Tie for Olympic Downhill Gold

Despite balmy temperatures and bright sun overhead, course conditions held up as Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin and Slovenia’s Tina Maze raced to a tie in the ladies’ Olympic downhill.

It was the first time in Olympic history that two alpine ski racers are awarded a gold medal.

"It’s something special. It was so close and, at the end, it’s two happy faces," Maze said.

"I looked away and then I looked up, and I was like zero-point-zero-zero means that we’re good," Gisin said about watching Maze cross the finish and then gazing over at the scoreboard.

"It’s just a big honor. She is a great athlete."

Gisin, 28, who had finished no better than seventh in seven World Cup downhills this season, took the lead as the eighth skier out of the start gate.

The Swiss racer watched nervously in the finish area, as racer-by-racer descended the 2,713-meter Olympic course. Her leading time held up through 12 competitors, including most of the top names, but appeared to be in jeopardy with Maze on course.

Maze, 30, last season’s overall World Cup champion, was ahead by 0.38 seconds at the final intermediate split, but lost nearly four-tenths on the bottom of the piste, stopping the clock with the exact time as Gisin – one minute, 41.57 seconds.

For Maze, it was her fourth Olympic medal, but first gold. It was also Slovenia’s first Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing.

For Gisin, who has persevered through nine knee surgeries, it was her first medal at an Olympic or world championship race.

The two ladies held hands just prior to the winners flower ceremony in the finish corral in a touching moment.

"It was spontaneous," Maze said. " We are pretty close many years already, and I think now we are even more closer than we were before."

Asked if Gisin was in favor of FIS introducing new rules to divide racers by thousandths of a seconds, she joked, "Hundredths are fine with me."

Lara Gut of Switzerland took the bronze medal, finishing 0.10 behind Gisin and Maze.

Krasnaya Polyana mountain temperatures rose to seven degrees Celsius in the sun-baked finish area. The final pitch and last five turns on the course were hit directly by the bright sun, softening the snow to "spring-like" conditions.

World Cup downhill leader and pre-race favorite Maria Hoefl-Riesch was thirteenth, more than a second off the winning pace. She said that despite the warm temperatures, conditions on the course held up.

"All in all, the snow was really good and the conditions were great," Hoefl-Riesch said. "It was just from the last jump to the finish where it was softening up a little bit."

At the top of the piste – 1,755 meters above the Black Sea in Sochi – temperatures climbed to three degrees Celsius, but the blistering late morning sun made it feel even hotter.

Australian skier Greta Hall joked that the Sochi 2014 motto should be changed to "Hot, Hot, Yours," as opposed to "Hot, Cool, Yours."

Noisy Crowds

The stands filled slowly but were mostly packed when racing kicked off at 11am under blue skies.

The Russian fans were in full voice when their two up-and-coming downhillers were shown at the start gate on the big screen. The home fans went wild for Maria Bedareva and Elena Yakovishina, waving flags and shaking Swiss cowbells to cheer them through the finish line.

Bedareva told reporters it spurred her on.

"I heard this when I came down; it was awesome. It was amazing," the 21-year-old said about the boisterous crowd cheering for her as she sped toward the finish line.

"People were saying, ‘Maria, I love you,’ and I thought it was so nice. I’m so proud of my country."

FIS Dismisses Snow Concerns

The next test for how the course reacts to the warm weather is the men’s Super Combined on Friday and the men’s and women’s Super-G events on Saturday and Sunday.

Speaking to Around the Rings Wednesday, the secretary general of the international skiing federation said FIS and Sochi 2014 organizers had made a big effort at all the snow venues to provide world-class conditions for athletes.

Sarah Lewis said, "Sochi has been very prepared in catering for having the potential for warm weather, having seen that last season.

"Our experts and the organizing committee have got the necessary tools, material, and knowledge in order to do the right thing in different circumstances," she added, noting that FIS was used to dealing with rising temperatures during the winter sports season.

"You are always ready to deal with the unexpected," she said.

With the favorites missing out in the women’s downhill, Lewis said the tie for gold was "incredibly exciting and just shows the competitive nature of the sport and how thrilling it is."

Written by Brian Pinelli and Mark Bisson.

Homepage photo: Getty Images

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