‘94 Winter Olympic Games / Lillehammer : NOTEBOOK : Koss Sets a Record and Wins Norway’s First Gold Medal

Speedskater Johann Olav Koss won the host country’s first gold medal Sunday, setting a world record in the 5,000-meter race at the Viking Ship rink in Hamar.

Koss, urged on by a raucous crowd of about 12,000, won in 6 minutes 34.96 seconds, topping his own world record, 6:35.53, set on the same rink in December.

His teammate, Kjell Storelid, finished second in 6:42.68, which was an Olympic record until Koss skated two pairs later, and Rintje Ritsma of the Netherlands was third in 6:43.94.

“This was great, the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” said Koss, a 25-year-old medical student. “I have never performed better. I was not very confident before the race but Kjell Storelid’s great performance was an immense inspiration.”

Skating on freshly resurfaced ice, Koss lagged behind his record pace in the early going and with a lap left still was six-hundredths of a second behind. But with the crowd screaming, “Johann! Johann! Johann!” he stepped up the pace and skated the lap six-tenths of a second faster than he had done in December.

Brian Wanek, the only American skater entered, finished 30th in 7:05.95 in the 32-skater field.

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The first gold medal of the Games was won by Italian Manuela Di Centa, who upset two Russian skiers in the women’s 15-kilometer freestyle cross-country race.

Di Centa, 31, the only non-Russian to have won a World Cup race this season, a 15K classical at Toblach, Italy, in December, skied the course in 39:44.5.

Russian Lyubov Egorova, winner of three gold and two silver medals two years ago in the Albertville Games, was second in 41.03.0, and her teammate, Nina Gavriluk, won the bronze in 41:10.4.

Gaetano Di Centa, Manuela’s father and longtime coach, hugged her in the finish area and said, “Bravo, my star. This is only the beginning.”

Laura McCabe of Park City, Utah, was the first American to finish. She placed 34th in 43:51.1.

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What would a Winter Olympics be without Eddie (the Eagle) Edwards?

Probably not nearly as much fun.

Edwards, the nearly blind English ski jumper who captivated the world with his short and formless jumps at Calgary in 1988, then was not allowed to jump at Albertville, showed up at the large ski hill here, carrying a pair of slalom skis. He said he was entered in the competition, to be held next Sunday, but was not allowed into the jumping area because he had no accreditation.

After saying he was being prevented from jumping because the the judges feared he would jump too far, he confessed to having a secret weapon.

“Jet engines concealed in the bindings,” he said.