OLYMPIC ROUNDUP | Wednesday's events

Women's slalom
Anja Paerson finally won her Olympic gold medal and beat her longtime rival with a pair of dominant runs through floodlit fog. Janica Kostelic of Croatia, whose six medals in two Olympics are the most by any women's Alpine skier, failed to win a medal for the first time in her last seven events. She was fourth. Austrians Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild were second and third, the country's unprecedented 100th and 101st Olympic Alpine medals.
Speedskating
Cindy Klassen added a gold medal to the bronze and two silvers she's already earned at the Olympics, winning the women's 1,500-meter speedskating with a dominant performance ahead of teammate Kristina Groves. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands, gold medalist in the 3,000 meters, took bronze, knocking favorite Anni Friesinger out of the medals. Skating in the same pairing with Friesinger, Klassen took control after the first of 33/4 laps and finished in 1 minute, 55.27 seconds. Groves was 1.47 seconds behind.
Men's hockey
After beating the U.S., Finland (6-0) will play Russia in the semifinals Friday. Russia knocked out Canada 2-0 in the best game of the Olympics so far. Alexander Ovechkin, an NHL player for only a few months, scored the pivotal first goal 90 seconds into the third period and Russia rode goaltender Evgeni Nabokov's superb game to victory over the gold medal favorites. Sweden (4-2) claimed a spot in the other semifinal with a 6-2 win over Switzerland (2-2-2) and the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 3-1.
Cross country skiing
Chandra Crawford upstaged two of her better-known countrywomen and pulled off an upset in the women's 1.1km sprint, skating across the finish for Canada's first cross country gold medal of the Turin Games. The 22-year-old Crawford edged silver medalist Claudia Kuenzel of Germany, while Russia's Alena Sidko took the bronze. Canadian Beckie Scott was fourth in the four-skier final. Bjoern Lind of Sweden easily skied to a gold medal in the men's 1.3km cross-country sprint race, taking advantage of rival Tor Arne Hetland's fall in the semifinals.
Curling
Pete Fenson couldn't lead the United States to the Olympic gold medal game, losing to Canada 11-5 in the men's semifinals. Canada clinched at least a silver medal and forced the Americans to play in the consolation game for third place. That would be the first Olympic curling medal -- men's or women's -- for the United States. Canada will play for the gold on Friday night against Finland (8-2), which used the big last-rock advantage called the hammer to score on the game's final throw to beat the British 4-3. Anette Norberg's takeout on the final shot of the game lifted Sweden over Norway, 5-4, in the semifinals of the women's tournament. The Swedes advanced to the gold medal match against Switzerland, a 7-5 winner over Canada.
Short track speedskating
South Korea took another gold at the short track. The team of Byun Chun-sa, Choi Eun-kyung, Jeon Da-hye and Jin Sun-yu won their country's fourth short track gold medal of the Turin Games. Canada took the silver. China, which crossed the line third, was disqualified for an illegal move. That gave the bronze to Italy.
Associated Press