Ohno won’t defend gold in 1,500

Apolo Anton Ohno stumbled out of a chance at gold in his first Olympic event, a shocking start to these Winter Games for the American star.

Ohno nearly fell with 1 1/2 laps to go in a semifinal heat of the 1,500 meters. His mistake ruined any chance to defend his Olympic title in a much-anticipated showdown against South Korea’s 1-2 punch – Ahn Hyun-soo and Lee Ho-suk.

Ahn won the gold and Lee the silver. China’s JiaJun Li took the bronze.

Alpine Skiing Antoine Deneriaz of France, the last man out of the gate with a chance to win, pulled off a startling upset in the Olympic downhill to steal what seemed to be a sure gold medal from Michael Walchhofer of Austria.

Walchhofer settled for silver, 72-hundredths of a second behind the winner. Bruno Kernen of Switzerland was third.

Bode Miller was the top American, in fifth place.

Snowboarding The Flying Tomato got his gold.

Redheaded snowboarding superstar Shaun White punked the competition on the halfpipe, beating out teammate Danny Kass to win the Olympic gold medal so many expected him to get.

It was another dominating day in snowboarding for the Americans, who fell one bronze medal short of repeating their sweep of 2002.

A solid run by third-place finisher Markuu Koski of Finland wrecked those hopes.

Luge Armin Zoeggeler of Italy added to his collection of gold, while the United States saw another shot at its long-awaited breakthrough medal in men’s luge slip away.

Zoeggeler, racing on his home track, wrapped up his second straight Olympic gold medal and delivered Italy’s first victory at the Turin Games with a time of 3 minutes, 26.088 seconds.

But the Americans remained 0-for-forever in their quest to join the singles luge medal party, with Tony Benshoof managing only a fourth-place finish – matching Adam Heidt from four years ago as the best in U.S. Olympic history.

Speedskating Speedskater Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won a gold medal in the 3,000 meters, stunning the favored Germans and Canadians.

The 19-year-old Wust took an early lead by finishing in 4 minutes, 2.43 seconds – then watched as the top skaters failed to best her time. Teammate Renate Groenewold won silver and world record-holder Cindy Klassen of Canada bronze. Germans Anni Friesinger and Claudia Pechstein, the defending champion, finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Ski Jumping Lars Bystoel of Norway came from behind to win the Olympic gold medal in normal hill ski jumping.

Bystoel, who was tied for sixth after the first jump, rallied on the second jump as several contenders faltered. He won the medal with jumps of 101.5 meters and 103.5 meters for a total of 266.5 points.

Matti Hautamaeki of Finland took the silver, one point behind Bystoel. Another Norwegian, Roar Ljoekelsoey, won the bronze.

Women’s Hockey United States 5, Germany 0: Sarah Parsons scored two goals and Pam Dreyer stopped 10 shots in the Americans’ second straight shutout victory in the preliminary round.

Katie King had a goal and two assists, and Jenny Potter had a goal and an assist. Natalie Darwitz also scored for the Americans (2-0), who outshot Germany (0-2) 60-10.

Canada 12, Russia 0: Less than 24 hours after a 16-0 win over Italy, Canada (2-0) routed Russia (0-2), with Megan Agosta and Cherie Piper scoring three goals apiece.

Goalie Charline Labonte stopped 17 Russian shots.