National Sports

Sochi Report, Alaska edition: Schultz curling team struggles; Stassel likes the food

SLIP SLIDING AWAY

Jessica Schultz and her curling teammates made Olympic history Tuesday. The wrong kind.

Great Britain, the reigning world champions, throttled the American women 12-3 Tuesday. In the fourth end, the Brits scored seven points to break the previous Olympic record of six in a single end.

The U.S. fell to 0-3 in round-robin play. Five games remain before the medal round for Schultz, a two-time Olympian from Anchorage, and her teammates. They need to turn things around quickly if they have a shot at advancing.

HE'S LOVIN' IT

Ryan Stassel's competition is over at the Winter Olympics, giving the Anchorage snowboarder time to enjoy his experience in Sochi. Especially the food. At McDonald's.

As an Olympic sponsor, McDonald's is everywhere, even in some of the athletes' cafeterias. Stassel raved about his McRussia dining experience on Facebook:

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"I just had the best McChicken of my life. It even came in a McChicken box... And for fries, you have the choice (of) wedges..!? Russia, your McDonalds trumps the states any day. U.S needs to step there McChicken game up!"

HOW THEY FARED

Here's the results for other members of Team Alaska and Team Asterisk (athletes with Alaska connection) who competed Tuesday in Sochi:

• Erik Bjornsen placed 39th in the qualification portion of the men's cross-country freestyle sprint, 12.04 seconds off the fastest pace. The top 30 advanced to the quarterfinal round.

• Sara Studebaker slipped from 44th to 51st in the women's biathlon pursuit race. She missed three of five targets in her first round of shooting but only missed two in the next three rounds.

"Not the result I had hoped for, but 3 stages and skiing felt strong," she said on Twitter.

WHO'S ON DECK?

All times Alaska

Wednesday

Curling -- U.S. women vs. China, 1 a.m. (Jessica Schultz)

Slopestyle skiing -- Men's qualification, 9:15 p.m. (Dave Duncan)

Thursday

Freestyle skiing -- Men's slopestyle skiing finals, 12:30 a.m. (Dave Duncan)

Cross country -- Women's 10-K classic, 1 a.m. (TBD)

Curling -- U.S. women vs. Japan, 6 a.m. (Jessica Schultz)

Friday

Curling -- U.S. women vs. Denmark, 1 a.m. (Jessica Schultz)

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Cross country -- Men's 15-K classic, 1 a.m. (TBD), 1 a.m.

Biathlon -- Women's 15-K, 5 a.m. (Sara Studbaker, Lanny Barnes)

Alpine skiing -- women's super-G, 10 p.m. (Anne Berecz)

RUSSIAN 101

Meet the Sochi mascots -- the hare, the polar bear and the snow leopard. No cute names. Just the hare, the polar bear and the snow leopard.

They're cute and normal. Not bizarre like Magique, the tres French imp that was Albertville's mascot in 1992, or menacing, like Sarajevo's wolf back in 1984. Almost cuddling. Yet they've taken a beating on Twitter because, well, lots of things take a beating on Twitter.

The final 10 were shown to the Russian public on a TV show -- ala American Idol-- and popular vote determined the winners, according to information from the International Olympic Committee.

Written and compiled by Daily News sports editor Beth Bragg, with contributions from wire services and Nat Herz, who is in Sochi for fasterskier.com and the Daily News.

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By BETH BRAGG

bbragg@adn.com

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