Sunday in Vancouver

PAIRS FIGURE SKATING
The overall level of the skating was amazing. Shen & Zhao started off the night and were magnificent, setting a new world's best in the short program. However, they are closely followed by four pairs and the final on Monday promises to be overwhelmingly competitive.

Two pairs that skated poorly seemed to be forgiven by the judges. The Canadians Dube & Davdison and the Russians Mukhortova & Trankov should be further down in the standings. The new judging system does not hammer short program mistakes as harshly as the old system did.

MEN'S MOGULS
Alexander Bilodeau gave the Canadians their first gold medal and it was reason to celebrate. Bryon Wilson of the USA captured a surprise bronze. I was a little confused that Guilbaut Colas finished in only sixth despite the fastest run. The judges scored Colas 0.6 of a point lower on the air score from the qualifying round, the difference between bronze and sixth

WOMEN'S 3000 METER SPEED SKATING
Martina Sablikova won as expected and should add another gold in the 5000 next Wednesday. Kristina groves barely hung on to capture a bronze for the home country. Nancy Swider-Peltz, jr. , daughter of the same named four time Olympian, skated well to finish ninth. She still has some work to do to surpass Mom, who finished 7th in the 3000 in Innsbruck, 1976.

MEN'S LUGE
Felix Loch's win was never in doubt from the first run. Thirty-eight year old Albert Demtschenko of Russia equalled a Winter Olympic record by participating in his sixth Games. His first Olympics in 1992 was as a member of the Unified Team. With the Games coming to Russia in four years, will he hang on for another go around. Bronze medalist Armin Zoeggeler is 36, so it is possible that we could see gold medalist Loch, who is 20, in 2026.

MEN'S BIATHLON
The weather played havoc with the biathlon Sunday, producing some totally unexpected results. The results will be used for the pursuit event on Tuesday, so the skiers back in the pack could catch those near the front. Gold medalist Vincet Jay of France will go off first in the pursuit, with all the other athletes handicapped by the time they were behind Jay. Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will start 1:41 behind.

PREDICTION UPDATE (10 EVENTS)
15 medals (50%)
4 winners (40%)