Olympics-German Hoefl-Riesch bids to retain super-combined crown

By Keith Weir SOCHI, Russia, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Alpine skiing's leading ladies race into the Olympic spotlight on Monday when German Maria Hoefl-Riesch seeks to retain the super-combined crown she won four years ago. Five Olympic golds are up for grabs on the third day of competition in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. Austrian Matthias Mayer won the men's downhill on Sunday in the first Alpine skiing race of the Games and now it is the turn of the women. The super-combined features a downhill run followed by a slalom and Hoefl-Riesch won the inaugural Olympic event in Vancouver in 2010 when she beat American Julia Mancuso into second place. Mancuso is in Russia to resume the rivalry although the main threat to the German this time looks likely to come from Austrian Nicole Hosp and Slovenia's Tina Maze. In the 500 metres speed skating, South Korean Mo Tae-bum is bidding to repeat his 2010 success when he memorably marked his 21st birthday by winning gold. South Korea-born Viktor Ahn races for Russia in the 1,500m short-track speed skating after switching nationality following his omission from the 2010 team. He won the event in 2006 when competing for South Korea as Ahn Hyun-soo. Champion Alexandre Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury are expected to fight it out for the men's moguls title in freestyle skiing. They would give Canada a second one-two in three days after the triumph of the Dufour-Lapointe sisters in the women's event. Forty-year-old Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will be going for a record 13th Winter Games medal in the 12.5 km biathlon pursuit, after winning the sprint event on Saturday. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)