Canadian women in golden form as rookie sparks upset

Vancouver: Canada charged past arch ice hockey enemy the United States to win the women’s gold medal as rookie German Viktoria Rebensburg claimed her country’s first Olympic giant slalom title in 54 years.

Norway’s ecstatic Marit Bjoergen, meanwhile, captured her third gold of the Vancouver Games in the women’s 4x5km cross-country relay yesterday. The action came as ‘Bond girl’ Kim Yu-Na targets fellow starlet Mao Asada in a showdown for the women’s figure skating title. With the closing ceremony on Sunday, Germany, the United States and Canada are tied at the top of the medals table on eight gold as the race to be the best heats up. With the hosts’ superstar men’s ice hockey team safely into the semi-finals, it was the Canadian women’s turn to grab some of the spotlight as they defeated the US 2-0 for their third consecutive Olympic crown. Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in the first period and goaltender Shannon Szabados made 28 saves leaving the reigning world champions to settle for silver medal while Finland took the bronze with an 3-2 overtime triumph against Sweden. Rebensburg, in her Olympic debut, sprung a huge surprise to upset the field and capture the weather-affected giant slalom ahead of Slovenia’s Tina Maze and overnight leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria. “I have had a look at the medal table,” said the 20-year-old Rebensburg, whose previous best finish on the elite World Cup circuit was a second in this season’s giant slalom in Cortina. “I’m happy to have contributed a medal to that. It’s cool - pretty awesome.” The race went ahead without American speed queen Lindsay Vonn who broke a finger in the first leg, but she said she would race through the pain barrier in the final women’s alpine event, the slalom, on Friday. Bjoergen added to her country’s golden haul by anchoring her team to the women’s 4x5km cross-country relay title with Germany second and Finland third. She had already won the sprint classic final and the pursuit, as well picking up a bronze in the 10km free, and said it was beyond her wildest dreams. “I didn’t dream I would get one gold medal (before the Games) and now I have three, so this has been wonderful for me,” she said. In the men’s nordic combined, Olympic veteran Bill Demong capped an impressive showing by the United States by winning gold ahead of teammate Johnny Spillane and Austria’s Bernhard Gruber. Demong became the States’ first ever Olympic champion in the sport which combines ski jump and cross country skiing. At the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Korea’s Kim is looking to become South Korea’s first figure skating gold medallist after blowing away her rivals in Tuesday’s short programme with her James Bond medley. Going into the free skate element, she leads Japanese rival Asada by 4.72 points with grieving Canadian Joannie Rochette, who lost her mother earlier in the week, in third, 7.14 points behind. But Kim’s coach Brian Orser is not underestimating the threat posed by ‘fiesty’ Asada, in particular. “It (the rivalry) will keep everybody on the edge of their seats. That’s exciting, and it’s exciting for Yu-Na, who is a pretty fierce competitor as well,” he said. After Australia upset China to take the women’s aerials title, the men will be on the slopes of Cypress Mountain without defending champion Han Xiaopeng of China and world number one Anton Kushnir, who both crashed in qualifying. It is left to Jia Zongyang, the top qualifier, Qi Guangpu and Liu Zhongqing to restore Chinese pride. Bureau Report