Tag: 2014 olympics

medal projections, olympic sports, winter sports

Best/worst, Sochi medal projections vs. reality: Feb. 10

Posted on by Beau Dure

Norway continues to slide away from its projected record medal haul, but South Korea was the country that had the no-good, horrible, very bad day.

The USA may trail in the medal count but is still right on projection. So is Canada. You’d think North American bias would kick in at some point.

CURRENT PACE

The original medal projections were: Norway 39, USA 35, Canada 30, Russia 26, Germany 23, Austria 22, South Korea 15, Netherlands 14, France 12, Switzerland 11, Sweden 10

If the rest of the projections were to come true, the final medal count would be: Norway 35, USA 35, Russia 30, Canada 28, Austria 22, Germany 21, Netherlands 17, France 12, Sweden 12, South Korea 11, Switzerland 11

DOWN

South Korea (-3 today, -4 overall): The speedskating-mad nation is 0-for-4 in projected medals so far, missing out today on two medals in short-track and one in long-track.

Norway (-1 today, -4 overall): Ole Einar Bjoerndalen can’t win them all, but what happened to Emil Hegle Svendsen?

UP

Netherlands (+2 today, +3 overall): A sweep in a sprint speedskating event? Go figure.

Russia (+1 today, +4 overall): Missed out in biathlon but got one in short-track and grabbed a stunner in moguls.

RIGHT ON TARGET

USA (even today, even overall): OK, so today’s medal (Julia Mancuso, Alpine combined) came in a different event than the projection (Patrick Deneen, freestyle moguls). They still have two golds and three bronze, exactly as projected.

Canada (even today, -2 overall): Two medals in moguls? Called it. Medal in short-track? Gold instead of projected bronze.

HIGHLIGHTS

Biggest clutch performance: Julia Mancuso could stumble down every hill on the World Cup circuit, and you’d still have to take her seriously in the Olympics. She tore up the downhill phase of the combined and managed to hang on to the podium in the slalom.

Biggest disappointment: Neither U.S. curling team looked particularly good.

Wildest game: Men’s curling: Denmark 11, Russia 10. Going by Bill Mallon’s factsheet, I don’t think we’ve seen a higher-scoring game in the modern era.

Media trend we’re all sick of reading: Hey, curling is actually an interesting sport! Wow! We wouldn’t know that … if we hadn’t been alive in 2010. And 2006. And 2002. And for some of us, the years in between.

Best tribute/cry for help: Trade for Kessel! The other one!

Picture that says it all: NED, NED, NED

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(minor correction to fix Italy/Japan confusion)

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, men’s moguls

Posted on by Beau Dure

Oh Canada. The two big favorites came through, and Russia picked up a surprise bronze. The two American contenders were undone by catastrophe and conservative jumps.

Date: 10-Feb

Sport: Freestyle skiing

Event: Men’s moguls

Medalists: Alex Bilodeau (Canada), Mikael Kingsbury (Canada), Alexandr Smyshlyaev (Russia)

SportsMyriad projections: Mikael Kingsbury (Canada), Alex Bilodeau (Canada), Patrick Deneen (USA)

How U.S. fared: Bradley Wilson got to the first final round (20 skiers) but crashed on his first landing. Incredibly, he popped up and still posted a fast time, but the damage to his score was done, and he didn’t advance.

Patrick Deneen, the 2009 world champion, bailed on his first qualification round but led the second qualifier (22.38 points) to cruise into the final rounds. He wasn’t great in the first final round (22.27) but advanced in ninth place. He turned it up a notch in the second final round (12 skiers), getting down the course quickly and surprising with a strong first jump to get 23.32 points. A conservative second jump nearly cost him a spot in the third and final final (sic), but he grabbed the last spot.

Deneen went first in the final and once again went very fast, racking up time points. But he had a difficult first landing and again had a conservative second jump, good for only 22.16 points.

What happened: It was a compressed day of competition — two qualification rounds (excluding the lucky 10 who qualified from the first round), then three final rounds. The qualification rounds were in soft snow, and many skiers struggled with their landings and turns. Australia’s Dale Begg-Smith, 2006 gold medalist and 2010 silver medalist, didn’t complete a clean run and failed to advance.

Canada’s Alex Bilodeau had a shaky run in the first final but got through in eighth place. Japanese contender Sho Endo did not, despite landing one of the more spectacular jumps of the competition, with more twists than most people can count with the naked eye.

In the second final, which cut the field down from 12 to six, Bilodeau came back with 23.89 points. Two of his Canadian teammates, Mikael Kingsbury (24.54) and Marc-Antoine Gagnon (24.16) bested that mark and left Deneen sweating on the qualification bubble. But the fourth Canadian, Philippe Marquis, came up short and looked surprised when the scores were announced. That left three Canadians, Deneen, Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Reiherd and Russia’s Alexandr Smyshlyaev in the final.

After Deneen’s run, Reiherd landed a fancy twisting second jump to move into first. Smyshlyaev beat that with a sensational run for 24.34 points.

Up came the Canadians. Defending champion Bilodeau set a very high bar at 26.31. But Gagnon spoiled the sweep possibility at 23.35, finishing behind Smyshlyaev. It all came down to favorite Kingsbury, who did exactly the same jumps as Bilodeau but was a little off on the first landing. It was 24.71 for Kingsbury, and it was a Canadian 1-2.

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Curling, day 1

Posted on by Beau Dure

The U.S. teams had a rough start and the Russian fans partied and squealed as if Justin Bieber was throwing the rocks as curling finally got underway in the 2014 Olympics.

Date: 10-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Day 1 of group play, men’s (two sessions) and women’s (one)

How U.S. fared: The men had a bye in the morning session, then fell in a deep hole early against Norway. John Shuster was visibly and audibly annoyed with his last shot in the third end (out of 10), which gave Norway an opening to shoot for three and a 5-1 lead. Shuster calmly drew for two in the fourth to cut it to 5-3 and held Norway to one in the sixth, but a missed double takeout attempt gave Norway a steal* of one and a 7-3 lead. Shuster wound up needing to steal three in the 10th, and that wasn’t happening. 7-4 final.

The women faced Switzerland (coincidentally, at the same time the U.S. women’s hockey team faced Switzerland). Erika Brown’s rink had lost four times to Mirjam Ott’s Swiss, but Ott was cold early, letting the USA lead 2-0 through three ends without having the hammer. A Brown blunder, both in tactics and execution, let Ott take three in the fourth. That gave Brown the hammer for the first time, and she missed twice, giving Switzerland a steal of two and a 5-2 lead. Ott took care of business the rest of the way for a 7-4 win.

What happened: Minor surprise in the morning session (men), with China taking down Denmark 7-4. Two favorites rolled — Britain got four in the sixth end and beat Russia 7-4, Sweden clinically beat Switzerland 7-5.

Canada, by far the biggest curling country, had a matchup that turned surprisingly dramatic at the end. Brad Jacobs’ rink had a comfortable 9-5 lead over Germany after seven, and Felix Schulze had to make a tough shot to claw one back instead of giving up three or four in the eighth. But Jacobs gave up a steal of two in the ninth to cut it to 9-8. Canada nailed things down in the last end to win 11-8.

In the afternoon (women), Canada made quick work of China, winning 9-2. The marquee matchup was Sweden and Britain, where the Swedes eked out a 6-4 win.

Russia, cheered by boisterous fans (perhaps disrupting the USA’s Erika Brown at times), took a 4-1 lead over Denmark but let the Danes steal a couple to tie it at 4-4. Young Russian skip Anna Sidorova had a shot in the ninth that could have gone for four but wound up with two. Russia nearly ran out of time in the 10th end but limited Denmark’s chances, actually stealing one for a 7-4 win.

The evening session, the second of the day for the men, had three fascinating games:

– Sweden beat Britain 8-4 in a matchup of medal contenders, scoring four in the eighth end to break open a close game.

– Canada found itself in a cagey matchup with Switzerland. After four blank ends, the Swiss scored three in the fifth. Canada answered with two, and they traded singles until the 10th, where Canada had the hammer and a 5-3 deficit. Canada’s Brad Jacobs was left with a takeout in which his rock had to stay in the house to score two and force an extra end. He made the takeout, but the rock … just … trickled out. Switzerland with a 5-4 upset. Please console your neighbors to the north.

– Russia’s men kept the cheers going by stealing three in the second end to go up 5-0 on Denmark. The Danes fought back to tie it 7-7 after seven ends. Russia took two in the eighth but whiffed on a big takeout attempt in the ninth, leaving two Danish rocks in scoring position. Danish skip Rasmus Stjerne Hansen made an easy draw for three to take a 10-9 lead into the 10th, by which time all the other games had ended.

And that game kept going, as Alexey Stukalskiy made a pressure-packed takeout through traffic in the 10th to force an extra end. But Denmark frustrated Russia’s efforts to take charge of the house, and when Stukalskiy’s last draw fell short, Russia conceded Denmark’s final shot.

Still a long way to go — they’ll play a full round-robin of 10 teams each before going to a four-team playoff. Maybe Russia’s fans will gain a bit more curling knowledge to go with their enthusiasm by the time we’re done.

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap, Women’s luge, first two runs

Posted on by Beau Dure

Erin Hamlin’s long-shot bid for a medal looks a bit stronger at the halfway point of the women’s luge. She raced to the second fastest time in the first run, then improved her start to go a little faster in the second run. The American veteran stands third behind two German sliders.

Date: 10-Feb

Sport: Luge

Event: Women’s, runs 1 and 2 (of four)

How U.S. fared: Hamlin is in terrific shape. She’s just 0.052 seconds behind second-place Tatjana Hüfner and 0.216 ahead of Russia’s Natalia Khoreva.

Kate Hansen, having a bit of a breakout season, is a solid 10th. Summer Britcher moved up from 19th after her first run to 15th.

What happened: Natalie Geisenberger of Germany is simply peerless. She set the track record at 49.891 in the first run and nearly matched that at 49.923 in the second. No one else broke 50. Geisenberger leads by 0.766 seconds, an eternity in luge.

The second German, Hüfner, broke Geisenberger’s start record in the second run to move ahead of Hamlin. But the third, Anke Wischnewski, is eighth. Still, very little separates her from fourth-place Russian Khoreva. Between them are two Canadians, Alex Gough and Kimberley McRae, and Russian favorite Tatyana Ivanova.

No one crashed, though NBC got a bit of mileage out of a practice crash by Sandra Robatscher and showed it to the confused but smiling Italian in the mixed zone for an offbeat postrace interview.

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Biathlon, men’s pursuit

Posted on by Beau Dure

Did Ole Einar Bjoerndalen claim the record for all-time Winter Olympic medals? Not quite. Not yet. It was Martin Fourcade’s day to remind everyone of his consistent excellence, and a fellow Frenchman held off OBE for a surprising bronze.

Date: 10-Feb

Sport: Biathlon

Event: Men’s pursuit (12k) – 60 skiers start in order based on how they fared in the sprint. First across the finish line is the winner.

Medalists: Martin Fourcade (France), Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic), Jean Guillaume Beatrix (France)

SportsMyriad projections: Martin Fourcade (France), Emil Hegle Svendsen (Norway), Anton Shipulin (Russia)

How U.S. fared: They didn’t have great start positions after the sprint. Tim Burke started 19th, 50 seconds back. He was nearly in the mix after missing just one of his first 15 shots, but he missed again on the last stage and sank to 22nd. Lowell Bailey scattered three misses and placed 38th. Leif Nordgren missed three at the first shooting stage, two at the next and one more at each of the standing stages on his way to 53rd place.

What happened: The margins from the sprint were razor-thin — the top eight started within 15 seconds of each other, so OBE’s advantage was negligible. The favorites caught up quickly and came in for the first shooting stage in a pack.

OBE shot quickly and cleanly. So did Anton Shipulin (Russia) and Canadian surprise JP Le Guellec. Martin Fourcade (France) took his time but shot cleanly, then zipped past OBE on the skis. The pack stayed together, but Fourcade seemed to be making a point.

At the second stage, Le Guellec mowed down all five in no time, taking off with a stunning lead. Fourcade again took his time and got all five. OBE did not, missing his last shot. Shipulin, whose sister Anastasia Kuzmina won gold for Slovakia in the women’s sprint, missed twice. The lead group was down to four – Le Guellec, Fourcade, Dominik Landertinger (Austria) and Jaroslav Soukup (Czech Republic).

Le Guellec tried to pull away, and he paid for it, wiping out on a tight turn that had claimed several skiers earlier. He fell not just behind the leaders but behind a small chase pack as well.

For the third shooting stage, the skiers switch to standing position, a big test. Fourcade missed one. Landertinger missed one. Soukup missed two. OBE came up with a chance to gain ground, but he missed one as well. Fourcade pulled away from Landertinger, who had a clean lead over three new contenders — the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Moravec, Austria’s Simon Eder and Germany’s Simon Schempp. All three shot cleanly at the standings stage; only Eder had a miss at all.

Lurking behind them, not out of it despite missing twice in his first 15 shots: OBE.

Fourcade sailed into the final shooting stage well ahead of Landertinger, surely set to clinch the win by shooting cleanly. The Frenchman took his time again, aimed and fired. Five down, and he pumped his fist to the crowd before taking off for his final lap. Landertinger missed twice, which meant Fourcade would have no company on what amounted to a victory lap.

Moravec also shot cleanly, going 20-for-20 on the day, and he left the range 17.1 seconds behind Fourcade. Then came a surprising Frenchman, Jean Guillaume Beatrix, then a group of about eight — including, astounding OBE, who missed yet again but was still in the mix.

Moravec gave a good chase on the last lap but was never going to catch Fourcade, who had time to wave a few times to the crowd and cameras in his last 100 meters. Behind them, Beatrix just held off OBE. The record can wait.

Quote: “I liked the race today. It was cool and funny and a lot of things happened. I was close to making a really good race today but three mistakes is a little bit too much.” – OBE

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Alpine skiing, women’s combined

Posted on by Beau Dure

Julia Mancuso’s blazing downhill run got the early-rising Twitter crowd excited. German favorite Maria Hoefl-Riesch nailed her slalom and set a pace Mancuso couldn’t match, but Mancuso was thrilled to get down a tough slalom run with the bronze. That’s Mancuso’s fourth Olympic medal (gold in 2006 giant slalom, silvers in 2010 downhill and combined) to go with five World Championship podiums. And she has to be a contender in the upcoming speed events.

Date: 10-Feb

Sport: Alpine skiing

Event: Women’s combined (downhill and slalom)

Medalists: Maria Hoefl-Riesch (Germany), Nicole Hosp (Austria), Julia Mancuso (USA)

SportsMyriad projections: Tina Maze (Slovenia), Nicole Hosp (Austria), Michaela Kirchgasser (Austria)

How U.S. fared: The bad news — two Americans didn’t finish the downhill. Laurenne Ross bumped her feet together, and a ski just popped off. Even if you don’t know skiing, you know that’s not good. Fortunately, she skidded on her side rather than tumbling hard,  and she seemed unhurt.

Stacey Cook started going far too wide early on and finally missed a gate, taking her out of the competition.

Leanne Smith had a less eventful downhill, ranking 20th, 2.38 seconds behind Mancuso. But she was one of several skiers who couldn’t complete a challenging slalom course.

Then there was defending silver medalist Julia Mancuso, who always saves her best skiing for the big events. She scorched the downhill, taking a lead of 0.47 seconds. British skier Chemmy Alcott hugged her at the finish, then yelled to the camera, “See? (unintelligible) at the Olympics!” Indeed she is.

What happened: The contenders fell in line behind Mancuso in the downhill — Lara Gut (Switzerland, 0.47 seconds back), Tina Maze (Slovenia, 0.86), Anna Fenninger (Austria, 0.99) and Maria Hoefl-Riesch (Germany, 1.04). Hoefl-Riesch was off the pace at the start but made up ground through the middle with her technical prowess.

Also lurking were the Austrians — Elisabeth Goergl (1.21) and Nicole Hosp (1.27), though Michaela Kirchgasser left herself a 3.04-second deficit.

Off to the slalom stage, which bared its teeth early as Slovakians Kristina Saalova and Jana Gantnerova skidded off the course. Canada’s Marie-Michele Gagnon, who won the only World Cup combined so far this season, did a spread-eagle face-plant and came up holding her wrist.

Hosp was the first of the contenders to tackle the slalom, and she didn’t disappoint, taking a lead of 1.10 seconds over the rest of the field. Goergl was up next and started losing time early, then straddled a gate to go out of the contest.

Hoefl-Riesch, the defending champion, drove through the course like it was child’s play. She took a 0.40-second lead over Hosp. Fenninger wasn’t going to reclaim that spot for Austria, shedding time throughout the run and falling well back out of medal contention.

Then it was Tina Maze, who set all sorts of records with her World Cup domination in 2012-13. She had a bobble or two on the way down and came across in bronze medal position, behind Hoefl-Riesch and Hosp, with two skiers to go.

Lara Gut came out aggressively. Perhaps too much so. She skidded into trouble, tried to recover but couldn’t make the turn. That left Mancuso aiming at a podium of Hoefl-Riesch, Hosp and Maze. She got one.

Quote: to come

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medal projections, olympic sports, winter sports

Best/worst, Sochi medal projections vs. reality: Feb. 9

Posted on by Beau Dure

Norway is now projected NOT to break the USA’s record of 37 medals set in 2010.

Wait, you say, doesn’t Norway lead the medal count? Yes. But Norway is already three medals behind the projected pace. The projections called for 39 medals. So if Norway wins every remaining projection (and no others), that’ll be 36. The USA still in line for 35 medals.

The obvious disclaimer: It’s still early.

A few ups and downs from Sunday, good news last:

DOWN

Germany (-3): Only one men’s luge medal? At least it was gold. Germany also missed out in speedskating and ski jumping.

Norway (-2): If you prefer looking at gold medals rather than the total, Norway’s day was awful. Three projected golds (women’s biathlon, men’s ski jumping, men’s downhill) turned to two bronze. Norway also got one instead of a projected two in cross-country, and Russia’s still protesting that one.

RIGHT ON TARGET

USA: Projected gold in slopestyle (Jamie Anderson) and bronze in team figure skating. Won gold in slopestyle (Jamie Anderson) and bronze in team figure skating.

Switzerland: Injured much of the season, and yet Dario Cologna rewarded the projections’ faith in cross-country.

SURPRISES

Eighteen countries won medals Sunday, including Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland, Britain and Ukraine.

UP

Russia (+3): Projected for silver in team figure skating. That became a runaway gold. They also got a good run to silver from luge veteran Albert Demchenko, a surprising biathlon silver from Olga Vilukhina, and a completely unexpected bronze from speedskater Olga Graf,

HIGHLIGHTS

Biggest surprise: Either Matthias Mayer (Austria) in the downhill or Graf (Russia) in speedskating.

Biggest disappointment: It wasn’t just that occasionally dominant cross-country skier Petter Northug (Norway) missed the medals. It was the way he blew up and fell back when his tactic of slowing the field didn’t work.

Best commentary: Sally Jenkins on “the most troubled, complicated Olympics of our time,” in which the media hotel problems barely scratch the surface behind the Potemkin village. Sure, Beijing had a wide gap between its Olympic glitz and the impoverished countryside, but this seems much, much worse.

Best parent: Tucker West’s dad isn’t letting the backyard luge slider-turned-Olympian leave his moment in the spotlight without reminding the ladies that his fine young son is single.

Funniest moment: “Oh, you need to get back to the start gate? Here, let me help … whoa!”

Least sportsmanlike moment: “Hey, USA’s Noah Hoffman, you fell? Here, let me bonk you in the face.”

Highlight to see when NBC makes it available after prime time: Jamie Anderson had a bit of pressure on her. She was the runaway favorite in women’s slopestyle — maybe an unfair status given the sport’s unpredictability. Her first run was a little off. Her second was sublime.

More on Storify.

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Sochi recap: Alpine skiing, men’s downhill

Posted on by Beau Dure

The glamorous downhill event turns up some surprises, and this was no exception. Matthias Mayer, who had never won a World Cup race and never finished higher than fifth in downhill, is the gold medalist.

Date: 9- Feb

Sport: Alpine skiing

Event: Men’s downhill

Medalists: Matthias Mayer (Austria), Christof Innerhofer (Italy), Kjetil Jansrud (Norway)

SportsMyriad projections: Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway), Erik Guay (Canada), Dominik Paris (Italy)

How U.S. fared: Bode Miller hasn’t had the best track record in recent years, which is why he wasn’t a projected medalist. He did well in recent weeks and in training here, but he didn’t quite find the speed today, finishing eighth.

Overshadowed by the Bode hype — Travis Ganong took a stunning fifth. He had never finished higher than sixth in any World Cup race, never higher than seventh in downhill.

Steven Nyman was the first skier on the course and took 27th overall. Marco Sullivan placed 30th.

What happened: After Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, the medals were difficult to pick. But Svindal, the 18th skier to start, lost time in the middle and stood third at the finish line behind Austria’s Matthias Mayer and fellow Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud.

Two skiers later, Italy’s Christof Innerhofer took aim down the treacherous slope. He led by more than a half-second through the first split but steadily lost time and finished just 0.06 seconds behind Mayer.

Most of the other contenders didn’t make a strong run at the top places. The exception was 36-year-old Swiss veteran Didier Defago, who held a brief lead near the top of the course but dropped well back and finished 14th.

Innerhofer is the least surprising medalist. He took a medal of each color at the 2011 World Championships, including downhill bronze, and he won three World Cup downhills last season. Jansrud is the 2010 silver medalist in giant slalom and has little to show in major speed events, though he has a few scattered World Cup podiums.

Only two skiers failed to finish the course — among the top 30 starters, only France’s Johan Clarey.

 

Quote: “This is unbelievable. I thought maybe in a few years I could dream of this sort of achievement. It was really cool and my family will be excited.” – Matthias Mayer

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Biathlon, women’s sprint

Posted on by Beau Dure

The favorites fell short, Russia picked up a solid silver, and former Russian (now Slovakian) Anastasiya Kuzmina repeated as gold medalist in a surprising biathlon sprint.

Date: 9- Feb

Sport: Biathlon

Event: Women’s sprint (7.5k)

Medalists: Anastasiya Kuzmina (Slovakia), Olga Vilukhina (Russia), Vita Semerenko (Ukraine)

SportsMyriad projections: Tora Berger (Norway), Darya Domracheva (Belarus), Gabriela Soukalova (Czech Republic)

How U.S. fared: Susan Dunklee was among the early starters and among the fastest in that group, shooting cleanly with the international feed’s cameras watching. And she was fast — through 30 skiers, she was the second-fastest through the prone shooting stage. The cameras caught up with her again on the standing shoot, and she half-laughed as she missed the last one, as if she realized she had nearly pulled off something special. She still posted the best finish ever by a U.S. woman in this event — 14th place. One miss costs skiers 20-25 seconds on a penalty loop — subtract 20 seconds from her time, and she finishes third.

Sara Studebacker missed one target and finished 44th. Annelies Cook missed two standing shots and took 53rd. They qualified for the pursuit; Hannah Dressigacker (65th, four misses) did not.

What happened: Format reminder: This is a race against the clock, with skiers starting at 30-second intervals. Two shooting stages: One prone, one standing.

And several of the early favorites missed on the easier prone stage. Look up at the projections — Berger missed one, Domracheva missed one, Soukalova missed THREE. Domracheva and Berger were in the top three among the early skiers but got bumped down through the evening.

Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina was the defending champion (and the brother of Russia’s Anton Shipulin, who just missed the podium in yesterday’s opener). She hasn’t been a consistent podium finisher in the past three years, though so surely she … oh, wait, she knocked down all 10 shots. And she was fast. She claimed the lead through 33 skiers.

While more favorites faltered, the unknowns came through. Poland’s Weronika Nowakowska-Ziemniak was briefly on the podium. Then Italy’s Karin Oberhofer grabbed second.

Russia’s Olga Vilukhina, who shot cleanly and clawed her way up the standings. The crowd roared as she came in second, 19.9 seconds back.

The late charger was Vita Semerenko, one of two V. Semerenkos competing for Ukraine. Her early split times were puzzlingly slow, but she shot cleanly and burned through the last lap. She finished 1.8 seconds behind Semerenko.

The top four finishers — Kuzmina, Vilukhina, Semerenko and Oberhofer — shot cleanly. One miss was enough to keep even the best off the podium.

Just to show how surprising this was: Here are the current World Cup sprint standings: Kuzmina 24th, Vilukhina 14th, Vita Semerenko 29th (Valj is 10th), Oberhofer 54th.

Quote: “This victory was for him, too. I hope that it inspires him for tomorrow’s pursuit. He can win.” – Kuzmina, speaking about her Russian brother, Anton Shipulin

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Sochi recap: Cross-country skiing, men’s skiathlon

Posted on by Beau Dure

Dario Cologna, whose favorite status was in doubt after an injury slowed him through the World Cup season, made the decisive move on the torturous uphill before the finish and held on for gold, while Russia endured another fourth-place result.

Date: 9- Feb

Sport: Cross-country skiing

Event: Men’s skiathlon (15k classical + 15k freestyle)

Medalists: Dario Cologna (Switzerland), Marcus Hellner (Sweden), Martin Johnsrud Sundby (Norway)

SportsMyriad projections: Dario Cologna (Switzerland), Martin Johnsrud Sundby (Norway), Petter Northug (Norway)

How U.S. fared: The early surprise – the USA’s Noah Hoffman stuck with the leaders in his weaker discipline of classical. Then he wiped out on a turn heading into the stadium. He got up, and Italy’s Francesco de Fabiani ran into him. He dropped back and wasn’t a factor again. He finished 35th, 3:12.7 back. Erik Bjornsen was 42nd, 4:26.9 back. Then Brian Gregg (47th, 5:10.9) and Kris Freeman (54th, 6:19.2).

What happened: Format reminder: The skiers go 15 kilometers in classical style, then change skis and poles like they’re in a NASCAR pit stop, then take off in freestyle.

Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Russia’s Alexander Legkov led a pack that broke away in the classical phase. That group had roughly 19 skiers. Legkov ran into some trouble heading into the stadium and dropped to the back of that group, but he made a smooth transition and stayed in the lead group as it dwindled to 17, including four Swedes and three Russians. All three of the SportsMyriad projected medalists took turns at the front in freestyle.

NBC’s insightful Chad Salmela kept pointing out Petter Northug’s tactics. He would push his way to the front and try to slow the pace, figuring he would win a sprint finish. And no one else was able to break away.

Finally, the big move came from Switzerland’s Dario Cologna. He pushed himself to the limit up the final downhill. Three skiers stayed close — Sundby, Sweden’s Marcus Hellner and Maxim Vylegzhanin.

Cologna barely had enough energy to hold off Hellner by 0.4 seconds. One second later, Sundby broke Russia’s hearts, beating Vylegzhanin by 0.1 seconds after more than 68 minutes of racing. One day earlier in the same venue, Russia’s Anton Shipulin was fourth in the biathlon sprint. When will Russia’s agony end?

Quote: “It’s very special for me to win after my injury in November. I didn’t expect to be on the podium some months ago. I can’t believe I won the first race.” – Dario Cologna

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