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14 Established 1961 Sports Monday, February 12, 2018 Medvedeva sets world record, Canada leads in team event GANGNEUNG: Evgenia Medvedeva set a new world and Scott Moir produced a sizzling routine to bolster an record yesterday in the women’s figure skating short pro- already strong Canadian team performance. gramme with a brilliant skate that lifted the Olympic The reigning world champions and three-time Olympic Athletes from Russia into second place in the team com- medallists dazzled with an impressive midline step petition behind Canada. sequence that earned them 80.51 points. Medvedeva, the reigning world champion who is com- American brother and sister Maia and Alex Shibutani’s peting in her first Olympics, was awarded 81.06 for her energetic performance that included smooth twizzles and performance, sparking cheers from Russian fans in the an impressive rotational lift, finished second with 75.46 crowd. The 18-year-old overcame a number of hurdles to points. “It was our strongest performance that we were make it to Pyeongchang, including a broken foot that looking to put out, I think we made a lot of big steps com- forced her to drop out of the Grand Prix Final last year ing out of Nationals,” Alex told reporters, referring to the and a doping scandal that cast doubt on whether Russia U.S. competition last month. would be allowed to partici- “The programme felt great. pate at all. We went out there with a job Medvedeva said her injury and we’re very happy that we and the uncertainty surround- did it,” he said, although he ing Russian Olympians had Five top added they were a little disap- just made her and her team pointed at their score. mates stronger. nations Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri “I competed to feel the Soloviev, part of the Russian magic of the Olympics,” she move on team that won gold at the 2014 said. Italian veteran Carolina Sochi Games, were third with Koster hung on for her open- 74.76 points. ing triple flip and triple “We had trouble with our toeloop combination, earning rumba,” Soloviev told 75.10 points and second place. reporters. “Of course we’re disappointed because we Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada, skating to Edith worked on this element more than on the others.” Piaf’s “Sous le ciel de Paris” and “Milord”, took a step out The first day of the team competition, which included of her triple flip before under rotating a triple toeloop at the men’s and pairs short programmes, were marked by the start but regained her composure to finish third with falls by Canada’s Patrick Chan and American jumping ace 71.38 points. Nathan Chen, although the overall team scores were lifted PYEONGCHANG: Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva competes in the figure skating team event women’s single by the later pairs results. Only the top five teams, Canada, skating short program during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena in CANADIAN ICE DANCERS DAZZLE the OAR, the U.S., Japan and Italy, have advanced to the Gangneung yesterday. —AFP Earlier on Sunday, Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue free section of the competition. Wind to pose Earthquake, wind, ‘challenge’ for fire: Extreme Shiffrin, rivals conditions hit PYEONGCHANG: American ski sensation Mikaela Shiffrin and her rivals will face a “challenge” when they take to the slopes for today’s Olympic giant slalom, Winter Olympics according to FIS race chief Atle Skaardal. The men’s downhill was postponed yesterday PYEONGCHANG: An earthquake triggered an because of high winds and an unfavourable weather alert and high winds disrupted competition at the forecast which also saw the cancellation of today’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics yesterday, as offi- downhill training for the men’s combined event. The forecast for the Yongpyong course, where the women’s cials warned of a severe freeze and urged fans to giant slalom will be held, was for another bitterly cold wrap up warm. After a bitterly cold first night of day today, with temperatures of -16 degrees Celsius competition, a shallow 4.6-magnitude earthquake (3.2 Fahrenheit) at the start of the first leg. That will be jolted the eastern portion of South Korea accompanied by winds gusting at up to 18m/s, lending overnight, prompting warnings on mobile phones. a truly glacial chill to proceedings. Early yesterday, ski officials were forced to post- “Tomorrow’s weather forecast is not great in terms pone the showpiece men’s downhill until Thursday of wind,” said Skaardal, chief race director for women’s as buffeting winds made the high-speed slope too FIS races. “It will be, for sure, a challenge for the rac- dangerous for competition. ers... for everybody. “We will do everything possible” Later, the women’s slopestyle snowboarding to make sure the race goes ahead, including lowering also fell victim to the wind, as the qualifying ses- the start if required, said the former Norwegian racer, sion was scrapped with riders going straight into twice a super-G world champion. the final today. It comes after the first ski jumping Racers were able to train despite the strong winds. final finished more than an hour behind schedule, “Today was good in the morning hours... and the wind past midnight on Saturday, as competitors were also calmed down in the afternoon hours again,” said held up by swirling winds. As if to complete the set Skaardal. At the Jeongseon course used for speed of extreme conditions, an alert warning of a high events, the winds were so strong that the gondola used Mikaela Shiffrin risk of fire-given the dry, windy weather-also to take racers and officials up the mountain could not flashed up on mobile phones yesterday. run for safety reasons. Organizers gave assurances that the Games The women are also reliant on a gondola, the 3.7km- gondola hasn’t stopped for a single day. Even today it medals, but she will face tough opposition from the were at no risk from earthquakes, with venues built long Rainbow lift, but Skaardal was confident it would was fine”, he said. The women’s giant slalom promises likes of reigning world champion Tessa Worley of operate effectively. A FIS team has been based in to be one of the closest races on the Olympic alpine France and 2010 Olympic gold medallist Viktoria to withstand even strong tremors. Sunday’s quake Pyeongchang for several weeks of preparation “and the skiing programme. Shiffrin, 22, is bidding for multiple Rebensburg of Germany. — AFP was measured at magnitude-4.7 by the US Geological Survey and was about 260 kilometers away. “All the facilities in the Games area are built so they can withstand strong earthquakes over PYEONGCHANG WINTER 7.0... so I assure you there was no issue regarding OLYMPICS MEDAL TABLE these facilities,” said Sung Baik-you, spokesman for the Games organizers. Of more concern for the PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: Medals after the sec- sparse crowds at the outdoor events will be the ond day of competition at the Pyeongchang Winter biting cold, which has already made Pyeongchang Olympics yesterday (gold, silver, bronze, total): one of the chilliest Olympics on record-and which is set to dramatically worsen. Germany 3 0 1 4 Netherlands 2 2 1 5 ‘WEAR HATS AND GLOVES’ Norway 1 4 3 8 Temperatures are forecast to plunge to -14 United States 1 1 0 2 degrees Celsius (6.8 Fahrenheit) today, will feel Austria 1 0 0 1 like a shivering -25C in the strong, mountainside France 1 0 0 1 wind. “People are advised to dress warmly and South Korea 1 0 0 1 wear hats and gloves to keep themselves warm,” Sweden 1 0 0 1 warned Sung. The wind has made life tough so far Canada 0 3 1 4 for competitors, with several athletes complaining Czech Republic 0 1 1 2 of difficult conditions. “The conditions were pretty Finland 0 0 1 1 crazy today just because of the wind,” said Italy 0 0 1 1 Canada’s Max Parrot, after finishing second in the Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1 Oly Ath from Russia 0 0 1 1 men’s slopestyle snowboarding on Sunday. “Sometimes we have front winds, sometimes we have tailwinds. I think we could all see the difficul- ty today in the runs.” The men’s ski jumping was particularly unpleas- Bad day turns ant, as the athletes had to contend with freezing PYEONGCHANG: Germany’s Arnd Peiffer is carried by team members as they celebrate his gold win during the victory ceremony following the men’s 10km sprint biathlon event during the Pyeongchang cold at the top of the hill as well as their nerves as golden for 2018 Winter Olympic Games yesterday, in Pyeongchang.— AFP the delayed competition dragged on. “It was cold as ice up there,” said Austria’s Michael Hayboeck, who Germany’s Peiffer finished 17th, while Poland’s Dawid Kubacki said the my rifle storage,” he told reporters. course the fastest guys are in front,” he explained. wind made the competition “a lottery”. “It was real- “Then in the afternoon I almost fell down the stairs “Today, not so many guys shot clean so it was good ly bad for me, what I can do?” he asked. “It’s some- PYEONGCHANG: German biathlete Arnd Peiffer had a in the wax cabin and I hit my elbow quite a lot, so it for me. I think Martin (Fourcade) and Johannes thing I have no influence on. I need to jump in the terrible start yesterday but his luck turned once he was hurts like hell now.

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