AFP, Rosa Khutor :
Swiss outsider Dominique Gisin and Slovenian Tina Maze finished in a dead heat as an Alpine skiing gold medal was shared for the first time in Winter Olympics history in a dramatic women’s downhill on Wednesday.
Swiss racer Gisin, wearing bib number eight, was first to clock 1min 41.57sec down the icy 2.7km-long course and in brilliant sunshine it looked to have been enough for outright victory.
But Gisin, who has not won a World Cup downhill race since 2009 and whose best finish in the downhill this season is seventh, had not counted on Maze, the 2013 super-G world champion and proven big-stage performer.
Starting 13 runners after Gisin on a course that had not broken up, the Slovenian led all the splits but lost a little time after the final jump to come charging through the finish line in a dead heat.
Maze has had a relatively poor season, which was only partially rescued by a first downhill win in Cortina d’Ampezzo in January, but her third place finish in the downhill run of the super-combined was a reminder of her speed abilities.
“I’m extremely happy and completely overwhelmed,” said a tearful Gisin.
One onlooker left delighted was Maze’s coach Mauro Pini, the former head coach of the women’s Swiss ski team.
“Tina is a hard worker so this is nice for her,” said Pini.
“I’m also happy for Dominique as she was my first athlete.”
Gisin’s gold was Switzerland’s fifth women’s downhill Olympic title and the first since Michaela Figini at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.
There was more joy for the Swiss team when Lara Gut, who has so far this season won three super-G and one downhill World Cup race and finished second in the combined’s downhill, claimed bronze, a further 0.10sec adrift.
There was no silver awarded in the race marked by the absence through injury of defending champion and media darling Lindsey Vonn of the United States.
Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch, the winner of Monday’s super- combined, could only finish 13th at 1.17sec, and Austrian silver medallist Nicole Hosp ninth at 1.05sec.
It meant Hoefl-Riesch, who stands atop the World Cup overall and downhill standings so far this season, missed out on drawing level with now-retired Croatian Janica Kostelic’s record of four Olympic golds.
