Sweden has breakthrough in biathlon

Bjorn Ferry of Sweden made a little history Tuesday when he won the first biathlon gold for Sweden in 50 years in the 12.5-kilometer pursuit. Ferry didn’t take the lead until the final lap and beat silver medalist Christoph Sumann of Austria by 16.5 seconds. The bronze went to Vincent Jay of France.

The best the U.S. could do was 24th by Jeremy Teela. Lowell Bailey (36th), Tim Burke (46th) and Jay Hakkinen (57th) were the other U.S. finishers.

Magdalena Neuner of Germany was the gold medalist in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit. She built a commanding lead and held on for a 12.3-second win over Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia. Marie Laure Brunet of France won the bronze. Sara Studebaker was the highest-finishing American in 46th place.

-- John Cherwa

Luge

Another day, another gold medal in luge for Germany. This time it was Tatjana Huefner, who won the women’s competition. Nina Reithmayer of Austria won the silver and Natalie Geisenberger of Germany took the bronze. Germany also won the men’s competition.

Erin Hamlin was the highest-finishing American in 16th place. The other U.S. finishers were Julia Clukey in 17th and Megan Sweeney in 22nd.

-- John Cherwa

Speedskating

A bit of an upset in the women’s 500 meters as Lee Sang-Hwa of Korea won. World-record holder Jenny Wolf of Germany finished second by .05 of a second. Wang Beixing of China earned the bronze. Heather Richardson of the U.S. finished sixth.

Also competing for the U.S. were Elli Ochowicz (17th), Jennifer Rodriguez (21st) and Lauren Cholewinski (30th). Rodriguez is expected to contend for a medal at longer distances.

-- John Cherwa

Hockey

The excitement levels were off the charts in Canada Hockey Place for Canada’s opening game against Norway, a game the Canadians won, 8-0, after a scoreless first period.

Every line and defense pair Canada put out there was staggeringly good.

Sidney Crosby was centering for Rick Nash and Patrice Bergeron, the San Jose line of Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley was intact, Ryan Getzlaf -- showing no ill effects of the ankle sprain he suffered last week -- centered for Ducks teammate Corey Perry and Carolina’s Eric Staal, and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews skated with Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow.

On defense, the Ducks’ Scott Niedermayer had Nashville’s Shea Weber as a partner, though Niedermayer also had some shifts with 20-year-old Drew Doughty of the Kings. Doughty also got some time with Chris Pronger.

Iginla and Heatley scored twice and Getzlaf also scored.

-- Helene Elliott