Shani Davis takes silver in 1,500 for 4th career medal; Lindsey Vonn wins bronze in super-G

Davis takes silver in 1,500 for 4th career medal

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — More medals — but no gold — for Shani Davis and Lindsey Vonn. One couldn’t “man up” and the other “backed off the gas pedal.”

Davis won silver in 1,500-meter speedskating for the second straight Olympics to go with the two consecutive golds he’s earned in the 1,000.

His expected duel with fellow American Chad Hedrick — an unexpected bronze medalist in the 1,000 — never materialized. Hedrick faded on his last lap and was sixth in a race won by Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands.

“I just couldn’t man up and do it,” Davis said. “I wasn’t strong enough for the victory.”

Vonn settled for bronze in the super-G. Austria’s Andrea Fischbacher pulled off the upset, and Tina Maze of Slovenia was the surprise silver medalist. Vonn won the downhill to open her Olympics, then wiped out in the slalom leg of the super-combined.

Tuitert, skating in the third pair from the end, posted a time of 1 minute, 45.57 seconds, then watched nervously as it stood up.

Davis, the world record holder at this distance, went last but had to settle for silver in 1:46.10. Havard Bokko of Norway took the bronze in 1:46.13.

Tuitert came in ranked only fifth on the World Cup circuit at this distance.

“It all came together in this race,” he said.

In the 1,500 in Turin, Italy’s Enrico Fabris ruined another Davis-Hedrick showdown by winning gold, leaving the Americans to settle for silver and bronze.

“It’s the second time in a row that Shani and I have gotten this race stolen from us,” Hedrick said. “We go in as heavy favorites each time, and it is some special skater every time that comes in.”

SUPER-G

Vonn conceded she let up at the end — and it cost her.

While many of the favorites struggled with a sharp right turn midway down, Vonn made it through that section without a problem. She then lost nearly half a second on the bottom section.

“Once I got past those difficult sections, I kind of backed off the gas pedal,” Vonn said. “I felt like I just didn’t ski as aggressively as I could have, and I think that’s where I lost the race.”

The Austrians, who won 14 Alpine medals including four golds in Turin, had gotten off to a slow start. Elisabeth Goergl’s bronze in the downhill had been their only medal. Fischbacher was reduced to tears after placing fourth in the downhill, finishing 0.03 seconds behind Goergl.

“At first I was really sad,” Fischbacher said. “Then I was just saying, ‘OK, maybe I make it in the super-G.’”

Her coach, Juergen Kriechbaum, set the super-G course according to International Ski Federation rules that rotate the job to correspond with the higher-ranked super-G skiers. Fischbacher navigated her way down Franz’s Run in 1 minute, 20.14 seconds. Maze was 0.49 behind, and Vonn was 0.74 back.

Vonn had already wrapped up the season-long World Cup super-G title by winning three of the five races so far; Fischbacher was third in the event standings.

On Saturday, she was denied a sweep of the speed events. Depending on how her bruised right shin holds up, the American still has two events remaining in Vancouver — giant slalom and slalom.

SKI JUMPING

Switzerland’s Simon Ammann won the large hill to become the first ski jumper with four individual Olympic titles.

Ammann put down the best jump in both rounds. He used his disputed bindings again, beating four Austrians who weren’t happy about his equipment.

Polish veteran Adam Malysz took silver, and 20-year-old Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer earned bronze — the exact same finish as in the normal hill jump a week ago.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Marcus Hellner of Sweden won the men’s 30-kilometer pursuit, pulling away from three rivals after entering the ski stadium and building enough of a lead to sprint alone to the finish.

He was timed in 1 hour, 15 minutes, 11.4 seconds. Germany’s Tobias Angerer finished 2.1 seconds behind for the silver medal. Sweden’s Johan Olsson took the bronze, 2.8 back.

CURLING

Both American teams are on winning streaks after rough starts.

The women have won two straight matches after opening 0-3. Debbie McCormick’s U.S. team beat Britain 6-5 in an extra 11th end.

The men also won in an extra end, beating Sweden 8-7. A loss would all but have eliminated the Americans from medal contention.

FREESTYLE

The finals for women’s freestyle aerials will be missing defending champion Evelyn Leu of Switzerland.

Leu fell on her second of two jumps in the qualifying round and did not make the final 12. Alla Tsuper of Belarus won the qualifying, followed by China’s Li Nina, the 2006 silver medalist.

No American had advanced past qualifying since 1998. This time, three made it to the Wednesday’s final: Emily Cook, Lacy Schnoor and 16-year-old Ashley Caldwell.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Romano Lemm scored 2:28 into overtime to lift Switzerland to a 5-4 victory over Norway. Tore Vikingstad’s third goal of the game had sent Norway into overtime. Norway and Switzerland will have to win their next games to reach the quarterfinals.

Marian Hossa scored early in the second period, helping Slovakia rout winless Latvia 6-0. The Slovaks will have to win Tuesday to earn a quarterfinal spot.

LUGER’S DEATH

Thousands of mourners flocked to the yard of Nodar Kumaritashvili’s family for a traditional funeral in Bakuriani, Georgia. Inside the two-story brick home, the body of the 21-year-old luger lay in a coffin, surrounded by Orthodox Christian icons and burning candles. A choir sang chants and a portrait of the Olympian hung on the wall. His father, David Kumaritashvili, stared at the picture.

“I wanted to throw a wedding feast for you,” he said. “Instead, we have a funeral.”

The 21-year-old luger died in a crash hours before the opening ceremony. He is to be buried in the cemetery of a tiny church in the snowy Alpine village.

IOC president Jacques Rogge promised to do “everything in my power” to prevent a repeat of the crash. Rogge said in an interview with The Associated Press that the IOC would work with the luge federation to “take all the steps that might be needed.”