PYEONGCHANG, Korea, Republic Of 鈥� Finally, it was an ideal day for skiing.
American Mikaela Shiffrin celebrated by using a hard-charging final run to win the women鈥檚 giant slalom Thursday. It鈥檚 the first of several Olympic titles she hopes to earn at the Pyeongchang Games.
The 22-year-old trailed by 0.20 seconds following her first run, but she powered through a bumpy course on her second run to win by 0.39 seconds. Norway鈥檚 Ragnhild Mowinckel won silver at Yongpyong Alpine Center while Federica Brignone of Italy got bronze.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know when it was, at some point today after the first run I thought, like, 鈥業 can really win this,鈥濃�� Shiffrin said. 鈥淚 just tried to hang on to that feeling and then focus on my skiing a bit. It鈥檚 crazy. There鈥檚 so much emotion.鈥�
The weather was nearly perfect for racing, with temperatures around -6 Celsius and a light wind. It was a welcome break after the past few days, when three of the four opening Alpine races were postponed because of blustery weather.
Shiffrin was initially expected to chase as many as five medals in Pyeongchang, though her mother said Thursday she wouldn鈥檛 compete in the super-G. The only thing that might slow her down is exhaustion, due to a compact schedule thanks to all the delays.
In the men鈥檚 downhill, Norway won the gold and silver . Aksel Lund Svindal 鈥� at 35 years old 鈥� became the oldest Olympic gold medallist in Alpine skiing by beating Kjetil Jansrud by just 0.12 seconds. Switzerland鈥檚 Beat Feuz earned the bronze.
CANADA EDGES U.S. IN WOMEN鈥橲 HOCKEY
sa国际传媒 clinched the top spot in pool play by beating the United States 2-1 in what could be a preview of the gold-medal game.
Meghan Agosta and Sara Nurse scored for sa国际传媒 and Genevieve Lacasse made 44 saves, including stopping Hilary Knight at the post with less than 90 seconds remaining. Kendall Coyne scored for the Americans. Brianne Decker hit the post two times, including once in the final seconds of the game before the rivals ended up in a scrum. Officials reviewed the play and ruled no goal.
sa国际传媒 and the United States are the only two countries to ever win Olympic gold. sa国际传媒 has won the past four Olympics; the United States won in 1998.
FIGURE SKATING
Germany鈥檚 Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot jumped from fourth place to Olympic gold in pairs figure skating after a record-setting free skate.
Savchenko and Massot scored 159.31 points in their program, which gave them 235.90 points overall. It is Germany鈥檚 first pairs gold since 1952.
China鈥檚 Sui Wenjing and Han Cong were the leaders coming into the day but slipped to silver after a slow start in their free skate. sa国际传媒鈥檚 Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford earned bronze.
MORE MEDALS
鈥� Pierre Vaultier of France defended his title in men鈥檚 snowboardcross . Vaultier barely qualified for the final after crashing during the semifinals but recovered to win his second Olympic gold medal. Australia鈥檚 Jarryd Hughes won silver and Spain鈥檚 Regino Hernandez got bronze. Americans Nick Baumgartner and Mick Dierdorff made the final but finished well back of the leaders.
鈥� Norway鈥檚 Ragnhild Haga won her first gold medal in the women鈥檚 10-kilometre freestyle, topping the field by more than 20 seconds. Sweden鈥檚 Charlotte Kalla won silver for her second medal of the Pyeongchang Games. Norway鈥檚 Marit Bjoergen and Finland鈥檚 Krista Parmakoski finished tied for bronze with identical times of 25 minutes, 32.4 seconds.
鈥� Ted-Jan Bloemen of sa国际传媒 won the 10,000 metres in an Olympic-record time of 12 minutes, 39.77 seconds. Defending champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands took silver in 12:41.99. Nicola Tumolero of Italy earned bronze in 12:54.32. Dutchman Sven Kramer finished a surprising sixth. He had dominated the distance race at every competition except the Olympics, where he has never won it.
鈥� Norway鈥檚 Johannes Thingnes Boe won his first gold medal of the Winter Games in the 20-kilometre race after the world鈥檚 top biathlete, Frenchman Martin Fourcade, surprisingly missed on his final two shots. Slovania鈥檚 Jakov Fak took home the silver. Austrian Dominik Landertinger earned bronze.
鈥� Germany won the luge team relay, which was a history-making victory for Natalie Geisenberger. The German team of Geisenberger, Johannes Ludwig and the doubles pairing of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt prevailed in 2 minutes, 24.517 seconds. sa国际传媒 won silver and Austria won bronze. The U.S. finished fourth, missing a medal by about one-tenth of a second. Geisenberger has won five Olympic medals, the same as German legend Georg Hackl. Only Italy鈥檚 Armin Zoeggeler has more with six.
鈥� Sweden鈥檚 Hanna Oeberg won gold in the 15-kilometre biathlon race. Slovakia鈥檚 Anastasiya Kuzmina won silver and Germany鈥檚 Laura Dahlmeier earned bronze.