Rebensburg strikes gold in giant slalom
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Unheralded Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany took a surprise victory in the Olympic giant slalom, with the first-run leaders slowed by dense fog.
Rebensburg, who had never won a major race, clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 27.11 seconds Thursday down Franz's GS.
"Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable," she said.
Tina Maze of Slovenia was second, 0.12 seconds behind, matching her result in super-G, and first-run leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria added another bronze, 0.49 back, duplicating her result from downhill.
Rebensburg stood only sixth after the opening leg.
Defending champion Julia Mancuso of the United States finished eighth.
Lindsey Vonn plans to ski the slalom today with a hard, plastic brace protecting her right pinkie. She broke it during a tumble in the giant slalom Wednesday that left her "a ball of hurt right now," according to her husband, Thomas.
Cross-country skiing: Marit Bjoergen joined the growing trend of skiers pausing on the way to the finish to grab a flag. Like the others who did it, she was well ahead. Norway won its first women's relay gold since 1984, having settled for silver five times.
Bjoergen also won the individual sprint and 15K pursuit and took bronze in the 10K freestyle.
The Americans were 12th.
Curling: The Norwegian men - and their popular, gaudy, diamond-print trousers - will meet Canada in the gold-medal final after beating Switzerland 7-5. Canada is attempting to become the first Olympic curling team to go unbeaten at the games since the sport returned as a medal event in 1998. It earned its own spot in the final by beating Sweden 6-3.
In the women's final, it'll be Sweden vs. Canada.
The defending gold medalists from Sweden KO'd the reigning world champion Chinese in one semifinal, and the hosts took out Switzerland on a late shot.
Bobsledder detained: American bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer was detained and released by Canadian police after an argument with his fiancee, a person with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. Schuffenhauer, a silver medalist in 2002, resumed Olympic training Thursday and is expected to compete in today's four-man bobsled.
Police released him after finding no evidence of a crime, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
"I don't foresee any way that he would not race, regardless of how things progress," said Darrin Steele, chief executive of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation.