SOCHI, Russia - Imagine what Jason Brown could accomplish with a quadruple jump in his repertoire. Add that most difficult of elements to his programs, and the American teen could go from finishing ninth in his first Olympics to winning major championships.
INTERACTIVE
“For sure, for sure. It’s really exciting what I’ve been able to do without the quad,” Brown said. “That’s a huge confidence builder and a huge excitement about what can happen in the future. I definitely think with that anything is possible.”
The 19-year-old from Chicago was in sixth place but less than a point out of third after Thursday’s short program at the Sochi Games. By the time he took the ice for Friday’s final free skate, bronze was likely out of Brown’s reach because of the points racked up by several competitors.
Then he two-footed his toe loop on his triple-triple combination and stepped out on his triple axel, both jumps marked down for under-rotation.
But the most costly mistake came when his foot appeared to slip on the takeoff for his double axel and he regrouped before trying it a second time. Under figure skating rules, the attempt counts as a jump, so his triple loop near the end didn’t earn any points because it was technically one more jump than permitted.
Brown was 11th in the free skate and finished 16.73 points behind bronze medalist Denis Ten.
LARGE HILL JUMPING
Stoch’s longest jump
Normal hill champion Kamil Stoch of Poland put himself in a strong position to add the large hill to his Sochi Olympic medal collection after posting the longest jump Friday.
That came in a trial jump ahead of the qualification round. But since he leads the World Cup standings and the top 10 jumpers automatically qualified for today’s final, he decided not to jump in the qualifying round.
Stoch set the tone early when he jumped 136 meters and placed first in the trial.
Michael Hayboeck of Austria led those jumpers who needed to qualify with a distance of 131 meters, one of 50 competitors through to the gold medal final at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center.
The 22-year-old Hayboeck finished ahead of the Japanese pair of Daiki Ito and Reruhi Shimizu.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Finland tops Norway
Teemu Selanne scored the first of three goals in the opening period, his teammates scored twice more in the second, and Finland coasted to a 6-1 win Friday over Norway at the Olympics.
The Finns (2-0) have beaten a pair of over matched teams by a combined score of 14-5.
Finland, which also beat Austria 8-4, will be tested in the preliminary-round finale against the defending Olympic champion Canadians (2-0) on Sunday for a guaranteed spot in the quarterfinals.
Jeff Carter scored three consecutive goals in the second period, Roberto Luongo made 23 saves, and Canada beat Austria 6-0 Friday to take a commanding position in preliminary-round play.
Shea Weber and Ryan Getzlaf each had a goal and an assist in the Canadians’ second victory in two nights. Their star-studded lineup rolled over undermanned Austria with 46 shots and relentless waves of offense, starting with Drew Doughty’s goal in the opening minutes before Carter’s natural hat trick in an 11:54 span.
MEN’S CURLING China, Britain win
China and Britain won close evening games in men’s curling Friday to create a three-way tie with Sweden at the top of the standings.
The Chinese bounced back from losing 6-5 to Sweden in the morning session to beat Norway 7-5, with both games going down to the last stone.
Britain stole a point on the final end to defeat Denmark 8-6.
The three joint-leaders have 5-1 records.
Canada, the favorite and two-time defending champion, produced its best performance of the tournament to defeat Norway 10-4 in the morning and is 4-2.
WOMEN’S BIATHLON Belarusians take 2
Darya Domracheva’s unmatched pace at skiing Friday earned her a second gold medal at the Sochi Olympics, and this time she wasn’t the only Belarusian on the podium.
With Nadezhda Skardino taking the bronze in the women’s 15-kilometer individual race, it was the first time two athletes from the Eastern-European country medaled in the same Winter Games event.
Domracheva missed one target - the fourth in her opening round of the standing shooting - but she easily made up the penalty minute for a comfortable victory.
SUPER COMBINED Surprise upset
Sandro Viletta of Switzerland used a near-perfect slalom run to make up significant ground after the downhill and win the gold medal in the super combined Friday, a surprise upset for a skier who has never reached the podium in the event in a World Cup race.
Viletta, whose only World Cup victory was in the super-G in 2011, upstaged several of the sport’s biggest names, including the American Bode Miller, the defending gold medalist, who placed sixth; and Ted Ligety, the reigning world champion, who was 12th.
The super combined is the combination of a morning downhill run and an afternoon slalom run, and few racers in the field are spectacular at both.
Medal count Through Friday (44 of 98 total events)
NATION G S B TOT
Norway 4 3 6 13
United States 4 3 6 13
Netherlands 4 3 5 12
Russia 2 5 5 12
Canada 4 5 2 11
Germany 7 2 1 10
Switzerland 5 1 1 7
Sweden 0 5 2 7
Austria 1 4 0 5
Belarus 3 0 1 4
China 2 2 0 4
France 2 0 2 4
Japan 1 2 1 4
Slovenia 1 1 2 4
Italy 0 2 2 4
Czech Republic 0 2 1 3
Poland 2 0 0 2
Britain 1 0 1 2
South Korea 1 0 1 2
Australia 0 1 1 2
Latvia 0 0 2 2
Slovakia 1 0 0 1
Croatia 0 1 0 1
Finland 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1
Ukraine 0 0 1 1
Sports, Pages 28 on 02/15/2014