Sochi Olympics: U.S. women are routed in curling

SOCHI, Russia — Things are not going well for U.S. curling.

The women’s team set an Olympic record Tuesday, but not a good one. It gave up a seven-point end (like baseball’s innings) leading to the mercy rule being called in a 12-3 loss to Britain. The previous record of six points was set by the Swedish and Canadian men’s teams.

It was also the third loss in as many tries for the U.S. women, having lost to Russia, 9-6, in the morning session.

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The U.S. men’s team went to 0-2 after losing to China, 9-4. The men’s standings are headed by Sweden (3-0), followed by China (2-0) and Norway (2-0).

Switzerland is leading the women’s division at 3-0, with China at 2-0.

Speedskating

Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea won a second consecutive gold medal in the women’s 500 meters. She not only had the fastest times in both races but set an Olympic record in the second race (37.28 seconds). Olga Fatkulina of Russia and Margot Boer of the Netherlands won the silver and bronze.

Heather Richardson was the highest U.S. finisher in eighth. Brittany Bowe (13th), Lauren Cholewinski (15th) and Sugar Todd (29th) also competed for the U.S.

Biathlon

Darya Domracheva of Belarus took home the gold in the women’s 10-kilometer pursuit race. Tora Berger of Norway got second and Teja Gregorin of Slovenia took third.

The highest U.S. finisher was Susan Dunklee in 18th. Sara Studebaker (51st) and Annelies Cook (54th) also competed.

Hockey

The rather predictable women’s tournament settled on all the teams advancing to the next round. Russia gained a quarterfinal spot with a 2-1 win over Japan and Sweden did the same with 4-0 win over Germany. The teams will play Thursday to determine which team is seeded higher.