Dorfmeister says farewell with gold run

Winter Olympics: After a week of crashes and bruises on the woman's downhill slope at Fraiteve, it was Michaela Dorfmeister, the great survivor, who took gold. In what is her farewell season, the Austrian sped down the two-mile course in one minute 56.49 seconds on a chill and windy day on the Italian Alps.

Dorfmeister's was a popular win, breaking a half-century curse of Olympic downhill gold for Austria and setting the tone for a day of European domination.

Anja Paerson of Sweden took bronze, while the surprise medallist was the Swiss Martina Schild, who was celebrating the fact that her granny also skied her way to Olympic glory.

Back in 1948, Hedy Schlungger was the downhill gold star at St Moritz, although the sport and terrain have changed dramatically since those days. In the inaugural Olympic downhill final, Hedy launched herself down the side of the mountain and crossed the finish line in a time of 2.28.

Her granddaughter's generation are travelling at around 100kmh, a full half-minute faster, and are dealing with a course that has already claimed a number of casualties over the last week.

The most notable of those was American Lindsey Kildow, who turned up for yesterday's race despite a spectacular crash in training on Monday, spending the next 24 hours in hospital. Although a favourite going into the Games, Kildow skied here with a bruised hip and shaken confidence and finished in a respectable if tame seventh place.

"I was nervous going through the section where the crash took place," she admitted.

Kildow, however, is one of the more vocal advocates for tougher courses on the women's downhill circuit and was one of those who petitioned the IOC for the women's race to take place on the men's slope at Sestriere, where the jumps are more spectacular.

She is one of several skiers on the women's circuit who are indifferent to the theory that the downhill jumps are more dangerous for women, as they have a higher centre of gravity and are more likely to lose balance and direction in the air. And Dorfmeister noted after receiving her victory garland that the jumps on Fraiteve had been fairly straightforward.

"Maybe it was the conditions, because the course was not so aggressive. Even though the jumps were fairly long, the snow was quite soft and it was easy to land."

However, there were two casualties in the field, with Elisabeth Goergl losing balance at speed and slamming into the netting in the first sector of her run. The Austrian was able to walk away, but her fall drew a sensational roar from the gallery at the bottom of the course. Crashing is one of the terrible attractions of downhill ski-racing. And once the skier loses control, the skis are transformed from weapons of speed into lethal and cumbersome obstructions. There is nothing for the stricken skier to do but wait and hope, as bronze medallist Paerson said when reviewing the moment when her Alpine dreams went through a perilous, wobbly half-second.

"My skis got crossed and I was just waiting to crash, waiting for my head to hit the snow. Then, to my surprise, I somehow righted myself. I knew straight away that I had lost gold but I just kept going," she said smiling.

But it was easy to smile then, with an Olympic medal safely around her neck.