Day 12Medal Count
# Country-----------Gold--Silver--Bronze--Total
1 Germany-----------9------8-------5--------22
2 Austria-----------8------6-------5--------19
3 United States-----7------7-------4--------18
4 Canada------------5------8-------5--------18
5 Norway------------2------8-------8--------18
6 Russia------------7------3-------6--------16
Canada's Crawford wins sprint gold!
Canada's Chandra Crawford stunned the women's cross-country field as she captured the gold medal in the 1.1-kilometre sprint at the Torino Winter Games Wednesday. In her Olympic debut, Crawford stormed to the lead early in the race on Pragelato Plan course. She held her lead over Germany's Claudia Kuenzel and pulled away to win in a time of two minutes, 12.3 seconds. Kuenzel edged out Russian Alena Sidko to earn the silver in 2:13.0. Sidko won the bronze medal in a time 2:13.2 while Beckie Scott of Vermilon, Alta., (2:14.7 ) finished fourth in the four-woman final.
Crawford may be the surprise gold medallist, but her performance was dominant. While the other three competitors laboured, Crawford broke out with a smile a few metres before she crossed the finish line. The race showed how much endurance the 22-year-old had over her opponents.
"She was clearly the class of the group, used the same strategy she used in the quarter-finals and bolted up that last hill," CBC cross-country ski analyst Jack Sasseville said of Crawford.
Crawford is only in her second year on the national team and her best finish prior to the Olympics was a 10th-place showing on the World Cup circuit earlier this season. She was 46th at the world championships last year. What makes this win so surprising is that Crawford only took up the sport of cross-country skiing at 16 after five years as a biathlete.
"I don't think in her wildest dreams [she thought she] would be standing on the top step," said Sasseville.
Scott posted the fastest time of the 66-athlete field in the qualification round. Then in the quarter-final race, Scott's powerful skate-skiing technique propelled her to a comfortable lead. However, she used bad judgment in her lane changes and couldn't catch the leaders.
Klassen gold, Groves silver in 1,500
Cindy Klassen's fourth medal of the Torino Olympic Winter Games was pure gold as she and teammate Kristina Groves placed 1-2 in Wednesday's women's 1,500 metre long-track speed skating event.
"This is awesome, it's awesome for Canada," Klassen told CBC Sports. "Both of us skated amazing races."
It was Canada's second whoop-up of the day as skier Chandra Crawford of Canmore, Alta., won gold in the women's cross-country sprint in a dazzling Olympic debut. Klassen blitzed German rival and defending champion Anni Friesinger in the penultimate pairing, pulling ahead with 400 metres left and crossing the finish line in one minute, 55.27 seconds.
"She is so strong," CBC Sports analyst Catriona Le May Doan said of the Winnipeg native, who set a world record of 1:51.79 in World Cup competition last Nov. 20.
Klassen has won a Canadian record four medals at Turin – gold in the 1,500, silvers in the 1,000 and team pursuit, and bronze in the 3,000 – with the 5,000 still to come on Saturday.
Swimmers Elaine Tanner and Anne Ottenbrite won three medals apiece in the 1968 and 1984 Summer Olympics, respectively.
"I came into the Games wanting to just enjoy every moment and that is what I've done," Klassen said. "I think that's what has made me relax during the races and perform well."
Groves, from Ottawa, skated brilliantly in the 15th of 18 pairings, tactically pacing herself to win the silver medal in 1:56.74.
"I knew I had a really good one and I was so happy with that, no matter the outcome," Groves said.
"I just had a clean race and never really had a big drop-off. Finishing 1-2, it's just the best."
Canadian women win short-track silver
Canadians have won the silver medal in the women's short-track relay event. The South Korean team won the gold medal while the Italians claimed the bronze. The strong Chinese team was disqualified.
The Canadian team of Alanna Kraus, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Kalyna Roberge and Tania Vicent headed into the competition as strong contenders. The team is the reigning world champion. It also captured one gold medal, one silver and two bronze during 2005-2006 World Cup competition, and is ranked second in the world. Canadians won the bronze medal in this event at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Kraus is the only member of that Canadian relay team who competed Wednesday.
More curse of the 4th place
Helen Upperton (pilot), Calgary, and Heather Moyse, Summerside, P.E.I., finished fourth with a combined time of 3:51.06 for four runs just 0.05 seconds behind the bronze medallists in Women's two Bobsled on Tuesday. This makes nine fourth place finishes for Canada, eight with an average margin of less than .30 seconds.
Gushue curls into final
Canada's Brad Gushue will play for Olympic gold after an 11-5 semifinal win in nine ends over American Pete Fenson on Wednesday at the Torino Winter Games. Gushue takes on Markku Uusipaavalniemi of Finland in the gold medal game Friday.
Uusipaavalniemi, the 2000 European champion and a two-time bronze medallist at the world championships, defeated David Murdoch of Great Britain 4-3 in the other semifinal. Murdoch will play Fenson on Friday (7:00 a.m. EST) for the bronze medal.
Gushue put pressure on Fenson from the outset Wednesday. With Canada lying three in the first end, Fenson was forced to execute a delicate tap-back to score one. Gushue took the lead in the second, making a nice take-out amid a crowded house to count two. After Fenson evened the score with a draw for one in the third, Gushue jumped to a 4-2 lead after four ends by knocking his own stone into Fenson's and sending it toward the outside of the house. With Canada lying two on the button in the fifth, Fenson escaped trouble by knocking Canada's shot stone just far enough away from the pinhole to rescue a point. But Gushue went up by three in the next end when, lying one, he tapped his guard back just enough to edge an American stone and pick up two. Fenson blanked the seventh end, then cut Gushue's lead to 6-5 with a draw for two to close the eighth. After Gushue took out the only American stone in the house to score five with the final shot of the ninth end, the teams shook hands.
Disappointment for Kleibrink
Canada's Shannon Kleibrink can win nothing better than a bronze medal following Wednesday's 7-5 semifinal loss to Switzerland at the Torino Olympic Winter Games. Kleibrink battles Norway's Dordi Norby for the bronze Thursday at Pinerolo, located 50 kilometres outside Turin.
Norby, winner of consecutive world titles in 1990-91, lost the other semifinal 5-4 to reigning world champion Anette Norberg, who goes for gold against Swiss skip Mirjam Ott. Canada claimed medals in each of the two previous Olympic competitions, with the late Sandra Schmirler winning gold at Nagano in 1998 and Kelley Law bronze at Salt Lake City four years ago.
Kleibrink took a 1-0 lead on Ott in the second end but struggled to regain the upper hand after that. Ott surged ahead in the third, splitting her guards to count three after Kleibrink was long on a freeze. Kleibrink drew against two to score one in the fourth, but relinquished singles over the next two ends to fall behind 5-2. Kleibrink nearly pulled off a sensational runback in the sixth, barely missing Switzerland's shot rock, which was grazing the pinhole. Kleibrink cut the deficit to 5-4 in the seventh, drawing last rock to the button with opposite stones nestled to its right to score two on a measurement. But her wayward draw to the eight-foot in the eighth permitted Ott to tap back for two and a 7-4 lead. Kleibrink was forced to draw for one in the ninth following a pair of remarkably accurate takeouts by Ott, the first a double that removed Canadian shot rocks sandwiched between Swiss stones.
Kleibrink, who curls out of Calgary, posted a 6-3 record during round-robin play, but needed a last-rock victory in the final draw to clinch a playoff berth.
Russia ousts Canada from Olympics
Canada's men won't repeat as Olympic hockey champions after suffering a 2-0 loss to Russia in a quarter-final game on Wednesday. Alexander Ovechkin's power-play goal 90 seconds into the third period stood as the winner, while Evgeni Nabokov made 27 saves for his third shutout of the tournament in Turin, Italy. Ovechkin, who leads all NHL rookies in scoring this season, took a pass from Viktor Kozlov and lifted the puck over fallen Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur. Alex Kovalev added a power-play goal for good measure with 23 seconds left.
The Russians will have to find an answer for Finnish winger Teemu Selanne, who has six goals and nine points in the tourney. But the Anaheim Mighty Ducks sniper will have to face a red-hot Nabokov. Hot and cold this season with the San Jose Sharks, he has been brilliant in Turin. Nabokov stood tall late in the third period, preserving a 1-0 lead while facing a barrage of shots by the Canadians, who went scoreless in 11 of their last 12 periods.
Brodeur turned aside 31 shots while playing with a brace on his left knee that was injured Tuesday when Czech forward Petr Cajanek fell on the New Jersey Devils goaltender in the crease. It was the third consecutive 2-0 loss for the Canada at Torino Esposizioni, following setbacks against Switzerland and Finland. Canada's power play, which struggled throughout the tournament, went 0-for-8. Captain Joe Sakic said his team didn't create enough scoring chances when up a man and didn't do the little things to get the puck in the net.
"It's a different game here," Sakic said, "but I never thought scoring would have been a problem.
"On the big [Olympic-size] ice surface, I think we were trying to be too cute and not playing our [forechecking and physical] game."
Canada played the third period without forward Simon Gagne, who took a hard hit from Darius Kasparaitis in the opening 20 minutes.
Austrian drug scandal update
The president of the Austrian ski federation revealed that two athletes "may have used illegal methods" at the Torino Olympic Winter Games. Federation president Peter Schroecksnadel told reporters Tuesday that Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottman, both of whom fled Italy when the team's Olympic residences were raided by local police last Sunday evening, confessed to sports director Markus Gandler.
Schroecksnadel did not elaborate, noting only that the skiers have been kicked off the national team and that a commission is being set up to investigate.
"Team Austria is a small group and we live in close proximity to each other," said biathlete Ludwig Gredler, who has competed in five Olympics. "But naturally, I cannot know what happens in other rooms.
"I know I am clean and have taken nothing. But I cannot speak for my teammates."
Later,
Kenaz
