Jansrud gives Norway fourth successive gold

Sochi Russia: Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud sped to Olympic gold in the men’s Super-G alpine skiing on Sunday and Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic won the women’s snowboarding cross on the testing course where a Russian skier broke her back a day earlier.

Skicross racer Maria Komissarova, 23, was in a serious but stable condition after an operation lasting more than six hours on Saturday to insert a metal implant in her back. Doctors said it would take three or four days to know how successful the surgery had been.

On the ninth day of medal competition Dutch speed skater Ireen Wust was aiming for her second gold of the Games, in the women’s 1,500 metres, and French biathlete Martin Fourcade was favourite to get his third in the 15-kilometre mass start.

On the Rosa Khutor piste in the Caucasus mountains, Jansrud secured Norway’s fourth successive Olympic men’s Super-G win, while 36-year-old American Bode Miller tied for bronze with Canada’s Jan Hudec, to become the oldest ever Alpine skiing medallist.

Miller’s teammate Andrew Weibrecht captured a surprise silver medal after starting 29th, with all the favourites gone.

Strong finish

“When Andrew came down he scared me,” laughed Jansrud. “It was a little too exciting. My legs were like jelly there for a second but I knew I had finished very strong.” Czech snowboarder Samkova, sporting a fake moustache for good luck, avoided the rough and tumble of the pack in a thrilling event where racers go head to head down a twisty course full of bumps and jumps, jostling with their rivals to find the best line.

Defending champion Maelle Ricker of Canada and 2006 silver medallist Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States were eliminated in the heats after taking tumbles on the Extreme Park course.

Dominique Maltais of Canada took silver to add to the bronze she won in Turin eight years ago, while French teenager Chloe Trespeuch won the bronze after overhauling Bulgarian Alexandra Jekova.

Two more racers, Norway’s Helene Olafsen and American Jacqueline Hernandez, were stretchered off earlier after bad falls, though neither was seriously injured.

After 53 of 98 events, Germany led the medals table with seven golds, followed by Norway and Switzerland and five. Hosts Russia were tied on four with Canada, the United States, the Netherlands and Poland — who have no silvers or bronze.

Last jump

In late-night action on Saturday, Poland’s Kamil Stoch snatched the men’s large hill ski jumping gold medal from Japan’s Noriaki Kasai, overhauling him with the last jump of the competition.

But the silver was a triumph for the 41-year-old Kasai, who was competing in a record seventh Winter Olympics but had never before won an individual medal.

“It is hard to describe. What can I say? It is like a dream to me,” Kasai, the oldest ski jumper to win an Olympic medal, told reporters after being cheered and applauded by a gaggle of excited Japanese TV crews.

“All these years I was disappointed by the Olympic Games. Today I just had to do it.”