Russian pair dances off with gold

~ U.S. took silver for its first ice dancing medal since 1976.

TURIN, Italy -- At last, a figure skating medal for the United States -- in ice dancing, of all things. And yet another Olympic gold for Russia.

Tanith Belbin and partner Ben Agosto snapped the U.S. medals drought in figure skating with a silver Monday night. They were behind Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, who gave Russia a gold medal hat trick -- pairs, men's and dance. No nation has swept the four skating events in one games, and Russian Irina Slutskaya is favored in the women's competition.

"I am extremely proud that we've been able to achieve this for our country," said the Canadian-born Belbin, who became a U.S. citizen on Dec. 31.

"It's only our first Olympics. We're competing with second- and third-time Olympians, so this is great to come here and get a medal the first time out when we didn't even know we'd be here.

"Can't ask for more."

Belbin and Agosto won the first dance medal for the United States since a bronze in 1976 by Colleen O'Connor and Jim Millns-- and only the second medal of any kind. It also is the only medal for American figure skaters at these Olympics.

Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of Ukraine won the bronze.

All three couples performed with poise and style. Even better, nobody crashed to the ice.

Sunday's original dance was marred by falls and an injury that forced the top Canadians out of the free dance. Italian favorites Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio were back, friends again, after their flop and subsequent venomous staredown.

"We are like brother and sister," Fusar Poli said. "We were angry at ourselves, but between each other everything is OK."

Not only were they OK on ice, but they kissed and made up after four minutes of tense skating featuring some intricate lifts and carries. She put her arm around his shoulder as they sat next to each other this time -- observing their mediocre scores that placed them sixth.

Those marks were in sharp contrast to the winners, whose 200.64 total was the only one over 200 points and won by 4.58 over Belbin and Agosto.

Americans Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov were 14th, and Jamie Silverstein and Ryan O'Meara finished 16th.

Raich wins giant slalom

Austria's Benjamin Raich ended his 10-day struggle at the Olympics with a win in the men's giant slalom.

Raich, who won the last two World Cup giant slalom races before the games, was only fifth after the opening leg but vaulted onto the top step of the podium with a brilliant second effort.

Joel Chenal of France, ranked only 17th in the World Cup GS standings but second after the first run, showed remarkable nerve and won the silver, .07 behind. Hermann Maier of Austria won the bronze, .16 back, to go with his silver in the super-G.

American Bode Miller, who was just 12th after the opening leg, tied for sixth in 2:36.06 with Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, after a red-hot second run.

Austrian wins second gold

Austrian Michaela Dorfmeister won her second gold medal of the Turin Games and Janica Kostelic of Croatia became the most decorated woman in Olympic Alpine skiing history with a silver in the super-G.

Dorfmeister, the last of the top 30 skiers to race, overcame a course softened by the sun to edge Kostelic by .27 seconds in a time of 1 minute, 32.47 seconds.

The 24-year-old Kostelic's silver was her sixth Olympic medal -- four of them gold -- and her second these games. No other woman Alpine skier has more than five.

Lindsey Kildow was the top American finisher, in seventh place.

Canada finds curling semis

Canada clinched the fourth and final spot in the medal round with a late rally that secured a 6-3 win over the U.S. in men's curling.

The Americans (6-3) had already wrapped up a spot in the medal round. They will face Canada (6-3) again Wednesday in one semifinal. Finland (7-2) is to play Britain (6-3) in the other.

Austria jumps to team gold

Thomas Morgenstern and Andreas Kofler carried over their success from the large hill competition, leading Austria to the Olympic gold medal in the ski jumping team event.

Morgenstern, who won individual gold Saturday on the large hill, landed a jump of 140.5 meters in the final round to secure Austria's third ski jumping medal of the Turin Olympics.

U.S. bobsledders sit in third

The U.S. team of Shauna Rohbock and brakeman Valerie Fleming are in third place following the first two heats of women's bobsled, trailing a pair of German sleds.

The third and fourth runs are scheduled for today.

American in freestyle final

Jeret "Speedy" Peterson was the lone American of four to advance to finals in men's aerials, a disappointing effort for a U.S. freestyle team considered one of the best in the world.

While Peterson made it, Joe Pack, Ryan St. Onge and Eric Bergoust all failed to advance to Wednesday night's 12-man finals.

Xiopeng Han of China led the qualifying, followed by Dmitri Dashinki of Belarus and Warren Shouldice of Canada, who has dual citizenship in the United States.