Turin, Italy ? Fiesta time on ice turned into an Olympic fallfest, with only the Russians and Americans avoiding real calamity.

With three of the final five couples taking spills, including local favorites Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy, two-time world champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov of Russia surged into the lead in ice dancing.

Their cha cha, rhumba and samba – and ability to stay upright – put them 1.38 points in front of Americans Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto heading into tonight’s free dance.

Belbin and Agosto were helped immeasurably by an epidemic of falls that allowed them to move from sixth after the compulsories to second overall. No U.S. dancers have won an Olympic medal in 30 years.

The Americans, the final duo to skate, began their passionate Latin routine while the crowd was still stunned from the fall taken by Fusar Poli and Margaglio, who plunged near the end of their program.

Fusar Poli seemed to get out of position during a lift, Margaglio lost his balance, and they crashed.

When they finished, her glare at him could have burned holes in the ice. Their fall probably burned a hole in their medal chances as they dropped to seventh.

Appropriately, Fusar Poli broke down in tears in the “Kiss and Cry” area.

While the Italians made the most noteworthy flop of the night, it was not the most painful.

Barbara Fusar Poli, left, and Maurizio Margaglio, of Italy, tumble during their ice dancing program at the Olympic Games. The pair dropped to seventh place Sunday in Turin, Italy.

Marie-France Dubreuil of Canada had a brutal fall, making her a doubtful start for tonight’s free dance competition. Near the end of her routine, she was in a split with both her hands wrapped around partner Patrice Lauzon’s arm. Her hands slipped, and she fell hard on her right hip and knee, forcing him to the ice, too.

Speedskating

Women

1,000 Meters

Turin, Italy – Marianne Timmer of the Netherlands won the gold medal in the women’s 1,000-meter, eight years after winning the same event at the Nagano Games.

Timmer finished in 1 minute, 16.05 seconds, just .04 seconds in front of Canada’s Cindy Klassen. Bronze medalist Anni Friesinger of Germany was .06 seconds behind Timmer. It was the first loss this season in a 1,000 for Friesinger, who was the overwhelming favorite entering the games.

Defending champion Chris Witty of the United States was never a factor and finished 27th, continuing the U.S. women’s struggles at these games. Jennifer Rodriguez, a Salt Lake City bronze medalist, was 10th, Amy Sannes was 25th and Elli Ochowicz 32nd. The American women have yet to win a medal in Turin.

Bobsled

Men

Two-Man

Cesana, Italy – Neither snow nor suspicion slowed Germany’s Andre Lange as the world’s fastest bobsled driver turned a twisting Italian track into his own Alpine autobahn.

Four years after winning an Olympic gold medal in four-man bobsled, Lange added a two-man gold to his collection, plowing Germany-1 through falling flakes and leaving the sliding world in his icy wake.

Lange and brakeman Kevin Kuske finished with a four-run time of 3 minutes, 43.38 seconds to defeat Canada’s Pierre Lueders, who one day earlier accused the Germans of some funny business with the runners on their high-tech rides.

Lueders and his brakeman, Jamaican-born Lascelles Brown, were .21 seconds back of the Germans and took silver. Switzerland’s Martin Annen captured bronze, duplicating his Olympic feat of four years ago in Utah.

Todd Hays, the no-nonsense, kickboxing Texan who ended the U.S. bobsled team’s 46-year medal drought with a silver in four-man at the Salt Lake City Games, finished seventh – nearly one second from the podium. The Americans haven’t won a gold medal in two-man since 1936, and they’ve now gone without one of any sort of medal in that event since 1952.

Men’s Hockey

Turin, Italy – O Canada, indeed.

Teemu Selanne scored his sixth goal in four games, and Finland stayed unbeaten in Olympic men’s hockey preliminary play, beating gold-medal favorite Canada for the Canadians’ second shutout loss in as many days.

The flying Finns – and they certainly have been while going 4-0 – overcame Canada’s physicality and size advantage with excellent puck movement, transitional play and a strong game in net by Antero Niittymaki, who made 24 saves.

By winning, Finland secured the top spot in Group A and will play the fourth-place team from Group B in the quarterfinals, almost certainly the United States (1-2-1).

Niko Kapanen also scored during a two-goal Finn first period and Niittymaki, of the Philadelphia Flyers, made the lead stand up even as Canada (2-2-0) pressured repeatedly. Canada outshot Finland 19-16 over the final two periods but could not score.

The loss came a day after Canada fell 2-0 to Switzerland – the hockey power’s fist loss ever to that tiny country in Olympic play.

Meanwhile, Slovakia, with four wins in four games, is starting to look like a world hockey power – even if its stars say they haven’t yet performed to expectation.

Pavol Demitra led a 3-on-1 break to set up Marian Hossa’s go-ahead goal in the third period as the Slovaks edged winless Kazakhstan.

The win came a day after Slovakia, which leads Pool B, beat the United States 2-1.

The U.S. fell by the same score for a second straight day, this time to a Swedish team playing without star forward Peter Forsberg.

Daniel Alfredsson scored in the first period and helped set up Mikael Samuelsson’s tiebreaker in the third. The Swedes have clinched a berth in the quarterfinals.

The pre-Olympic worry for the United States focused on the team’s goaltending, but the real problem for the Americans has been offense, with players repeatedly missing golden scoring chances.

Despite the two straight losses, the Americans have all but wrapped up fourth place in Pool B and a berth in the quarterfinals.

Russia also locked up a berth from Pool B.

In Pool A, Switzerland was unable to follow its Saturday upset of Canada with another win, tying Germany.

The Czech Republic clinched a spot in the medal round with its victory over Italy, as Vaclav Prospal scored three goals and Jaromir Jagr returned from a severe cut he suffered in Saturday’s game against Finland.

Cross-Country Skiing

Pragelato, Italy – Anchor Cristian Zorzi turned a narrow 5.6-second lead into a commanding victory, skiing brilliantly in the final leg to lift Italy to its third gold medal of the Turin Games with a victory in the 4x10km cross-country race.

Zorzi came through the stadium to cheering fans in green, red and white top hats waving Italian flags in the falling snow, finishing in 1 hour, 43 minutes, 45.7 seconds – 15.7 seconds ahead of the silver-medal winning German team.

Sweden won the bronze. The Austrian team, competing the morning after they found themselves the target of a doping raid, finished last among the 16 teams.

Curling

Men

Pinerolo, Italy – The U.S., Finland and and Britain are into the Olympic semifinals, while Norway, Canada, Switzerland and Italy remain in contention for the fourth and final berth.

The U.S. (6-2) clinched its semifinal spot with a morning win over Britain (6-3), then took the night session off.

Meanwhile, Norway had a pair of wins to finish its nine-game round-robin at 5-4 and keep alive hopes of defending its Olympic title. The Norwegians are a half-game behind Canada (5-3), which routed New Zealand (0-8) in the night session.

Canada faces the U.S. today and can clinch a semifinals berth with a win.

Women

Pinerolo, Italy – The U.S. women’s curling team was eliminated from medal contention when Canada beat Italy, leaving no room for the Americans in the semifinals.

The Americans (2-6) then lost to Switzerland on a last shot that gave the Swiss three points in the final end. But by that point it didn’t matter.

Alpine Skiing

Women’s Super-G

San Sicario, Italy – Bad weather forced postponement of the women’s Olympic super-G race until at least today.

A heavy snow fell and fog descended on San Sicario’s ski slopes, limiting visibility and making it difficult for workers to keep the course clear.

The postponement was the latest in a series of weather-related disruptions of the Alpine skiing schedule.

Freestyle Skiing

Women’s Aerials

Sauze d’Oulx, Italy – Snow forced postponement of qualifying in the women’s freestyle aerials event until Tuesday. Men’s preliminaries in the event are scheduled for today.