Finland defeats ROC in historic upset for men’s hockey gold
BEIJING — Finland ended the Olympic hockey tournament with a historic upset, as its men’s team won gold for the first time on the strength of a fiercely contested 2-1 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee on Sunday.
Hannes Bjorninen’s tip of a shot by Marko Anttila 31 seconds into the third period proved the difference as the Finns outplayed the favored Russians, who were able to build a roster around players in their domestic Kontinental Hockey League after the NHL decided not to allow its players to represent their homelands here. Finland, considered a hockey power for the last three decades, had won Olympic silver medals in 1988 and 2006 and won bronze medals in 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2014.
Four years ago at Pyeongchang the Russian team — then known as Olympic Athletes from Russia — prevailed over Germany in the gold medal game. Coached in Beijing by former NHL standouts Alexei Zhamnov and Sergei Fedorov, the renamed Russian team was favored to repeat, but Finland was the better team all-around. Finland goaltender Harri Sateri made 29 saves on Sunday against a formidable Russian offense.
The Finns’ victory in the final competition of the Beijing Games ended a successful hockey tournament for its teams. The women’s hockey team won a bronze medal, behind Canada and the U.S.
Slovakia, coached by former NHL player and coach Craig Ramsay, won the bronze medal on Saturday with a 4-0 victory over Sweden.
Alpine Skiing: Mixed Team Parallel
The top-ranked Austrians won gold in the Winter Games’ second iteration of the mixed team parallel event, holding off Germany in the final. Mikaela Shiffrin and the American mixed ski team missed out on a medal by 0.42 seconds, losing in the bronze matchup. Norway won the bronze.
Bobsled: 4-Man
German Francesco Friedrich won his second Olympic gold medal in Beijing and fourth of his career by driving to the win Sunday in the four-man event. There were 10 sliding events in Beijing. Germany won gold in nine of them and took 16 medals overall. The rest of the world combined had 14 medals. Johannes Lochner won silver for Germany on Sunday and Justin Kripps of Canada got the bronze. Hunter Church was 10th for the U.S. and Frank DelDuca tied for 13th.
Cross-Country Skiing: Women’s 30K Mass Start
Therese Johaug of Norway won the women’s 30-kilometer mass start, her third gold at the Beijing Olympics. Fighting fierce winds and brutal temperatures, she went out front early in the race and held on, finishing in 1 hour, 24 minutes and 54 seconds. Johaug also won the skiathlon and 10-kilometer classic race. American Jessie Diggins crossed the finish line 1 minute and 43.3 seconds behind Johaug to win silver. She had already become the first American woman to win an individual cross-country medal when she took bronze in the sprint earlier in the Beijing Games. Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen won bronze 2 minutes and 33.3 seconds back.
Curling: Women’s
Eve Muirhead led Britain to the Olympic women’s curling gold medal — the first for the sport’s homeland since 2002 — with a record-setting 10-3 victory over Japan. The Swedish women won bronze on Saturday night, beating Switzerland.