Italy completed a stunning luge double at the Winter Games, claiming gold in both the women’s and men’s doubles events in markedly different fashion.
Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer secured victory in the women’s doubles, leading after the first run and holding their nerve with a clean final descent to finish ahead of Germany and Austria.
Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner then delivered gold in the men’s doubles with a remarkable comeback. They rose from third place after the first run to top the podium after the leading teams could not match their time in the final round. The Austrian pair of Steu and Kindl, who had held the track record, could only manage bronze. The American duo of Mueller and Haugsjaa, who led after the first run, ultimately finished sixth. The German pairing of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt moved up to take the bronze medal.
Stoltz sets new record in speed skating drama
In the men’s 1000m speed skating, Jordan Stoltz of the USA set a new Olympic record with a time under 1 minute 7 seconds to claim gold, as detailed by The Guardian. Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands took silver and China’s Ning Zhongyan the bronze.
The event was marred by an incident involving Dutch world champion Joep Wennemars, who was impeded by Chinese skater Lian Ziwen in their pair. Wennemars finished with a time of 1:07:58 but was granted a re-skate, which he completed solo after the main competition. He was unable to improve his position, finishing fifth overall. Lian Ziwen was disqualified for the error.
Harris and Chan shine in early ice dance round
In the figure skating ice dance free dance, the Australian pair of Holly Harris and Jason Chan delivered a praised performance set to Clair de Lune, taking an early lead with a score of 108.64. With only four pairs having performed at that stage, they were expected to be passed as the competition continued. The Swedish pair of Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov also performed a romantic routine earlier in the round.
Curling and hockey round-up
The men’s curling round robin was set to begin with matches including Sweden versus Italy, Canada versus Germany, Czechia versus the United States, and China versus Great Britain. Sweden’s Rasmus Wranå returned after winning mixed doubles gold the previous day, while Great Britain’s team was skipped by Bruce Mouat.
In men’s ice hockey, Slovakia defeated Finland 4-1 in a group match. Slovakia had kicked ahead in the third period with quick goals from Dvorsky and Slafkovsky.
