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Fischbacher thwarts Vonn in Super G

Andrea Fischbacher produced a superb run to take gold for Austria © Getty Images

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Saturday in pictures

Andrea Fischbacher of Austria produced a supreme performance to claim gold in the women's Super Giant Slalom.

America's golden girl Lindsey Vonn, who took gold in the downhill earlier in the week, bounced back from her tumble in the combined to produce a superb run to take the lead with a time of 1:20.88. However, Fischbacker showed superb form on the top section to edge out Vonn by .74 of a second for Austria's first gold of the games.

Vonn was pushed down into the bronze-medal position by Tina Maze of Slovenia who posted a time of 1:20.63 to take silver.

"I like a tight course and I like a difficult race," Fischbacher said. "We had not been doing so well in the speed events but we knew we could have a good result if we got everything right and I believed in my chances. This is a dream come true."

Vonn came into the race as favourite, but was happy to add a bronze to her downhill gold despite admitting she may have eased off at a crucial stage.

"I knew everyone was having trouble at the top and I really attacked," said Vonn. "Once I got past the difficult section, I kind of backed off the gas. I think that's where I lost the race.

"I came here just hoping to get a medal and I got one gold. This is just the icing on the cake," she said. "I can't be too disappointed. Any medal at the Games is a success."

Britain's Chemmy Alcott was 13th in the downhill and 11th in the super combined but she was well off the pace on Saturday.

"The hill is so tough," Alcott said. "It was definitely challenging and I love a challenge. I didn't really go for it enough. I made a judgement error and lost a ridiculous amount of speed."

Switzerland's Simon Ammann is simply in a league of his own in ski jumping and he proved the point by scoring 283.6 points for a huge margin of victory from Adam Malysz in the Large Hill event. Gregor Schlierenzauer took bronze and it was a repeat of the result from the Normal Hill.

"I was so nervous up there. This is all very nerve-wracking. I always have this magical force to jump far here and that is amazing," Ammann said.

David Murdoch led Great Britain to victory over China for their third win from five games in the curling, with the side overcoming a slow start to triumph 9-4 in the morning game, but unfortunately the men couldn't upset the home fans when they faced Canada later in the day, losing 7-6 by conceding a two-stone score in the last end in a thriller.

The women curlers led by two against the United States but the Americans scored a single in each of the last three frames in another tight, tense match to beat the Brits 6-5.

Marcus Hellner led home a one-three for Sweden, with Germany's Tobias Angerer splitting him and Johan Olsson in the 30KM Cross Country pursuit.

Dutch skater Mark Tuitert beat United States star Shani Davis, who has already taken gold at these games, to win the men's 1500m speed skating event. Davis now has two medals with two events still to come. Havard Bokko from Norway grabbed bronze.

British short track competitors Jon Eley and Tom Iveson couldn't much of an impression at the 1000m event, finishing 18th and 30th respectively. The Koreans had a lot more luck, with Lee Jung-Su and Lee Ho-Suk taking a one-two. American superstar Aplo Anton Ohno is now a seven-time Winter Olympic medalist after snatching the bronze.

The Koreans were also prominent on the women's short track 1500m podium, taking silver and bronze behind China's Zhou Yang. Lee Eun-Byul snared silver and bronze went to Park Seung-Hi, while Briton Elise Christie finished a credible 20th.

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