Weibrecht, Miller go 2-3 for U.S. in men’s super-G

Joint bronze medal winner Bode Miller of the United States makes a jump in the men's super-G at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Joint bronze medal winner Bode Miller of the United States makes a jump in the men's super-G at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - Kjetil Jansrud won the fourth consecutive Olympic super-G gold medal for Norway on Sunday, topping an early run by Bode Miller and then watching a late charge from Andrew Weibrecht fall just short.

Jansrud finished the choppy course in 1 minute, 18.14 seconds to help his country maintain its dominance in the Olympic men’s event. Starting 29th, Weibrecht flew down the hill and wound up second, 0.30 seconds behind.

Miller, Weibrecht’s American teammate, and Jan Hudec of Canada tied for third. Miller is the oldest Alpine skier to medal at 36.

It was Miller’s sixth Olympic medal, moving him two behind the all-time Alpine leader Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

Norway has long ruled this Olympic discipline, with Aamodt winning in 2002 and 2006, and Aksel Lund Svindal in 2010. Svindal struggled on Sunday and finished seventh place.

Weibrecht won the bronze in the super-G in 2010, but has been besieged by injuries ever since. He’s never even been on the podium in a World Cup race.

“It’s unbelievable. I came down and knew I skied well. I knew I had a good run,” Weibrecht said. “I came through the finish and appreciated my run. Then I took a couple of seconds and looked at the time, I saw two and looked away. I looked again and was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”

Miller wasn’t surprised.He half expected Weibrecht to make a charge, even with the course running quite a bit slower at the bottom.

“With Andrew at the start, I was like, ‘There’s a good chance he wins this run right now,’” said Miller, who captured silver in the super-G in Vancouver. “To be on the podium, it’s a really big day for me. Emotionally, I had a lot riding on it. I’m super, super happy.”

Miller surpassed one of Aamodt’s marks, though, becoming the oldest skier to capture a medal. Aamodt was just over 34 when he won in 2006.

HOCKEY

U.S. earns No. 2 seed

While the United States and Canada finished up preliminary-round play without a defeat Sunday, Russia survived a bit more drama to keep on rolling in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament.

The U.S. beat Slovenia 5-1 to finish group play with three victories and the No. 2 seed in the quarterfinals. Phil Kessel had a hat trick in their latest victory.

Canada also won three times in the prelims, but had to go to overtime against Finland for a 2-1 victory on Drew Doughty’s second goal of the night.

Russia went to a shootout for the second consecutive night after losing to the Americans in the preliminary round’s best game, and the home fans were more pleased by the second result.

Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov scored on surprising Slovak goalie Jan Laco, giving a 1-0 victory to the Russians on a shutout by Semyon Varlamov.

SPEEDSKATING

Wust settles for silver

Jorien ter Mors led another Dutch sweep in Olympic speedskating, beating favorite Ireen Wust in the women’s 1,500 meters Sunday and setting up a shot at becoming thefirst skater to win medals in both long and short track.

Competing in an early pairing, Ter Mors turned in a stunning time of 1 minute, 53.51 seconds, an Olympic record and the second-fastest ever at sea level. The only skater to go quicker was Wust at the Dutch Olympic trials in December.

Wust settled for silver this time in 1:54.09, with the bronze going to Lotte van Beek in 1:54.54.

Ter Mors just missed a short track medal Saturday, finishing fourth in the 1,500 at the Iceberg Skating Palace next door. She has another chance in the 1,000, which begins Tuesday.

The Dutch have now won a staggering 16 speedskating medals at Adler Arena, breaking the previous record haul of 13 set by East Germany at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. And with favorites in three of the last four events, they figure to push the mark to heights that may never be seen again.

It was the fifth victory in eight events and the third sweep of the medal podium for the Dutch, who have won at least one medal in every race.

SNOWBOARDING Jacobellis crashes

Dominique Maltais of Canada finished behind Eva Samkova to win the silver. Chloe Trespeuch of France earned bronze. Lindsey Jacobellis of the U.S. crashed while leading her semifinal, the third consecutive disappointing Olympic finish for the eight-time X Games winner. Jacobellis had gold in hand in Turin in 2006 only to fall with a big lead in the final while attempting a fancy grab. She recovered for silver. Four years ago in Vancouver, she washed out early in her semifinal run.

CROSS-COUNTRY Sweden doubles up

Sweden earned gold in the men’s 4x10-kilometer relay, a day after the Swedish women won gold in the relay. Anchor Marcus Hellner skied alone for the entire fourth leg and grabbed a Swedish flag to wave as he entered the stadium. Russia took silver in front of President Vladimir Putin, and France finished third.

Medals table

Through, Sunday (55 of 98 events)

NATION G S B TOT

Netherlands 5 5 7 17

Russia 4 7 5 16

United States 4 4 8 16

Norway 5 3 6 14

Canada 4 6 4 14

Germany 7 3 2 12

Sweden 2 5 2 9

Switzerland 5 1 1 7

Austria 2 4 1 7

France 2 0 4 6

China 3 2 0 5

Japan 1 3 1 5

Slovenia 1 1 3 5

Italy 0 2 3 5

Poland 4 0 0 4

Belarus 3 0 1 4

Czech Republic 1 2 1 4

South Korea 1 1 1 3

Latvia 0 1 2 3

Britain 1 0 1 2

Finland 0 2 0 2

Australia 0 1 1 2

Slovakia 1 0 0 1

Croatia 0 1 0 1

Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1

Ukraine 0 0 1 1

Sports, Pages 15 on 02/17/2014

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