PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local):
11:50 p.m.
The highlights of Day 5 of the Pyeongchang Olympics include a gold medal for American snowboarder Shaun White and a second consecutive gold medal in doubles luge for German duo Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt.
It was the third halfpipe gold medal for White and the 100th overall for the United States in the Winter Olympics.
In figure skating, the Chinese duo of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong are in first place after the pairs short program. Defending champion Eric Frenzel of Germany won the gold medal in the Nordic combined normal hill event.
Gusty winds also forced the cancellation of more events, and the Olympic Park in the coastal city of Gangneung was evacuated. The Pyeongchang Olympics debut of American skier Mikaela Shiffrin was pushed back for yet another day.
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11:40 p.m.
The Olympic men’s hockey tournament opened with a pair of surprises, with both the Americans and the favored Russians losing 3-2.
Jan Mursak scored the tying goal for Slovenia in the final minutes of regulation and the winning goal in overtime against the United States.
As Mursak’s final shot went past goaltender Ryan Zapolski, U.S. players hung their heads on the bench before Slovenia players celebrated with their fans Wednesday.
Zapolski allowed three goals on 25 shots, including the first goal by Jan Urbas. Slovenian goaltender Gasper Kroselj stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced to pick up the victory, giving up goals to Brian O’Neill and Jordan Greenway.
In the second game, the Olympic Athletes from Russia lost to Slovakia by giving up a two-goal lead. The Russians were widely considered the pre-tournament favorite for the gold medal.
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11:10 p.m.
Shaun White has apologized after referring to a sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against him in 2016 as “gossip” during a news conference following his historic gold medal in the men’s halfpipe.
White issued the apology on NBC’s” Today” show on Wednesday. He says he used “a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive subject” and he’s “truly sorry.”
White won an unprecedented third halfpipe gold medal Wednesday. While he did, many on social media resurfaced the details from the lawsuit filed by a former drummer in White’s rock band who said White sexually harassed her and refused to pay her wages after he fired her. The lawsuit was settled in May.
White was asked in the news conference if the allegations might tarnish his reputation and said, “I’m here to talk about the Olympics, not gossip and stuff.”
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10:50 p.m.
A Kim Jong Un impersonator calling himself only Howard from Australia has made an appearance at the Korea-Japan women’s ice hockey game at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
He briefly walked in front of a North Korean cheering section waving a unification flag and smiling Wednesday before being moved away to his seat nearby.
Security then came to take him out of the arena as a crowd began to form. Police later took over, surrounding him in a hall outside the seating area and preventing him from going back into the game.
The impersonator wore a long black overcoat and glasses and sported the North Korean dictator’s trademark haircut.
He said, “This is how I look,” as police led him into a staff room.
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10:20 p.m.
Germans Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt have won their second consecutive Olympic doubles luge gold medal, prevailing in a bit of a surprise at the Pyeongchang Games.
Wendl and Arlt finished their two runs in 1 minute, 31.697 seconds. They’re the first German team to win two straight doubles golds since Hans Rinn and Norbert Hahn in 1976 and 1980.
The Austrian team of Peter Penz and Georg Fischler was second, less than one-tenth of a second off the winning time. Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken took third.
Eggert and Benecken dominated the World Cup circuit this season. Wednesday’s race was only the eighth time in 30 international races over the last two years that Eggert and Benecken didn’t emerge victorious, and only the fourth time they weren’t first or second.
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9:55 p.m.
Defending champion Kamil Stoch of Poland has tuned up for the ski jumping large hill final with two strong jumps at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Stoch had jumps of 131 meters and 134 meters Wednesday at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Center. The large hill final is on Saturday.
Stoch won both the normal and large hill events at Sochi.
He won his second straight Four Hills tournament in Bischofshofen, Austria, on Jan. 6 to become only the second ski jumper in the history of the sport to win all four stages of the prestigious event.
He is first in the overall World Cup standings with four titles this season.
Germany’s Andreas Wellinger won the normal hill gold on Saturday and was 11th and fourth in two training runs.
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9:50 p.m.
The U.S. men’s hockey was upset by Slovenia in a 3-2 thriller that was decided in overtime.
The U.S. dominated the first two periods and built a commanding 2-0 lead entering the final frame, but costly turnovers and other mistakes allowed Slovenia to come back.
The U.S. still earned a point from the match by holding on until overtime. The U.S. sits behind Slovakia and Slovenia in the Group B standings and will face Slovakia later this week.
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8:30 p.m.
Jorien ter Mors has set an Olympic record to win the 1,000 meters at the speedskating Oval, earning a fifth gold medal for the Netherlands in as many events.
Favorite Nao Kodaira slumped over the last half-lap and had to settle for silver ahead of her Japanese teammate, Miho Takagi.
Brittany Bowe of the United States finished just outside the medals.
No one has ever completed the race faster at sea level. Ter Mors crossed in 1 minute 13.56 seconds, beating Kodaira by 0.26 seconds and Takagi by 0.42 seconds.
She beat the 2002 Olympic mark of U.S. skater Chris Witty, which was set at high altitude.
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8:20 p.m.
Athletes, coaches and officials all are dealing with delays in Alpine skiing at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Only one of four scheduled races has been run so far because of strong winds at both hills being used for these Winter Games.
The skiers themselves keep busy with race preparation. The coaches try to keep their athletes focused. And the officials are trying to make sure all 11 races get completed.
Many of the women whose slalom race was scrapped because of strong winds at the Yongpyong Alpine Center on Wednesday, including American star and defending gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, took a couple of practice runs for the giant slalom that will be Thursday.
Men took informal downhill training on a shortened course at the Jeongseon Alpine Center about 30 miles (50 kilometers) away.
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8 p.m.
Snow volleyball is not an Olympic sport. Probably never will be.
But it had its finest moment when Prince Albert of Monaco — an International Olympic Committee member — showed up at a chilly outdoor exhibition of snow volleyball at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
With hundreds cheering “Albert, Albert, Albert,” the Monaco royal made a 30-second cameo appearance on an icy court set up amid plastic palm trees outside the Austria House — the country’s promotional venue at the Olympics.
The prince put down his mulled wine, walked on to the court, twirled his right arm to get warm, and put the ball into play.
It was a perfect serve — and a great pitch for the fledgling sport.
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7:30 p.m.
Ireen Wust of the Netherlands has posted the fastest time so far in the women’s 1,000-meter speedskating final.
She skated the distance in 1 minute, 15.32 seconds on Wednesday night. She is seeking a second gold medal of the games, having won the 1,500.
The Dutch are 4-for-4 at the big oval in Gangneung.
Wust has a long wait to see if she comes out on top again. Still to skate are medal contenders Jorien ter Mors and Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands, Americans Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma and Miho Takagi of Japan.
Takagi earned silver in the 1,500, while Leenstra claimed bronze.
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7 p.m.
Japan has held off Korea 4-1 for its first Olympic victory in women’s hockey, with Hanae Kubo and Shoko Ono each scoring in the first period.
Japan came into its third Olympics winless, but it has the ninth-ranked team in the world and is
tops in Asia.
South Korea got a berth as host of the Pyeongchang Games and brought in six North Americans for their debut. The Koreans also had 12 North Koreans added to their expanded roster last month under an agreement between countries divided for seven decades.
Kubo scored 67 seconds in, and Ono added a power-play goal at 3:58.
The Koreans made more Olympic history of their own with their first goal at 9:31 of the second on their 33rd shot over three games.
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6:50 p.m.
Reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan will be the first skater in the final group when the men take the ice for their short program at the Pyeongchang Games.
The starting draw was held after the pairs completed their short program Wednesday afternoon.
Hanyu will be followed Friday by American star Nathan Chen, Russian skater Mikhail Kolyada and countryman Shoma Uno. Two-time world champion Javier Fernandez of Spain will be the penultimate skater, with Boyang Jin of China going last.
Hanyu is trying to defend men’s Olympic gold for the first time in 66 years. He did three jumps during practice Wednesday, hitting a quad toe-triple toe combination but falling on his quad salchow.
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6:45 p.m.
Defending champion Eric Frenzel of Germany has won the gold medal in the Nordic combined normal hill at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Frenzel erased a 36-second deficit after the ski jumping stage and surged ahead of Akito Watabe on the last uphill of the 10-kilometer cross-country race to finish 4.8 seconds ahead of his Japanese rival. Austria’s Lukas Klapfer took the bronze.
Austrian Franz-Josef Rehrl was the surprise winner of the ski jumping phase with a leap of 112 meters that gave him a 15-second head start but faded early in the cross-country stage.
Frenzel finished fifth in the ski jumping with a leap of 106.5 meters and took the lead midway through the race and held on to give Germany its sixth gold of the games.
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5:55 p.m.
The combined Korea women’s hockey team finally has its first goal of the Olympics, courtesy of a pair of Americans.
Randi Heesoo Griffin scored at 9:31 of the second period on the Koreans’ 33rd shot of the Olympics in their third game. She grew up in Cary, North Carolina, and her mother is from South Korea.
Griffin was set up for the goal by Marissa Brandt, who now lives in a suburb of the Twin Cities in Minnesota and who is playing for the country where she was born. Her birth name is Park Yoonjung, the name she uses on the back of her Korean team jersey.
Griffin’s goal led to an eruption from fans filling Kwandong Hockey Center. Better yet, the goal pulled the combined Korean team within 2-1 of Japan — South Korea’s biggest Asian rival.
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5:30 p.m.
Shaun White has dismissed the sexual misconduct allegations made against him in a 2016 lawsuit as “gossip.”
White won his third Olympic gold medal Wednesday in the men’s halfpipe, then was criticized on social media and questioned in a press conference about allegations made in a lawsuit by a former drummer in White’s rock band.
The woman says White sexually harassed and refused to pay her. The lawsuit was settled last May.
White was asked in a media conference if the lawsuit might tarnish his reputation.
He says, “I’m here to talk about the Olympics, not gossip and stuff.” He adds, “I don’t think so.”
Reporters attempted to follow up about the lawsuit, but the conference moderator shot them down. White rushed off stage as reporters questioned him about the allegations following the conference.
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This item has been corrected to show White was accused of sexual misconduct and to delete a reference to sexual assault.
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5:10 p.m.
The Olympic women’s individual biathlon has been postponed due to strong winds hitting the Alpensia Biathlon Center.
Forecasts are predicting gusts of more than 15 mph Wednesday night, making it difficult for competitors to shoot their rifles.
The event has been moved to Thursday, starting ahead of the men’s individual biathlon.
Wind has been a problem throughout the Pyeongchang Olympic Games. The women’s slalom was also canceled Wednesday and spectators were asked to evacuate the Olympic Park in the coastal city of Gangneung because it was so gusty. The men’s downhill and women’s giant slalom have also had to be postponed.
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4:15 p.m.
American ski racer Tommy Biesemeyer will miss the men’s downhill Thursday after hurting his right ankle while training. The U.S. ski team said Wednesday he was taken to a local clinic to receive treatment and was released.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle will take his place in the race.
Biesemeyer said in a statement: “You are supposed to be optimistic in times like these and say something like, ‘I will come back stronger than ever.’ But I just can’t bring myself to do it. I am honored to have been named to Team USA and walking in the Opening Ceremony is a moment I’ll never forget.”
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3:55 p.m.
Officials are asking spectators to evacuate the Olympic Park in the coastal city of Gangneung and take shelter indoors because of strong winds.
An announcement in Korean and English advises fans to go inside for safety Wednesday afternoon. Workers are disassembling tents around the park.
Volunteers are also using bullhorns to tell fans to go inside. Many were queued up to go inside the Samsung building near the hockey arena.
Winds are blowing steadily around 23 mph (37 kph) with stiffer gusts rattling and shaking the giant tent anchored with metal beams in Gangneung.
A media work tent was closed because of the gusting winds ahead of a women’s hockey game between Japan and Korea.
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3:40 p.m.
American Emily Sweeney is recovering from a frightening crash that knocked her out of the final run of the Pyeongchang Olympic women’s luge competition.
Sweeney was still experiencing back pain after Tuesday’s crash, and she was being monitored by USA Luge’s medical staff. USA Luge says Sweeney is doing well and her parents are visiting with her in the Athletes’ Village.
The Pyeongchang Games were Sweeney’s first Olympics. Sweeney lost control around a curve considered the track’s most treacherous spot, then careened through several more turns before crashing.
The plan is for Sweeney to continue being checked regularly by doctors for the next few days. USA Luge says, “Further steps will be taken, if necessary.”
Sweeney doesn’t have any other events scheduled at the Olympics.
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3:20 p.m.
The winds are so strong at the Pyeongchang Olympics that officials are closing the media work tent outside the Kwandong Hockey Center ahead of a game between Japan and Korea.
An official asked reporters and photographers to move to work locations inside the hockey rink Wednesday because the media tent was being closed.
Winds are blowing steadily around 23 mph (37 kph) with stiffer gusts rattling and shaking the giant tent anchored with metal beams in Gangneung.
A heavy contingent of media is at the Kwandong Hockey Center for the women’s hockey game between Japan and Korea. The two countries have a long and bitter history.