SPEEDSKATING

ZHUROVA RETURNS TO GLORY WITH 500M TITLE Svetlana Zhurova, a 34-year-old Russian who took a break from speedskating to have a baby and regained her top form only recently, won the gold medal in the 500 meters. Zhurova skated a combined time of 1 minute, 16.57 seconds to give Russia its second speedskating medal of these games. Dmitry Dorofeyev won silver in the men’s 500 on Monday.

Zhurova was matched with China’s Wang Manli in the final pair and beat her to the finish line after 1 1/4 laps in 38.34. Wang was timed in 38.47. Wang earned the silver in 1:16.78. Ren Hui of China took bronze in 1:16.87.

LUGE

OTTO TAKES GOLD AS GERMANS SWEEP LUGE Sylke Otto became the second women’s luger to win consecutive golds, leading Germany to its sixth medal sweep in 12 Olympics. Courtney Zablocki of Highlands Ranch, Colo., was fourth to match her best international finish, but it wasn’t enough to crack the top three against the powerful Germans. Silke Kraushaar won a record third overall medal and Tatjana Huefner edged Zablocki for the final podium spot. There have been 36 medals awarded in women’s Olympic luge history; 27 have been won by Germans.

CROSS – COUNTRY SKIING

LIND, FREDRIKSSON LEAD SWEDEN TO TEAM SPRINT TITLE Bjoern Lind and Thobias Fredriksson of Sweden won the men’s Olympic cross-country team sprint yesterday. Lind anchored the team and waited until the final 100 meters to make his move, pushing from third to first to edge the tandem of Jens Arne Svartedal and Tor Arne Hetland of Norway in 17 minutes, 2.9 seconds. Russia’s duo of Ivan Alypov and Vassili Rotchev earned the bronze.

SWEDISH WOMEN WON’T BE OUTDONE Lina Andersson and Anna Dahlberg of Sweden won gold in the women’s cross-country team sprint, edging Beckie Scott and Sara Renner of Canada. Scott came in six-tenths of a second behind and Finland’s pair of Kaisa Aino Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen took the bronze.

Germany’s Evi Sachenbacher, a relay gold medalist at the Salt Lake City Olympics, was cleared Monday after retesting following a five-day suspension for high hemoglobin levels and teamed with Viola Bauer to finish fifth.

American Kikkan Randall also was cleared Monday to compete after her hemoglobin suspension and teamed with Wendy Wagner to make the final in a surprise performance, earning the fifth and final spot out of the second semifinal.

They placed 10th – last – in the final.

BIATHLON

GERMAN MEN WIN SECOND STRAIGHT GOLD Two-time defending Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen faltered once again, allowing Sven Fischer to give the Germans their second straight gold medal in the men’s biathlon. And American Jay Hakkinen really fell apart, finishing 80th out of 90 competitors.

Bjoerndalen’s teammates did well, with Halvard Hanevold winning the silver and Frode Andresen taking the bronze. But there were mixed emotions among the Norwegians, because this was supposed to be Bjoerndalen’s moment to shine. Instead, he finished 12th. Bjoerndalen entered the Turin Games as the favorite in all five races. He swept all four gold medals in 2002.

His two missed targets in the 20km Saturday allowed German Michael Greis to edge him for the gold. History, however, is still within the 32-year-old Norwe gian’s grasp. If he can win out in the Italian Alps, he would tie fellow countryman Bjorn Daehlie, a cross country skier who collected his eighth gold medal at Nagano, as the most successful athlete in the history of the Winter Games.

HOCKEY

AMERICAN WOMEN CLOSE PRELIMINARY PLAY WITH WIN The U.S. women’s hockey team closed preliminary play yesterday with a plodding 7-3 win over Finland, a team that represented the Americans’ first real test. The Americans actually trailed by two goals at one point late in the second period before rallying for five third-period goals – two by Angela Ruggiero.

Meanwhile, the Canadian women got their first challenge – and finally allowed a goal. Gillian Apps scored three goals for the gold-medal favorites, Danielle Goyette added two more, and Canada (3-0) finished the preliminary round with an 8-1 victory over Sweden (2-1).

Svetlana Trefilova and Iya Gavrilova scored two goals apiece to lead Russia over Italy 5-1. The teams had each lost two games to start the tournament, being outscored by a combined 42-1. Germany (1-2) held on to beat Switzerland (0-3) by a 2-1 score in another matchup of previously winless teams.

CURLING

AMERICANS LOOK AHEAD TO MEDAL ROUND The U.S. men picked up a 10-4 victory over New Zealand (0?3) in eight ends, wrapping things up two frames early a day after a last-rock loss to Finland. The Americans’ next game is against host Italy (1-2). Throw in today’s game against the winless Germans (0-2), and the United States (2-1) probably needs to steal just one or two more victories in its other four games to reach the medal round.

Italy needed an extra end to beat Germany 9-8, and Sweden (3-0) beat Canada (1-1) 9-8 in overtime. Norway (1-1) had little trouble with Switzerland (1-1), winning 7-2.

CANADIAN WOMEN BREEZE PAST AMERICANS Canada (1-1) scored five points in the first end against the Americans and coasted to an easy 11-5 victory that left the United States winless after two matches. Russia scored three in the final end to beat Japan 7-5, the first game for those two countries. Britain (2-0) beat Switzerland (1-1) 5-4 when the Swiss couldn’t put the final rock into the white center of the target. And Sweden (1-1) trailed 6-3 in the final end against Norway (2-0) and conceded when there were four opposing rocks in the target area and just one throw to go.

– Associated Press