The Hindu : Sport : Perfect beginning for Hedrick

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 13, 2006

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Perfect beginning for Hedrick

TURIN (Italy): American speedskater Chad Hedrick won one gold and vowed to win four more. Germany grabbed two. Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, hoping to become the top gold medal winner in Winter Olympics' history, had to settle for a silver on the Turin Games' first day of competition.

Meanwhile, India's Shiva Keshavan was placed 29th after two rounds of the men's singles luge event. Keshavan clocked a total time of 1:46.701 with the final two legs remaining.

Keshavan could not make the most of a good start after he struggled at a curve which obstructed his slide.

"I started off well the first run but ran into some trouble in the bottom of the track... I had been having trouble at the curve 15 even during the training runs this week and I could not overcome this obstacle because I was not relaxed enough,'' Keshavan told PTI in a statement.

Making amends

He finished his first run on the sledge with a timing of 53.729 but made amends in the second by clocking 52.972.

"The second run was much better. I told myself to relax and concentrate. My finish time was one second better than the first. I hope to further improve," he said.

Race apart, the Indian was overwhelmed by the cheers he got from the crowd. "The fans here gave me tremendous support. It seemed that everybody was cheering India. It was really fun to compete looking forward to the final leg of the race."

Armin Zoeggeler of Italy (1:43.132) and Russia's Albert Demtschenko (1:43.410) were placed first and second respectively while Tony Benshoof of USA (1:43.365) occupied the third spot at the halfway stage of the four-leg event.

The results (finals): Women's moguls: 1. Jennifer Heil (Can), 2. Kari Traa (Nor), 3. Sandra Laoura (Fra), 25.37.

Biathlon: Men's 20km: 1. Michael Greis (Ger), 2. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Nor), 3. Halvard Hanevold (Nor).

Nordic combined: Men's individual gundersen: 1. Georg Hettich (Ger), 2. Felix Gottwald (Aut), 3. Magnus Moan (Nor).

Speedskating: Men's 5,000m: 1. Chad Hedrick (U.S.), 2. Sven Kramer (Ned), 3. Enrico Fabris (Ita). — Agencies

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