GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- European nations dominated the cross-country and Nordic combined skiing events at the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games here on Monday.

Swedish cross-country skier Elsa Taenglander snatched a gold medal in the women's sprint freestyle final, just 0.26 seconds ahead of her compatriot Kajsa Johansson who claimed silver.

Nelli-Lotta Karppelin of Finland took bronze only 0.48 seconds behind the gold medalist.

Ashley Tshanda Ongonga participated in the race as the first-ever female Kenyan to compete in cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympic event, but she failed to pass the qualification round.

Italy's Federico Pozzi won the men's cross-country skiing sprint freestyle title, after picking up silver in sprint at last year's European Youth Olympic Festival.

Jakob Elias Moch of Germany and Tabor Greenberg of the United States clinched silver and bronze just 0.33 seconds and 1.06 seconds off the pace.

Competitions of the Nordic combined, which combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing, began with the men's and the women's individual events.

Minja Korhonen of Finland claimed gold in the women's normal hill/4km cross-country race, after standing on the podium in the World Cup last month.

Slovenia's Teja Pavec and Tia Malovrh took silver and bronze far behind the gold medalist.

Austria's Andreas Gfrerer racked up the men's normal hill/6km cross-country title, racing faster than Manuel Senoner of Italy and Jonathan Graebert of Germany who snatched silver and bronze.

The figure skating competition continued with the medal events of the pairs and the men's free skating.

Kim Hyung-yeom of hosts South Korea topped the men's singles podium in front of home crowds with a free skate of 147.45 points for a total of 216.73 points.

The 17-year-old edged out silver medalist Adam Hagara of Slovakia by half a point, and New Zealand's Yanhao Li embraced bronze with a total of 208.84 points.

Jacob Sanchez of the United States, who led the short program, finished fourth with 200.28 points.

Canada's Annika Behnke and Kole Sauve claimed the pairs figure skating gold, maintaining their lead in free skate. The U.S. duo of Cayla Smith and Jared McPike won silver, with Spain's Carolina Shan Campillo and Pau Vilella taking bronze.

Chinese curlers defeated Brazil 10-3 in the mixed doubles round robin, posting the third consecutive winning streak.

Canada performed a perfect game against Nigeria 14-0 in the round robin, while Sweden beat Ukraine 9-0.

1,802 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 78 nations and regions are competing in four cities of Gangneung, PyeongChang, Jeongseon and Hoengseong until February 1.

The Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics features seven sports, 15 disciplines and 81 events. Enditem

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