CHRIS LEHOURITES
AP Sports Writer
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Maria Riesch joined best friend Lindsay Vonn as an Alpine gold medalist at the Vancouver Olympics on Thursday, winning the super-combined race on Whistler mountain.
The German skier, who had been second to Vonn after the downhill portion of the two-run race, won the gold in a combined time of 2 minutes, 9.14 seconds – a day after Vonn won the downhill despite a bruised right shin.
Julia Mancuso, who earned the silver on Wednesday in the downhill, was again second on the podium in the super-combi, and Anja Paerson of Sweden took bronze. Vonn missed a gate and then lost a ski in the slalom, failing to finish.
The course used for the downhill portion of Thursday’s race was slightly shortened and the final jump was shaved due to a spate of crashes on Wednesday.
In women’s biathlon, Tora Berger earned her first Olympic gold medal and Norway’s 100th in the history of the Winter Games by winning the 15-kilometer individual race.
Berger missed only one target on her very last shot for a 1-minute penalty, but had built up such a large lead that it didn’t matter. She finished in 40:58.2, beating silver medalist Elena Khrustaleva of Kazakhstan by 20.7 seconds.
“It was really good but the last shooting really hurt because I missed,” Berger said.
There are four more medals to be won Thursday, which is Day 7 of the Olympics. The men’s figure skating gold will be decided after the free program, while the men will race in the 20K individual biathlon race. The women’s 1,000-meter race in speedskating and the women’s snowboarding halfpipe are also on the program.
The Big 3 in men’s ice hockey are also back on the ice, with Canada playing Switzerland, Russia facing Slovakia and the United States taking on Norway.
In the women’s super-combined, Vonn was fastest in the downhill, but she said after the run that her shin was “killing” her. After starting her slalom leg, she still led Riesch at the first checkpoint, but then fell behind by the second – moments before missing the gate and crashing into the snow.
Riesch nearly lost control in her downhill run, getting too much air in a small jump before halfway and veering momentarily off course, but her time of 1:24.49 was still fast enough to make her the favorite heading into the slalom leg.