So much emotion - Shiffrin, German skaters claim tearful Olympic golds
Pyeongchang, Feb 15 (AFP) Skier Mikaela Shiffrin opened her delayed Olympics with victory and figure skaters Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot smashed a world record to grab gold as full competition resumed today after days of wind disruption.
The 22-year-old Shiffrin kicked off her bid for multiple titles at the Pyeongchang Winter Games with a storming second run in the giant slalom, ending a nervous wait after it was postponed because of high winds on Monday.
The Sochi 2014 slalom champion from America sank to her knees and dissolved in tears after her powerful descent brought her gold from Norways Ragnhild Mowinckel by 0.39 seconds.
"I dont know how to explain it. Its crazy. Theres so much emotion," Shiffrin said.
"To come to the Olympics after some tough races on the World Cup circuit and to charge like that -- I risked it on the second run -- its super-cool."
Earlier, Aksel Lund Svindal, 35, became the Olympics oldest alpine ski champion in the mens downhill, with Kjetil Jansrud completing a Norwegian one-two.
Svindal, coming to the end of a stellar career, clocked 1min 40.25sec down the 3km Jeongseon course to hand Norway its first Olympic downhill gold.
"It feels pretty good, Im extremely happy," said Svindal. "World Cup wins, Ive been there a few times and know how that feels, but this is different."
The Germans Savchenko and Massot were in floods of tears after they won the pairs figure skating by a whisker ahead of Chinas Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the strong favourites who missed out after Sui took a tumble.
After an error in the short programme, hopes had faded for Savchenko and Massot but they scored 159.09 points in the free dance, breaking their own world record, to pull off a fairytale victory.
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To roars from the crowd, French-born Massot then lifted Ukrainian-born Savchenko onto the top step of the podium. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada took bronze.
"I was positive after yesterday. I said to Bruno, we will write history today. And then everything happened as I had imagined it and it came true," Savchenko said.
North Korean duo Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, supported strongly by their countrys all-female cheering squad and the home South Korean crowd, scored a personal best total of 193.63.
"I was very nervous about the competition, but once we went in, the sight of our cheer squad and the southern countrymen cheering together offered great support and stimulation," said Kim.
Frenchman Pierre Vaultier retained his snowboard cross title and Norways Ragnhild Haga won the womens 10km cross-country race.
In biathlon, Norways Johannes Thingnes Boe won the mens 20km and Hanna Oeberg of Sweden triumphed in the wind-rescheduled womens 15km. Norwegian skier Ragnhild Haga won the womens 10km cross-country.
Canadas Ted-Jan Bloemen broke a Dutch stranglehold on the speed skating titles with victory in the 10,000m, clocking a Games-record 12mins 39.77sec.
And Germany won a thrilling team relay to finish the luge competition with three out of four golds and extend their lead at the top of the overall medals table with nine, ahead of Norway on six.
The winds dropped markedly on Thursday after skiing and biathlon were both postponed a day earlier and organisers were forced to close off the Gangneung Olympic Park for safety reasons.
Sixteen people were hurt at the Olympic Park precinct, which houses four ice sports venues, as tents, signs, fences and other equipment were damaged by the wind on Wednesday.
Friday sees seven more gold medals up for grabs with Shiffrin returning to action in the womens slalom.
There will also be intense interest in men's figure skating, where Japanese star Yuzuru Hanyu will make his first competitive appearance since injuring ankle ligaments in November