Another Sochi hardship: Fog during medal events

SOCHI, Russia — Dense fog covered mountain venues and forced the postponements of two medal events at the Sochi Olympics on Monday.

Indoors, American pair Meryl Davis and Charlie White was favored for gold in figure skating’s ice dance.

After bright sunshine brought unusually warm temperatures last week, the heavy fog required a one-day delay in a men’s biathlon race and the men’s snowboardcross competition. The fog, however, lifted in time for a women’s biathlon race later Monday.

“This is standard for snowboarding and ski events,” American snowboardcross rider Nate Holland said. “Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate.”

After winning the short dance on Sunday, Davis and White had a small advantage over longtime training partners and rivals Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada heading into the free dance. Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia were in third.

On Day 11 at the Sochi Games, three other sports were awarding medals: bobsled, freestyle skiing and ski jumping. The U.S. also advanced to the championship game of the women’s hockey tournament with a 6-1 win over Sweden.

ICE HOCKEY: Megan Bozek, Kendall Coyne and Brianna Decker each had a goal and two assists to help the United States beat Sweden. The U.S. has medaled in every Winter Games since women’s hockey was added in 1998.

CURLING: China beat Britain 6-5 to qualify for the Olympic semifinals in men’s curling. The loss forced Britain into a tiebreaker against Norway on Tuesday for the final spot in the playoffs. Canada and Sweden advanced on Sunday.