Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Olympic roundup
WOMEN’S SKIATHLON
Diggins finishes 5th
Jessie Diggins wasn’t quite fast enough to catch the history she was chasing Saturday. That didn’t mean she finished her first race of the Pyeongchang Olympics with any disappointment, or without a meaningful achievement. Diggins, of Afton, Minn., led the U.S. contingent with a fifth-place finish in the women’s skiathlon at Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Center. Battling nerves and cramping, she still recorded the highest placing of any American woman in history in a cross-country ski race at the Winter Games. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla used a bold move in the final two kilometers to win, with Marit Bjoergen of Norway taking silver and Krista Parmakoski of Finland earning bronze. Kalla’s gold medal was the first awarded at the Pyeongchang Games and made her the first Swedish woman to win three Olympic cross-country titles. Bjoergen set a record, too, with her 11th Olympic medal, the most won by any woman in cross-country at the Winter Games. Though Diggins didn’t get it done in the skiathlon, which includes a 7.5-kilometer classic leg and 7.5-kilometer freestyle leg, she and her teammates have several more opportunities in Pyeongchang — and Saturday left her feeling good about their chances. “Today was a good race for me,” said Diggins, whose time of 40 minutes, 59.6 seconds was 14.7 seconds behind Kalla. “It was not my best race, which I’m really happy about, because I’m ready to do some more.”
WOMEN’S SPEEDSKATING Achtereekte leads sweep
Carlijn Achtereekte of the Netherlands upset her more-heralded teammate, Ireen Wust, and led a 1-2-3 sweep by the powerful Dutch team in the 3,000-meter women’s speedskating on Saturday. Achtereekte posted a time of 3:59.21. Wust then bettered that pace at every checkpoint, until the last, when she came up 0.08 seconds short. Antoinette de Jong won bronze. Achtereekte, 28, is a first-time Olympian, while Wust has won four gold medals in Turin, Vancouver and Sochi.
Biney advances to semis
Maame Biney of the United States finished second Saturday night in her first-ever Olympic race to advance for the semifinals of the 500-meter short track speedskating competition. The semifinals and final of the event will be held Tuesday at Gangneung Ice Arena. Biney completed the first-round race in 43.665 seconds, behind Kexin Fan (43.350), the 2017 world champion from China who led the race wire to wire. Elise Christie of Great Britain won her opening race in 42.872 seconds, a new Olympic record. American Lana Gehring finished third in her heat and didn’t qualify for the semifinals.
WOMEN’S BIATHLON Dahlmeier doesn’t miss
Laura Dahlmeier of Germany, who startled the biathlon world by winning five of six gold medals at last year’s world championships, has started one-for-one at the Olympics, winning the sprint event Saturday. Dahlmeier, 24, did not miss a shot, the only one of the top finishers to shoot clean. Marte Olsbu of Norway claimed the silver medal and Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic took bronze.
MEN’S SPEEDSKATING Lim wins host’s first gold
To the delight of the roaring crowd, Lim Hyo-jun won host South Korea’s first gold medal of the games in men’s 1,500-meter short-track speedskating. Staying out of trouble in an unwieldy nineman field, Lim, 21, took the lead with three laps to go.
MIXED DOUBLES CURLING U.S. faces Finland
The U.S. mixed doubles curling team began Saturday with a loss, 6-4, to China. But in the evening session, the brother-sister combo of Matt and Becca Hamilton stomped Norway, 10-3. The Americans are now 2-4 in pool play, and are set to finish against Finland today.
MEN’S SKI JUMPING German takes gold
Andreas Wellinger, 22, of Germany won the men’s normal hill title Saturday at the Pyeongchang Games despite the frigid temperatures and whipping wind at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center. He nailed a jump of 113.5 meters to secure the gold with 259.3 points. The final round was delayed for more than 30 minutes because of the wind. The temperature was 12 degrees, but it felt a lot colder with the wind chill. Johann Andre Forfang took silver ahead of Norwegian teammate Robert Johansson. Kamil Stoch of Poland, the 2014 Olympic champion, was fourth.
MEN’S DOWNHILL Wind postpones race
Fierce wind forced the Olympic men’s downhill to be postponed today, moving the marquee race from its traditional place opening the Alpine program. The first race on an 11-event Alpine schedule was shelved just hours before the start time at the Jeongseon hill, and organizers said the downhill would be moved to a different day. Racers risked being blown off a safe racing line when hitting speeds of about 75 mph. “Very strong winds, with gusts up to 50 mph, that are forecast to continue all day have forced the jury together with (the Pyeongchang organizing committee) to postpone the event,” the International Ski Federation (FIS) said. On Monday, the women’s giant slalom with Mikaela Shiffrin will now be the first Alpine medal race. A new date for men’s downhill was not immediately announced by the world ski body, which said the men’s Alpine combined event was scheduled to go ahead as planned on Tuesday. “The jury will make a plan for the next days,” FIS said, adding that more strong winds forecast for Monday meant a downhill training event for racers in the combined was canceled. Race organizers said the only gondola lift carrying teams and officials up the mountain was closed early today. Organizers previously suggested the men’s downhill could start Monday around midday between two runs of women’s giant slalom staged at nearby Yongpyong. That option no longer exists, and the first available reserve day in the Alpine program is Friday. The men’s super-G is scheduled for Thursday but could be pushed back a day to let the downhill run first.