China's Zhang Hong stuns field in women's speed skating

Zhang Hong gave China its first speed-skating gold medal ever with a stunning victory in the women's 1,000 meters yesterday in Sochi.

Her time of 1 minute, 14.02 seconds was nearly seven-tenths of a second faster than anyone else -- a huge margin in this event.

Ireen Wust clocked 1:14.69 for the silver and Dutch teammate Margot Boer earned bronze in 1:14.90.

Zhang's winning margin -- 0.67 -- was the largest in the women's 1,000 since Bonnie Blair's runaway victory at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

Heather Richardson, who was ranked No. 1 in the World Cup standings, finished seventh and fellow American Brittany Bowe was eighth.

SHORT TRACK

Another win for China

Li Jianrou extended China's dominance in the women's 500 meters, winning the nation's fourth consecutive title after she was the only skater who didn't fall in the wild final.Arianna Fontana of Italy took the silver and Park Seung-hi of South Korea earned the bronze.

BIATHLONFourcade takes second gold

Martin Fourcade of France earned his second gold, overcoming one penalty minute to win the men's 20-kilometer biathlon in Krasnaya Polyana. Fourcade finished in 49 minutes, 31.7 seconds. Erik Lesser of Germany got the silver and Yevgeny Garanichev of Russia earned bronze.

LUGE

Germans too good in team relay

Dominant again, Germany won the inaugural Olympic luge team relay, with three already-golden champions joining forces to celebrate one more time in Krasnaya, Polyana.

Felix Loch, Natalie Geisenberger and the doubles team of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt finished their runs in 2 minutes, 45.649 seconds, good enough to beat Russia for the title by 1.030 seconds. Latvia won the bronze. -- AP