Sweden, Canada and Switzerland have each picked up a pair of gold medals at the Turin Winter Olympics in Italy.
Anja Paerson of Sweden posted a victory in the women's slalom ski race in Sestriere with a two-run time Wednesday of one 1:29.04. Nicole Hosp followed to win silver, while her Austrian compatriot, Marlies Schild, took bronze.
Earlier, Bjoern Lind of Sweden was the gold medal winner in the men's cross-country sprint. Frenchman Roddy Darragon took silver. Swede Thobias Fredriksson won the bronze medal.
Canadian Chandra Crawford won the gold medal in the women's cross-country sprint. Claudia Kuenzel of Germany took silver, and Russian Alena Sidko won the bronze.
Reigning world champion Cindy Klassen pushed Canada's gold medal total to five by winning the women's 1,500 - meter speedskating race. Klassen earned her first-ever Olympic gold with a time of 1:55.27, edging Canadian teammate Kristina Groves (1:56.74). The bronze medal went to Dutch teenager Ireen Wust (1:56.90).
Evelyne Leu claimed one of two gold medals for Switzerland with her win in the women's freestyle skiing aerials in Sauz d'Ooulx. Her score of 202.55 topped Li Na of China (197.39) and defending Olympic champion Alisa Camplin of Australia (191.39).
Philipp Schoch of Switzerland won the men's parallel giant slalom snowboard competition. He was the defending Olympic champion and the reigning World Cup champion. Older brother Simon Schoch, who leads in the current World Cup parallel giant slalom rankings, took silver. Siegfried Grabner of Austria takes home bronze.
Defending champion South Korea won the final gold medal of the day in the women's 3,000 - meter short-track speedskating relay. South Korea had a winning time of 4:17.04. Canada followed closely for the silver medal (4:17.336) while host Italy picked up the bronze (4:20.030).
At the top of the medal standings is Germany with nine gold medals and an overall lead with 22 total. Austria is second with eight golds. The United States and Russia follow with seven gold medals each.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
