Team USA shut out in first Olympic medal events in Pyeongchang

Feb. 10 (UPI) -- GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- South Korea's Lim Hyo-jun won the men's 1,500 meter short track speed skating event on Saturday to bring the host country its first gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

It was the fourth consecutive event on Saturday to end without an American among the top three finishers, leaving Team USA without a medal early in the Olympics.

Lim crossed the finish line in an Olympic record time of 2:10.485, in the men's 1,500m finals at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, a sub-host city of the Olympics, which started on the previous day for a 17-day run.

He reached the top of the podium in his first Olympics on home soil.

Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands took the silver medal and Semen Elistratov of Olympic Athletes from Russia, or OAR, finished third.

Lim's gold medal is the country's first Olympic medal in men's short track in eight years, as male skaters failed to win any medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Women's 3,000-meter speed skating

The Netherlands swept the podium in the women's 3,000-meter speed skating event. Carlijn Achtereekte won the gold medal with 3:59.21 and her teammates Ireen Wust and Antoinette de Jong came in next with 3:59.29 and 4:00.02, respectively.

Women's biathlon

Laura Dahlmeier of Germany won gold, with Norway's Marte Olsbu and Czech Republic's Veronika Vitkova taking home silver and bronze, respectively, in the women's biathlon spring finals Saturday at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in Pyeongchang.

Women's skiathlon

Swedish cross-country skier Charlotte Kalla grabbed the first gold medal of the Olympics after winning the women's skiathlon event.

Kalla clocked a time of 40 minutes, 44.9 seconds in the 15-kilometer skiathlon competition.

Defending champion Marit Bjoergen of Norway, also a six-time Olympic gold medalist, was second at 40:52.7, followed by Krista Parmakoski of Finland at 40:55.

The women's 15km skiathlon -- an event in which athletes have to race 7.5km routes back-to-back with the first half using classical technique and the latter half using freestyle -- was the first gold medal event at the Olympics.

-- UPI reporter Sam Howard contributed to this report.