Russia wins one gold, two silver and one bronze medals; holds fourth place in Sochi
At the end of the second day
of the Sochi Olympics, Russia is holding the fourth place among the teams after winning a gold medal in figure skating, two silver medals in luge and biathlon and a bronze medal in speed skating.
Silver medalist of the 2006 Olympics in Turin Albert Demchenko repeated his success at the Olympics at home. In the single-seat sledge competition the 42-year-old Russian was ahead of two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler by 0.795 seconds. German Felix Loch won his second Olympic gold medal with an advantage of 0.476 points over Demchenko.
Albert Demchenko Photo: RIA Novosti
In the figure skating competition among teams Russia won its first Olympic gold medal. Russia was given 75 points. The Canadian team became second with the result of 65 points. The US figure skaters won bronze (60 points).
Yelena Ilyinykh and Nikita Katsalapov Photo: RIA Novosti
Russian biathlete Olga Vilukhina became the silver medalist in sprint at the Sochi Olympics. The 25-year-old sportswoman covered a distance of 7.5km with two firing positions without misses and lost 19.9 seconds to Anastasia Kuzmina representing Slovakia. Vita Semerenko from Ukraine won bronze.
Olga Vilukhina Photo: RIA Novosti
Olga Graf claimed Russia's first Olympic medal, bronze, in 3,000m women's speed skating with the result of 4:03.47. Dutch Ireen Wust won gold (4:00.34) and Czech Martina Sablikova won silver (4:01.95).
Olga Graf Photo: RIA Novosti
The eventful Sunday Olympic programme will end with a ski-jumping competition. Men's finals started at 9:30 pm but Russia is unlikely to win medals in this sport. Among Russians, Mikhail Maksimochkin has the best result and he is only number 10 after the first attempt.
Russia’s figure skaters have won the team tournament at the Sochi Winter Olympics ahead of schedule. Gracie Gold from the US outperformed Kaetlyn Osmond from Canada in the free-style programme.
As a result, Canada's team has lost its chance of winning gold. Yuliya Lipnitskaya (Russia) has not performed in the free-style programme yet. To officially win the first gold medal in history at the Olympic Games in the team tournament the Yelena Ilyinykh - Nikita Katsalapov pair must simply complete their free-style dance.
Russia's ageless figure skating hero Evgeny Plushenko won the men's free skate in the Sochi Olympic team event on Sunday to send the home country hurtling toward a first gold medal.
The victory in front of a partisan Iceberg Skating Arena crowd on the Black Sea coast gave Russia a maximum ten points, which extends the nation's cushion over Canada at the top of the standings to seven points with two events remaining.
Plushenko, 31, picked up where he left off on Thursday, when the Turin Olympic champion rolled back the years to finish second in the short program to Japanese star Yuzuru Hanyu.
Skating to the "Best of Plushenko's" a medley of past accompaniments, an unflinching Plushenko nailed jump after jump in a show that began with a confident quadruple toeloop as the strains of "The Godfather" rang out.
The judges' score was 168.20.
Patrick Chan’s replacement for Canada, Kevin Reynolds, fell on a triple axel early in his nonetheless impressive program and earned 167.92 for second place.
Third place on the night went to Japan's Tatsuki Machina with 165.85.
The result leaves the gold medal tangibly within Russia’s grasp, with 15-year-old prodigy Julia Liptnitskaia set to go in the women’s free program later before European silver medalists Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov look to lock down first place in the ice dance.
Russian figure skaters Yevgeny Plushchenko, Yulia Lipnitskaya and the ice dance duo of Yelena Ilyinykh and Nikita Katsalapov are to perform on Sunday, the final day of Olympic team tournaments.
Team Russia had been leading the pack at the beginning of day two with 47 points, followed by Canada (41 points) and the US (34 points).
America has fielded such figure skaters as Jason Brown, Gracie Gold and the Meryl Davis/Charley White duo.
Russia has achieved top ranking after the first day of the team figure skating tournament at the 22nd Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
In men's short program, the renowned Russian athlete Yevgeny Plushenko turned out second with nine scores, ceding the top position to Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan.
Men were followed on the ice by a short program in pairs where Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia gave a spectacular performance, which brought them ten scores and put the Russian team result ahead of the others.
Voice of Russia, , R-Sport, RIA Novosti