Austrian brothers win luge doubles

For the second consecutive night, Austrian sliders crashed the German luge party.

The brother team of Andreas and Wolfgang Linger defended their Olympic title, beating Latvian brothers Andris and Juirs Sics and Germany’s Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch, who had won the gold in 2002.

The Lingers finished with a combined time of 1 minute 22.705 seconds, .264 of a second ahead of the Latvians and .335 ahead of the Germans.

Tuesday evening, countrywoman Nina Reithmayer prevented a German sweep of the women’s event by taking silver. Still, the Germans took five of nine medals overall.

Americans Christian Niccum and Dan Joye finished sixth, with a time of 1:23.291.

Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, U.S. sliders who won bronze in 1998 and silver in 2002, got off to a poor start in the first run and ended up 11th.

-- Candus Thomson 19 injured at free concert

A surging crowd of Olympic partygoers caused a barricade to collapse during a free concert, leaving 19 people injured.

Nine people were taken to the hospital for further evaluation, Vancouver officials and Olympic organizers said. One person may have a broken leg. The city said all those injured were treated at the scene in the onsite medical facility.

About 7,000 people were at LiveCity Yaletown on Tuesday night for a concert by the Canadian band Alexisonfire. A section of the barricade gave way midway into the first song, according to a statement from the City of Vancouver.

The band stopped playing immediately and asked fans to step back. The rest of the concert was called off.

-- Associated Press Cross-country: Russia, Norway win

It was a mild surprise in the men’s sprint (1.6 kilometers) as Russia took the first two spots from the always strong Norwegians. Nikita Kriukov and Alexander Panzhinskiy pushed a strong early pace and beat Petter Northug of Norway by almost 10 seconds, a very large lead in such a short race.

The top American was Simi Hamilton, who finished 29th. Torin Koos was 36th, Andy Newell was 45th and Garrott Kuzzy was 47th.

On the women’s sprint side, Marit Bjoergen won Norway’s first cross-country gold of these Games, just edging Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland. Petra Majdic of Slovenia was third.

Kikkan Randall had the highest-ever finish by an American, male or female, in the race, coming in eighth. She was ninth in the Turin Games. Holly Brooks was the only other skier from the U.S. and she finished 38th.

-- John Cherwa Cross-country skier forced to sit out

A New Zealand cross-country skier was forced to sit out the 15-kilometer event after a blood test returned high hemoglobin levels, the International Olympic Committee said.

Benjamin Koons was unable to compete between Feb.14 and 18 after the blood test results were analyzed. The 15-kilometer event took place Monday.

Koons was the second athlete to miss that race, along with Estonian Kaspar Kokk, who was unable to compete for the same reasons.

A start prohibition is not a sanction, but is in order to protect the health of the athlete. Athletes with high hemoglobin levels are not necessarily doing anything wrong. Some have naturally high levels while others may be dehydrated.

As a precaution, the international ski federation routinely suspends skiers with high levels.

-- Associated Press Viewing improved for Olympic caldron

Olympic organizers opened a viewing ramp to bring visitors closer to the Olympic caldron. A chain-link fence around the flame also was moved closer, with a 6-inch-wide strip cut into it for people taking pictures from ground level.

Olympic organizers initially drew criticism for making the flame inaccessible to the public. It was one of the early glitches that have marred the Winter Games.

-- Associated Press