Roundup of Olympic gold medals from Thursday, Feb. 10
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BEIJING (AP) — A roundup of gold medals from Thursday, Feb. 10, at the Beijing Games:
ALPINE SKIING
MEN’S COMBINED
Austrian skier Johannes Strolz won the Olympic gold medal in the Alpine combined race 34 years after his father did the same.
The 29-year-old Strolz was fourth fastest after the downhill run but he was half a second quicker than anyone else in the slalom. He edged first-run leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway by 0.58 seconds. Jack Crawford of Canada took bronze.
The combined adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom run.
Strolz’s father won gold in combined at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Hubert Strolz also won silver in the giant slalom that year.
Kilde won his second medal of the Beijing Games. He also took bronze in the super-G on Tuesday.
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
WOMEN’S 10KM CLASSIC
Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug won gold in the 10-kilometer classic race at the Beijing Olympics. It was her second gold of the Games — she won the women’s 15-kilometer cross-country skiathlon on Saturday.
Johaug glided around the cold, windy course in 28 minutes, 6.3 seconds. As she watched others come in with slower times, realizing the gold was hers, she shouted and howled, throwing her head back and pumping her arms in the air.
Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen was ahead of Johaug at the 8.6-kilometer mark but crossed the finish line just 0.4 seconds behind the Norwegian. Krista Parmakoski of Finland secured the bronze 31.5 seconds back.
Natalia Nepryaeva of Russia threatened Parmakoski’s time but crossed the line 31.6 seconds behind Johaug.
The Beijing Olympic 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) cross country race was in the classic ski style. Ninety-eight women went off at 30-second intervals to ski two laps on a 5-kilometer course.
The 10K race alternates between classic and freestyle, or skate, every Olympic cycle, so the Pyeongchang event was freestyle and the 2014 Sochi Games were classic.
FIGURE SKATING
MEN’S INDIVIDUAL
Figure skater Nathan Chen won gold, joining an exclusive club of U.S. Olympic champions in the sport and capping a four-year journey that started after his medal hopes were dashed at the Pyeongchang Games.
The 22-year-old’s win in Beijing makes him the seventh U.S. men’s skater to step atop the podium. Chen delivered a rousing performance of his “Rocketman” free skate, drawing cheers from the limited crowd of spectators.
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno won silver and bronze, respectively.
Long-time rival Yuzuru Hanyu, the two-time defending Olympic champion from Japan, came into the free skate with a deficit so great that not even his planned quad axel in the free skate would’ve made up for it. He finished in fourth place after falling in his attempt to become the first figure skater to land the quad axel in competition.
FREESTYLE SKIING
MIXED TEAM AERIALS
The Americans won gold in the Olympics’ first mixed team aerials event, giving the U.S. its first medals in the freestyle skiing discipline in a dozen years.
The trio of Ashley Caldwell, Christopher Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld each earned their first Winter Games medals. Lillis’ back double full-full-double full was given the highest score of any trick in the finals, and the U.S. title was assured when Schoenefeld followed with a clean back double full-full-full.
Two-time medalist Jia Zongyang cost China a chance at gold when he flipped forward on his landing, and the host country settled for silver. Canada won bronze.
The mixed team event made its debut at these Games. Each country gets three jumpers and can’t use more than two per gender. All six countries in the finals went with two men and one woman.
SNOWBOARD
WOMEN’S HALFPIPE
American Chloe Kim has won gold in the women’s halfpipe at the Beijing Olympics.
She turned in a strong opening run as she easily defended her Olympic halfpipe title.
The only real drama was for second place, with 32-year-old Queralt Castellet of Spain taking silver at her fifth appearance at the Olympic Games. Sena Tomita of Japan held off Cai Xuetong of China for bronze.
No one was matching Kim’s height or demanding array of tricks. Not after an opening performance that featured a variety of different spins and rotations, including a front and backside 1080 (three spins each). That flawless run even appeared to surprised her as she covered her mouth in excitement. She later told her coach it was the best one she’s done.
MEN’S SNOWBOARDCROSS
Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria held off Canada’s Eliot Grondin in a photo finish to win the men’s snowboardcross at Genting Snow Park.
The 20-year-old Grondin made it close by almost diving toward the finish line with his board. It wasn’t enough to overtake Haemmerle, who took home the gold medal in his third Olympics. Omar Visintin of Italy took home the bronze.
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