Sage Kotsenburg of the United States won the first gold medal of the 2014 Olympics on Saturday, soaring to victory in the men’s snowboarding slopestyle final.  Kotsenburg had a score of 93.50 to edge Staale Sandbech (Stay-lee Sand-beck) of Norway.  Mark McMorris of Canada, who barely made the finals, took bronze.  Kotsenburg needed to navigate the semifinals early Saturday but seemed to find his stride.  He placed second in the semifinals then rolled with a medal on the line.

Meanwhile, Jamie Anderson has given the United States a sweep in slopestyle snowboarding at the Olympics.  Anderson soared her way to gold medal in a near flawless run in the women’s final on Sunday, a day after Sage Kotsenburg captured in the men’s gold medal.  Enni Rukajarvi (En-nee Roo-kah-jah-vee) of Finland took silver and Jenny Jones delivered a long-awaited medal for Britain with her bronze.  Anderson, who expressed concern about the difficulty of the course during training, posted a score of 95.25 on her second run fueled by big air after big air trick.

Prerace favorite Bode Miller struggled on the men’s Olympic downhill course Sunday.  Not even close to a medal, the American finished in eighth place in the field.  Miller, a five-time Olympic medalist, had the fastest time in two of the three training sessions at the Sochi Games.  But after a quick start with a medal on the line Sunday, Miller faded near the end of the course.

Russia won its first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics on Sunday night by taking the new event of team figure skating in a rout.  The hosts earned 75 points to 65 for Canada and 60 for the United States, which won the free dance portion of the event with world champion ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White of Michigan.  Russian President Vladimir Putin was on hand to see his countrymen take the gold.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe and her sister Chloe won Olympic gold and silver for Canada after edging American rival and favorite, Hannah Kearney in the women’s moguls on Saturday.  Kearney, the defending champion and top-ranked woman in the world, went last and had a big bobble after her first jump.  She settled for bronze.

In women’s hockey over the weekend, Team USA beat Finland 3 to 1, Canada beat Switzerland 5 to nothing, Russia beat Germany 4 to 1 and Sweden beat Japan 1 to nothing,