SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fast Five, Friday edition: Five things you’ll want to know about the 2014 Winter Olympics.

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PLUSHENKO TAKING HEAT: Russian figure skating star Evgeni Plushenko is taking criticism in his home country for dropping out of the men’s figure skating competition with injury after complaining of severe spinal pain during warmups before the short program. He was the only male Russian figure skater in a competition that awards its medals Friday night.

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TICKET MILESTONE: Organizers say they have now sold more than 1 million tickets for the Sochi Games. They have also had more than 500,000 visitors to Olympic Park, including a Sochi record 106,000 on Thursday when the Russian men’s hockey team debuted.

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SPEEDSKATING SUITS: The U.S. speedskating team is looking into concerns that its new high-tech skinsuit may be partly to blame for a miserable performance in the first week of the Sochi Olympics. After a strong season on the World Cup circuit, no U.S. skater has finished higher than seventh through six of 12 Olympic events. Some wonder if the Under Armour suit is actually a drag on performance.

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INJURED WORKER: Olympic organizers say a Russian ice worker struck by a speeding bobsled was conscious and in stable condition Friday after undergoing surgery on two broken legs. IOC and Sochi officials say they are still investigating why the worker was on the track and didn’t hear the warning signals about the sled approaching. The sled — sent down the track to make sure conditions were suitable for two-man training — crashed into the worker Thursday near the finish line at the Sanki Sliding Center.

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MEDAL MOVERS: China won its first two golds of the Sochi Games on Thursday, joining the United States as the biggest medal movers on the sixth day of title competition. Germany led the medal count after 38 events with 10 total medals — seven golds. Six title competitions were set for Friday.

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fast five, Wednesday edition: Things you’ll want to know about the 2014 Winter Olympics.

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QUICK IN NET: Jonathan Quick will start in goal in Team USA’s opening game against Slovakia on Thursday. Coach Dan Bylsma made the decision on Wednesday. Bylsma isn’t saying who will start for the team’s other preliminary games, including a highly anticipated matchup against Russia on Saturday. Quick got the nod for the opener over Jimmy Howard and Ryan Miller.

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SHARED GOLD: Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland were both declared winners when they finished with identical times in the women’s downhill, finishing the 1.69-mile (2.7-kilometer) Rosa Khutor course in 1 minute, 41.57 seconds. Lara Gut of Switzerland won bronze after finishing 0.10 seconds slower.

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REMEMBERING NODAR: Luge officials held a moment of silence on the fourth anniversary of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death. Kumaritashvili died on Feb. 12, 2010 in a training crash just before the start of the Vancouver Games. Olympic officials say they are working with the Georgian government to build “a lasting memorial” in his honor.

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OLYMPIC PINTERESTS: Sochi organizers and the IOC say a pin shortage in Olympic Park should be over soon. The Russian mint produced 1 million official pins for the games, but the popular souvenirs were previously only available in stores elsewhere in Russia.

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PAIRS FIGURE SKATING, WOMEN’S SNOWBOARD: Six gold medals were up for grabs Wednesday, including in pairs figure skating and the women’s snowboard halfpipe. Norway was the biggest medal mover of Tuesday, with two golds and two silvers in eight events. Germany also won two golds.

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The gold market got a rare boost at the Sochi Olympics on Wednesday in the women’s downhill.

Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland were both declared winners when they finished with identical times. Lara Gut of Switzerland won the bronze.

On a day when temperatures approached 50 degrees (10 C), Maze and Gisin completed the 1.69-mile (2.7-kilometer) Rosa Khutor course in 1 minute, 41.57 seconds. Gut was 0.10 seconds back.

Two favorites, Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Julia Mancuso of the U.S., were out of contention. Hoefl-Riesch, eyeing a record-equaling fourth Olympic Alpine gold, finished 13th. Mancuso was eighth.

“It’s actually crazy that it comes down to one-hundredths (of a second) and there is not one-thousandths as a tiebreaker,” Mancsuo said.

The last tie in Olympic skiing happened in men’s super-G at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Didier Cuche of Switzerland and Hans Knauss of Austria both got silver behind winner Hermann Maier. Twice, two women have tied for second in Olympic giant slaloms.

Four years ago in the Vancouver downhill, Gisin crashed off the final jump, took a long slide to the finish line, hit a bank of snow and flew in the air. This was Gisin’s third downhill victory, but two have been in ties. Though Maze won two silvers in Vancouver, Gisin earned her first major medal on Wednesday.

“It’s even more interesting because it’s not a usual thing,” Maze said. “It’s something special.”

Five other sports were awarding gold medals on Day 6 of the Olympics: figure skating pairs, luge, Nordic combined, snowboarding and speedskating.

In an early women’s hockey game, Finland beat Switzerland 4-3, with Jenni Hiirikoski scoring her second goal of the game with 2:22 left in overtime. Switzerland was winless in group play. Both teams will play in the quarterfinals.

	At Sochi, Russia
(3 of 8 events Tuesday)
(21 of 26 total events)
Nation	G	S	B	Tot
Norway	4	2	4	10
Canada	4	3	2	9
Netherlands	3	2	2	7
United States	2	1	3	6
Russia	1	2	3	6
Sweden	0	3	1	4
Austria	1	2	0	3
Czech Republic	0	2	1	3
Germany	2	0	0	2
France	1	0	1	2
Italy	0	1	1	2
Slovenia	0	1	1	2
Poland	1	0	0	1
Slovakia	1	0	0	1
Switzerland	1	0	0	1
China	0	1	0	1
Finland	0	1	0	1
Britain	0	0	1	1
Ukraine	0	0	1	1

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Fast five, Tuesday edition: Things you’ll want to know about the 2014 Winter Olympics.

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FLYING TOMATO: Shaun White says he is getting antsy about his upcoming chance to make Winter Olympics history. White says in a video given to AP that he is ready to get going in the halfpipe contest on Tuesday night. If he wins, he will become the first American man to bring a gold medal home from three straight Winter Games, and only the second American athlete to do that, joining speed skater Bonnie Blair.

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INDIA BACK IN SOCHI: The IOC lifted a suspension of India’s Olympic committee, allowing its athletes who were introduced during the opening ceremony as “independent Olympic participants” to compete under their own flag. Indian luger Shiva Keshava said that would boost his countrymen in the Sochi Games and clear the way for meaningful progress for sports back home.

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SPRING GAMES: Winter is nowhere to be found at the Winter Games. Another day of warm temperatures has Sochi organizers facing questions about their ability to keep the events coming in the mountain cluster of events. Competition in the halfpipe has been delayed, as has training in the women’s downhill, while officials try to address the sloppy conditions.

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RUSSIA’S LESSON: Russian hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak says the Soviets did not respect the Americans when the two teams played in the 1980 Olympics. He says Team USA’s “Miracle on Ice” victory taught the Russians a lesson about taking teams lightly. “We did not have the respect for the competitors at that time,” Tretiak said.

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CANADA, NETHERLANDS JUMP IN MEDALS: Canada jumped to the top of the medal standings thanks to its dominance in freestyle skiing, taking six of nine medals possible in three events, including a gold and bronze Tuesday in the women’s slopestyle. The Dutch showed their own prowess in speedskating, jumping to second in the medal standings after 18 events by sweeping the men’s 500-meter race. Eight more golds were up for grabs Tuesday.