McGarry skis to 42nd place as Swede takes gold in slalom

IRELAND’s Kirsty McGarry finished 42nd in the Women’s slalom at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy yesterday.

The Irish skier recorded a time of 49.64 for her first run, and 52.79 on her second for a total of 1:42.43.

Sweden’s Anja Paerson took gold in a time of 1:29.04.

But the most dramatic result of day was in the sport of ice hockey.

Finland survived a late onslaught from the United States to progress to the semi-finals 4-3. The Finns were two goals up and flying with five minutes to go until Brian Gionta touched in a Chris Drury cross, giving the 2002 silver-medallists hope of rescuing a disappointing campaign.

Rick DiPietro left his goal and joined the attack as the United States rattled off 16 final-period shots to Finland’s three. However, they failed to find the equaliser and end the Games with just one win to their name - against lowly Kazakhstan.

Cindy Klassen became the most decorated Canadian woman at a single Olympics with a dominating performance in the 1,500-metre speedskating that gave her fourth medal of the Games.

Klassen’s teammate Kristina Groves was 1.47 seconds behind for silver.

“Gold is great,” Klassen said. “Having two Canadians on the podium is awesome.”

Switzerland’s Philipp Schoch won his second consecutive Olympic gold by defeating his older brother, Simon, in the finals of the parallel giant slalom.

The 26-year-old Philipp Schoch, who is just 370 days younger than Simon, built a 0.88-second edge in the first heat of the two-run aggregate final, a lead his brother could not overcome in their second head-to-head race.

Canada’s Chandra Crawford, a former bi-athlete, won the gold medal in the women’s cross-country skiing sprint event. Claudia Kuenzel of Germany took silver and Russian Alena Sidko captured the bronze.

Switzerland’s Evelyne Leu saved her best for last, using a dazzling final jump to vault an Olympic gold medal in the women’s aerials while in curling, Switzerland defeated Canada 7-5, and Sweden edged Norway 5-4 in the women’s semifinals. The medal matches take place today.

In short-track speedskating, Korea captured the gold medal in the women’s 3,000 relay final, posting a time of 4 minutes, 17.040 seconds. Canada won silver and Italy took the bronze.