PYEONGCHANG: Finally, it was an ideal day for skiing. American Mikaela Shiffrin celebrated by using a hard-charging final run to win the women’s giant slalom on Thursday. It’s 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’s Ragnhild Mowinckel won silver at Yongpyong Alpine Centre while Federica Brignone of Italy got bronze.

“I don’t know when it was, at some point today after the first run I thought, like, ‘I can really win this,’” Shiffrin said. “I just tried to hang on to that feeling and then focus on my skiing a bit. It’s crazy. There’s so much emotion.”

The weather was nearly perfect for racing, with temperatures around 21 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-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 on Thursday she wouldn’t 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’s downhill, Norway won the gold and silver. Aksel Lund Svindal at 35 years old became the oldest Olympic gold medallist in Alpine skiing by beating Kjetil Jansrud by just 0.12 seconds. Switzerland’s Beat Feuz earned the bronze.

Canada clinched the top spot in pool play by beating the US 2-1 in what could be a preview of the gold-medal game.

Meghan Agosta and Sara Nurse scored for Canada 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.

Canada and the US are the only two countries to ever win Olympic gold. Canada has won the past four Olympics; the US won in 1998.

Germany’s 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 programme, which gave them 235.90 points overall. It is Germany’s first pairs gold since 1952.

China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong were the leaders coming into the day but slipped to silver after a slow start in their free skate. Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford earned bronze.

Pierre Vaultier of France defended his title in men’s snowboardcross. Vaultier barely qualified for the final after crashing during the semi-finals but recovered to win his second Olympic gold medal. Australia’s Jarryd Hughes won silver and Spain’s Regino Hernandez got bronze. Americans Nick Baumg­artner and Mick Dierdorff made the final but finished well back of the leaders.

Norway’s Ragnhild Haga secured her first gold medal in the women’s 10km freestyle, topping the field by more than 20 seconds. Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla won silver for her second medal of the Pyeongchang Games. Norway’s Marit Bjoergen and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski finished tied for bronze with identical times of 25 minutes, 32.4 seconds.

Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada 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.

Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe won his first gold medal of the Winter Games in the 20km race after the world’s top biathlete, Frenchman Martin Fourcade, surprisingly missed on his final two shots. Slovania’s Jakov Fak took home the silver. Austrian Dominik Landertinger earned bronze.

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. Canada won silver and Austria won bronze.

The US 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’s Armin Zoeggeler has more with six.

Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg clinched gold in the 15km biathlon race. Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina won silver and Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier earned bronze.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2018