SOCHI, Russia (AP) — For only the third time in Winter
Games history, the United States swept the podium, capturing the top
three spots Thursday in slopestyle skiing’s Olympic debut to revive the
country’s showing in Sochi.
Joss Christensen, a 22-year-old making
his first appearance on the Olympic stage, won the gold in a dominating
performance that featured four near-perfect runs over the rails and
jumps at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. The last skier selected for the
U.S. slopestyle team, Christensen posted the top two scores in both the
qualifying runs and the finals.
"I am shocked," Christensen said. "I am stoked to be up here with my friends. America, we
did it."
Gus
Kenworthy and Nick Goepper captured the silver and bronze, as the U.S.
skiers matched the country’s previous sweeps in men’s figure skating in
1956 and men’s halfpipe snowboarding in 2002.
"It’s the kind of
thing you don’t even let yourself think about," U.S. coach Skogen Sprang
said. "I still don’t believe it happened."
The sweep provided a
boost for an American team that had seen many of its biggest stars —
from Shaun White to Bodie Miller to Shani Davis — wipe out in the first
six days of the games.
The U.S. team now has won four golds, all
on the slopes of the Extreme Park. The three medals pushed the U.S.
total to 12, and put the Americans back in the running to repeat its
2010 performance as the games’ overall medal winner.
Five other
sports awarded medals on Day 7 of the Olympics: cross-country skiing,
biathlon, speedskating, short-track speedskating and luge. Preliminary
rounds in men’s hockey also got underway Thursday, with Finland topping
Austria 8-4 in the opener.
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SLOPESTYLE SKIING: Goepper
and Kenworthy raised Christensen on their shoulders after his final run
down the mountain, which he started knowing he already clinched the
gold. The three friends wore flags as capes in the giddy aftermath of
their triumph. "I think it’s going to give the U.S. a lot more
confidence and it’s going to get a lot of people really excited,"
Goepper said.
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CROSS-COUNTRY: Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland
skied with a fractured foot but still captured the gold in the women’s
cross-country 10-kilometer classical race. Leading virtually all the
way, Kowalczyk finished in 28 minutes, 17.8 seconds, beating silver
medalist Charlotte Kalla of Sweden by 18.4 seconds. Therese Johaug of
Norway took bronze, 28.3 seconds behind.
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SPEEDSKATING:
Li Jianrou of China won the gold in 500-meter short-track speedskating
after all three of her competitors in the finals fell. Li’s victory
keeps the Olympic title in China’s hands. Injured countrywoman Wang Meng
couldn’t defend the title she has won at every Winter Games since 2002.
Arianna Fontana of Italy took the silver and Park Seung-hi of South
Korea earned the bronze. Elise Christie of Britain caused the first
crash of the wild final and was disqualified.
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