A roundup of gold medals from Sunday, Feb. 6, at the Beijing Games:
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CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
MEN'S 30KM SKIATHLON
Russian skier Alexander Bolshunov pulled away from the pack early to win gold in the 30-kilometer skiathlon.
Bolshunov, the World Cup points leader in distance races, crossed the finish line in one hour, 16 seconds. Bolshunov and Iivo Niskanen of Finland led the race through the first four classic ski laps but Russia’s Denis Spitsov passed Niskanen once they were on the freestyle legs.
Spitsov stayed out front and secured the silver, one minute, 11 seconds behind Bolshunov. Niskanen held on for the bronze two minutes back.
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SNOWBOARD
WOMEN'S SLOPESTYLE
Zoi Sadowski Synnott won New Zealand’s first gold medal in Winter Olympics history, stomping down a pressure-packed run on her last trip down the mountain Sunday to win the title in women’s slopestyle.
Sadowski Synnott went into her last of three runs trailing American Julia Marino but came up big.
She raised her hands in the air after landing, knowing what she’d done. Marino, who won silver, and bronze medalist Tess Coady of Australia knew it, too. They gang-tackled her at the finish line to celebrate.
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SPEEDSKATING
MEN'S 5000M
Nils van der Poel gave Sweden its first Olympic speedskating medal since 1988, pulling off a stunning comeback to win gold in the 5,000 meters at the Beijing Olympics.
Van der Poel was a big favorite coming into the event as the reigning world champion with an undefeated record in the distance events on this season’s World Cup circuit.
He lived up to the hype in the 12 1/2-lap race at the Ice Ribbon oval, turning on the speed at the end to overcome Patrick Roest of the Netherlands with an Olympic record of 6 minutes, 8.84 seconds.
Roest won silver and the bronze went to Norway’s Hallgeir Engebraaten.
