The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local):
GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) – The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local):
12:20 a.m.
Mikaela Shiffrin finished a disappointing fourth in women’s slalom while Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter won gold on Day 7 of the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu set an Olympic record in the men’s figure skating short program, while American Nathan Chen missed on all his jumps and plummeted to 17th place.
Matthias Mayer broke Norway’s 16-year grip on the men’s super-G title.
In skeleton, Yun Sungbin of South Korea dominated to win gold and become a hometown hero. He finished 1.63 seconds ahead of silver medalist Nikita Tregubov of Russia. It’s the largest margin of victory in Olympic skeleton history, and the largest margin in any Olympic sliding event since 1972.
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11:55 p.m.
Eeli Tolvanen has scored twice to help Finland rally past Norway 5-1 in a hockey preliminary round game and set up a showdown with Sweden.
Norway’s Patrick Thoresen scored an early power play goal, but Finland equalized when Tolvanen scored at 16:36 on the power play with Mattias Norstebo off for tripping.
Tolvanen scored again just 5:32 into the second and the Finns broke the game open early in the third with two more goals, including a long-range strike from Sami Lepisto, who beat screened Norway goalie Lars Haugen.
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11:35 p.m.
Viktor Stalberg scored on a near-breakaway early in the first period to lead Sweden past Germany 1-0 in a hockey preliminary round game at the Winter Olympics.
Patrik Zackrisson found a streaking Stalberg with a clearing pass and the 32-year-old veteran of eight NHL seasons rocketed the puck over the stick of German goalie Timo Pielmeier just 2 minutes into the game.
The game was heated at times, with a scrum in front of the benches at the end of the first period. Both goaltenders dodged close calls throughout and the hard-luck Germans found the post on multiple shots, with another clanging off the crossbar early in the second period before falling harmlessly to the ice in front of the net.
Sweden (2-0) will face Finland (2-0) in a Group C showdown on Sunday. Germany will play Norway in a matchup of two teams looking for their first win of the tournament.
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10:50 p.m.
Robert Johansson carried his hot form into the men’s large hill ski jumping final at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The mustachioed Norwegian, with his trademark red handlebar mustache, led Friday’s qualifying with 131.9 points after a leap of 135 meters at Alpensia Ski Jumping Center.
Johansson won the bronze in the normal hill on Saturday and put himself in good position for another medal in Saturday’s large hill final.
Japanese teenager Ryoyu Kobayashi had the longest jump of 143.5 meters but was marked down on his landing and he finished third behind Norway’s Johann Andre Forfang.
Andreas Wellinger, who won the normal hill gold, was fourth and defending Olympic champion Kamil Stoch was seventh.
Friday’s qualifying was held to reduce the number of jumpers to 50 for the final.
Japanese veteran Noriaki Kasai, who is competing in his record eighth Olympics, was 22nd, and Kevin Bickner of the United States qualified 35th.
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9:35 p.m.
Hanna Huskova has given Belarus its second gold medal in women’s aerials.
The 25-year-old narrowly edged China’s Zhang Xin in a windy finals Friday at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Huskova posted a score of 96.14 in the final round of jumping, just ahead of Zhang’s 95.52.
China’s Kong Fanyu took bronze in a sloppy last round. Huskova and Zhang were the only two women in the six-person final to land their jumps cleanly.
Alla Tsuper won gold for Belarus in Sochi four years ago and finished fourth in Pyeongchang. Australian Laura Peel was fifth and American Madison Olsen was sixth.
Gold medal favorite Xu Mengtao of China washed out in the second round and failed to advance to finals. China now has seven medals in the event since it made its Olympic debut in 1994 – but no golds.
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9:25 p.m.
Dutch speedskater Esmee Visser has won gold in the women’s 5,000-meter race at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Visser finished Friday in 6 minutes, 50.23 seconds.
Two-time defending champion Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic took silver in 6:51.85.
Russian Natalia Voronina earned bronze in 6:53.98.
Claudia Pechstein of Germany finished eighth. She is a three-time champion in the 5,000 meters.
The Dutch have won six of seven golds so far in speedskating. Their only miss was in the men’s 10,000 meters in which they took silver.
American Carlijn Schoutens finished 11th of 12 skaters.
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7 p.m.
Russian hockey players are looking a little more like the men’s gold medal favorites.
Minnesota Wild prospect Kirill Kaprizov scored a hat trick as the Russians playing under the Olympic flag demolished Slovenia 8-2 on Friday.
For the Russians, it was a rebound from a surprise 3-2 loss to Slovakia on Wednesday. For Slovenia, it was a return to Earth following its 3-2 overtime win against the United States.
It was the largest margin of victory in an Olympic men’s hockey tournament since Canada beat Austria 6-0 in 2014. The Russians will next play the U. S. on Saturday in a game likely to determine who finishes top of the Group B standings.
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6:15 p.m.
Tongan cross-country skier Pita Taufatofua has finished the 15-kilometer individual race at the Pyeongchang Olympics – and he didn’t even hit a tree.
The 34-year-old Taufatofua, best known for participating in the last two Olympic opening ceremonies without a shirt, says he was pleased he didn’t fall on the course Friday, particularly in the final 100 meters in front of the grandstand.
As he was nearing the finish line, Taufatofua thought to himself, “Please God, not in front of everyone – don’t give me my first fall.”
Taufatofua finished 114th of 119 competitors. Two racers finished behind him, and three others either did not finish or were disqualified.
Race winner Dario Cologna of Switzerland says Taufatofua represents what the Olympics are all about.
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5:40 p.m.
There’s been a rare bit of controversy at the Canada vs. Denmark women’s curling match over what’s known as a burned stone.
The moment happened in the fifth period of Friday’s game. A Danish player touched a stone in motion with her broom. That is a foul known as a burned stone.
When burned stones occur, the captain, or skip, of the opposing team has three choices. They can ignore the foul, put the stones in the position they think they should be in or remove the stone from play.
Canada’s skip Rachel Homan removed the stone from play. Canada went on to score four points, taking the lead.
Canada ended up losing the game. Homan later defended her decision to remove the stone, saying it’s “just the rules.”
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5:30 p.m.
How much was it worth to Seoul for hundreds of North Koreans to attend the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics? Try $2.5 million.
According to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, that’s the record amount the nation has allotted to pay the bills of more than 400 North Koreans at the Winter Games. Only 22 of those people were athletes.
The North’s performers – a 140-member orchestra with vocalists and dancers, an all-female 229-member cheering squad and a demonstration taekwondo team – have been a major attraction at and around the games.
That’s because their presence itself is seen as a sign of eased tensions after a rough year and because of the exotic appeal they have due to the general isolation of their country.
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5:15 p.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t at the Pyeongchang Olympics, but his likeness was briefly watching over Russian hockey players.
During a game between Slovenia and Russian athletes Friday, fans in one corner of the Gangneung Hockey Centre unfurled two large banners featuring Putin’s face.
After around 10 minutes, arena security and police intervened and the banners were rolled up.
One read, “No one is stronger than Russia in winter sports,” and the other seemed to be a message of support from Korean practitioners of the Russian martial art of sambo. It wasn’t immediately clear who had brought them in.
The International Olympic Committee takes a dim view of anything that could be construed as political advertising, and the Russians are already on thin ice because of the doping scandal.
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4:30 p.m.
Switzerland’s Dario Cologna has become the first cross-country skier to win three Olympic gold medals in the same event by capturing the 15-kilometer freestyle.
“Super Dario” as he’s known, also won this race in Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014.
His three-peat gives Switzerland its first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Cologna won the race in 33 minutes, 43.9 seconds, more than 18 seconds ahead of the Simen Hegstad Krueger from Norway. Krueger took second place to give the Norwegian men their first medal in this event since 2002.
Denis Spitsov of Russia finished in third place. It was Krueger’s second medal of these Winter Games. He also won a gold medal in the skiathlon.
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4:20 p.m.
At the Pyeongchang Olympics, Americans are embracing curling for its chess-like strategy and oddball factor. American curlers Matt and Becca Hamilton, siblings from Wisconsin, have been particularly popular with U. S. fans.
Americans in general are slowly growing to love curling. The number of U. S. curling clubs registered with the national organization USA Curling has nearly doubled since 2000.
