Raich and Dorfmeister claim gold for Austria

BENJAMIN RAICH and Michaela Dorfmeister took Alpine gold for Austria in the men’s giant slalom and the women’s super-G respectively.

Raich, 27, made amends for throwing away gold in the combined at Sestriere.

The overall World Cup leader produced a blistering second run to move from fifth to first position.

Raich, who was fourth in Salt Lake City in 2002, nailed his turns superbly in the steep section to record a time of 1:18.05.

He then watched the four men ahead of him fail to take their chance with unheralded Frenchman Joel Chenal in second place, 0.07 seconds behind, and Hermann Maier, who won the giant slalom gold in Nagano in 1998, taking bronze a further 0.09 seconds adrift.

Chenal, who has only recorded one top ten in the World Cup this season, was second after the first run and came perilously close to matching unheralded compatriot Antoine Deneriaz's downhill victory, while Maier followed on from his silver in the super-G.

Canada's Francois Bourque was the surprise leader after the first run, 0.34 seconds ahead of Raich, but he produced a tentative second leg and finished fifth.

Bode Miller produced a storming second run on the icy terrain but had to settle for sixth after hooking his hand on a gate to lay only 12th after the initial run.

Compatriots Daron Rahlves and combined champion Ted Ligety missed gates in their first runs when well placed, while home favourite Massimiliano Blardone was 11th.

Meanwhile, Dorfmeister followed on from her success in the downhill by taking the super-G at San Sicario.

The 32-year-old, who is set to retire at the end of the season, took advantage of a flat gliding course to set a time of 1:32.47 0.27 seconds ahead of combined champion Janica Kostelic.

The Croat, who would have missed the race if it had gone ahead as planned on Sunday because of illness, looked set for her second gold before Dorfmeister the last of the world's top 30 down the course edged her out.

Another Austrian, Alexandra Meissnitzer, took bronze, edging out long-time leader Kelly Vanderbeek of Canada by 0.03 seconds Britain's Chemmy Alcott followed up her 11th in the downhill by finishing in 19th spot.

Great Britain's reign as Olympic curling champions ended last night in Pinerolo as they were eliminated from the competition despite a 10-4 win over the United States.

Canada's 9-8 victory over Denmark handed the Canadians the fourth and final spot in the semi-finals and rendered the result of Great Britain's final round-robin match irrelevant.

Skip Rhona Martin had almost half-an-hour to dream of a great escape, having saved her most emphatic win of the competition for the final day, easing past her inexperienced opponents with four ends to spare.

But while she watched the already eliminated Danes put up a brave fight, the favoured Canadians gradually got on top and secured victory with the final stone.