Carolina Kostner earned the Cup of Russia gold on Saturday, topping error-strewn overnight leader Fumie Suguri with an elegant free skate. Suguri's mistakes allowed American Rachel Flatt to take the silver medal after posting the session's top technical score at the Megasport arena. Suguri of Japan finished third.

While the world's best competitive figure skaters were grinding through yet another competition, Irina Slutskaya was half a world away, snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains. "It's a different life," she said Friday with her trademark bubbly laugh. "This is just great." The two-time world figure skating champion and Olympic medalist may not have skated competitively in almost three years, but don't...

The Olympic flame will shine on every corner of Canada during a historic torch relay that will serve as the national rallying cry for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Olympic organizers will launch the torch's journey in Victoria, British Columbia, on Oct. 30, 2009. If it runs as scheduled, 106 days later it will be the longest-ever domestic torch relay.