Americans amazing in the halfpipe

PYEONGCHANG, Korea, Republic Of

It was a day for all ages at the Winter Olympics.

A few hours after 17year-old Chloe Kim dominated the women’s halfpipe snowboarding final on Tuesday, 28-year-old Marcel Hirscher, a six-time overall World Cup champion, won the men’s combined at the Pyeongchang Games.

Four years after being too young to make the Olympic team in Sochi despite having the talent and scores to do so, Kim performed like a seasoned veteran in South Korea.

Kim, from Torrance, California, put up a score of 93.75 on the first of her three finals runs and then topped that with a nearperfect 98.75 on her last run — having already wrapped up her first Olympic gold.

“I knew that I did put down a really good first run,” Kim said, “but I was also like, ‘I can do better than that. I can one up myself.”’

Liu Jiayu finished second with 89.75 to become the first Chinese snowboarder to medal at the Olympics. Kim’s teammate, Arielle Gold, overcame a dislocated shoulder during training to earn a bronze.

In Jeongseon, Hirscher’s combined two-run time was 0.23 seconds faster than silver medallist Alexis Pinturault of France. The Austrian is a three-time Olympian who had previously won only a silver medal despite never finishing below fifth in any race.

Victor Muffat-Jeandet of France took bronze, 1.02 behind Hirscher.

WHITE HOT

Shaun White was best in halfpipe qualifying, scoring a 98.5 to edge Australian rival Scotty James for the prime spot in Wednesday’s three-run final.

METTLE FOR MEDAL

Anastasia Bryzgalova tumbled onto the ice, but bounced back with teammate — and husband — Aleksandr Krushelnitckii to give the Russians their first Olympic medal in mixed doubles curling.

The 8-4 victory over Norway came after Bryzgalova was shuffling backward in the third end when she stumbled over a stone and had her legs fly out from under her and she crashed hard onto her backside.

SPEEDSKATER IN HOT WATER

Japanese short-track speedskater Kei Saito tested positive for the banned diuretic Acetalozamide in the first doping case of the Pyeongchang Games.

Saito, a reserve on the 5,000-meter relay team, said in a statement that he was “extremely shocked” by the results and has “never used anabolic steroids.” He did not race in any event before the test result from a pre-competition sample was confirmed.