(CNN) -- Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway claimed his first Olympic gold medal with victory in the men's super-G at Whistler Creekside on Friday.
Svindal relegated Bode Miller to the silver medal position as he finished 0.28 seconds faster than the American hope after a storming run of one minute 30.34 seconds.
Miller's compatriot Andrew Weibrecht finished in a surprise bronze medal position after setting the early pace.
Miller, still seeking his first Olympic gold, took the lead from Weibrecht by just three hundredths of a second and then had to watch as a number of leading contenders failed to match his time.
Swiss hopes Didier Cuche and Carlo Janka disappointed but the ever-consistent Svindal, who shrugged off a career-threatening injury to return to the World Cup circuit, proved Miller's nemesis.
Svindal was adding to his silver won in the men's downhill behind Swiss Didier Defago, who never looked likely to double up in the super-G.
The 27-year-old Svindal, said he had achieved a near-perfect run on the Dave Murray course.
"I made one mistake. I heard Bode was leading and Weibrecht was in third and those guys don't slow down -- they go hard," he told reporters.
"I prepared well. I'm in top form and am just enjoying it."
Miller, who won a bronze in the downhill, now has four Olympic medals but will hope for that elusive first gold in Sunday's super-combined.
The race was marred by an accident to Swedish veteran Patrik Jaerbyn, who was airlifted by helicopter off the mountain after a nasty crash.
The oldest competitor in the event at nearly 41 years of age, Jaerbyn finished third in a World Cup super-G at Val Gardena last December, but was off the pace when he clipped a gate and took a crashing fall. Later medical reports said he had escaped serious injury and had mild concussion.
Cross Country Skiing
Norway's gold rush continued with victory for Marit Bjoergen in the women's 15k pursuit.
It was the second gold of the Games for Bjoergen, who has also won a bronze in Vancouver.
She relegated Anna Haag of Sweden into the silver medal position, with Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk in bronze.
Skeleton
Great Britain is also celebrating a gold for Amy Williams at the Whistler Sliding Center after leading from start to finish over the four runs.
Williams had over half a second in hand over Kerstin Szymkowiak with her German teammate Anja Huber taking bronze. Home hope Mellisa Hollingsworth dropped back to fourth in a disappointing final run.
But hosts Canada rounded off the gold medal haul for the eighth day with a dramatic victory for Jon Montgomery in the men's event.
He clawed back a massive deficit on the final run to edge out Martins Dukurs of Latvia who made a bad error by thumping into the final wall and had to settle for silver.
© 2014 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|