14 Established 1961 Sports Wednesday, February 14, 2018 Gold for Kim, Hirscher as first doping case rocks Olympics Canada beat Switzerland to win mixed doubles curling PYEONGCHANG: American teenager Chloe Kim and But one prize had always eluded him-an Olympic Austrian ski ace Marcel Hirscher lit up the gold medal. His previous best was a slalom silver from Pyeongchang Winter Olympics yesterday on a day of Sochi four years ago. After playing down his chances drama that included the first doping scandal of the ahead of the race at blustery freezing Pyeongchang, Games. Snowboarder Kim, 17, snatched the first of the this time he nailed it. day’s eight gold medals in the women’s halfpipe, while “All the people expected me to win a gold medal, World Cup maestro Hirscher ended his long wait for a especially in Austria, my home country, where skiing is debut Olympic title. big,” he said. “Everyone is saying, ‘Nice career, but an But Japan’s short-track speed skater Kei Saito, 21, Olympic gold medal is still missing’. This is perfect, was at the centre of the first doping scandal in unbelievable.” Pyeongchang after testing positive for a banned diuret- ic. Saito, who has left the athletes’ village, was provi- ‘THIS ONE’S FOR GRAMS!’ sionally suspended pending an investigation. He For Kim, her debut Olympics turned golden as she protested his innocence and romped to snowboarding vowed to clear his name. halfpipe victory. Born in the “I want to fight to prove United States to Korean par- my innocence because I ents, Kim burst into tears as don’t remember (taking the the enormity of her achieve- drug) and it’s incomprehensi- This is ment sunk in. The teenager, ble,” he said in a statement. who has melted the hearts of While Kim’s brilliant run in perfect, home fans in Pyeongchang, the halfpipe stole the show, justified her status as the hot gold medals also went to unbelievable favourite with an eye-pop- Sweden and Norway in cross ping top score of 98.25. country skiing, and Italy in Pumping her fists after short-track speedskating. finishing with back-to-back PYEONGCHANG: USA’s gold medallist Chloe Kim poses on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Canada beat Switzerland 1080 spins, Kim revealed snowboard women’s Halfpipe at the Pyeongchang Medals Plaza during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter to win the mixed doubles curling, while the Dutch main- that her number one fan-her Seoul-based grandmoth- Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. — AFP tained their perfect record in speedskating with a dou- er-had been in the crowd cheering her on. ble in the men’s 1,500m. “I actually only found out my grandma was at the On the slopes, Austrian star Hirscher cemented his bottom before my second run,” she said. “So I thought Italy got their first gold of the Games through medal with a one-two in the men’s 1,500m through legacy as the best skier of his generation with victory in ‘this one’s for Grams!’” Also celebrating gold was Stina Arianna Fontana in the 500m women’s short-track Kjeld Nuis and Patrick Roest. In curling, Canada’s the combined event. Hirscher, 28, has been the out- Nilsson, who won the women’s cross country sprint speed skating. South Korean multi-medal hope Choi Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris danced with delight standing skier in his slalom speciality for years, with 55 classic for Sweden. In the men’s event, Johannes Klaebo Min-jeong finished second but was disqualified. after hammering Switzerland 10-3 to take the inau- career World Cup wins. of Norway won gold on his Olympic debut. In speed skating, the Dutch claimed their fourth gold gural Olympic mixed doubles title. — AFP Fifth time Russian, American lucky? Olympic skeleton racers gold beckons refuse to for Savchenko break the ice GANGNEUNG: Germany’s celebrated pairs skater Aljona Savchenko is in Pyeongchang on a hunt for an PYEONGCHANG: Russian and American skeleton elusive Olympic title at her fifth attempt. The Ukrainian racers are refusing to speak to each other at the born 34-year-old has a mantlepiece straining under the Pyeongchang winter Games in a spat that centres weight of awards earned from a sparkling career in the on allegations of widespread Russian doping. In a rink. And with partner Bruno Massot she will start as squabble contrasting with an Olympics detente one of the favourites in the 2018 competition which between old enemies North and South Korea, gets underway with the short programme yesterday. Russians and Americans at the sliding track on But there are some sizeable obstacles blocking their Tuesday were in no mood to make up. path. China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong have every Speaking to Reuters after training runs on right to believe they can add this to their world champi- Tuesday, two athletes from Russia and an onship title in Helsinki last year with Savchenko and American skeleton racer said there was no contact Massot runners-up. Then there’s Meagan Duhamel and between them, mostly because of the underlying Eric Radford, the Canadian team gold medallists. GANGNEUNG: Germany’s Aljona Savchenko (bottom) and Germany’s Bruno Massot compete in the figure tensions surrounding Russian athletes’ presence Radford is on a high after becoming the first openly skating team event pair skating short program during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the at the Games. gay Olympic champion. And two time European cham- Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung. —AFP “Obviously there is some language barrier that pions Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov repre- exists between all nations,” said US skeleton athlete senting Olympic Athletes from Russia hope to have a Matt Antoine, who won bronze at the 2014 Sochi say in the outcome too. and ice dance so that it becomes one.” Savchenko rep- have that kind of rehearsal,” she shrugged. Olympics. But he added: “Do I believe they’ve com- A couple on and off the ice, they successfully resented her country of birth in her first Olympics in Massot was unhappy over the morning scheduling peted fairly? No, and I’ve been very vocal about defended their European crown in mid-January in Salt Lake City in 2002. for the figure skating at the Gangneung Ice Arena. “It is that. So I don’t really have a need to have a conver- Moscow before winning the pairs short programme She then teamed up with Robin Szolkowy to repre- always more difficult when you have an early morning sation with those athletes.” segment of the team event in South Korea. Skating for sent Germany for the last three Games, coming away practice and then the competition takes place two The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last honour rather than for medals, are the North Korean with bronze from Vancouver and Sochi, and the not hours later. Maybe that schedule is good for the TV, but year banned Russian athletes from competing for- pair Ryom Tae-Ok and Kim Ju-Sik, among 22 athletes inconsiderable feat of five world titles. With Szolkowy not for the athletes.” mally from these Games over what it called the from north of the boder taking part amid an inter- leaving the stage she turned to French born Massot, Ryom and Kim meanwhile are the only North “systematic manipulation” of doping tests at the Korean reconciliation drive. who moved to Germany and received German citizen- Koreans competing at the Games who met the Olympic 2014 winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Savchenko and Massot turned up in Pyeongchang in ship last November. qualifying standards. “They’re not here to win a medal, Instead, it has allowed Russians with no history superb shape after establishing a new pairs free skate let’s be honest, they’re ranked 15th in the world. It’s a of doping to compete at the Games as neutral ath- record en route to Grand Prix Final success at Nagoya STRONG FIELD really strong field,” said their coaching consultant letes, at its invitation. Russian skeleton racer Nikita in Japan in December. “We did a very good free in With multiple world and European podiums together Bruno Marcotte last week. Tregubov said his American rivals did not speak to Japan, but I think we still can do better than that,” said this could well be their time to strike it big. They tuned “They were 15th at the world championships in him or compatriot Vladislav Marchenkov, creating Massot. “The goal is to skate clean at first, then the up in the team event won by Canada on Monday, with Helsinki, if they come top 12 we’d be ecstatic. “Their an unpleasant atmosphere around the track. result will come,” said his experienced partner. “We not everything going to plan as Savchenko took a fall. main focus and mine with them is to help them improve “They scold us without evidence,” Tregubov want to bring art on to the ice and combine pair skating “With a fall, you cannot be satisfied. But this is why we their personal best score.” — AFP said. “We weren’t the ones who started it. It wasn’t us. I didn’t start anything. It’s up to them to start over for there to be a good atmosphere.” Stina takes sprint UNFAIR COMPETITION With relations strained over the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine and American allegations of Russian gold for Sweden meddling in the 2016 US president election, some- thing Moscow denies, Russian-US ties have plum- PYEONGCHANG: Stina Nilsson swept aside the field meted to a post-Cold War low.