Turin, Italy ? Apolo Anton Ohno stumbled out of a chance at gold in his first Olympic event, a shocking start to these Winter Games for the American short-track star.

Ohno nearly fell with 11â2 laps to go in a semifinal heat of the 1,500 meters Sunday night and wound up last across the line among those still skating. His mistake ruined any chance to defend his Olympic title in a much-anticipated showdown against South Korea’s 1-2 punch – Ahn Hyun-soo and Lee Ho-suk.

“You never know with this sport,” Ohno said. “It just wasn’t my day.”

Ahn won the gold medal in the final race of the night, while Lee settled for silver. With Ohno relegated to the consolation final, there was no one to challenge the South Koreans, who finally got the win that was denied by a disputed ruling in Salt Lake City four years ago.

China’s Li JiaJun won the bronze.

“It really breaks my heart to watch that,” said Allison Baver, Ohno’s teammate and girlfriend. “I know he’s the best skater in the world, and he really didn’t have a chance to show that. But the Olympics aren’t over.”

Indeed, Ohno still has three events left to match the gold and silver medals he won at the last Olympics. As they say in this wacky sport, “That’s short track.”

Consider what happened in 2002: Ohno crossed the line second in the 1,500 final, but won gold when another Korean skater was disqualified for blocking the American on the last lap.

American Apolo Anton Ohno looks up after failing to qualify for the 1500-meter final at Short Track Speedskating at the Olympic Games. Ohno slipped Sunday in Turin, Italy.

How different it was this time.

Ohno easily won his first heat and seemed likely to make it through to the final when, with three turns to go, he tucked in behind the leader, China’s Li Ye. But Ohno got a little too close to the other skater, his left shoulder appearing to touch Li as they leaned into the corner at speeds better than 30 mph.

It was a horrible – and uncharacteristic – miscue by Ohno, who briefly lost his balance and desperately stuck down his left hand in an attempt to stay up, sending a black lane marker flying toward the padded walls. The 23-year-old American never went down, but the rest of the six-man field went on by.

“He’s such a great skater. He should be on the podium no matter what,” said Alex Izykowski, the other U.S. skater who failed to advance past the 1,500 semifinals. “In these races, a lot of things can happen and usually do.”

Alpine Skiing

Sestriere, Italy – Antoine Deneriaz of France, the last man out of the gate with a chance to win, pulled off a startling upset in the Olympic downhill to steal what seemed to be a sure gold medal from Michael Walchhofer of Austria.

Walchhofer settled for silver, 72-hundredths of a second behind the winner. Bode Miller was the top American, in fifth.

Luge

Cesana, Italy – Armin Zoeggeler of Italy added to his collection of gold, while the United States saw another shot at its long-awaited breakthrough medal in men’s luge slip away.

Zoeggeler, racing on his home track, wrapped up his second straight Olympic gold medal and delivered Italy’s first victory at the Turin Games with a time of 3 minutes, 26.088 seconds.

Snowboarding

Bardonecchia, Italy – The Flying Tomato got his gold.

Redheaded snowboarding superstar Shaun White punked the competition on the halfpipe, beating out teammate Danny Kass to win the Olympic gold medal so many expected him to get.

It was another dominating day in snowboarding for the Americans, who fell one bronze medal short of repeating their sweep of 2002.

Ski Jumping

Pragelto, Italy – Lars Bystoel of Norway came from behind to win the Olympic gold medal in normal hill ski jumping.

Bystoel, who was tied for sixth after the first jump, rallied on the second jump as several contenders faltered. He won the medal with jumps of 101.5 meters and 103.5 meters for a total of 266.5 points.

Matti Hautamaeki of Finland took the silver, one point behind Bystoel. Another Norwegian, Roar Ljoekelsoey, won the bronze.

Bystoel had the best score and one of the two longest jumps in Saturday’s qualifying, but was later disqualified.

Cross-Country Skiing

Pragelato, Italy – Kristina Smigun of Estonia skated to gold in the women’s 15-kilometer pursuit, the first cross-country event since 12 athletes were suspended from the sport for failed blood tests.

World Cup leader and favorite Marit Bjorgen of Norway dropped out before the midway point of the race with a stomach problem.

The field was also without Salt Lake City gold medalist Evi Sachenbacher of Germany, one of the skiers suspended this week for high levels of hemoglobin in their blood.

Women’s Hockey

United States 5, Germany 0

Turin, Italy – Sarah Parsons scored two goals, and Pam Dreyer stopped 10 shots in the Americans’ second straight shutout victory in the preliminary round.

Katie King had a goal and two assists, and Jenny Potter had a goal and an assist. Natalie Darwitz also scored for the Americans, who outshot Germany 60-10.

The result actually was a small victory for the Germans (0-2), who stayed closer to the United States (2-0) than ever before: In all seven of the teams’ previous meetings, the Germans lost by at least six goals.