Winter Olympics news

Unknown triumphs

Unheralded American Ted Ligety won Winter Olympics gold in the alpine skiing combined event yesterday after leader Benjamin Raich, of Austria, skied out of the slalom second leg.

Ligety had been expected to play second fiddle to his better known teammate Bode Miller but the overall World Cup champion, who led after the downhill leg, straddled a gate pole in the first slalom run and was disqualified.

Croatian Ivica Kostelic, a former world slalom champion who has battled injuries and had won nothing in more than two years, took silver with Austrian Rainer Schoenfelder winning the bronze.

Raich, world combined champion and overall World Cup leader, had a lead of 0.40s going into the final slalom leg but straddled a gate in the second run and went out.

Miller, combined silver medallist at the last Olympics, had been a favourite for the gold in Turin while Ligety, 21 and skiing in his first Games and without a single World Cup win, remained in the shadows.

Mother fastest

Russia's Svetlana Zhurova clinched the women's 500m speedskating gold, at the Lingotto Oval.

Zhurova, who at the age of 34 decided to return to competition following the birth of her son two years earlier, beat off China's Wang Manli and Ren Hui.

Accident helped

Six months ago, German biathlete Sven Fischer was more concerned about not losing his thumb than getting a Winter Olympic gold medal around his neck.

The 34-year-old five-time world champion suffered a terrible start to his Turin Games preparations when he crashed during a summer training run on roller-skis, badly dislocating the top of his thumb in the process.

"The doctors told me that I was in danger of needing an amputation," Fischer said, after completing an impressive comeback with victory in yesterday's 10km sprint to win gold.

"I would really like to thank all of them for saving my thumb and helping me to be here today."

Even before the accident, Fischer's hands had already attracted plenty of attention.

Renowned for never wearing gloves - in a sport famed for punishingly low temperatures - he also has a unique rifle-loading action, based on his use of an old East German Suhl rifle.

Fast to load but notoriously difficult to keep steady, the gun needs very little thumb-tip pressure - a coincidence that was to aid Fischer's recovery following his crash.

Second ban follows test

Cross-country skier Sergei Dolidovich has been handed a second five-day ban for having an excessive level of haemoglobin following a blood test yesterday, the International Ski Federation said.

Dolidovich, of Belarus, was one of 12 athletes hit with a five-day ban last Friday.

Four of those - Olympic champion Evi Sachenbacher, Belarussian Aleksandr Lazutkin and Americans Kikkan Randall and Leif Zimmermann - have been cleared to compete after their haemoglobin fell to an acceptable level.

Croatia's Alen Abramovic was also today cleared to run after a second blood test.

Germany rules luge

In women's luge, Sylke Otto extended Germany's stranglehold by leading her teammates to another sweep of the medals. The 36-year-old defended her crown to become the second woman to retain an Olympic luge title after East German Steffi Walter-Martin in 1988.

Silke Kraushaar, the Olympic champion from 1998, won silver while newcomer Tatjana Huefner took bronze.

Sights on gold

In figure skating, Yevgeny Plushenko laid the foundations for capturing the only gold medal missing from his collection by establishing a commanding lead in the men's short programme. The Russian favourite, silver medallist behind compatriot Alexei Yagudin in Salt Lake City, had a personal best of 90.66 with a near flawless display.

- REUTERS