Skier Hirscher grabs Olympic double

PYEONGCHANG (South Korea): Marcel Hirscher mastered the jitters that have afflicted Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn when he powered to his second Pyeongchang Winter Olympics title, becoming the event’s most successful skier so far.

While America’s Shiffrin and Vonn look to recover from defeats, Hirscher hit his groove in the men’s giant slalom, winning by an impressive 1.27sec – five days after his debut Olympic victory in the combined.

Norway’s Oystein Braaten proved untouchable in the men’s freestyle skiing slopestyle as the 16-day Games hit the halfway point.

Norway also won the 4x10km men’s cross country relay to reach nine gold medals and draw level with Germany at the top of table.

It has been a long wait for Games gold for Hirscher, who is the dominant figure of World Cup racing but whose best previous Olympic result was slalom silver in 2014.

However, the Austrian has flourished in South Korea. He said his years of success on the World Cup circuit proved vital as he beat Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen and France’s Alexis Pinturault into second and third place.

“After the first run I thought to myself that the confidence is here and speed is here and I can win. There’s always a mind game between the first and second runs, but the years of experience helped me,” he said.