Svindal, Shiffrin aim to complete alpine skiing Olympic doubles

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Aksel Lund Svindal and Mikaela Shffrin aim to complete Olympic alpine skiing doubles while hosts South Korea eye skeleton gold on a sunny Friday at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.Norway‘s Svindal can complete a first-ever men‘s speed event double if he adds super-g gold to that from the downhill on Thursday at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre in what is expected to be his last Olympic race.The American Shiffrin seeks back-to-back slalom gold at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre, the day after winning the giant slalom, which would make her the first woman since Croatia‘s Janica Kosetlic in 2002 to get the double in the technical disciplines.Botth races were postponed as strong winds played havoc with the alpine schedule earlier in the week but the skiers should be back on schedule at the end of the day.South Koreans could have more to celebrate than the Lunar New Year at the sliding centre as Yun Sungbin held the overnight lead in men‘s skeleton going into the final two runs of an event in which no Asian has ever medalled before.Swiss Tour de Ski winner Dario Cologna is among the favourites for 15-kilometres freestyle gold at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre as Norway‘s sprint gold medallist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo is skipping the race which however does feature Tonga‘s Pita Taufatofua.Also in the mountain cluster, at the Phoenix Snow Park, the medals are decided in women‘s snowboard cross and freestyle aerials. The day‘s seventh and final medal event is women‘s 5,000m speed skating at the coastal cluster in Gangneung, where 45-year-old German veteran Claudia Pechstein aims for a 10th Olympic medal at her seventh Games.