NOTEBOOK : Bedard of Canada Scores Historic First in Women’s Biathlon

Canadian Myriam Bedard made history Friday in the women’s 15-kilometer biathlon, becoming the first Olympic champion from North America. Biathlon combines cross-country skiing and target shooting.

Bedard, who finished third in the 1992 Olympics, missed only two targets on the shooting range and skied the tough course in 52 minutes 6.6 seconds. Anne Briand of France was second. She skied 46.7 seconds slower than Bedard and had three misses. Uschi Disl of Germany also missed three times and finished 1:08.7 behind Bedard, taking the bronze medal.

Joan Smith of Honeoye Falls, N.Y., placed 14th, the best finish ever by a U.S. woman, and her teammate, Joan Guetschow of Minnetonka, Minn., was 17th, marking the first time that two U.S. athletes finished in the top 20.

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Todd Lodwick of Steamboat Springs, Colo., soared to a surprising fifth place in the ski jump half of the Nordic combined.

Lodwick, 17, went 301 feet 10 inches on his first jump off the normal hill, then slipped to 285-5 on his second.

He finished just ahead of world champion Kenmji Ogiwara of Japan with 232 points and will start 1:40 behind Norwegian Fred Borre Lundberg today in the 15k cross-country portion of the event.

Lundberg went 303-5 and 301-10 on his jumps, for 247 points, and will have a 23-second advantage in the race over Ago Markvardt of Finland. Markvardt sailed 303-5 and 289-6 for 243.5 points in finishing second.

Another Norwegian, Bjarte Engen Vik, had 240.5 points on jumps of 300-2 and 301-10 and will start 43 seconds behind Lundberg.

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Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of England, Olympic champions 10 years ago, placed third in the opening round of their ice-dancing comeback at Hamar.

Maia Usova and Alexander Zhulin, 1993 world champions, were tied for the lead with fellow Russians Oksana Gritschuk and Evgeny Platov after the compulsory round.

The compulsories count for 20% of the total score. Original dance competition is scheduled for Sunday and free dance for Monday.

Americans Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, skating under difficult circumstances, were 23rd. Punsalan’s father, Ernesto, was stabbed to death in his Ohio home Feb. 4. Her brother, Ricardo, was arrested in the slaying.