Sports

Virtue, Moir turn in golden show, Fourcade bags 3rd gold

February 20, 2018

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were golden in their final Olympic performance.

The Canadian couple took the ice one last time and produced a dramatic interpretation of "Moulin Rouge," flawlessly executing their four-minute program that earned them the gold medal in ice dancing on Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, the United States men's hockey team advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-1 win over Slovakia, and Canadian skier Cassie Sharpe won gold in the women's freestyle halfpipe.

South Korea won a penalty-filled final in the women's 3,000-meter short-track relay and Martin Fourcade became the first athlete to win three gold medals at the Pyeongchang Olympics when he anchored France to victory in the biathlon mixed relay.

Fourcade erased nearly a 38-second deficit on the final leg of the relay by hitting all 10 shots to help the French team of Marie Dorin Habert, Anais Bescond and Simon Desthieux to a come-from-behind victory.

Fourcade waved the French flag as he crossed the finish line for his team in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 34.3 seconds. Norway took home the silver medal and Italy the bronze.

It was the fifth Olympic gold medal in the biathlon for Fourcade. Only Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen has more Olympic golds than Fourcade in the biathlon; he has eight.

Germany swept the Nordic combined Large Hill event podium with Johannes Rydzek winning gold, Fabian Riessle taking silver and Eric Frenzel earning bronze.

Fifth after the ski jumping, Rydzek took the lead on the last lap of the 10-kilometer cross-country race and beat compatriot Fabien Riessle by four seconds Tuesday. Normal hill champion Eric Frenzel won the bronze.

Akito Watabe of Japan was first after the ski jumping stage and started with a one-second lead over Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber but finished fifth behind Riiber.

Defending champion Joergen Graabak of Norway couldn't recover from a poor result on the ski jump and finished 10th.

Nordic combined features ski jumping and a cross-country ski race. The athlete who wins the ski jumping stage starts first followed by the remaining athletes in their order of finish.

Virtue and Moir needed their best performance after French training partners Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron broke the world record with a terrific free skate. The Canadians responded with a personal-best 122.40 points and a record 206.07 total, pushing them just past their French rivals' overall score of 205.28.

"We didn't know we had won, that's for sure," Moir said with a laugh. "We really committed to our training because we knew we'd have to be better than we've ever been."

It was a triumphant final Olympics for Virtue and Moir, who also helped Canada win gold in the team event earlier in the Pyeongchang Games. It's their third gold overall after winning in Vancouver in 2010 and fifth total medal after earning two silvers at the 2014 Sochi Games.

They briefly retired after Sochi, but decided a few years ago to compete in one more Olympics. Papadakis and Cizeron — who overcame a wardrobe malfunction in the short dance on Monday — earned the silver while American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani won bronze after a near-flawless free skate to "Paradise" by Coldplay. They jumped just ahead of American teammates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donahue, who finished fourth.

Ryan Donato scored two goals and Troy Terry had three assists to jumpstart the Americans' offense in their impressive hockey win over Slovakia. The US had a scary moment in the second period when Donato and goalie Ryan Zapolski took almost simultaneous blows to the head, but both were able to stay in the game. The Americans took advantage of the ensuing 5-on-3 power play with a quick goal that pushed its lead to 2-0.

Zapolski stopped 21 shots in arguably his best game of the tournament. The US will play the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. "We all had to show up," Zapolski said. "We know we have to win now to keep moving on. I think that's something that shows how strong this team is and how resilient we are. We had, I think, our best game today."

Donato's two goals helped him tie his father, Ted, with four in a single Olympics. The elder Donato scored four goals in the 1992 Albertville Olympics. Norway beat Slovenia 2-1 in overtime — its first win in Olympic men's hockey since 1994 — to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.

Sharpe posted the top two scores of the day in the women's freestyle halfpipe, soaring to gold with a pair of thrilling runs . She earned a 95.80 on her second set — highlighted by a 1080-degree spin — that was the highest-ever score in the sport's brief Olympic history.

Women's freestyle halfpipe debuted at the Sochi Games four years ago. Marie Martinod of France earned silver and Brita Sigourney of the United States won bronze.

Slovenian hockey player Ziga Jeglic became the third athlete at the Pyeongchang Games to test positive for doping . The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Jeglic tested positive for fenoterol in an in-competition test. Fenoterol is a drug designed to open the airways to the lungs.

It's the second straight international tournament from which Jeglic has been suspended. He was banned two games at the World Championships last year after swinging his skate at a Switzerland player.

The other two athletes who have tested positive for doping are Japanese short-track speedskater Kei Saito and Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitsky, who won bronze in mixed doubles. The Russian delegation confirmed a second test for Krushelnitsky is positive for the banned substance meldonium.

South Korea won the penalty-filled women's 3,000-meter short-track relay final while Italy took silver and the Netherlands earned bronze. China and Canada were penalized, meaning Italy moved from bronze to silver and the Netherlands was elevated from the B final, which they won in a world-record time of 4 minutes, 3.471 seconds.

China and Canada were penalized, moving Italy from bronze to silver.

Canada and Italy's skaters waited anxiously for the referees to sort out the chaos at the end of the race. The Italians celebrated their surprise medal.

In the closing laps, a Korean skater fell and brought down a Canadian skater. Italy also fell late in the 27-lap race.

Korea came into the final ranked first in the world with China ranked second.

The Dutch won the B final in 4 minutes, 3.471 seconds, lowering the mark of 4:04.222 set by Korea in November 2016 at Salt Lake City, Utah.

In her last race at the short track, Jorien ter Mors clinched a historic double. The Dutchwoman became the first skater to win a medal on both the long-track oval and the short track arena in the same Olympics.

Ter Mors had already won the 1,000 meters on the Olympic Oval last week and came back to lead the women's 3,000-meter relay team to take bronze Tuesday at the Pyeongchang Games.

In a crazy twist, the Dutch won only the B final, but since two of the four A finalists were disqualified, they still got the bronze. For good measure, the Dutch team also set a world record in the B final. Ter Mors told NOS Dutch broadcaster: "I stop at the top and with a world record. This is sick."

Lindsey Vonn won't have to wear the unwanted No. 1 bib again when she starts the downhill at the Pyeongchang Olympics. On Saturday in the super-G, her only choice was being the first starter. It didn't work out and she finished sixth.

It's a cat-and-mouse game top skiers play in picking start numbers for speed races. Vonn will start No. 7 on Wednesday, right after big rival Sofia Goggia. The top-ranked Italian had first pick of odd-numbered bibs from Nos. 1 to 19 and took 5. Vonn had next pick.

The American says she based her pick off what Goggia selected. She says, "I'm picking right behind her so I would like to start behind her. I like knowing my competitors, what times they get, how they're skiing." — AP


February 20, 2018
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