WINTER OLYMPICS : Other Sports : Sweden’s Svan Wins 50K Cross-Country Ski Race; No Soviets in Top 10

Sweden’s Gunde Svan dominated the Olympic 50-kilometer cross-country ski race Saturday, conquering the brutal, wind-swept Blackfoot trails at Canmore and the surprisingly slow Soviets with a brilliant display of strength and willpower.

Svan, 26, won the top event of Nordic skiing by a 1 minute 5.5 seconds for his second gold medal of these Winter Olympics and fourth of his career.

Svan completed a course with a vertical climb of more than a mile in 2 hours 4 minutes 30.9 seconds.

The Soviets, who topped the final medal standings in the cross-country events with five gold, five silver and three bronze medals, did not place in the top 10.

Maurilio De Zolt of Italy, who won last year’s 50K title in the World Championships when Svan was sidelined by illness, finished second in 2:05:36.4.

Andu Grunenfelder of Switzerland won the bronze medal with a time of 2:06:01.9. It was Switzerland’s first medal in an Olympic cross-country race since 1972.

Svan, who also won a silver and a bronze medal in the 1984 Winter Games at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, now has six medals in two Olympics. That is three medals short of the record nine--four gold, three silver, two bronze--won by fellow Swede Sixten Jernberg. Jernberg competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics.

The Canadian hockey team kept its slim medal hopes alive, defeating Czechoslovakia, 6-3.

Gord Sherven scored three goals, and Andy Moog played a solid game in goal, including some sensational stops in the third period, as the Canadians stayed in the running for a bronze medal.

The Canadians’ only hope for their first Olympic medal since 1968 rested with a West Germany victory over Sweden today.

Saturday’s victory gave the Canadians five points, the same as Finland and one more than Sweden, both of which have games to play today.

The ski jumping portion of the Nordic combined competition was postponed because of gusty winds, raising the possibility that the event may have to be canceled.

The last-ditch plan is to stage the two 70-meter jumps this morning and the 15-kilometer cross-country race in the afternoon, a few hours before the Closing Ceremony.