Olympic roundup, Feb. 10

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Sochi, Russia --

Michel Mulder led another Dutch sweep at the Olympic speedskating oval Monday, edging teammate Jan Smeekens by 12-thousanths of a second. Mulder's identical twin brother, Ronald, got the bronze.

Mulder's gold medal was the first in history for the Netherlands in the men's 500; the country became the first to take the top three spots in speedskating. Smeekens led after the first of two heats and initially thought he had earned a tie for the gold after he crossed the line. But the clock adjusted the official times, giving Michel Mulder the gold with a total of 1 minute, 9.312 seconds - carried out to the thousandths of a second in the official results.

The silver went to Smeekens in 1:09.324. Ronald Mulder grabbed the bronze with the fastest run of the day, 34.49 in the second round to finish at 1:09.46.

"I didn't really realize what time I needed," Michel Mulder said. "In the past, I have lost races by one-hundredths a few times. It was so unbelievable."

Indeed, he lost to Mo Tae-bum by at the 2012 world single-distance championships in Heerenveen.

Charles Hamelin of Canada celebrates with Marianne St-Gelais after winning the short track skating 1,500 final. Charles Hamelin of Canada celebrates with Marianne St-Gelais after winning the short track skating 1,500 final. Photo: Matthew Stockman, Getty Images Photo: Matthew Stockman, Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Olympic roundup, Feb. 10 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

"Now, Olympic champion," Mulder said.

Mo, the defending Olympic champion from South Korea, was fourth this time.

The Dutch are blowing away the competition at Adler Arena, also going 1-2-3 in the men's 5,000, with Sven Kramer taking gold, and taking the top spot in the women's 3,000 with Ireen Wust.

The Americans aren't going nearly fast enough, and just like that they've seen their lead in the overall speedskating gold-medal standings snatched away. The U.S. came into Sochi with 29 Olympic golds at the Winter Games, two ahead of the Dutch.

Now, it's the Netherlands in front with 30 golds.

The best American hope, three-time Olympian Tucker Fredricks of Janesville, Wis., struggled through two sluggish races and finished 26th out of 40 skaters, a staggering 1.68 off the combined pace of the gold medalist.

Short is sweet for Canada: Charles Hamelin of Canada skated clear of the chaos that makes short track so unpredictable, winning the 1,500 meters for his third different Olympic title.

At 29, Hamelin was the oldest skater in the first final of the short-track competition. Hamelin maintained a top-three position throughout most of the 14-lap race, leaving enough at the end to defeat a loaded field.

Han Tianyu of China took silver. Victor An of Russia earned the bronze, giving his adopted country its first-ever short-track medal. J.R. Celski, the 2010 bronze medalist from Federal Way, Wash., finished fourth.

Late in the race, surprise finalist Jack Whelbourne of Britain crashed and took out one of the rubber lane markers. Lee Han-Bin, the lone South Korean in the final, finished sixth. He was advanced into the final by the judges after teammate Sin Da Woon crashed in the semifinals and took down Lee with him.

American in luge contention: History. It's what German lugers always seem to be making. And it's what Erin Hamlin is chasing.

Germany's Natalie Geisenberger neared what appears to be an inevitable Olympic gold medal, finishing the first two runs of the women's luge competition in 1 minute, 39.814 seconds. That's 0.766 of a second better than her countrywoman Tatjana Huefner, who took the title at the Vancouver Games.

Hamlin - vying to be the first American to win a singles luge medal at the Olympics - was second after the first heat, then slipped to third at the midway point after losing about a tenth of a second to Huefner in her second trip down the Sanki Sliding Center track.

Repeat in men's moguls: Canada's Alex Bilodeau defended his gold medal in Olympic men's moguls, fending off Canada's Mikael Kingsbury to become the first freestyle skier to win consecutive Olympic titles.

Bilodeau put together a perfect run in the finals to make history, posting a score of 26.31 on the slushy Rosa Khutor Extreme Park course in the medal round. Kingsbury endured a slight form break in the middle of his run and ended up with silver. Alexandr Smyshlyaev of Russia took bronze.

France on the podium: Martin Fourcade won gold and Jean Guillaume Beatrix earned bronze in the biathlon 12.5-kilometer pursuit, putting France onto the medals table.