Russian spins world record

PyeongChang: Russian woman figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva set a world record by earning 81.06 points and in the process bagged the first medal for her side in the team short dance event at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

She bested her previous record set at the 2017 team championship in Tokyo (80.85 points). Medvedeva also holds the world records in the free programme (160.46) and the sum of two programmes (241.31), reports Tass news agency. 

Carolina Kostner from Italy is second (75.1 points) and Kaetlyn Osmond from Canada is third with 71.38 points. The result showed by Medvedeva made it possible for the Russia team to hold the second place after the short dance and continue in the race for medals. The team event will end on February 12.

According to the decision of the International Olympic Committee, Russian athletes compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics as 'Olympic Athletes from Russia' under the Olympic flag

 Dutch triple
Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer on Sunday bagged his third straight Olympic gold medal for the 5,000-metre event. Clocking in at 6:09.76, Kramer beat his own Olympic record set four years ago by exactly one second. 

An eight-time world champion in the 5,000m, Kramer now has the distinction of winning three gold medals in the men's event at three consecutive Winter Olympics. The Dutchman was joined on the podium by Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada and Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway.

Bloemen edged  
out Pedersen by two hundredths of a second to clinch the silver medal at the Gangneung Oval speed skating arena. Kramer's first-ever Olympic medal was silver at the Torino 2006 Games, where he also won bronze as a member of the team pursuit.

Redmond Gerard tryst with fame
American Redmond Gerard became the second youngest gold medalist in an individual men's event at the Winter Olympics by winning the snowboard slopestyle champion. Toni Nieminen of Finland is the youngest men's gold medalist, who won the individual large hill event in ski jumping in 1992 at the age of 16. 

Gerard, 17, convinced the jury with his unconventional choice of route in the slopestyle final and got 87.16 points to win America's first gold here, reports Xinhua news agency. 

"It was awesome. I just told myself that I want to land a run and I was a little bummed on my first two runs because I fell a couple of times," Gerard said. "I'm just so happy that it all worked out."

Gerard preserved the American streak of winning gold in slopestyle, which was added to the Olympics schedule in 2014. "It feels incredible. I'm just really happy that I got to land a run and I'm just really excited right now," Gerard added. Canadian Max Parrot took the silver with his final run of 86.00 and compatriot Mark McMorris got the bronze in 85.20.