Austria’s Matthias Mayer stormed to gold in the Winter Olympics men’s downhill yesterday as Russia eyed a first medal and tried to solve the problem of empty seats at its US$50 billion showpiece.
Mayer, 23, clocked 2 minutes, 06.23 seconds down the 3.5km-long course at Rosa Khutor, high above the Black Sea, to give Austria its first downhill gold since Fritz Stroebl at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
Mayer also bettered his father’s, Helmut Mayer, silver-medal showing in the super-G at the Calgary Games in 1998.
Photo: AFP
“Of course it means a lot to me,” an emotional Matthias Mayer said. “It’s really difficult to go down the track without mistakes.”
Italian Christof Innerhofer took silver at just six-hundredths of a second behind, while Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud claimed bronze a further 0.04 seconds adrift.
World downhill champion Aksel Lund Svindal was fourth, while another strong favorite, Bode Miller of the US, was a disappointing eighth.
“I skied hard and well, and that’s the most important thing. It just didn’t go right,” Miller said.
Meanwhile, hosts Russia were fighting on two fronts: looking for a first medal to ease the burden of expectation and to get spectators to the venues in time for events.
Organizers said they had sold 92 percent of the tickets available for the first day of medal competition on Saturday, but that thousands had not made it to the venues on time.
Russia went into yesterday’s figure skating team competition seeking their first gold. The hosts have 47 points, six ahead of Canada, with the US third on 34 ahead of the third and final day.
Fittingly, veteran Russian star Yevgeny Plushenko, 31, can help seal his second Olympic gold after 2006 when he performs in the men’s free skating, with the women’s and ice dancing events also to go.
In yesterday’s action, Jamie Anderson gave the US a slopestyle snowboarding double following Sage Kotsenburg’s victory in the men’s competition a day earlier.
The four-time X-Games winner produced the goods on her second run with a near-perfect 95.25 score.
Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi was second, while Jenny Jones took third to give Britain its first-ever Olympic medal on snow.
In the men’s Nordic skiathlon, Switzerland’s Dario Cologna powered to victory to earn the second Olympic gold of his career.
Cologna finished in 1 hour, 8 minutes to claim first, 15.4 seconds ahead of Marcus Hellner of Sweden, with Norway’s Martin Johnsrud Sundby taking bronze.
When the normal hill final is staged, Switzerland’s Simon Ammann, the 2002 and 2010 double Olympic champion, will aim to become the first ski jumper to win five gold medals. However, the favorites will be World Cup leader Kamil Stoch of Poland and Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer, the 2010 team goldmedal winner on the large hill.
The men’s luge could see 42-year-old Russian Albert Demchenko become the oldest Winter Olympic medallst in an individual event.
Demchenko knows he has an opportunity to make history after he finished the first day of the men’s singles in second position with two more runs to come yesterday.
However, defending champ Felix Loch of Germany, who leads after two rounds, remains the favorite.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set