At Sochi, Russia leads in medals

SOCHI: Russia won two gold medals and a bronze Saturday at the Sochi Olympics, as the host nation took the lead in total medals heading into the last day of competition.

The United States led, 27-26, before Saturday's events, but Russia now has a 29-27 edge. Russia also is tied with Norway for most gold medals with 11.

In the men's 4-by-7.5-kilometer biathlon relay Saturday, Alexey Volkov, Yevgeny Ustyugov and Dmitry Malyshko kept Russia in third for most of the race, before anchor Anton Shipulin beat Germany's Simon Schempp on the final lap.

Russia, now a record seven-time Olympic relay champion, was 3.5 seconds in front of Germany. Austria won bronze.

In the relay, Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen missed out on a chance for a historic ninth Winter Olympics gold medal. The 40-year-old Bjoerndalen set a record at the Sochi Games by winning his 13th medal, but he is tied with Norwegian cross country skier Bjoern Daehlie for the most golds with eight.

American-born Vic Wild took the gold — for Russia — in the men's snowboard parallel slalom, the first time the event has been held in the Olympics. Snowboarders from Slovenia and Austria came in second and third, respectively.

Wild, who won gold in parallel giant slalom earlier this week, was elated after his victory.

"It's beyond belief," he said. "When I came to the Olympics I had already won. When I showed up here, I was like 'alright man, I've made it, I can retire from snowboarding, and I'll be satisfied.' So to win the other day was the greatest feeling of my life, one of the greatest moments ever for me, and I just can't believe that I'm here again today."

The women's title in the snowboard parallel slalom went to Austrian Julia Dujmovits, who has battled injuries in her career.

"I had some tough years, ACL twice, I was injured a lot, and I never gave up," Dujmovits said. "I was always fighting for my dream to be an Olympic champion, and today it's true. It is just amazing."

In other competition Saturday, the Dutch added to their unparalleled medal totals in speedskating. They won the men's and women's team pursuit races, giving them a record eight gold medals in Sochi and a record of 23 overall at the 2014 Games.

In the men's slalom, Austria's Mario Matt became the oldest Olympic skiing champion. The 34-year-old Matt finished with a combined time of 1 minute, 41.84 seconds over two runs. His Austrian teammate, Marcel Hirscher, won silver and Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen took bronze. At 19 years old, Kristoffersen became the youngest Olympic medalist in men's alpine skiing.