Pyeongchang: America’s women broke an ice hockey gold medal drought stretching back 20 years yesterday as a Russian curler admitted doping and was stripped of bronze at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin was denied gold in the women’s combined, while veteran team-mate Lindsey Vonn bombed out of the same event, in a sad end to her Olympic career.
In the ice hockey, USA edged fierce rivals Canada 3-2 on penalties, celebrating ecstatically when goaltender Maddie Rooney saved the decisive attempt from Canada’s Meghan Agosta.
America’s win torpedoed a 24-game Olympic win streak for Canada, the four-time defending champions. It also edged USA 12-11 ahead over their fierce rivals in Olympic and world titles.
Away from the competition, Russia’s Alexander Krushelnitsky was stripped of his mixed doubles curling bronze medal after testing positive for meldonium, an endurance booster.
The 25-year-old was one of 168 Russian athletes who passed rigorous testing to compete as neutrals after Russia were banned over a major doping scandal.
In skiing, Shiffrin was restricted to second place in the women’s combined, meaning she ends the Games with one gold and one silver – a far cry from the potential five titles she had targeted.
Vonn, 33 and competing at her last Olympics, led the combined after the downhill race but only lasted a couple of gates in the slalom before skiing out.
There was a shock in the men’s slalom as the favourites Marcel Hirscher and Henrik Kristoffersen both imploded, allowing Sweden’s Andre Myhrer to become the event’s oldest champion at 35 years and 42 days.
Austria’s Hirscher, seeking his third gold medal in Pyeongchang, crashed out in the morning run and Kristoffersen of Norway followed suit in the afternoon, leaving the stunned Myhrer to top the podium.
In the men’s ski halfpipe, American defending champion David Wise kept his nerve despite crashing out of his first two runs to seal victory on the final attempt.