The 12th day of the Olympics in Vancouver was a good one for Russia as it took its third gold and fourth silver.
The Canadian men's ice hockey team beat Germany 8-2 to progress to a last eight showdown with Russia.
Switzerland, Austria, Canada grabbed the gold medals in the men's giant slalom, the Nordic combined team competition, and the women's ski cross.
Russian women win biathlon relay
The defending Olympic champions and reigning world champions finished in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 36.3 seconds, easily beating the French quartet of Marie Laure Brunet, Sylvie Becaert, Marie Dorin and Sandrine Bailly, who finished 32.8 seconds behind.
Without its star athlete Magdalena Neuner, the German team of Kati Wilhelm, Simone Hauswald, Martina Beck and Henkel finished +37.1 seconds behind the Rusians and took the bronze.
Skobrev takes gold silver in speed skating
Russia's Ivan Skobrev took the Olympic silver in the men's 10,000 meters speed skating event.
Dutchman Sven Kramer, who won 5,000m gold last week, finished with a world record of 12 minutes 54.50 seconds, but was sensationally disqualified following his failure to switch lanes with his opponent.
South Korea's Lee Seung-Hoon, who finished 4 seconds behind Kramer, was declared winner with a time of 12 minutes 58.55 seconds.
The bronze went to Kramer's compatriot, defending Olympic champion Bob de Jong.
Russian hockey team to face Canada in quarterfinals
The Russian-Canadian match is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. [0:30 GMT] on Thursday.
Russia defeated Canada 2:0 during the Olympic quarterfinals in the 2006 Turin Olympic Games, but finished fourth in the tournament. However, the Russians beat Canada in the final of the 2008 and 2009 world championships.
Russian women curlers' failure
The match was Russia's last at the Games, after three wins and six defeats saw it fail to make the semi-finals.
Canada will now face Switzerland, which also defeated the homebound Russian team, and China will take on Sweden in the last four.
Switzerland's slalom success
Swiss alpine skier Carlo Janka took the Olympic gold in men's giant slalom.
Janka, 23, won with a cumulative time of 2 minutes 37.83 seconds.
Norway's Kjetil Jansrud, who was 11th after the first run, put in a spectacular performance in the second leg and took silver, finishing 0.39 seconds behind the leader. His compatriot Aksel Lund Svindal was third.
Russia's Alexandr Horoshilov and Sergei Maitakov were 38th and 40th, respectively.
Austria takes gold in Nordic combined team event
The defending Olympic champions in the Nordic Combined team, Austria, took gold in the team event.
Bernhard Gruber, Felix Gottwald, Mario Stecher and David Kreiner, were third after the ski jumping competition and started the 4x5 km relay 0:36 seconds behind the leader. However, they were the first to finish, with the final time of 49 minutes 31.6 seconds.
The U.S. team finished second, 5.2 seconds behind the leader. Germany was third, 19.5 seconds behind Austria.
Canada takes its sixth gold
Canada's Ashleigh McIvor took first place in the women's ski cross, winning her country's sixth Olympic gold.
Norway's Hedda Bernsten won the silver, while Marion Josserand of France took the bronze.
Russia's Yulia Livinskaya took a hard fall coming off the second turn in the second round of qualification and did not make it into the final round.
Team gold and other medal count at 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
Country Gold Silver Bronze Overall
1. U.S. 7, 9, 10 (26)
2. Germany 7, 9, 7 (23)
3. Norway 6, 5, 6 (17)
4. Canada 6, 4, 1 (11)
5. Switzerland 6, 0, 2 (8)
6. South Korea 5, 4, 1 (10)
7. Austria 4, 3, 3 (10)
8. Russia 3, 4, 6 (13).
MOSCOW, February 24 (RIA Novosti)
