Russia wins team skating for 1st gold

SOCHI, Russia (AP) ― A master showman and four-time Olympic medalist, Evgeni Plushenko knows brilliance on the ice.

He saw it Sunday night inside the Iceberg at Sochi’s Olympic Park from a countrywoman half his age.

And he is certain Russia’s figure skating future is secure in the skates of Julia Lipnitskaia.

“She is a genius,” Plushenko said.

Along with eight teammates, the 31-year-old veteran and 15-year-old Olympic rookie won the new event of team figure skating and lifted the host nation to its first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics. Together, they put Russia back atop a sport it once dominated.

“My main motivation today,” Lipnitskaia said, “was not to let the team down.”

There was no chance of that in an arena packed with her exulting countrymen, including President Vladimir Putin.

The Russians skated away from Canada and the United States to win the gold before the final free dance even started.

In no discipline did Russia finish worse than third, compiling 75 points to Canada’s 65 that won silver and the 60 that gave bronze to the Americans.

It was a rout built on the experience of Plushenko, the consummate entertainer who now has two golds and two silvers ― a record for modern-era figure skaters.

It was victory capped by the freshness of Lipnitskaia, who donned a Russia baseball cap when she was done with her sublime tour of the ice, sat with her triumphant teammates and grinned like the school kid she is.

“I was calm,” Lipnitskaia said, adding it was her coaches, parents and teammates who were nervous. “I’m happy with my marks, the scores overall, for the team and for all of Russia. I am so pleased all the country could help me.”

Germany’s Loch wins luge gold

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) ― Furiously fast and fluid, Felix Loch is an Olympic gold medalist again.

And at 24, he’s only just begun.

Germany’s newest luging lord locked up the title he won four years ago in Vancouver on Sunday by easily beating a field of racers he left in his icy wake.

Loch completed four runs down the Sanki Sliding Center track in 3 minutes, 27.562 seconds ― 0.476 seconds ahead of Russia’s Albert Demchenko, who won the silver in his seventh Olympics. Italy’s Armin Zoeggeler won the bronze, giving him a record six in six games. Loch arrived at the Sochi Games expected to win. It seemed to be a mere formality that he would add another gold medal to Germany’s cache of Olympic hardware.

Mayer beats Miller in downhill

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) ― Matthias Mayer grew up in Austria admiring plenty of Alpine skiers, from his medal-winning dad, to all-time great Hermann Maier, to a couple of guys he races against these days, Bode Miller and Aksel Lund Svindal. Unexpectedly, Mayer now can call himself something none of those others can: Olympic downhill champion.

Four years after ski-loving Austria departed the Winter Games with zero men’s Alpine medals for the first time, Mayer made his nation 1-for-1 in 2014, upstaging pre-race favorites Miller and Svindal by charging down the course in 2 minutes, 6.23 seconds Sunday to win gold in the sport’s premier event.