JOIN US In a finish that a Hollywood scriptwriter would struggle to match, the women's downhill at Russia's Winter Olympics produced a tie for gold for the first time on Wednesday, in a thrilling start to the fifth full day of competition.
History was made when Switzerland's Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze of Slovenia shared the women's Olympic Alpine skiing downhill gold medal after clocking exactly the same time down the sun-bathed Rosa Khutor descent.
Gisin, lost in amazement at the bottom of the piste, called it "crazy".
"I attacked hard from top to bottom," added the 28-year-old, who has had her share of injuries over the years.
Alpine skiers have shared medals before at the Olympics, but never gold. It was the second time in two days that women athletes made history at the Olympics.
On Tuesday night, women ski jumpers finally had the chance to prove their mettle in one of the ultimate sporting tests of power, technique and daring, 90 years after the first men competed at a Winter Games.
For years they were told the sport was too risky, that there were too few top-class women competitors, or even that the impact of landing could damage their fertility.
But ending a long battle for inclusion, all the frustration was consigned to the past at the hill at RusSki Gorki in the mountains above Sochi.
The events, added to the shock failure of US snowboard king Shaun White to win a medal in the halfpipe on Tuesday, have grabbed the attention of the watching world.
Erin’s moment
Erin Hamlin was already fast-forwarding to Sochi four years ago before her luge had stopped sliding at Whistler.
Her medal hopes at the Vancouver Olympics disappeared almost immediately after a huge mistake in her first run but after the tears had dried the 2009 world champion vowed to make amends.
On Tuesday at the Sanki Sliding Centre she did just that, becoming the first American to win an Olympic luge singles medal when she slid to the bronze. “It was definitely a big goal of mine,” Hamlin, who was 16th in Vancouver after a costly first-run mistake, told reporters.