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Sweden Dominates Inaugural Olympic Cross-Country Team Sprint Races
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=10F600D:3919ACA Anna Dahlberg,
Lina Andersson teamed to beat Canada, Finland in women's race Tuesday





Lina Andersson, left, and Anna Dahlberg are all smiles as they display
their gold medals, TuesdaySwedish men and women have captured gold in
the inaugural Olympic event of cross-country team sprint racing at the
Turin Games in Italy.

Anna Dahlberg and Lina Andersson teamed to beat Canada and Finland in
the women's race Tuesday in Pragelato. The Swedish pair completed the
combined rounds in 16 minutes, 36.9 seconds. Bjoern Lind and Thobias
Fredriksson then took the men's title with a time of 17 minutes, 2.9
seconds. They edged teams from Norway and Russia.







Sweden's Anna Dahlberg, left, and Lina Andersson celebrate after
winning the gold medal during the Women's Cross Country Team Sprint
Both Swedish teams followed similar tactics over the six laps of the
hilly course. They remained in the leading group and made their final
move in the last moments of the race.

Sven Fischer won the demanding 10-kilometer biathlon sprint in San
Sicario. The 14-year German veteran claimed his first individual
Olympic gold medal after completing the course in 26 minutes, 11.6
seconds. Three-time Olympic champion Halvard Hanevold of Norway
(26:19.8) added a silver medal to the bronze he won in Saturday's
individual race. Norwegian teammate Frode Andresen took bronze
(26:31.3).

Five more medal events are on the day's schedule. The men return to
the slopes in the downhill and slalom combined event. Austrian skiers,
led by world champion and double World Cup winner Benjamin Raich, will
try to hold off American Bode Miller as he tries to bounce back from a
fifth-place finish in the men's downhill on Sunday.

The women will speed down the icy track in singles luge, and across
the ice in 500-meter speedskating. A series of crashes in the opening
runs Monday knocked at least four women out of the luge event. Some
information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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