Rebensburg takes giant slalom gold

Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg charged to gold in the rescheduled women's giant slalom in Whistler.

The 20-year-old, sixth after her first run, put together a blistering top section of her second run to win in two minutes 27.11 seconds.

Slovenia's Tina Maze matched her result in super-G, taking her second silver, 0.04 sec behind Rebensburg.

First-run leader Elisabeth Goergl from Austria took bronze, while Britain's Chemmy Alcott finished 27th overall.

The first run of the race was held on Wednesday, but dense fog forced organisers to postpone the second leg for a day and heavy fog continued to restrict visibility on Thursday morning.

Rebensburg, who had never won a major race, proved the most adept at dealing with the deteriorating conditions as she edged out her more experienced competitors.

Goergl, 29, had been favourite after her first run but her hopes of winning a first Olympic giant slalom gold for the Austrian women were dashed and she duplicated her finish in the downhill.

American favourite Lindsey Vonn, who will race in Friday's Olympic slalom despite her broken right little finger, had crashed out of Wednesday's first leg in a slip which also scuppered the chances of team mate Julia Mancuso, the 2006 champion.

Mancuso was forced to abort her first attempt with the yellow flags out, and ended 1.30 seconds behind the leader, however the American then put in a ferocious charge to finish eighth overall.

For Rebensburg, whose previous best finish on the elite World Cup circuit was second in this season's giant slalom in Cortina, the experience of winning gold at her first Olympics was overwhelming.

"It's unbelievable," said the German.

"I don't think I had as much pressure as the top three but I know I can ski fast and win a race, so I made my own pressure."

British hope Alcott started the day 2.41 sec off the lead in 25th following her opening run.

But her time of 1:12.41 on run two left her 2.83 sec behind Rebensburg.

"I felt like I really knocked the door down. I didn't really make a mistake, I just skied too hard," said Alcott.

"I'm disappointed because it just didn't happen today. It was a bit of a bad day at the office. Everybody has them, but you just don't want it at the Olympics."

Alcott slips to 27th in giant slalom

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