PyeongChang 2018 day 16 round-up: Norway top medal table following another Bjørgen gold

Marit Bjørgen produced a dominant performance in the women's 30km mass start to claim the final gold of the PyeongChang games

PyeongChang 2018 day 16 round-up: Norway top medal table following another Bjørgen gold
tom-hiscott
By Tom Hiscott

Norway's Marit Bjørgen produced a dominant performance to claim the final gold medal of the 2018 PyeongChang games. 

The 37-year-old from Trondheim was at the front of the race for almost the entire 30 kilometres, and in the process of winning, grabbed her eighth Winter Olympic gold.

Not only did the win move Bjørgen level with the legendary duo of Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Bjørn Dæhlie for all-time Winter Olympic gold's, it also saw Norway jump back to the top of the medal table ahead of Germany

Supreme Bjørgen effort gives Norway top spot 

In potentially her final Olympic race, the 'Iron Lady' of Norway was among the favourites for the 30km mass start classic, and she led from start to finish to take gold.

Jumping to the head of the race, Bjørgen powered up the climbs during the first of the four laps, and by the time she had reached the 15km mark, she had put 50 seconds into her nearest rival Krista Parmakoski.

Bjørgen leads from the front during the early stages (image source: Lars Baron via Getty Images)

The Finnish skier was among a group of four women hoping to chase down Bjørgen, but as the race continued it became apparent that it would take something special to overhaul the race leader. 

By the end of the third lap, Bjørgen had practically wrapped-up gold, and the race for the minor medals became the most interesting subplot. The unfortunate Teresa Stadlober of Austria made a grave error, taking a wrong turning to end her pursuit of silver, leaving Parmakoski, Stina Nilsson and Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg to contend for silver and bronze after skiathlon champion Charlotte Kalla had been cut adrift. 

Bjørgen continued to power away at the front, and continued to add to her lead, eventually coming home in a time of one hour, 22 minutes and 17 seconds to add to her historic Olympic career. Parmakoski maintained the 10 second lead she had built to take silver for Finland, with Sweden's Nilsson securing bronze after beating Oestberg in a sprint for the line. 

The race was all about Bjørgen however, and following two weeks of racing which had already seen her win four medals from four events, the leader of the Norwegian team saved her best for last in a stunning display. 

OAR win ice hockey gold following thrilling overtime victory against Germany

After stunning Canada in the semi-final, Germany were on the cusp of creating more havoc, after two quick-fire goals from Dominik Kahun and Jonas Muller saw them leading the Olympic Athletes from Russia 3-2 with three minutes of the gold medal match remaining. 

The Russian side had never won ice hockey men's gold, and with a man in the penalty, they were short-handed chasing a late equaliser. 

Nikita Gusev (#97) scores during the third period for the OAR (image source: Bruce Bennett via Getty Images)

Coaches decided to play with an empty-net for the final stages, and the puck fell to Nikita Gusev who struck a dramatic equaliser to make it 3-3 with just 55 seconds left on the clock. 

That sent the game to overtime, and a mistake from Germany's Patrick Reimer saw him concede a penalty for high sticking, to hand the Russian team a man advantage for two minutes. 

They only need half of the 120 second powerplay to make the extra man count however, with Kirill Kaprizov scoring the golden goal to secure the OAR's second gold of these games, and 17th medal overall in South Korea

The OAR celebrate their gold medal win (image source: Harry How via Getty Images)

Friedrich pilots second PyeongChang gold, while Garlic Girls miss out on gold

Germany did have some golden success on the final day at the Alpensia Sliding Centre, where Francesco Friedrich secured his second gold of the games.

The 27-year-old who already has eight World Championship gold's to his name, became just the second pilot in the last 30 years to win both the two-man and four-man races at the same Olympic games. Friedrich joins fellow German Andre Lange, who completed the feet in Torino 12 years ago, in securing double gold, posting the fastest times in three of the four run's. 

Francesco Friedrich's pilots the German sled to gold (image source: Clive Mason via Getty Images)

In the women's curling, South Korea's 'Garlic Girls' fell short in their quest for a famous gold after losing 8-3 in their final with Sweden. 

Having topped the round-robin stage with eight wins from nine matches, the Korean team then came through a tense semi-final against Japan which required an extra end, to guarantee at least silver. 

The final hurdle proved to be one too many however, and after conceding three points in the 7th end, they weren't able to fightback, and eventually fell to an 8-3 defeat against the Swede's, skippered by Anna Hasselborg