By The Associated Press

TURIN, Italy – Evgeni Plushenko’s personal best of 90.66 points gave the Russian a big lead over American Johnny Weir after the Olympic men’s short program.

From the moment he stepped on the ice until the conclusion of his routine to Puccini’s “Tosca,” Plushenko never flashed even a hint of a smile. This was all business – and business was good for the 2002 Olympic silver medalist.

He nailed every element, from a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination to a solid triple axel to complex footwork into a triple lutz. Only when his final combination spin ended did he lighten up, going from intense concentration to a series of fist pumps. He seemed more relieved than excited.

Weir earned a personal-best 80.00 score.

Speedskating

Svetlana Zhurova, a 34-year-old Russian who took a break from speedskating to have a baby and regained her top form only recently, won the gold medal in the 500 meters.

She skated a combined time of 1 minute, 16.57 seconds to give Russia its second speedskating medal of these games. Dmitry Dorofeyev won silver in the men’s 500 on Monday.

Zhurova was matched with China’s Wang Manli in the final pair and beat her to the finish line after 1 laps in 38.34. Wang was timed in 38.47.

Wang earned the silver in 1:16.78. Ren Hui of China took bronze in 1:16.87.

Zhurova had a child in 2003 and returned to win the world sprint title last month.

Luge

Sylke Otto became the second women’s luger to win consecutive golds, leading Germany to its sixth medal sweep in 12 Olympics.

Courtney Zablocki of Highlands Ranch, Colo., was fourth to match her best international finish, but it wasn’t enough to crack the top three against the powerful Germans.

Silke Kraushaar won a record third overall medal and Tatjana Huefner edged Zablocki for the final podium spot. There have been 36 medals awarded in women’s Olympic luge history; 27 have been won by Germans.

Nordic skiing

Bjoern Lind and Thobias Fredriksson of Sweden won the men’s Olympic cross-country team sprint Tuesday.

Lind anchored the team and waited until the final 100 meters to make his move, pushing from third to first to edge the tandem of Jens Arne Svartedal and Tor Arne Hetland of Norway in 17 minutes, 2.9 seconds. Russia’s duo of Ivan Alypov and Vassili Rotchev earned the bronze.

Lina Andersson and Anna Dahlberg of Sweden won gold in the women’s cross-country team sprint, edging Beckie Scott and Sara Renner of Canada.

American Kikkan Randall, who was cleared Monday to compete after her hemoglobin suspension, teamed with Wendy Wagner to make the final in a surprise performance. They placed 10th – last – in the final.

Biathlon

Two-time defending Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen faltered once again, allowing Sven Fischer to give the Germans their second straight gold medal in the men’s biathlon.

Bjoerndalen’s teammates did well, with Halvard Hanevold winning the silver and Frode Andresen taking the bronze. But there were mixed emotions among the Norwegians, because this was supposed to be Bjoerndalen’s moment to shine. Instead, he finished 12th.

Hockey

Angela Ruggiero scored the go-ahead goal on an end-to-end rush in the third period as the Americans rallied from a rare two-goal deficit to beat Finland 7-3 in the Olympic women’s hockey tournament.

Sarah Parsons also scored two goals for the Americans (3-0), who struggled through most of the first 41 minutes of their final preliminary-round match.

Canada got its first challenge, and finally allowed a goal, beating Sweden 8-1.

Curling

The U.S. men picked up a 10-4 victory over New Zealand in eight ends.

The Americans’ next game is against host Italy (1-2). Throw in today’s game against the winless Germans (0-2), and the United States (2-1) probably needs to steal just one or two more victories in its other four games to reach the medal round.

The U.S. women remained winless after a 6-5 extra-end loss to Japan.

The Americans (0-3), who conceded their earlier match against Canada after eight ends, are last in the 10-team field.