Granada Day 11: Russia end games on high with ice hockey gold

Russia, the hot favourites, eased to a 2-0 lead after the first period thanks to goals from Timur Shingareev and Egor Krivchenko. Alexander Torchenyuk made it 3-0 in the second period before Renat Safin pulled back a late consolation goal for the Kazakhs.

The 3-1 win gave Russia its twentieth gold medal of a quite splendid games and cemented the nation's place at the top of the medals table.

In the ice hockey bronze medal match Canada beat the Czech Republic 6-2 to secure the bronze medal.

First period goals from Kevin King and Cody Fowlie put the Canadians 2-0 up before Milan Valasek cut the deficit in the second period. In a frantic third period Daniel Arnost put the Czechs back on level terms before an eleven-minute goal flurry saw the Canadians power ahead thanks to Christopher Collins (twice), Stanley Maxwell and another King strike.

The final men's alpine skiing event saw Switzerland's Ramon Zenhaeusern romp to a swashbuckling victory in the slalom, finishing both legs a combined total of more than three seconds faster than his nearest opponent.

Zenhaeusern, 22, set the fastest time in both legs (47.89 seconds and 47.97 seconds) to finish with a combined time of 1:35.86 seconds.

France's Maxime Rizzo was closest to the Swiss skier after the first round, trailing the leader by 1.35 seconds. But Rizzo missed a gate in deteriorating conditions during the second run to open the door to Slovakia's Matej Falat, who took the silver medal some 3.68 seconds down on Zenhaeusern after both rounds.

Slovenia's Filip Mlinsek completed the podium by taking the bronze medal at 3.73 seconds, with Frenchman Robin Buffet missing out at 4.44 seconds for fourth.

Switzerland's Sandro Boner - gold medallist in the alpine combined and bronze medallist in the super-G - won the men's combined classification prize for the skier best placed across the board in at least three of four skiing disciplines.

The Czech Republic's Adam Zika was second in the combined classification despite not winning any medals in the games, his best finish being eighth in the combined slalom event. Winner of the super-G and giant slalom events, Italy's Michelangelo Tentori finished third in the combined classification - although had he finished the slalom he would no doubt have given Boner a run for his money.

Poor weather meant the men's and women's ski cross heats and finals at the Sulayr Snowpark were cancelled in the games's only major setback since the start on 24th January in Slovakia.

Runaway leaders Russia topped the standings after 68 medal events with a total of 56 medals (20 gold, 18 silver, 18 bronze). Thanks to its superlative performances in the short track events, the Republic of Korea came second in the table with 16 medals (5 gold, 9 silver, 2 bronze). Kazakhstan pipped Switzerland for third place with 11 medals (5 gold, 6 silver). Great Britain finished joint 21st in the standings with one solitary bronze medal along with Lithuania, Slovenia and Sweden.

In 2017 the 28th Winter Universiate will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.