Sasha Cohen saved the best for last. And boy was it good.
With U.S. flags waving and chants of "USA! USA!" rocking the arena, the U.S. champion dazzled the judges with a sassy, sensational short program Tuesday night and slipped past world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia by a slim .03 points.
Cohen's spectacular spirals and crisp footwork had the crowd clapping to the beat of "Dark Eyes," a Russian folk tune. She even flashed some attitude as she concluded a solid evening of skating that will wrap up with Thursday night's free skate.
She got the marks she felt she deserved — and the United States has yet another women's gold in sight.
Americans have won three of the last four Olympic titles, and if Cohen, a two-time world silver medalist, is this dynamic in the finale, she could add another title.
That would break Russia's stranglehold on figure skating golds at these games. No country has swept all four events, but the Russians already own three — pairs, men's and dance.
Also, the U.S. racked up two medals in men's speed skating Tuesday. Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis took their intense rivalry to the place where it belongs — the Olympic speed-skating oval.
But Italy's Enrico Fabris skated past both of them and became a gold medal hero, winning in front of his countrymen. Fabris outskated the American duo to win the men's 1,500-meter race in Turin. Davis and Hedrick settled for silver and bronze, respectively. American Joey Cheek was ninth and Derek Parra came in 19th.
The women go back to the rink Thursday for the long program. CBS News' Manuel Gallegus reports that Cohen has the most experience, but she doesn't have the big jumps of her competitors.
"My personal best is what my main goal will be, because then I know no matter what happens I've won," Cohen said. "I've done everything I could do."
Check the schedule of upcoming events.
Track the current medal count here.
In related developments:Emily Cook's inspiring comeback story ended a day earlier than she'd hoped Tuesday after another disappointing outing for the American freestyle team on the Olympic aerials course. Both Cook and South Dakota-native Jana Lindsey, the only other American entered, failed to qualify for Wednesday night's finals. That left Jeret "Speedy" Peterson as the only one of the six U.S. aerialists, men or women, to advance to the finals. The men's medal round is Thursday.Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto were still on the ice long after getting their silver medals in ice dancing. They posed for pictures, clowned for the crowd, waved the flag and tried to thank every single fan who showed up to cheer them, The Early Show correspondent Tracy Smith reports. "This is absolutely amazing," Agosto said Monday night, wearing a smile that looked as if it would never come off. "We really feel this medal belongs to a lot of people who put in years and years of support. And for the teams that came before us and put in years of dedication building the sport of ice dancing in the U.S."Blasting down the Alps in a shiny, dark American convertible, Shauna Rohbock won a silver medal in women's bobsled, ending an 0-for-Olympics stay for the U.S. sliding teams. With roommate Valerie Fleming providing the push and applying the brakes, Rohbock completed her four runs just .71 seconds behind Germany's Sandra Kiriasis and Anja Schneiderheinze and ahead of Italy's Gerde Weissensteiner and Jennifer Isacco.The American men were more than a long shot to medal as a team in the ski jumping event Monday. But they didn't come in last: they ranked 14th out of the 16 teams competing. Anders Johnson, the team's youngest member, was still nursing an injury during competition. His sister, Alissa, who also is a world-class ski jumper, watched from the stands because ski jumping is the only Olympic sport that excludes women. "I wish I could have been here as more than just a spectator," Johnson told CBSNews.com. "I'm glad I got to be here at all, though." Read more about women's ski jumping. The U.S. men's hockey team will play undefeated Finland in one of Wednesday's quarterfinal matches. The U.S. team was assured of moving ahead early in the day when Kazakhstan upended Latvia 5-2. The Americans later dropped a 5-4 decision to Russia to finish the preliminary round with a 1-3-1 record. Canada, which held off the Czech Republic 3-2 on Tuesday, will play Russia. Slovakia beat Sweden 3-0 to win Group B and will play the Czechs. Finland won Group A by beating Germany 2-0, and Switzerland tied Italy 3-3 to finish second behind the Finns and earn a quarterfinal berth against Sweden.
A disgraced Austrian ski coach left behind syringes in the home he rented for the Turin Olympics, and more details were revealed Tuesday (watch video) about what was seized in a surprise weekend raid on the living quarters of athletes and staff, including unlabeled drugs and a blood transfusion machine. An Italian prosecutor inspected the private home in the mountain hamlet of Pragelato Monday night, where banned coach Walter Mayer had been staying before he bolted the Olympics following the raids and resurfaced in Austria, police said Tuesday.After Tuesday's events, Germany was tops with 21 medals, including eight golds. The United States and Norway were tied for second with 18, followed by Austria with 16. The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that it will launch a disciplinary investigation to probe possible doping violations by the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing teams, even without a positive doping test. NBC Olympics chief Dick Ebersol said Monday that despite modest TV ratings, the network will make a profit of $50 million to $75 million on the Winter Games, and that NBC is "not even discussing" offering make-goods to Olympic advertisers. "We are sitting on a mountain of more than $900 million in cash between the network, cable and our owned stations for these Games, and I can promise you it's safe," he said.Another American, Kimmie Meissner, skated to a personal-best score of 59.40 and is fifth after the short program. The 16-year-old from Bel Air, Calif., was the second skater to take to the ice in the short program in Turin. Meissner skated cleanly, then pumped her fists and clapped after finishing her routine.
Emily Hughes, added to the U.S. team nine days ago when Michelle Kwan withdrew due to a groin injury, wasn't intimidated in her first major international event. The 17-year-old sister of 2002 gold medalist Sarah Hughes — who was in the audience — finished seventh.
After the men's speed-skating event, it came out that Davis was still mad that Hedrick didn't shake his hand after Davis' victory Saturday in the 1,000. This time, Hedrick did shake hands and offer his congratulations, but that clearly was too late to soothe Davis' feelings.
"I'll be honest with you," said Davis, the first black athlete ever to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics. "Sure, Chad and I are fighting for the same thing. But it would have been kind of nice after I won the 1,000 if he would have been a good teammate and shook my hand."
With that, Davis jumped out of his seat and stormed from the room, mumbling on his way through the door, "Shakes my hand when I lose. Typical Chad."
A response, Chad?
Now sitting alone at the podium, Hedrick didn't back down. He flipped on his microphone and said he was upset that Davis wouldn't take part in the team pursuit last week because he wanted to focus on his individual races.
A Hedrick-led trio was upset by the Italians in the quarterfinals, doomed by a slower skater who probably wouldn't have been on the ice if Davis had been available.
"We're all part of Team USA," Hedrick said. "We had a great opportunity to win the team pursuit. I felt betrayed in a way. Not only did he not participate, he wouldn't even discuss it with me as a leader of the team. I thought we passed up a medal."