The Albany Gazette - Meillard extends Swiss Olympic stranglehold while Gu aims for gold

The Swiss men's team have now snapped up four of the five golds on offer in men's skiing.

Atle Lie McGrath looked on track to redress the balance in Norway's favour when he led the slalom after the first run in Bormio.

But in the second leg he hit a gate high on the course and skied out. Disgusted, he threw his poles away and lay in the snow.

Instead it was Meillard who took control of the race, clocking a winning time of 1min 53.61sec, with Austrian Fabio Gstrein winning silver 0.35sec behind and Henrik Kristoffersen rounding out the podium with a consolation bronze for Norway.

The slalom gold can be added to Franjo von Allmen's downhill and super-G titles, while Switzerland also won the men's team combined gold.

Meillard himself now has a full collection of medals from these Games having also won a bronze in the giant slalom and a silver in the team combined event.

"I had to give it all and try my best," he said. "And when I saw some green (denoting the best time on the scoreboard), I was like, amazing. A third medal, third race. You never know if it's going to be gold or not."

- Unhappy Gu -

Gu will try to defend the big air title she won at the Beijing Winter Games four years ago having come through a worrying crash in qualifying when she had to apply ice to her wrist.

The Californian-born star, who was the fourth highest-paid sportswoman in the world last year, already finished runner-up in the slopestyle event at these Olympics to add to the two golds and a silver she earned four years ago when she was the darling of China at their home Games.

She is also due to compete in the freeski halfpipe on Saturday.

But Gu, who switched allegiance to China in 2019, has not cut an entirely happy figure in Italy, complaining that organisers were not providing sufficent training options for athletes who like her are competing in multiple events.

"I have asked for fair options like joining one training with the snowboarders, or getting even one hour alone to train, but to no avail," she posted on Instagram.

"Halfpipe is different from slope(style) and big air, and demands its own training time accordingly."

The 22-year-old said the scheduling in Italy appeared to contradict the spirit of the Olympics.

"Daring to be the only woman to compete in three events should not be penalised -- making finals in one event should not disadvantage me in another," she said.

On Monday, Gu resumes her battle with Mathilde Gremaud after the Swiss beat her into second place in the slopestyle.

In big air, athletes ride down a slope towards a large ramp, which they use to soar into the air and perform aerial tricks.

In action later on Monday, Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin are the surprise leaders heading into the free skating section of the figure skating pairs competition.

Favourites Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan are down in fifth place and have a lot of ground to make up.

In women's ice hockey, the USA face Sweden in the semi-finals while reigning champions Canada play Switerland.

- Italy harvesting medals -

Italy meanwhile is already celebrating its best ever medal haul at a Winter Olympics with the host nation collecting 22 medals to overhaul its previous best total of 20 from the Lillehammer Games in 1994.

Federica Brignone's second victory of a fairytale Games, in the women's slalom on Sunday, was one of the most joyous of the eight Italian golds.

The 35-year-old skier has bounced back from a double leg fracture last April and is skiing with pain from the injury, but said: "My attitude was just to be happy to be here.

"That was already an achievement. Just to be back as an athlete."

(F.Allen--TAG)