Shaun White is US springboard
Pyeongchang: Snowboard legend Shaun White pulled off a spectacular final run of the day to grab his third Olympic halfpipe gold medal on Wednesday, claiming America's 100th Winter Games title in the process.
The 31-year-old held his nerve at the last to score a brilliant 97.75 points and snatch the title from Japan's Ayumu Hirano, who was leading on 95.25, with Australia's Scotty James third on 92.00.
It was particularly satisfying for White, known as "Flying Tomato" because of his red hair, who won gold in 2006 and 2010 and helped put the hipster sport on the map, but flopped in Sochi four years ago. Japan's Hirano had to settle for a second silver in a row and James, a two-time world champion, saw his victory hopes dashed as he fell on his final effort.
Team USA are threatening to clean up in snowboarding in South Korea, winning all four competitions so far. The 17-year-olds Chloe Kim and Red Gerard, and fellow American Jamie Anderson, have all won in Pyeongchang, where competitors have struggled with blustery winds. Dutch skater Jorien ter Mors bounced back spectacularly from an injury-plagued season by claiming a gold medal in the women 1,000 meters.
The 28-year-old set an Olympic record of one minute, 13.56 seconds to finish ahead of world record holder Nao Kodaira of Japan whose compatriot Miho Takagi took the bronze medal. Ter Mors, who won gold in the 1,500m at Sochi four years ago, did not defend that title in South Korea after failing to qualify in the distance due to a persistent knee injury.
She showed no signs of any lingering after-effects as she zoomed around the track in the shorter race to shave 0.27 seconds off the Olympic record and set the fastest time recorded at sea level. Eric Frenzel snatched Germany's sixth gold here by winning the men's Nordic combined individual Gundersen at the Alpensia cross-country centre here on Wednesday.
Taking the fifth place after a jump of 106.5 metres, Frenzel finished the 10 km cross-country skiing in a time of 24 minutes and 51.4 seconds to take his second straight Olympic gold, reports Xinhua news agency. Japanese Akito Watabe, the Sochi silver medallist, finished 4.8 seconds behind to be second again, followed by Lukas Klapfer of Austria in 25:09.5.
Canada claimed the first Winter Olympics curling mixed doubles title after beating Switzerland 10-3 here on Tuesday. Canada's Lawes/Morris, both Olympic champions, were on fire here in PyeongChang Games and have beaten Switzerland 7-2 in the round robin session.
The pair opened the match with a 2-0 lead but was levelled by the Swiss in the second end. The third end turned out to be a decisive one, during which Swiss player Rios mishandled three shots consecutively and handed four easy points to the Canadians.