Milan (Italy) (AFP) – US ski star Mikaela Shiffrin ended her Olympic medal drought in style with gold in the slalom on Wednesday as snowboarder Su Yiming won China’s first title of the Milan-Cortina Games. Shiffrin is one of skiing’s all-time greats, but she has had to wait eight years since the 2018 Pyeongchang Games for the third gold of her glittering career. In the final alpine skiing event in Italy, her emotional victory brought some solace to a US ski team still reeling from Lindsey Vonn’s horrific crash in the downhill.
The 30-year-old led after the first run in glorious conditions in Cortina d’Ampezzo and cruised to victory in a combined time of 1min 39.10sec, an impressive 1.5sec ahead of Switzerland’s world champion Camille Rast. Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson rounded out the podium to claim the first Olympic medal of her career. Shiffrin shed a tear after a victory that will help banish the bitter memories of both her last Olympics in Beijing — where she failed to pick up a single medal from six races — and her disappointing displays in the team combined and giant slalom in northern Italy.
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“I wanted to be free, I wanted to unleash,” said the American. “It’s not easy to do that, but I’ve been so focused every single day. Through a lot of discussions with my psychologist and my mum and my team, everything we said was that, despite pressure or nerves, I want to feel this skiing. In the end, today, showing up — that was the thing I wanted most. More than the medal. Now, to also get to have a medal is unbelievable.”
– China’s gold at last –
Team China amassed nine gold medals on home soil at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, but until Wednesday they were yet to win a single title at the Milan-Cortina Games. Su changed that, winning the snowboard slopestyle gold after losing his big air crown earlier in these Games — and for good measure, it came on his 22nd birthday and as China celebrates Lunar New Year. He scored 82.41 points on his first run of three at a sun-soaked Livigno Snow Park and was never caught, upgrading the silver he won four years ago. Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa took silver and Jake Canter of the USA won bronze.
“There’s no better way, you know, this is like the best ever,” said Su. “I was actually thinking there’s no better gift for myself for my 22nd birthday, so I really appreciate it.” Two hours later, China had another gold as freestyle skier Xu Mengtao won the women’s aerials final. The USA and pre-tournament favourites Canada stayed on track to meet in the Olympic men’s ice hockey final as they reached the semi-finals, although both needed overtime to do it. Mitch Marner scored the crucial overtime goal as Canada saw off the Czech Republic 4-3 in their quarter-final.
The Americans were also made to fight till the end against Sweden before Quinn Hughes netted 3min 27 sec into overtime for a 2-1 victory in front of thousands of US supporters in Milan’s Santagiulia Arena. Canada go on to face reigning champions Finland and the USA will play Slovakia, with both semi-finals on Friday.
– Klaebo in class of own –
Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo won the 10th Olympic gold medal of his career, extending the all-time record he set earlier in the Games. The only athlete in Winter or Summer Games history with more Olympic titles is American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 23 golds. Klaebo and his Norwegian teammate Einar Hedegart comfortably won the team sprint free event, with Klaebo slowing before the finish line to soak up the applause of the crowd.
It was 29-year-old Klaebo’s fifth gold medal of these Games alone, meaning he has won every event he has entered — and he has one more to go. Norway have a huge lead atop of the medals table with 15 golds and 33 overall. Hosts Italy are in second spot with nine golds and a total of 26 medals while the USA are third with seven golds and 24 medals.
© 2024 AFP
