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Norwegian Skier Makes History on First Day of Competition in Sochi


An aging skier made history on the first day of team competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen became the oldest Winter Olympic gold medalist in an individual sport. The 40-year-old man finished first in the biathlon 10-kilometer sprint, beating the age record held by Canadian skeleton racer Duff Gibson.

Gibson was 39 when he won gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Bjoerndalen also matched compatriot Bjoern Daehlie for the most medals at the Winter Games with 12.

Speedskater Sven Kramer of the Netherlands also enjoyed a memorable day. He defended his title in the men's 5,000 meters, winning gold with an Olympic-record time of 6 minutes, 10.76 seconds.

Norway won two of the five gold medals at stake Saturday. In addition to Bjoerndalen, Marit Bjoergen took the gold in the the women's cross-country 15-kilometer skiathlon .

Canada's Justine Dufour-Lapointe won gold in women's moguls freestyle skiing.

The United States captured the first gold medal of the Sochi Games. Sage Kotsenburg mastered a perilous course to win the inaugural men's snowboarding slopestyle event.



Snowboarding slopestyle is one of several sports added this year to the Winter Olympics in hopes of increasing the amount of younger people who follow the Games.

In figure skating Saturday, 15-year-old Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya positioned herself to become the darling of the Sochi Games with a great routine in the team event. Her score of 72.90 was the highest total among individual women skaters.

In women's ice hockey, Canada began its bid for a fourth straight Olympic gold medal with a 5-0 win over Switzerland. The Canadians overwhelmed the Swiss from the opening faceoff and outshot their opponents, 69-14.

The other consensus favorite to win the gold medal, the United States, beat Finland, 3-1.

Sunday's competition includes Alpine skiing's premier event, the men's downhill, which takes place on the challenging Rosa Khutor course. Men's cross-country 30-kilometer skiing and women's 3,000-meter speedskating are also on the schedule. There are 98 medal events at the Sochi Games, 12 more than in Vancouver four years ago.
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