Norwegian lands ski-jump gold medal
After dominating the skijumping World Cup this season, Maren Lundby wasn’t about to be denied on the sport’s biggest stage.
The 23-year-old Norwegian overcame frigid temperatures Monday to win the women’s ski-jumping normal-hill gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Lundby, who has won seven of 10 events this season, nailed a jump of 110 meters for 264.6 points to grab Norway’s second gold medal of the games.
“I knew when I landed I had won because I saw the green light go on,” Lundby said, referring to the light that indicates how far you have to jump to take the lead. “I didn’t look at the scoreboard but I heard the announcers say, ‘It’s gold.’ ”
Katharina Althaus of Germany was second, followed by Sara Takanashi of Japan. It was a bittersweet result for Takanashi, who was the gold-medal favorite four years ago in Sochi but failed to make the podium. Biathlon: It was hard to imagine France’s Martin Fourcade staying down for long.
Sure enough, the world’s most dominant biathlete bounced back to win Olympic gold in the men’s 12.5kilometer pursuit in dominating fashion.
The victory came after an eighth-place performance in the opening sprint race Sunday that left the world’s No. 1 biathlete questioning himself.
It wasn’t until Fourcade saw pictures of himself on the shooting range that he began to understand what went wrong. The red flags on the course that indicate wind were blowing more than he realized.
Fourcade’s victory came after Laura Dahlmeier gave Germany its third straight gold medal in the biathlon — and her second overall — in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit. Speedskating: Ireen Wust of the Netherlands set the record for most Olympic medals in speedskating by winning the 1,500 meters in Gangneung, South Korea, spurred by a bitter loss on the opening day of competition. “Only gold is the one that counts for me,” Wust said, reflecting on the medal that eluded her by only 0.08 of a second in the 3,000 on Saturday.
Two days after that disappointing silver medal, Wust stormed back with a stirring last lap to win the 1,500 and turn the Oval into another Dutch party scene.
Wust won her fifth Olympic gold medal, and her 10th medal overall, beating the record set by Claudia Pechstein. She finished ahead of Miho Takagi of Japan. Marrit Leenstra made sure two more speedskating medals went to the Netherlands. Moguls: Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury stormed his way to gold in men’s moguls, filling the one hole in his resume with a dynamic performance in the final round.
Kingsbury, a six-time world champion and silver medalist in Sochi four years ago, posted a score of 86.63, the best of any in the three elimination rounds.
His victory gives Canada its third straight Olympic gold in the event.
A rare wobble in the 2014 Olympic finals cost Kingsbury the top spot on the podium. There were no mistakes this time. Kingsbury drilled his 250-meter sprint down the series of bumps and jumps, his knees practically stapled together as he darted down the hill.
Matt Graham of Australia took silver and Daichi Hara of Japan earned bronze, each picking up the first medal of the Games for his country. Canada’s Marc-Antoine Gagnon finished fourth, and American Casey Andringa made a surprise run to the finals before winding up fifth. Curling: Switzerland’s mixeddoubles team secured a spot in the gold-medal game against Canada by edging their Russian opponents 7-5 in a tense semifinal match in Gangneung, South Korea.