OLYMPIC roundup

FIGURE SKATING

Canada wins Team event’s gold

GANGNEUNG, South Korea

Gold Canada.

While the stars of tonday’s Olympic free skates were a Russian and an American woman, Canada’s deep squad grabbed the team gold medal it so desperately sought.

The top spot was clinched when Gabrielle Daleman finished third behind Russian Alina Zagitova and American Mirai Nagasu in the women’s event. That gave Canada 63 points to 58 for the Russians with only the ice dance remaining. The Russians could only pick up a maximum of four points in that discipline.

The United States repeated its showing in the 2014 Sochi Games with a bronze medal.

Just before Daleman’s clincher, Patrick Chan won the men’s free skate against a weakened field, and with a mediocre performance.

Regardless, Canada’s quest for a medal its skaters said they set about winning ever since they wound up second in Sochi was complete with one program remaining.

SKIING

Women’s giant slalom race postponed

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea

Mikaela Shiffrin’s pursuit of gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics will start on a different day — and in a different event, the slalom, which is her forte — than everyone expected.

Of course, that’s assuming they ever get around to doing any racing at all in Alpine skiing, after each of the first two contests were postponed because of dangerous winds.

The latest schedule change came today, when the temperature was 5 degrees (minus-15 Celsius) and the women’s giant slalom was shelved less than three hours before it was supposed to start. That followed Sunday’s postponement of the men’s downhill.

Now both of those races will be held Thursday, but on different hills. The women will compete at the Yongpyong Alpine Center used for technical races, and the men will be about 30 miles (50 kilometers) away at the Jeongseon Alpine Center used for speed races.

The men’s super-G, originally set for Thursday, has been switched to Friday.

The giant slalom would have been Shiffrin’s much-anticipated debut at these Winter Games. Instead, she will begin on Wednesday — weather permitting, of course — in the slalom, a race she has dominated for five years, and then ski again the next day. That is something to which she is accustomed: World Cup races frequently are held on consecutive days, and twice this season she went three days in a row.

SKIING

Anderson defends her gold medal

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea

Jamie Anderson has defended her title in Olympic women’s slopestyle snowboarding, surviving blustery and treacherous conditions at Phoenix Snow Park to give the United States its second gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

Anderson was one of the few riders in the final to navigate the tricky series of rails and jumps safely as the wind wreaked havoc on the field, turning the final almost into a matter of survival.

Anderson posted a score of 83.00 in the first of her two runs then watched it hold up as rider after rider either crashed or bailed. Even Anderson wasn’t immune. She washed out in her second run with the gold medal already wrapped up.

Laurie Blouin of Canada took silver, with Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi finishing third. Anderson is the first woman to win multiple gold medals in snowboarding.

Associated Press