Olympics Live: Russia wins gold in cross-country ski relay

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the Beijing Winter Olympics:

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The Russian team started strong and finished strong Saturday in the women’s four-person relay, winning another Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing.

Yulia Stupak broke away early with nine women chasing. On the next leg, Natalia Nepryaeva was chased down by Katharina Hennig of Germany.

The Germans briefly took the lead on the last lap, with Russian skier Veronika Stepanova just behind Sofie Krehl. But Stepanova pulled away on the final climb and won in 53 minutes, 41 seconds. Germany took silver, 18.2 seconds behind. Sweden edged Finland for bronze.

Tatiana Sorina skied the third lap for the Russian team, which is competing at the Beijing Games under the acronym ROC — short for Russian Olympic Committee.

The four-person relay began as a mass-start with 18 racers. Each woman skied two laps on a 2.5-kilometer (1.5-mile) course. The first two skiers raced in the classic style and the last two in freestyle.

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The start of the men’s 500 meters is being delayed at the Olympic speedskating oval.

The ice was all set for the sprint race when workers came out to remove some of the lane markers and repair a section of the outer lane in the corner. One of the Zambonis was reappeared and made two trips around to smooth over that area.

Fifteen pairs are competing in the race.

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Japan has set an Olympic record in the quarterfinals of the women’s speedskating team pursuit at the Beijing Olympics.

Japan broke its own Olympic mark Saturday with a time of 2 minutes, 53.61 seconds, advancing to the semifinals as the top qualifier.

The Japanese will face the fourth-fastest qualifier, the Russian Olympic Committee (2:57.66). Canada (2:53.97) and the Netherlands (2:57.26) also advanced and will meet in the other semifinal.

China and Norway were relegated to the C final. Belarus and Poland will meet in the D final.

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The United States men’s hockey team beat Canada, its biggest rival, 4-2 in a preliminary round game at the Beijing Olympics.

Andy Miele responded to Canada’s early goal by tying it 70 seconds later and Brendan Brisson scored his second of the Olympics.

The Americans are now in the driver’s seat to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament.

Sean Farrell also set up Ben Meyers to give him three assists and six points and goaltender Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the U.S. improve to 2-0 in the preliminary round. Beating Germany on Sunday would put the U.S. first in the group and could made it the top seed in the knockout round.

The boom or bust potential of the youngest team in the tournament was on full display against Canada, a bigger, stronger and more experienced opponent.

The U.S. — with 12 college players on the ice — went hit for hit with Canada and used a combination of offensive skill and bad opposing goaltending to take control of the game.

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Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was in tears after a shaky practice Saturday at the Beijing Olympics that included a fall on a triple axel — a jump she typically executes without a problem.

Valieva was doing a run-through of her short program when she fell. She later landed two combos, a triple flip-triple toe loop and a triple lutz-triple toe loop, before skating to the boards and giving her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, an emotional hug.

Valieva has continued to practice while the Court of Arbitration for Sport considers whether a failed doping test will keep the 15-year-old sensation out of the women’s competition. The event begins Tuesday in Beijing.

Valieva helped Russia win team gold last weekend. Then on Monday, a test taken in December was flagged for traces of the banned heart drug trimetazidine, putting the medal won by her entire team in possible jeopardy.

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The inaugural Olympic monobob starts Sunday at the Beijing Games. In monobob, there’s only one woman in the bobsled.

Americans Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor are expected to be among the top contenders in the new event. Medals will be awarded Monday and the traditional two-woman competition starts Friday night.

Humphries is the reigning world champion in the event and Meyers Taylor is this season’s monobob World Series overall champion.

Humphries and Meyers Taylor were both fighting COVID-19 in recent weeks, yet recovered just in time to keep their Olympic hopes going.

Men compete in the four-man bobsled and Humphries and Meyers Taylor hoped the Olympics would add a women’s event, but most countries besides the U.S. and Canada don’t have enough female bobsledders to compete. So monobob was added instead.

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Defending Olympic champion Sofia Goggia of Italy appeared content after completing the opening downhill training session at the Beijing Games less than three weeks after injuring her left leg and knee in a crash.

Goggia finished 1.55 seconds behind leader Priska Nufer of Switzerland.

Mikaela Shiffrin was slightly quicker in ninth and 1.33 back.

Two more training sessions are scheduled before Tuesday’s race.

Goggia did not enter the super-G and arrived late in China to get in some extra rehab at home in Italy. She sprained her left knee, partially tore a cruciate ligament, had a “minor fracture” of the fibula bone in her leg, plus some tendon damage, after the crash in a super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Jan. 23.

There was light snowfall and fog on the top of the course.

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Lindsey Jacobellis has won her second gold medal of the Olympics, teaming with 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner for the title in the new event of mixed snowboardcross.

The 36-year-old Jacobellis took gold earlier this week in the women’s event; it came 16 years after a late showboat move as she was cruising in for an apparent win cost her the title at the Turin Games.

After a slow start, the U.S. now has five gold medals and 11 overall at the Games. Jacobellis accounts for two, while snowboarder Chloe Kim has another.

The Italian team of Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli came in second and the Canadian duo of Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine finished third.

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Finally, a real sign of winter at the Winter Olympics: real snow in the mountains used for Alpine skiing.

Just a light flurry, mind you.

Still, actual flakes are dropping on the hills of the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center, about 55 miles northwest of Beijing’s city center.

It is the first precipitation since ski racing competition began last week — the absence of snow is not much of a surprise, given how dry the season usually is in these parts.

All of the snow that American star Mikaela Shiffrin and others have been skiing on is manufactured.

There are no Alpine medals at stake Saturday, just a chance for Shiffrin and other women to take training runs for the downhill along the course known as The Rock. The race is scheduled for Tuesday.

More snow is in the forecast for Sunday, when the men are supposed to contest the giant slalom — and even continuing through Monday morning. A total of about 3 1/2 inches (9 centimeters) is expected at the Alpine skiing venue.

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German pairs skaters Nolan Seegert and Minerva Fabienne Hase practiced for the first time Saturday, 10 days after Seegert tested positive for COVID-19 upon his arrival in Beijing and was put into quarantine.

Seegert and Hase were forced to withdraw from the team competition, which meant Germany received no points for the pairs short program. That made it impossible for the longshots to advance to the medal round of the event.

The individual pairs competition begins Friday night, so they still have nearly a week to prepare.

The women’s session is later Saturday at the same practice rink near Capital Indoor Stadium. It’s unclear whether Kamila Valieva, who is at the center of a Russian doping controversy, will be on the ice again. She is awaiting a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport on whether she can continue in Beijing with the women’s event beginning Tuesday.

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