Bloemen halts Dutch gold-spree

Pyeongchang:  Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada put an end to Dutch skaters' dominance of gold medals in the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games speed skating competitions as the world record holder clinched the title of the men's 10,000 metres here on Thursday evening.

Bloemen, the runner-up to Sven Kramer in Sunday's men's 5,000m, clocked 12 minutes and 39.77 seconds for the victory, breaking the Olympic record of 12:44.45 held by defending champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands.

"It's going to take a while for all this to sink in. It's hard to say what's going through my mind. It's been very emotional," he said. "It's the biggest stage I've ever been on and to win here is the highest you can get."

With the victory, Bloemen became the second Canadian to win an Olympic title in an individual men's speed skating event behind Gaetan Boucher, the 1,000m and 1,500m gold medalist at the Sarajevo Games in 1984. Meanwhile, American Mikaela Shiffrin got off to a dream start in her quest to win multiple golds in the giant slalom. The 22-year-old, who won slalom gold in Sochi four years ago, produced an explosive second run to beat Norway's Ragnhild Mowinckel to the title by 0.39 seconds as Italian Federica Brignone took bronze.

German figure skaters Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot set a pairs free program world record of 159.31 points, beating the world record they set of 157.25 at the Grand Prix Final in December, after a stunning skate at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Thursday.

The pair collapsed and cried on the ice after a performance that saw them beat the previous record that they had also set at the Grand Prix Final last year by more than two points.

The German duos sensational four-and-a-half-minute routine just denied Chinas world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the hot favourites who were pipped to the title by less than a point after Sui took a tumble.

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada took bronze. Shiffrin sank to her knees and sobbed tears of joy before hugging her coaches as Italy's Manuela Moelgg, running last of the title contenders, failed to reproduce the form that saw her pip the favourite in the morning.

Tessa Worley, the French world champion expected to push Shiffrin hard for the title, recovered from a disastrous first run that left her with no chance for gold to clock 1:09.00, but it was only enough to lift her to seventh.

Shiffrin, who has racked up 41 World Cup wins, was supposed to have completed her best two disciplines — the slalom and giant slalom — earlier this week. But gusting winds that forced the postponements of the alpine skiing and the resulting delays could yet complicate her quest to medal in potentially five events.

Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg, who captured gold in Vancouver and bronze in Sochi, just missed out on a medal as she produced a quick 1:09.15 that pushed her to fourth after being only eighth fastest in the morning.

Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg, who captured gold in Vancouver and bronze in Sochi, just missed out on a medal as she produced a quick 1:09.15 that pushed her to fourth after being only eighth fastest in the morning.

Flying debris injure 16
A total of 16 Pyeongchang Olympics staff and spectators were injured when strong winds ripped through the Olympic venues on Wednesday, while also causing considerable damage to the installations, officials said.

Several events were postponed or rescheduled, including Nordic combined, biathlon and Alpine skiing, and more than 60 tents were damaged by winds with a speed of seven metres per second as organisers warned of flying debris. The wind ripped tents, signposts and steel fencing off their base and sent them flying through the Olympic park.