Russia’s women medal-less in luge & biathlon

There has been no good news for Russia on Tuesday as Team Russia has again failed to pick up any medals in Vancouver.

In the women’s 10 kilometer biathlon pursuit, Anna Bulygina could only manage sixth place, while Germany’s Magdalena Neuner claimed the gold.

The 23-year old biathlete missed twice on the four shooting ranges, but did enough for a comfortable victory.

Slovakian sprint winner Anastasiya Kuzmina finished second. She also missed twice, and ended up 12 seconds behind the winner. Marie Brunet of France hit all the targets, yet came home third.

In the men’s event Bjorn Ferry won the race. The Swede missed only once on the last shooting range and edged out all his rivals in the form of Christoph Sumann of Austria and Frenchman Vincent Jay, who finished second and third respectively.

It has been half a century since Sweden last claimed a gold medal in the sport. Russia’s best man Ivan Tcherezov finished sixth.

No luck in luge

Following Albert Demchenko’s fourth place in the men’s event, Russia's Tatyana Ivanova claimed the same result in the women’s luge singles competition on Wednesday.

Tatjana Hufner of Germany won the gold, bringing her country to the very top of the unofficial overall medal count. Austria's Nina Reithmayer was second. Another German athlete, Natalie Geisenberger, took the bronze.

Ivanova found herself only 0.08 seconds behind Geisenberger. Her teammates Aleksandra Rodionova and Natalya Khoreva also made it into the top ten, finishing sixth and tenth respectively.

The only medal Russia has won so far in the past five days of the Winter Games is Ivan Skobrev’s bronze in the 5,000 meter speed skating event.