Gu pipped to Olympic gold again as Meillard extends Swiss ski dominance

Key Highlights

• I think that's an answer in and of itself," she said. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHer defeat on Monday means China has still not won a gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Games, with six days of competition to go.- Swiss ski stranglehold -Meillard's impressive victory in Bormio means the Swiss have won 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. But in the second leg McGrath hit a gate high on the course, ending his hopes. Disgusted, he threw his poles away and later wandered off into the forest next to the course to reflect alone. Instead it was Meillard who took control of the race, clocking a winning time of 1min 53.61sec, with Austrian Fabio Gstrein winning silver and Henrik Kristoffersen rounding out the podium with a consolation bronze for Norway. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe 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."Every medal is special," he said.
• "To win the slalom in the Olympics one year after being world champ is very special."And he hailed the current strength of Swiss skiing."We're living in a bit of a golden era in Switzerland in skiing," he said."It's crazy what's been happening in the last few years, and so everyone has to enjoy it as much as possible because most likely we will not stay like that for the next 10 years."AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJapan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara roared back from fifth place at the start of the day to win the pair's figure skating title. Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava won silver and overnight leaders Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany took bronze. In women's ice hockey, the USA will play Canada in Thursday's final for the fifth consecutive Olympics. The USA made the biggest impression by thrashing Sweden 5-0 i.