LILLEHAMMER -- Bonnie Blair became the USA's most golden woman. And Nancy Kerrigan put on a golden show.
But there was no such luck Wednesday for U.S. hockey players. Forget gold. They were blue after losing 6-1 to Finland and being eliminated from medal contention.
It was Kerrigan, however, who capped the most anticipated day of the Olympics for U.S. fans with a near-flawless performance to win the technical portion of the women's figure skating competition.
Kerrigan typically is proficient in the technical program, but her performance was significant because it was her first in competition since being clubbed below the knee in a Jan. 6 assault.
Now she's the one to catch for the gold medal in Friday's final, the so-called long program. "I've never been so confident and so ready to do a long program," said Kerrigan, followed in the scoring by reigning world champion Oksana Baiul of Ukraine and Surya Bonaly of France.
Tonya Harding, whose ex-husband and three others were charged in the assault on Kerrigan, skated early and eventually ended in 10th place with virtually no medal hope. Harding bobbled in landing a mandatory combination jump early in her program. "You can't be perfect every time. I was happy with it," she said.
Only a few hours earlier, Blair won the 1,000-meter speedskating race for her fifth career gold medal, more than any other woman in U.S. Olympic history.
Blair, who turns 30 on March 18 and has been in four Olympics, doesn't plan to compete at the 1998 Nagano Games. "I will miss it very much," she said, "but I think I will definitely come back and be a spectator."
Wednesday's gold was Blair's second of these Games; she also won the 500 meters last weekend. That matches her take at the 1992 Olympics, where she also won the 500 and 1,000.
The U.S. hockey team, meanwhile, will be going home without a medal for the fourth consecutive Olympics. The last: 1980's gold.
Team USA (1-2-3) plays the Czech Republic in a consolation game today.
"We never got rolling offensively in this tournament except for our game (a victory Monday) against Italy," U.S. coach Tim Taylor said. "We had our moments for brilliance and we had our moments of pressure."
In skiing Wednesday, the favorites were off the board - or off the course - as Germany's Markus Wasmeier won the men's giant slalom and his second gold medal.
Wasmeier, 30, last won a giant slalom at the 1984 world championships.
He won the super-giant slalom gold last week.
Favorites Alberto Tomba of Italy and Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg fell and Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt had a slow first run and finished 12th.
