SOCHI, Russia —Russell Currier of Stockholm, the only Maine native competing in the Winter Olympics, finished 61st in the 10-kilometer biathlon competition Saturday morning.
Currier completed the course in 26 minutes, 58.5 seconds in the event, which combines target shooting and cross country skiing.
Currier suffered four penalties while shooting from the prone position and that meant skiing an extra 150-meter penalty lap for each miss. He missed qualifying for Monday’s race by one position. He will compete in the 20K individual race at 9 a.m. Thursday.
“It wasn’t the race I was hoping for today, but at the end of the day it’s still the Olympics and it’s great just to be here,” said Currier.
Tim Burke of Paul Smiths, N.Y., led Team USA with a 19th-place finish. Burke had a time of 25:23.3 and one penalty, 49.8 behind gold medalist Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway.
Lowell Bailey of Lake Placid, N.Y., finished in 35th place with a time of 26:04 and two penalties, while Leif Nordgren of Marine on St. Croix, Minn. was 45th with a 26:17.4 and clean shooting.
Burke, Bailey and Currier all have trained at the Maine Winter Sports Center in Aroostook County.
On Sunday, home fans roared Russia to its first gold of the Sochi Olympics when figure skating’s ultimate showman Yevgeny Plushenko sealed the team title, while in the mountains Austria’s Matthias Mayer conquered the perilous Rosa Khutor run to claim the men’s downhill.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin among the near 12,000 capacity crowd at the Iceberg Skating Palace, one of several new arenas built for the Winter Games, the hosts built an unassailable lead some 90 minutes before the contest ended.
“When we got off the ice, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] congratulated us and said ‘Good job’,” said ice dancer Ekaterina Bobrova. “It was really nice and completely unexpected.”
Kicking off the second day of full competition, Mayer claimed one of Winter Olympics’ most coveted crowns, as pre-race downhill favourites American Bode Miller and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal failed to make the podium.
Son of 1988 super-G silver medallist Helmut, Mayer edged out Italy’s Christof Innerhofer by 0.06 seconds down the steep, icy piste set among the towering Caucasus mountains.
“It’s crazy. It’s the greatest thing you can achieve as a sportsman — unbelievable,” said the 23-year-old.
As Russia began mining Olympic gold, Putin — who has staked his reputation on staging a successful Games — touched on the Games’ monetary might when he said hosting the event had helped shelter the country from economic crisis.
Allegations of widespread corruption have dogged the huge seven-year infrastructure project, and with a price tag of more than $50 billion it is the most expensive Olympics ever.
“It is fully justified to say that the Olympic project, the Olympic construction work as a whole, was one of the most significant anti-crisis measures in the country,” Putin said in comments to state TV broadcaster, Rossiya 24, aired on Sunday.
Putin says there is no evidence of major corruption in Sochi, but a recent survey by independent pollster Levada showed 47 percent of Russians believe the cost of the Games has soared because funds have been embezzled or mismanaged.
Back on the ice, Irene Wust of the Netherlands won the women’s 3,000 meters speed skating crown, but the biggest roar went to Olga Graf, who finished a surprise third to give the host nation its first medal.
Graf punched the air in delight upon seeing her time, but her expression turned to embarrassment as she unzipped her suit to the waist before suddenly realizing she had no T-shirt underneath.
“I heard the crowd cheering for me and I didn’t expect such support from the audience,” said the skater, before addressing her wardrobe malfunction.
“I totally forgot that I had nothing under my suit,” she said, her steely focus softening into a broad smile.
Another Russian, Olga Vilukhina, took silver in the women’s biathlon 7.5-kilometer sprint, behind Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia.
Swiss cross-country skier Dario Cologna surged to surprise victory in the men’s skiathlon and American Jamie Anderson clinched the inaugural women’s snowboarding slopestyle gold after compatriot Sage Kotsenburg had matched the feat in the men’s event on Saturday.
Jenny Jones claimed the bronze — Britain’s first Olympic medal in a snow event.
German Felix Loch smashed his track record in securing a second successive Olympic men’s singles luge gold, while in the men’s normal hill ski jumping competition, Poland’s Kamil Stoch prevailed.
Despite the drama unfolding throughout the Games, organizers said many ticket holders were missing out because they were turning up too late, explaining some of the thousands of empty seats at skating and skiing events.
Even at the men’s downhill there were several hundred vacant places in the stands at the bottom of the fearsome descent.
“The downhill is the king of the sport so I don’t know what’s going on. The Russians have no downhill skiers, that’s the problem here,” said Austria’s 1980 Olympic champion Leonhard Stock, surveying stands that were more than half-empty only minutes before the scheduled start of the race.
Other venues, too, were far from full, and organizers urged ticket holders to turn up early because a sizeable number were not getting through security in time.