U.S. men sweep made-in-America halfpipe snowboarding

AP Sports WriterSALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- For all the scripted ways organizers have tried making the Winter Games truly American, three snowboarders have pulled off the equivalent of spray painting "USA" on the white spires of the Mormon temple.

Ross Powers, Danny Kass and J.J. Thomas took gold, silver and bronze in the men's halfpipe Monday, thrusting themselves and their radical sport to the forefront of the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Elsewhere Monday, the men's luge single changed champions for the first time in a decade and Russia extended its record reign in pairs figure skating -- at least in the eyes of judges, if not the fans.

The full sweep in the halfpipe marked the first time Americans took all three medals in an event since men's figure skating in 1956.

Their haul doubled the U.S. medal count to six, with two golds -- the other in women's halfpipe. Germany and Austria are tied with the United States for overall medals.

The power of their sweep was best illustrated at the medals ceremony late Monday, when three U.S. flags were raised side-by-side.

"It was pretty cool," said Kass, the 19-year-old poster boy for this X-Games crossover sport. "Everybody was psyched."

The trio left the medals podium to chants of "USA!" then stirred up the crowd by tossing out their baseball caps.

And what about their bouquets of yellow roses?

"I saved them for my mom," said Powers, smiling.

Picabo Street's bid to become the first American woman to win three Olympic skiing medals was pushed from Monday to Tuesday because of high winds.

Other events Tuesday included the women's 10-km and men's 15-km classical cross-country events, men's moguls and men's 500 meter speedskating.

Later in the day, the U.S. women will face Germany in their first hockey game and athletes will compete in the 120-kilometer ski jump, women's luge and men's short program figure skating.

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-- FIGURE SKATING: Russia's 11th straight pairs title started with a collision and ended with a controversy -- both involving the Canadian duo.

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were crowned the champions, although many observers felt the best duo was Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada.

Fans serenaded the Canadians with chants of "Six! Six!" when they finished -- begging the judges to give them a perfect score. Pelletier even kissed the ice before leaving to celebrate.

Instead they got four 5.9s for artistry. Russia got seven, with the 5.9 from the Chinese judge making the difference

Sikharulidze and Sale smacked into each other in warmups, but neither seemed affected by it.

China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won the bronze medal. Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman finished fifth but called their performance "the greatest thing we've ever done."

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-- LUGE: If Germany's Georg Hackl was disappointed about his demotion to silver after three straight golds, he sure didn't show it.

Hackl and bronze medalist Markus Prock of Austria hoisted Zoeggeler on their shoulders, then smiled for pictures. The trio looked as happy as the American snowboarders.

"I'm getting a silver, and that's great," said Hackl, who missed becoming the first winter athlete to win the same event four times but still won a medal in a record-setting fifth games. "Now, two silver medals will frame three gold medals."

Adam Heidt was fourth, just missing the chance to win America's first luge medal in 38 years. It was still the best singles finish in U.S. team history.

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-- SPEEDSKATING: Four steps into Jeremy Wotherspoon's 500-meter qualifying race, the Canadian's medal hopes were over.

Casey FitzRandolph seized the opening with an Olympic record run, putting him in position to become the first American since Eric Heiden to win the men's 500 meters.

Teammate Kip Carpenter was a surprising third, while U.S. record holder Joey Cheek was seventh at 34.78.

Defending gold medalist Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan had the second fastest time.

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-- MEN'S HOCKEY: Latvia and Germany will face off in a showdown Tuesday night for a chance to join Belarus in taking on the six giants of international hockey.

Belarus (2-0-0) beat France 3-1 Monday night in the men's preliminary round, clinching its second straight trip to the medal round. Ukraine (1-1-0) beat Switzerland 5-2 Monday, but was eliminated because of its 1-0 loss to Belarus on Saturday.

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-- WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Kazakstan goalie Natalya Trunova made 59 saves against Canada, the defending silver medalist -- yet it still wasn't enough. The Canadians won 7-0.

Russia lost 3-2 to Sweden, which means the Russians must beat or tie the Canadians on Wednesday to advance to the medal round.

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-- BIATHLON: Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden already was considered the most successful female biathlete. Now she has an Olympic medal to bolster her status.

Forsberg took bronze in the 15-kilometer event, finishing third to Andrea Henkel of Germany and Liv Grete Poiree of Norway.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway won the men's 20-kilometer, followed by Frank Luck of Germany and Victor Maigourov of Russia.

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-- CURLING: The U.S. men's curling team got off a strong start by upsetting defending world champion Sweden 10-5 in the opener, only to follow it with a loss to 2000 world champion Canada.

In other first-round play in the 10-team tournament, Finland defeated Denmark 9-3, Germany beat France 9-5 and Canada edged Britain 6-4. Switzerland rebounded with a 5-4 victory over Norway in its second game.

In the women's curling, play opened with four games: Canada beat Sweden 5-4; Britain topped Norway 10-6; Germany defeated Russia 8-5; and Switzerland beat Denmark 9-8.