Figure Skating (Women’s Free Skate)

TURIN, Italy – Shizuka Arakawa skated off with Japan’s first medal of these Olympics – a gold in the showcase event.

What a way to end a shutout!

The 2004 world champion stunned favorites Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia to claim figure skating’s biggest prize Thursday night.

Arakawa did it with elegance and technical brilliance that even had two-time Olympic winner Katarina Witt standing and applauding before the Japanese skater was done. Cohen fell twice and finished with a silver; Slutskaya fell once and took bronze.

The Japanese team has struggled in the mountains and on the ice in Turin. But Arakawa, third after the short program and a mere .71 points behind Cohen, was magnificent. Her spectacular spirals thrilled the crowd and, more importantly, impressed the judges.

She was emotionless for most of her breathtaking four-minute routine, then broke into a smile that only got bigger when the scores were flashed. When her personal best of 125.32 points for the free skate were displayed, she flashed a “V” for victory sign then pumped her fist when she moved into first place with 191.34 points.

Cohen had already flubbed her first two jumps – and her shot at gold. That left Slutskaya, a two-time world champion and 2002 Olympic silver medalist. She lacked sparkle in her free skate and the fall ended any chance she had.

That ended Russia’s hopes for an unprecedented sweep of the gold after previously taking the titles in men’s, pairs and ice dancing.

Arakawa, 24, became the first Japanese Olympic gold medalist in figure skating and just the second with any medal; Midori Ito, one of Arakawa’s idols, won silver behind Kristi Yamaguchi in 1992. Ito led the cheers of the flag-waving Japanese in the crowd.

Cohen’s history of flopping in the biggest international events bit her again.

Snowboarding (Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom)

BARDONECCHIA, Italy – As they so often do in this Swiss-dominated era of parallel giant slalom, clanging cowbells announced the winner.

This time, the clanging was pleasing to American ears as well, as the bronze went to Rosey Fletcher, the first U.S. woman to climb on the podium in the Olympics’ final snowboarding event.

Three-time defending world cup champion Daniela Meuli of Switzerland gave her country and its red-clad, raucous, flag-waving Alpine fans a second gold in as many days. Philipp Schoch won the men’s event Wednesday, with brother Simon winning the silver medal.

Fletcher had a .24-second lead over Meuli after the first semifinal run, but the American’s board went out from under her when the pair switched courses, allowing Meuli to coast into the final round.

It was a similar story in the championship race, as German Amelie Kober crashed and slid into the safety fence just as it appeared she might overtake Meuli.

In the bronze-medal race, Fletcher took a 1.5-second lead in the first run after Austrian Doris Guenther went down. Fletcher still needed to make that lead stand up when she switched to the red course, which had been the slower and more treacherous course throughout the event.

Racing cautiously, Fletcher allowed Guenther to make up ground on the top of the course, but then the American put it in overdrive on the bottom and won easily.

It was a huge victory for the U.S. team, as the 30-year-old Fletcher and 22-year-old Michelle Gorgone were considered long shots to make it to the medal stand.

Gorgone never made it to the finals, getting spun around coming past a gate on her qualifying run, a mistake that cost her too much time.

Biathlon (Women’s 4×6 km Relay)

CESANA, Italy – Russia upset two-time defending Olympic champion Germany in the women’s 4x6km biathlon relay without banished star Olga Pyleva.

Anna Bogaliy started in place of Pyleva, the only athlete caught in the tightest drug net in Winter Olympics history. Bogaliy gave her team a big lead at the first exchange and the Russians never trailed.

With target shooting so precise that the powerhouse Germans had no real chance to close the gap, Bogaliy, Svetlana Ishmouratova, Olga Zaitseva and Albina Akhatova covered the San Sicario course in 1 hour, 16 minutes, 12.5 seconds.

Germany’s star-studded team of Martina Glagow, Andrea Henkel, Katrin Apel and Kati Wilhelm – but which didn’t include Uschi Disl, second in the World Cup standings – finished 50.7 seconds behind for the silver, and France overtook Belarus for the bronze.

The Americans took 15th place, finishing more than 9 minutes off the pace in Rachel Steer’s final Olympic race. America’s best female biathlete, Steer is retiring at age 28 after the World Cup season concludes next month.

Bringing back three of the four biathletes from the gold-medal winning 2002 team, the Germans were the favorite to capture the event again, especially after Pyleva was thrown out of the games and stripped of her silver last week for using a banned stimulant.