At the Vancouver Olympics, Canada has claimed its first ever gold medal on home soil and the United States has won its first ever medal in the Olympic Nordic combined individual event.
Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau won the men's moguls ski race in Whistler. He scored 26.75 points Sunday to claim gold ahead of Canadian-born Dale Begg-Smith of Australia (26.58). American Bryon Wilson won bronze (26.08).
Johnny Spillane won a silver medal in Nordic combined, a first for the United States in the sport that combines ski jumping off the normal hill and a 10-kilometer cross-country ski race. Spillane finished four-tenths of a second behind Jason Lamy Chappuis of France. Italian Alessandro Pittin took the bronze.
Felix Loch [lok] became the youngest luge gold medalist in Olympic history. The 20-year-old German finished in three minutes, 13.085 seconds, well ahead of teammate David Moeller (3:13.764). Two-time defending Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy made a strong fourth run to claim the bronze medal (3:14.375) two days after the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia during a training run.
French biathlete Vincent Jay captured a surprise gold medal in his Olympic debut in Whistler, British Columbia. He won the men's 10-kilometer event. Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway earned the silver medal. The bronze went to Croatia's Jakov Fak.
Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic won the women's 3,000 meters speedskating race. Sablikova finished in a time of four minutes 2.53 seconds. She finished 2.09 seconds ahead of German Stephanie Beckert. Kristina Groves gave Canada a bronze medal. The host nation is still waiting for its first gold of the 2010 Games.
In the official medals standings ranked by gold, France leads with two gold and one bronze. Germany follows with one gold and three silver. The United States has six overall, including one gold, two silver and three bronze.
Highlighting non-medal events Sunday, the United States opened its preliminary round of the women's ice hockey tournament with a 12-1 victory over China.
Heavy rain and snow forced another training delay for the women's Olympic downhill ski competition. Three women's training sessions have now been cancelled at the Vancouver Games. At least one training session is required under Olympic rules before a race can be held. The women's downhill is scheduled for Wednesday, leaving only two more days for training runs.
Six medal events are on the schedule Monday, led by the marquee men's downhill ski race, weather permitting. Pairs figure skating concludes. Cross-country skiing hands out medals in the men's 15-kilometer and women's 10-kilometer events. Men's snowboard cross finals and men's 500-meter speedskating will also be held.
