Hedrick skates to first gold medal, plans to get many more

TURIN, Italy -- Chad Hedrick cut through the ice in his first Olympic race -- arms swinging furiously, body gently swaying, mouth hanging open. When he crossed the line, flipped back his hood and caught a glimpse of the scoreboard, it was time to let out a Texas-sized yell.

Hedrick took the first step toward Eric Heiden's Holy Grail of Winter Olympic records -- five gold medals in 1980 -- with a dominating win Saturday in the 5,000 meters, the first speedskating race of the Turin Games.

Even though it's only one down and four to go, Hedrick didn't plan for this to be his only trip to the top of the medals podium.

"I didn't come here to win one gold medal," said the 28-year-old Texan. "You're going to see my face a lot more."

The former world champion from inline skating, who made the switch to ice less than four years ago, was able to overcome soft ice that made it difficult to build up power in the curves.

Hedrick's winning time of 6 minutes, 14.68 seconds was nearly 6 seconds off the world record but almost 2 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Sven Kramer of the Netherlands.

"He can work his way through the turns because he's physically stronger than the other skaters," said his father, Paul Hedrick.

When Hedrick stepped to the line, he sucked in a couple of deep breaths before taking his stance. Then, he was off on a grueling, 12 1/2-lap journey, knowing that Kramer -- who broke Hedrick's world record back in November -- had already put up a time of 6:16.40.

Hedrick was a little off the leader's pace after the first half-lap, but he steadily chipped away at the deficit on the next two trips around the 400-meter oval. By the 1,400 mark, Hedrick had the best time on the board, a margin that grew to as much as 2 1/2 seconds over Kramer.

Kramer, 19, got a bad break when he was drawn to skate in the pairing ahead of Hedrick, giving the U.S. star a chance to see what time he needed to beat.

"This race was decided before the race," Kramer said.

Russians lead pairs skating

Russia's monopoly on Olympic pairs gold looks very secure with Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin.

The two-time world champions skated in perfect unison to win the short program Saturday.

Totmianina and Marinin easily were the class of the event, earning 68.64 points, with the highest totals for both technique and components.

The free skate is Monday night.

American champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin landed the first throw triple axel in international skating one month after hitting the first one in U.S. nationals. They were sixth with 61.27 points.

Kwan may withdraw

Michelle Kwan left open the possibility of withdrawing from the Olympics after a sore groin forced her to cut short her first practice Saturday.

"I really have to pay attention to how I am feeling these days," said Kwan, who missed the U.S. figure skating nationals last month with a groin injury. "It is important that I'm in touch with it right now and being serious about it and how I'm skating and feeling.

"Dropping out, it's not something I want to do," she said, "but I have to listen to what my feelings are."

Kwan, 25, is a five-time world and nine-time U.S. champion.

If she drops out before the Feb. 19 draw, Emily Hughes would take her place. Hughes is the third-place finisher at the national championships and younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes.

U.S. women win

The U.S. women's hockey team opened the Olympics with a comfortable win.

Tricia Dunn-Luoma scored a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal and captain Krissy Wendell added two of the Americans' four third-period goals as the U.S. overcame Patricia Elsmore-Sautter's superb 50-save performance in a 6-0 victory over Switzerland.