Olympics roundup: Lowell Bailey finishes eighth in 20K biathlon

SOCHI, Russia — Lowell Bailey . had the best individual finish in U.S. biathlon history when he finished eighth in the men’s 20-kilometer Thursday.

Bailey missed only one of 20 shots but still finished almost 11/2 minutes behind the winner, Martin Fourcade of France.

A temperature of 55 degrees made the course more difficult, causing skiers to adjust their technique, especially on the hills.

It was the second gold of the Games for Fourcade, who won the 12.5-kilometer pursuit Monday. Fourcade is the 2013 world champion in the discipline.

Eric Lesser of Germany picked up the silver and Yevgeny Garanichev of Russia took the bronze.

Other U.S. finishers were Tim Burke (44th), Russell Currier (50th) and Leif Nordgren (83rd).

Cross-country

Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland won the women’s classic 10-kilometer race despite competing with a fractured foot. It was her second Olympic gold after winning one in Vancouver in 2010 in the 30-kilometer classic mass-start race.

The silver went to Charlotte Kalla of Sweden and the bronze to Therese Johaug of Norway.

Sadie Bjornsen was the highest U.S. finisher in 18th, followed by Sophie Caldwell (32nd), Ida Sargent (34th) and Holly Brooks (35th).

Curling

The U.S. women picked up their first win of the tournament, 8-6, over Japan. The U.S. is now 1-4 and plays winless Denmark on Friday.

The U.S. men were not so lucky, losing to Britain, 5-3. The men are 1-3 with five games remaining in pool play. The top four teams advance. The Americans next play Germany (0-4) and Russia (1-4) before playing two winning teams: Canada (3-2) and Sweden (4-1) and finishing pool play against Switzerland (1-4).

Women’s hockey

Russia stayed unbeaten in pool play with a 3-1 win over Sweden, moving it to a quarterfinal game against Switzerland. Russia finished pool play 3-0. In the other game, Germany beat Japan, 4-0, and both teams will move to the classification round for final ranking.