LUGE

ZOEGGELER SECURES ITALY’S FIRST GOLD OF GAMES Arming Zoeggeler of Italy added to his collection of gold, while the United States saw another shot at its long-awaited breakthrough medal in men’s luge slip away.

Zoeggeler, racing on his home track, wrapped up his second straight Olympic gold medal yesterday and delivered Italy’s first victory at the Turin Games with a time of 3 minutes, 26.088 seconds. But the Americans remained 0-for-forever in their quest to join the singles luge medal party, with Tony Benshoof managing only a fourth-place finish – matching Adam Heidt from four years ago as the best in U.S. Olympic history.

Russia’s Albert Demtschenko finished 0.11 seconds behind Zoeggeler for the silver, and Latvia’s Martins Rubenis was another 0.247 back for the bronze – edging Benshoof by 0.153 seconds.

‘GRANDMA LUGE’ BREAKS WRIST IN CRASH Anne Abernathy, the 52-year-old slider known as “Grandma Luge,” broke her right wrist during a crash in practice yesterday and may not compete in the Turin Games.

Abernathy was injured during a morning training session when she wrecked between turns 16 and 17 and was taken to a hospital. Melita Glanville, the trainer who has worked with Abernathy for six years, said she will be evaluated today before the first two runs of women’s luge.

The runners on Abernathy’s sled also sustained serious damage in the wreck on the speedy 19-curve track, which has thwarted several sliders in recent days.

Abernathy made her Olympic debut for the U.S.Virgin Islands in 1988 at Calgary. Although she has never been a serious medal threat, Abernathy, a cancer survivor, is popular with the sport’s fans and her fellow athletes.

SPEED SKATING

OHNO STUMBLES OUT OF CONTENTION Apolo Anton Ohno stumbled out of a chance at gold in his first Olympic event, a shocking start to these Winter Games for the American short track star. Ohno nearly fell with 1 1/2 laps to go in a semifinal heat of the 1,500 meters and wound up last across the line among those still skating. His mistake ruined any chance to defend his Olympic title in a much-anticipated showdown against South Korea’s 1-2 punch – Ahn Hyun-soo and Lee Ho-suk.

In 2002, Ohno crossed the line second in the 1,500 final but won gold when another Korean skater was disqualified for blocking the American on the last lap. This time, Ohno was the one who left the ice disappointed.

Ohno easily won his first heat and seemed likely to make it through to the final when, with three turns to go, he tucked in behind the leader, China’s Li Ye. But Ohno got a little too close to the other skater, his left shoulder appearing to touch Li as they leaned into the corner at speeds better than 30 mph. It was a horrible – and uncharacteristic – mistake by Ohno, who briefly lost his balance and desperately stuck down his left hand in an attempt to stay up, sending a black lane marker flying off toward the padded walls. The 23-year-old American never went down, but the rest of the six-man field went on by.

Even though one of his competitors fell on the next turn, and another skater was disqualified for impeding, Ohno wound up with a fourth-place finish. That wasn’t good enough – only the top two skaters moved on to the “A” final.

WUST UPSETS FAVORITES IN 3000 METERS Speedskater Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won a gold medal in the 3,000 meters, stunning the favored Germans and Canadians. The 19-year-old Wust took an early lead by finishing in 4 minutes, 2.43 seconds, then watched as the top skaters failed to best her time. Teammate Renate Groenewold won silver and world record-holder Cindy Klassen of Canada bronze.

SNOW BOARDING

WHITE JUMPS TO GOLD IN HALFPIPE Shaun White turned this into another red-white-and-blue day on the Olympic halfpipe. The daredevil redhead known as the Flying Tomato punked the competition once again yesterday, mixing altitude with attitude to win the gold medal. American Danny Kass was second. Only Finland’s Markku Koski kept the Americans from a repeat of their history making sweep of 2002. American Mason Aguirre came close, finishing fourth, 1.2 points behind Koski.

With his mop of red hair peeking out from under the helmet, White soared through the crystal blue sky for the winning score of 46.8 on his first run of the finals. That was a full 2.8 points better than Kass, who added this silver to the one he won in Salt Lake City.

The 19-year-old White practically touched the sky on his first jump, soaring about 25 feet over the edge of the icy halfpipe. He came back with consecutive 1080-degree jumps, grabbing his board on both, which earns big style points from the judges. Then, it was a pair of 900s – one off the frontside wall and another off the backside. Nobody else tried the backside 900, and in a sport where the tricks are constantly evolving, that was the difference between first and second place.

SKI JUMPING

BYSTOEL RALLIES FOR NORMAL HILL TITLE Lars Bystoel of Norway came from behind to win the Olympic gold medal in normal hill ski jumping. Bystoel, who was tied for sixth after the first jump, rallied on the second jump as several contenders faltered. He won the medal with jumps of 101.5 meters and 103.5 meters for a total of 266.5 points.

Matti Hautamaeki of Finland took the silver, one point behind Bystoel. Another Norwegian, Roar Ljoekelsoey, won the bronze. Bystoel had the best score and one of the two longest jumps in Saturday’s qualifying, but was later disqualified because of a jumping suit violation. However, as one of the top 15 World Cup competitors this season, he already was assured of a place in the final.

HOCKEY

AMERICAN WOMEN ROLL OVER GERMANY Sarah Parsons scored two dazzling goals and earned an assist with dozens of feverish drives to the net. When she was done, she had outshot the entire German team. The 18-year-old prodigy shredded the German defense and Pam Dreyer stopped 10 shots in the Americans’ second straight shutout victory in the preliminary round, 5-0 over Germany last night.

Katie King had a goal and two assists, and fellow three-time Olympian Jenny Potter had a goal and an assist. The Americans took 60 shots, including an incredible 11 by Parsons – to Germany’s 10 in another dominant performance.

Meanwhile, the defending Olympic champion Canadians have won their first two games 28-0. Coach Melody Davidson received critical e-mails after the Canadians opened with a record-setting 16-0 victory over host Italy. Yesterday’s 12-0 rout of Russia raised more questions about running up the score.

“That’s definitely not what we’re doing. We’re just competing,” Davidson said.

CROSS – COUNTRY SKIING

SMIGUM TOPS DEPLETED FIELD Kristina Smigun of Estonia skated to gold in the women’s 15-kilometer pursuit, the first cross-country event since 12 athletes were suspended from the sport for failed blood tests. World Cup leader and favorite Marit Bjorgen of Norway dropped out before the midway point of the race with a stomach problem. The field was also without Salt Lake City gold medalist Evi Sachenbacher of Germany, one of the skiers suspended this week for high levels of hemoglobin in their blood.

Smigun made a strong push in the home stretch through the stadium to overtake silver medalist Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic, winning in 42 minutes, 48.7 seconds – 1.9 seconds ahead of Neumannova. Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova of Russia earned bronze in 43:03.2.

DEMENTIEV SURGES FOR 30KM GOLD Eugeni Dementiev of Russia surged from behind and overtook several skiers in the final 100 meters to win the 30-kilometer men’s pursuit. Frode Estil of Norway recovered from a fall at the mass start that cost him 45 seconds to take silver, and Italy’s Pietro Piller Cottrer settled for bronze. Dementiev won in 1 hour, 17 minutes, 0.8 seconds.

Cottrer and countryman Giorgio di Centa entered the stadium to cheers from the cowbell-clanging, beer-chugging fans who lined the course and packed the stadium area. They were looking for a 1-2 Italian finish and their country’s first gold medal of the Turin Games, but were edged at the finish.

– Associated Press