.S. knocked out their Canadian opponents in a tense semifinals showdown to reach the gold medal match against Sweden.

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10:50 p.m.

The United States will compete for a gold medal in men’s curling after knocking out their Canadian opponents 5-3 in a tense semifinals showdown at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The U.S. victory on Thursday is a remarkable turnaround for a team that hasn’t made the Olympic podium since the 2006 Turin Games, when they won a bronze medal.

Just as remarkable was the loss for Canada, which has won the gold medal in men’s curling at the last three Winter Olympics. The Canadian women’s team, meanwhile, didn’t even make the semifinals, despite being the defending world champions.

The U.S. will face off against Sweden for the gold. The Swedish team beat Switzerland 9-3 in another semifinals match on Thursday.

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10:40 p.m.

Sweden has defeated Switzerland 9-3 in the semifinals of men’s curling at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Swedish lead Christoffer Sundgren was standing in the mix zone talking to reporters after Thursday night’s victory when coach Peja Lindholm came up and kissed him on the cheek.

That was about the only celebrating the team did after clinching no worse than a silver medal in men’s curling.

Sundgren says, “We’re here for the gold, that’s for sure.” His team finished first in pool play.

They’ll have their chance on Saturday against the winner of the other semifinal between the United States and Canada.

Sweden picked up two points in the first end and then four in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead. Still trailing 9-3 after eight frames, the Swiss conceded defeat.

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9:45 p.m.

The World Curling Federation says it supports a decision to strip a Russian curler of his Olympic medal after he admitted to a doping violation at the Pyeongchang Games.

The curling federation said in a statement Thursday that the violation involving Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has “cast a shadow over our sport.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced earlier Thursday that Krushelnitsky would be stripped of his medal after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium.

Krushelnitsky won a bronze medal in mixed doubles with his wife last week.

The curling federation said the fourth-place Norwegian team will now receive a bronze medal but gave no timeline for when that would happen. The Norwegians have said they want to receive their medal before the end of the games.

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9:35 p.m.

Darya Domracheva has led Belarus to a gold medal in the women’s 4x6-kilometer relay at the Pyeongchang Games.

Domracheva won three gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Games, but this was her first at Pyeongchang. She teamed with Nadezhda Skardino, Iryna Kryoko and Dzinara Alimbekava to win the race in 1 hour, 12 minutes, 3.4 seconds Thursday.

Sweden battled back from an early deficit to take the silver, and France claimed the bronze.

Biathletes had a tough time on the shooting range as heavy winds picked up, and snow fell early on in the race. It was so windy, in fact, that as Domracheva grabbed the Belarusian flag on the homestretch, it flew off the pole she was carrying as she crossed the finish line.

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9:20 p.m.

Hungary is the surprise winner of the men’s 5,000-meter relay in the last event of short-track speedskating at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Liu Shaolin Sandor took the lead with one lap to go and finished in an Olympic-record time of 6 minutes, 31.971 seconds.

Liu skated with his younger brother, Liu Shaoang, along with Viktor Knoch and Csaba Burjan. The Liu brothers have a Chinese father and Hungarian mother.

It was Hungary’s first Olympic medal in short-track and the nation’s first of the Pyeongchang Games.

China earned silver and Canada took bronze.

South Korea crashed with 23 laps to go in the 45-lap race, disappointing the pro-Korean crowd at Gangneung Ice Arena.

The U.S. team of J.R. Celski, John-Henry Krueger, Thomas Hong and Aaron Tran won the B final.

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8:40 p.m.

Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands has surprised all the favorites to win the 1,000-meter short-track speedskating title at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The 20-year-old Schulting raced assertively and took the lead late in the final while South Koreans Choi Min-jeong and Shim Suk-hee took each other out with a desperate late charge.

Schulting crossed first and held out her hands in disbelief.

Kim Boutin of Canada took silver ahead of 500-meter champion Arianna Fontana of Italy.

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8:30 p.m.

Wu Dajing of China has won the men’s 500 meters in short-track speedskating at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Wu lowered his own world record for the second time in the final Thursday, winning in 39.584 seconds. That bettered the mark of 39.8 he set in the quarterfinals earlier Thursday.

It was China’s first Olympic gold in the sprint race after two silvers.

Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea took silver. Hwang’s teammate, Lim Hyo-jun, earned bronze.

Lim earlier won the 1,500 meters.

Canada’s Samuel Girard, the 1,000-meter gold medalist, finished fourth.

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8:15 p.m.

Germany has won the gold medal in the Nordic combined team event, adding to its dominance of the sport at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Germany was second after the ski jumping stage and started the 4x5-kilometer cross-country relay race just six seconds behind Austria.

Vinzenz Geiger passed Austria’s Wilhelm Denifl on the first leg, giving his team a 12-second advantage. Any doubt about the winner was erased when Fabian Riessle widened the lead to 44 seconds before handing off to Eric Frenzel.

Germany’s last skier, Johannes Rydzek, crossed the finish line with a 52.7-second lead.

Defending champion Norway was second, followed by Austria.

Germany won the previous two Nordic combined events at Pyeongchang and joined Finland as the only country to win three gold medals in the sport in one Winter Games.

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8:10 p.m.

Choi Min-jeong of South Korea has a chance to win a second gold medal in women’s short-track speedskating at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Choi was advanced to the 1,000-meter A final on Thursday after the referees penalized Qu Chunyu of China for impeding. Choi had finished third. The crowd erupted in cheers after the video review of the semifinal heat showed the infraction that allowed Choi to advance.

Choi already won the 1,500 meters on home ice.

Also advancing to the final are Kim Boutin of Canada, Arianna Fontana of Italy, Shim Suk-hee of South Korea and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands.

Schulting was the surprise winner of the second semifinal heat.

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7:45 p.m.

Choi Min-jeong of South Korea has moved into the semifinals of the women’s 1,000 meters in short-track speedskating at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Choi, the 1,500-meter champion at the Pyeongchang Olympics, rallied from the back of the pack to the roars of the pro-Korean crowd in the quarterfinals. With three laps to go, she charged to the front.

Her teammate, Shim Suk-hee, took a similar approach in the next heat. Shim stayed clear of trouble behind four rivals before moving up on the outside with four laps to go and winning.

Also moving on to the semis later Thursday were Kim Boutin and Valerie Maltais of Canada, Kim Alang of South Korea, Arianna Fontana of Italy, Qu Chunuy of China and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands.

Yara van Kerkhof of the Netherlands was eliminated.

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7:35 p.m.

Two big names have been eliminated in the quarterfinals of the men’s 500 meters in short-track speedskating at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Seo Yira of South Korea crashed in his heat, while Liu Shaoang of Hungary was penalized for impeding in his heat.

Wu Dajing set a world and Olympic record of 39.8 seconds in the quarterfinals Thursday to easily advance to the semis. China has never won gold in the sprint race at the Olympics.

In the first heat, Ren Ziwei of China lowered the Olympic record before Wu came along and bettered it.

Also advancing were Liu Shaolin Sandor of Hungary, Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea, Samuel Girard of Canada, Ryosuke Sakazume of Japan, Lim Hyo-jun of South Korea, Daan Breeuwsma of the Netherlands and Abzal Azhgaliyev of Kazakhstan.

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7:20 p.m.

Wu Dajing of China has set a world record in the 500-meter short-track speedskating event to advance to the semifinals at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Wu shot out of the block Thursday and staved off any challenge of his quarterfinal rival to go for the world record.

He crossed in 39.8 seconds, 0.137 off the record that J.R. Celski of the United States set in Calgary, Canada, six years ago.

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6 p.m.

North Korea’s 22 athletes have wrapped up their competition at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics without a finish higher than 13th. And even that was in a field of only 16.

The sentimental highlight of the North’s participation in the games was the joint Korea ice hockey team, which featured players from the North and South together for the first time. Although it is ranked below the Olympic qualifying level, South Korea won a berth in the games because it is the host nation. President Moon Jae-in championed the effort to allow 12 North Korean players to join the team.

They lost all of their matches.

The North’s 13th-place finishers were pair skaters Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik.

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5:25 p.m.

The Canadian women’s hockey team wept on the ice as they accepted their silver medals after losing to the Americans at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

One Canadian player, Jocelyne Larocque, took her medal off immediately and held it in her hands as the Americans stood nearby awaiting their gold Thursday.

Larocque says, “It’s just so hard.” She says, “We wanted gold but didn’t get it.”

Canadian coach Laura Schuler says, “There’s not a lot of words that can describe how you feel. It was a great game of hockey.”

The U.S. beat Canada in a shootout to win their first Olympic gold in women’s hockey since 1998. Canada had won the last four Olympic gold medals.

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5:15 p.m.

Thousands of South Koreans are calling for two speedskaters to be expelled from the Olympics after they left their slower teammate behind in a race defined by teamwork and walked away as she quietly sobbed. It was one of the most bizarre moments of this year’s Winter Games.

The petition to South Korea’s presidential office calls for skaters Kim Bo-Reum and Park Ji Woo to be expelled from the Olympics and seeks an investigation into what it describes as “various corruption and irregularities” at the Korea Skating Union, the national skating body.

During the women’s team pursuit quarterfinals Monday, Kim and Park skated ahead as teammate Noh Seon-yeong fell behind the pack.

Some South Koreans believe Kim and Park were trying to humiliate Noh because there was nothing to be gained by crossing first.

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5:05 p.m.

Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been stripped of his Olympic medal after admitting to a doping violation at the Pyeongchang Games.

Krushelnitsky tested positive for the banned substance meldonium after winning bronze in mixed doubles with his wife. Meldonium is believed to help blood circulation

The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced the sanction Thursday, saying Krushelnitsky’s results had been disqualified and his credential was withdrawn.

CAS says Krushelnitsky accepted a provisional suspension beyond the games but “reserved his rights to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility based on no fault tor negligence.”

Russia was banned from the Pyeongchang Olympics over widespread doping at Sochi, but 168 Russians including Krushelnitsky were allowed by the IOC to compete as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” under the Olympic flag.

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4:15 p.m.

The United States has beaten Canada in a shootout to win their first Olympic gold since 1998 in women’s hockey.

Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored in the first extra round of the first shootout tiebreaker in Olympic women’s hockey history on Thursday to give the United States the gold medal with a 3-2 victory.

Maddie Rooney stopped Meghan Agosta on her second try of the shootout to clinch it. Rooney stopped 29 shots in regulation and the 20-minute overtime. Shannon Szabados made 39 saves for Canada, which had won four straight Olympic gold medals.

It was 2-2 after three periods and 2-2 through five shooters in the tie-breaker.

It was the second straight overtime in the gold medal game for these two teams, but the first shootout in Olympic women’s hockey history.

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4:05 p.m.

The women’s gold medal hockey game between Canada and the United States is headed to a shootout at the Pyeongchang Games.

The score was tied 2-all at the end of regulation and after 20 minutes of overtime Thursday.

Canada is going for its fifth straight Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey. The Americans are trying to win their first since 1998.

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3:45 p.m.

Michelle Gisin of Switzerland has won the women’s Alpine combined with an aggressive slalom run to edge American Mikaela Shiffrin at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Lindsey Vonn, the leader after the downhill portion, made a mistake early in the slalom Thursday and didn’t finish in what’s likely her final Winter Games.

Gisin was nearly flawless in finishing in a combined time of 2 minutes, 20.90 seconds to hold off silver medalist Shiffrin by 0.97 seconds. Wendy Holdener of Switzerland earned the bronze.

Shiffrin adds the silver medal to the gold she won earlier in the games in the giant slalom.

It was very likely the first and only Olympic race between U.S. teammates Vonn and Shiffrin.

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3:20 p.m.

The women’s gold medal hockey game between the United States and Canada is heading into overtime at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The score was tied 2-all at the end of regulation. Twenty minutes of overtime will be added to the game. If it’s still tied after that, there will be a shootout.

Canada was up 2-1 until Monique Lamoreux-Morando tied it for the Americans with just over six minutes left Thursday.

Canada is going for its fifth straight Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey. The Americans are trying to win their first since 1998.

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3:15 p.m.

It’s tied 2-all late in the third period of the women’s hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Monique Lamoreux-Morando tied it for the Americans with just over six minutes left Thursday.

Canada is going for its fifth straight Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey. The Americans are trying to win their first since 1998.

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2:45 p.m.

Canada goaltender Ben Scrivens is day-to-day with a shoulder and collarbone injury, though the general manager is optimistic the veteran is not out of the men’s hockey tournament at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Scrivens was not healthy enough to practice for Canada on Thursday, and GM Sean Burke says he was getting iced down. Scrivens had to leave Canada’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Finland on Wednesday about four minutes into the second period after colliding with an opposing player.

Former New York Islanders goaltender Kevin Poulin replaced Scrivens and stopped all 15 shots he faced to get Canada into the semifinals, where it faces Germany on Friday.

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2:35 p.m.

Andre Myhrer of Sweden has won the Olympic men’s slalom, taking advantage of big favorites Marcel Hirscher and Henrik Kristoffersen failing to finish the race.

Myhrer watched as first-run leader Kristoffersen skied out early in the second run Thursday.

The 35-year-old Myhrer finished 0.34 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Ramon Zenhaeusern, who took an unexpected silver medal.

Bronze medalist Michael Matt of Austria was 0.67 behind Myhrer’s two-run time of 1 minute, 38.99 seconds. Matt’s brother Mario won gold four years ago.

Myhrer added gold to his bronze medal in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic slalom.

He is the second 35-year-old man to take Alpine gold here after Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the downhill.

Hirscher went out midway through the first run seeking a third gold medal at these Olympics.

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