Whistler (AFP) - Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway on Friday added Olympic super-G gold to his downhill silver, blasting his way down a technically testing run that saw his closest rivals lose valuable seconds.
It was another fantastic day's ski racing for the American team, with Bode Miller winning silver to add to his downhill bronze and team-mate Andrew Weibrecht claiming a surprise third place.
Starting with bib number 19, Svindal saw the top 11 before him grouped within 0.73sec.
A smooth ride down the 2,076-metre-long Dave Murray run, which was icy and rutted up top with a couple of tricky s-bends, saw him crush his rivals and jump into a 0.28sec lead that proved too much for anyone to get close to.
"It was good but it's hard to talk about perfect," Svindal said, adding that he felt he had been chasing the game this season after injury and illness.
"I made one mistake. I heard Bode was leading and Weibrecht was in third and those guys don't slow down -- they go hard.
"It shows you just have to attack. I'm lucky I already have silver so it can only get better, you just have to have fun, enjoy the race, always attack.
"I prepared well. I'm in top form and am just enjoying it."
Svindal, the reigning world super-combined champion and super-G bronze medallist, clocked 1min 30.34sec, ahead of Miller with Weibrecht a further 0.03sec adrift.
It was the US team's fifth and sixth alpine skiing medals of the Games, with Lindsey Vonn having also won the women's downhill and Julia Mancuso claiming double silver in the downhill and super-combined events.
"The times were unbelievably close together and that's unusual," said Miller, who wore downhill skis for the race.
"It's really unusual to be just on the very front side of six guys all within one tenth of a second."
The former two-time overall World Cup champion added: "I made some mistakes but I kept pushing, I went for it and just gave it the best I could.
"The run was a little ragged. I made a couple of mistakes and got shot out of a turn and almost missed a gate. In super-G you never know how fast you're going until the bottom.
"I have been knocking on the door all season - it feels unbelievable to do it here. It's a lifelong realisation of dreams. It's what I have been working for."
However, it was a disappointing day's racing for the Swiss quartet with downhill gold medallist Didier Defago only managing 15th at 1.09sec and reigning world super-G champion Didier Cuche in 10th at 0.72sec.
"Today I was cutting the line and finishing my turn after the gate and that's not the way to ski super-G," said Cuche.
"With no practice you only get one chance to get it right. It really wasn't the perfect run."
Italian Peter Fill, who last year won super-G silver in the worlds in Val d'Isere, crashed out.
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Сборные России, США, Швеции и Финляндии стали первыми четвертьфиналистами хоккейного турнира на Олимпийских играх в Ванкувере. Пройти предварительный этап без потерь удалось лишь американцам и шведам, россияне набрали семь очков и стали третьими в общей таблице. На счету финнов и чехов по шесть баллов, но дружина Суоми прошла в четвертьфинал напрямую благодаря лучшей разнице забитых и пропущенных шайб.
