Odermatt powers to slalom gold

Snow falling from the skies would normally be regarded as a neccessity at a Winter Olympics. But it has been a rare enough sight in Beijing that its presence caused some significant issues on Sunday, though not for Marco Odermatt.

The Swiss athlete came into the competition as the favorite after a dominant giant slalom season, and secured an Olympic gold with his final run, despite poor visibility and the start of the race having been delayed by more than an hour.

"I really risked everything," Odermatt said. "It’s difficult because you can lose everything but today it paid off. I won the medal today but it’s so much between (you) and a medal, there are so many shadows behind the medal, on the other side."

Odermatt coped with the conditions, the delay and an error on his first run, to post a combined time of 2 minutes, 09.35 seconds.

Zan Kranjec of Slovenia took silver, 0.19 seconds behind, and world champion Mathieu Faivre of France earned bronze, 1.34 behind.

The skiers had been racing and training on artificial snow until the real thing started to fall on Saturday at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center. 

Gold medals

Marte Olsbu Röiseland dominated the field on Sunday to claim her third biathlon gold and fourth medal in as many races at the Beijing Olympics.

Röiseland, of Norway, missed just one target en route to victory in the 10-kilometer pursuit which comes after sprint and mixed relay gold plus 15km bronze, clocking 34 minutes 46.9 seconds. Her compatriot Tiril Eckhoff took bronze while Elvira Öberg of Sweden claimed silver in a Scandinavian sweep.

The team representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) built up an early lead that they never relinquished in a cross country men's 4x10 km relay that took place in trying conditions. The ROC team finished just over a minute Norway, with France picking in third.

In biathlon, Quentin Fillon Maillet, of France, hit all 20 of his targets to add 12.5-kilomete pursuit gold to the one he won in the 20km individual. He also claimed silver in the sprint and mixed relay, meaning he has won a medal in every race he's entered.

There three gold medals handed out in the speedskating, too. The Netherlands won the women's 3000m relay, USA's Erin Jackson won the women's individual 500m, and Hungary's Liu Shaoang won the men's event.

Valieva on the list

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has been listed as a competitor in the women's single skating short program, as the teenager awaits the outcome of a legal case presented to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The 15-year-old skater was listed as the 26th starter out of 30 competitors for Tuesday's event, though it is yet to be determined whether she will be allowed to take the ice.

Edited by: Martin Kuebler