Sweden's Kalla Wins First Pyeongchang Gold
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SUNDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2018 25 During the first skating lap SPORT I knew it felt very good, so Charlotte Kalla my plan was to try to do Swedish athlete who won ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE the first gold medal of the Huddersfield Town vs AFC Bournemouth - 12:00GMT something quite early on Pyeongchang Winter Newcastle United vs Manchester United - 14:15GMT the last skating lap. Olympics. Southampton vs Liverpool - 16:30GMT ACTION TODAY’S TODAY’S Joint Olympic team makes history for two Koreas AFP The Games have triggered Games in the women’s skiathlon, The two Koreas marched yesterday. North Korean cheer- Krista Parmakoski. rapid reconciliation between the followed by Germany’s Laura together at Friday’s opening cer- leaders let rip in support for Choe In biathlon, Germany’s GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA: two Koreas, who are still tech- Dahlmeier who triumphed in the emony but they have never Un Song but he was eliminated Dahlmeier took the honours in North and South Korea competed nically at war. In talks on Sat- women’s 7.5km sprint biathlon. before competed side-by-side at in the heats for the 1,500m short- the women’s 7.5km sprint ahead together for the first time at an urday, South Korean President Five gold medals were up for an Olympics. track speed skating, failing to of Norway’s Marte Olsbu and Olympics yesterday as the first Moon Jae-in was invited to a grabs on day one, concluding Among the crowd was a large reach the semi-finals. Veronika Vitkova of the Czech of 102 gold medals were decided summit with North Korean with Kamil Stoch’s attempt to number of North Korea’s all- Earlier, Kalla won the skia- Republic. against a fast-moving backdrop leader Kim Jong Un. become the first back-to-back female “Army of Beauties” cheer thlon race ahead of Norway’s Carlijn Achtereekte made of diplomatic manoeuvring. There was joy for South ski jumping champion in the squad, known for their tightly Marit Bjoergen, preventing her her Olympic debut a golden one, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful Korea when short-track speed normal hill. choreographed moves and from collecting an unprece- leading a Dutch podium sweep sister of North Korean leader skater Lim Hyo-jun won the first But most South Korean fans chants. dented third straight gold medal in the women’s 3,000-metre Kim Jong Un, was among a high- gold for hosts on day one, were fixated on the ice hockey, At a Games rife with polit- in the event. But Bjoergen still speed skating. level delegation in the stands as claiming the men’s 1500m in where the combined North and ical overtones, US Vice-Presi- became the most decorated Ireen Wust, the 2006 and the joint Korean women’s ice front of a near-capacity crowd. South women’s team appeared dent Mike Pence was watching woman in Winter Olympics his- 2014 champion, was a narrow hockey team took on Switzer- Earlier, Sweden’s Charlotte at a packed Kwandong Hockey nearby as the first North Korean tory as she claimed her 11th second with Antoinette de Jong land in their opening match. Kalla won the first title of the Centre. athlete competed -- and flopped medal. Third came Finland’s third. Kenya’s lone Winter Sweden’s Kalla wins Olympian Simader skis into history books first Pyeongchang gold AFP As a one-woman team, Simader was the only person PYEONGCHANG: Sabrina available to carry the Kenyan REUTERS Simader said it was a “dream flag at Friday’s opening come true” to be at the Winter ceremony. PYEONGCHANG: Sweden’s Olympics as the first female “I was really proud. It’s cool Charlotte Kalla won the first gold alpine skier for Kenya. seeing a big team like Canada medal of the Pyeongchang Simader, 19, has lived in in front of you. That was funny,” Winter Olympics yesterday after Austria since the age of three she said. powering away from the field to and has an Austrian father, but “It was emotional for me secure victory in the women’s opted to take the Kenyan route too because the world is 7.5km + 7.5km skiathlon. to participating in the watching. It’s a dream come Sochi Games champion Pyeongchang Games. true.” Marit Bjoergen of Norway, who “I am happy to go for Chef de mission Boit knows has decided to skip Thursday’s Kenya, but there are some all about the learning curve of 10km sprint race, took the silver problems, it’s not so easy,” said Africans taking up little-known 7.8 seconds behind and Krista Simader, who is accompanied winter sports, but said it was Parmakoski of Finland won the Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla (centre), in South Korea by three-time definitely not the case for bronze. Norway’s Marit Bjoergen (left) and Olympian Philip Boit. Simader. Kalla made her break Finland’s Krista Parmakoski celebrate “The organisation is diffi- “For Sabrina, she grew up midway through the last of the on the podium during the medal cult because in Kenya skiing is in Austria, on skis. It is totally four laps, leaving Bjoergen to ceremony at the end of the women’s not so well known. different,” he said. battle Parmakoski and Swede 7.5km + 7.5km cross-country skiathlon “We are not professional in “It was tougher for me. I Ebba Andersson for the podium event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Kenya, we are still on our way was going from African tem- places. Winter Olympic Games yesterday. up. But we made it to peratures to freezing winter It was the third Olympic gold Pyeongchang and I am really temperatures” on a Nike pro- medal for the 30-year-old Kalla, glad for that.” gramme to retrain Kenyan run- who won the 10km freestyle at “During the first skating lap shoulder during the final three summer and fall, and just looked Simader still has extended ners as cross-country skiers. Vancouver in 2010 and followed I knew it felt very good, so my kilometres as she dug deep for forward all the time,” she said. family back in the east African “I used to wonder why on that up with a win in the 4x5km plan was to try to do something victory. Silver medalist Bjoergren has country and she said they had earth I was doing it,” he said. “I relay in Sochi four years later. quite early on the last skating “There were thoughts about decided not to participate in been “really supportive”. only started learning the tech- “I’m very happy today, it lap,” she explained. maybe what are the others Thursday’s 10km race, but said “My grandparents, aunties nique when I was 20. I’d never feels incredible,” a beaming “I didn’t know exactly where doing, but I just tried to focus on it had nothing to do with her and cousins and a lot of other skied before and I’m up against Kalla told a media conference. Marit was, I knew that she was my performance all the time and performance in the skiathlon. people are sending me messages skiers who have been doing it With about a dozen racers in the group somewhere, so I just just look forward,” she said, “It’s a decision I took a long saying ‘We are behind you’. since age two. close together as they made the tried to focus on my perform- acknowledging that she had time ago. I don’t feel like I have “That motivates me. To per- “Some people thought I was switch from freestyle skiing to ance and not evaluate what the found it tough. a chance of a medal, so that’s form excites me. I will give eve- a joke, it was not nice. But I was skating style, Kalla began eval- others did.” “I know that I have been in the why I made this choice,” she told rything I have. I feel strong and very fit and I got better and uating when she would attack. Kalla barely looked over her zone of pain many times in the broadcaster Eurosport. in a good way.” better.” Dutch women dominate South Korea open South Korea’s Lim 3,000m speed skating Hyojun (left) and We are not Hwang Daeheon professional in AFP But it was another near- medal account take part in the Kenya, we are still miss for Wust, a four-time men’s 1,500m GANGNEUNG, SOUTH Olympic champion who also short track speed on our way up. KOREA: Carlijn Achtereekte settled for second in the with Lim’s gold skating event. But we made it to made her Olympic debut a 1,000, 1,500 and 5,000 at Pyeongchang and golden one, leading a Dutch Sochi in 2014. podium sweep in the Wust missed out on I am really glad for women’s 3,000-metre speed becoming the first Dutch that: Kenya’s first skating yesterday at the woman to defend a Winter female alpine skier Pyeongchang Winter Olym- Olympic title and only the pics. second woman with back- Sabrina Simader The 28-year-old skated to-back golds in the event. in the fifth of 12 heats, well Wust also narrowly failed before the favourites, but her to become the first Dutch dazzling time of 3:59.21 held athlete to win five Olympic up to win. golds in the Winter or Ireen Wust, the 2006 and Summer Games. 2014 champion, was a Czech Martina Sablikova, I made a mistake.