SHORT TRACK

OHNO LEADS AMERICANS INTO RELAY FINAL Apolo Anton Ohno managed to stay out of trouble. With no medals on the line, that’s all he needed to do.

Ohno shook off a disappointing start to the Turin Olympics by leading the Americans into the relay final with a vintage short track performance last night: He put his team out front with a gutsy pass of two skaters and gave an emphatic pump of the fist when he crossed the finish line ahead of everyone else in the chaotic 5,000-meter race.

The top two teams in each semifinal advanced to the final, which will be held February 25, the day before the games end. Italy also got in when Japan was disqualified for Takahiro Fujimoto’s reckless pass in the turn, which sent him and Yuri Confortola spiraling into the boards. Advancing from the other semifinal were Canada and South Korea.

Ohno, 23, also advanced comfortably from the preliminary heats of the 1,000 – an expected result, but one that couldn’t be taken for granted after Ohno’s mishap on the first night of short track.

WANG CRUISES TO 500M GOLD Wang Meng gave China an expected gold medal in women’s 500-meter short track, holding off Bulgaria’s Evgenia Radanova by about the length of a skate blade. Anouk LeBlanc-Boucher of Canada took the bronze, getting to the line ahead of China’s Fu Tianyu by an even smaller margin. It didn’t matter when Fu was disqualified for cross-drafting.

The 20-year-old Wang, skating in her first Olympics, was an overwhelming favorite in the 500, having won all four World Cup races this season. She fulfilled those expectations, getting off the line first and holding the lead the rest of the way.

SPEEDSKATING

HEDRICK’S DRIVE FOR FIVE IS OVER Chad Hedrick’s hope of matching Eric Heiden’s record five gold medals in a Winter Olympics ended last night when the Americans were eliminated in the quarterfinals of team pursuit. Hedrick, KC Boutiette, and Charles Ryan Leveille lost to the Italian team of Matteo Anesi, Stefano Donagrandi, and Enrico Fabris by nearly a half-second after leading through the first four laps.

Leveille and Hedrick were first across the finish line, but Boutiette lagged about 10 feet behind. The Italians crossed together, giving them the surprising victory on home ice. A team wins when its third skater crosses the finish line.

HOCKEY

AMERICANS STUMBLE TO TIE WITH LATVIA With a full roster of NHL players, it took a late goal by Jordan Leopold to salvage a tie against Latvia in an opening game for the U.S. hockey team that felt more like a loss. When the final horn sounded, the Latvian players raised their arms in triumph while the Americans slowly gathered around goalie John Grahame.

Canada had less trouble with host Italy. The gold medal favorite was locked in a surprising 1-all tie early in the second period, but Dany Heatley scored and the rout was on, with four more goals to follow in the next 13 1 /2 minutes for an eventual 7-2 win.

Also, Marian Gaborik scored twice late in the third period to help Slovakia upset Russia 5-3.Teemu Selanne and Olli Jokinen each had two goals and an assist in Finland’s 5-0 win over Switzerland, and Daniel Tjarnqvist scored twice to help Sweden beat Kazakhstan 7-2.

Dominik Hasek went down with an injured hamstring only a few minutes into the Czech Republic’s Olympic opener. Tomas Vokoun replaced him, and the Czechs held off Germany 4-1.

FREESTYLE SKIING

BLOOM COMES UP SHORT IN MOGULS Jeremy Bloom’s skiing adventure came to a less-than-satisfying close. The two-sport star finished sixth in Olympic moguls. Dale Begg-Smith of Australia won the event, and Mikko Ronkainen took the silver. American Toby Dawson finished third.

American Travis Mayer, the silver medalist in 2002, finished seventh and announced his retirement afterward, while teammate Travis Cabral came in ninth.

Bloom has bigger things on his radar now – starting with a trip to the NFL scouting combine next week. Bloom’s two years as a football star at the University of Colorado ended after the NCAA ruled he couldn’t accept endorsement money for skiing. Determined not to be pushed around, Bloom dropped out of school and focused on skiing, saying football was his true love but refusing to give up his other passion.

LUGE

GRIMMETTE & MARTIN CRASH OUT ON FIRST RUN Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin crashed, ending their run for the gold in an unexpected tangle of arms, legs, and tears. Seeking the one medal that has eluded them, Grimmette and Martin wrecked on their first run, ending perhaps the final chase for the most decorated doubles luge team in American history.

Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger won the gold in doubles, finishing the two-run event in 1 minute, 34.497 seconds. Germany’s Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich took the silver, and Italy got its second luge medal of the Games as Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder took bronze.

Grimmette and Martin’s crash wasn’t the most serious of the day. The Ukrainian team of Oleg Zherebetskyy and Roman Yazvinskyy – the final duo of the first heat – smashed into an upper wall near the bottom and flipped, briefly sending the pair airborne. The impact severed the front right runner of their sled, which had to be carried to the finish by one of their coaches. While Yazvinskyy’s head was immobilized and he was strapped to a backboard and loaded into an ambulance, Zherebetskyy collected himself on a barrier wall, his head in his hands.

CURLING

UNHERALDED HOSTS STUN AMERICANS Italy shocked the United States and rocked the Olympic curling venue, earning a victory in the men’s opening round. Italy is not a traditional curling power and is only in the tournament as host country. But the Italians took an early 2-0 lead and broke a 4-4 tie with a point in the eighth end. They stole a point in the ninth for a 6-5 win despite having to give up the big advantage that comes with being last to throw.

American skip, or captain, Pete Fenson needed to knock one of his own rocks into the target zone and follow it in with another to even have a chance at forcing overtime. But as a hush came over the crowd, he could only put one rock into the target, and the Americans conceded without Italy having to throw its last rock.

In other action yesterday, Finland beat New Zealand 7-5 before falling to Germany 5-2; Norway downed Sweden 9-4, then lost to Britain 6-3; and Canada won both its matches, 9-5 over Britain and 7-5 over Switzerland.

The United States dropped to 2-2 with Italy, Norway, and Finland. Canada, Britain and Sweden are tied for first at 3-1, and Germany and Switzerland are 1-2. New Zealand (0-4) remained winless.

AMERICAN WOMEN EARN FIRST OLYMPIC WIN The U.S. women earned their first Olympic victory with an 8-3 win over Denmark, but they’ll need several more to dig out of the hole they fell into when they lost their first three games at the curling venue outside of Turin. The Americans will probably need to win four – if not all – of the next five games to have a chance at the medal round. They are in last place in the round-robin; Norway, which topped Japan 9-4, is first at 3-1. Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Switzerland tied at 2-1. Sweden beat Britain 8-6 yesterday, and Italy downed Russia 9-4. Four teams make the medal round. Denmark fell to 1-2, tied with Italy, Japan and Russia.

NORDIC COMBINED

SKI JUMPING COMPETITION POSTPONED DUE TO WIND The Nordic combined will resume today after the ski jumping portion was halted because of wind. In a surprising move, officials decided to restart today in the second round of the jumping portion after earlier announcing that both of yesterday’s rounds would be scrapped. That was bad news for reigning world champion Norway, a medal contender forced to pull out Tuesday because its athletes were ill. The Norwegians initially thought they might have a chance to get back on the start list.

– Associated Press