The Iceman cometh as Janka clinches gold

From Sportsbeat staff, in Vancouver

 THE Iceman has finally cometh at Vancouver 2010 - Switzerland's Carlo Janka was in sublime form to break Austria's stranglehold on the Olympic giant slalom title in Vancouver.

COOL AS A CUCUMBER: Carlo Janka collects his first ever Olympic gold medal and Switzerland's second alpine victory of the Games (Getty Images)

The 23-year-old had ice running through his veins as he produced two storming runs in Whistler to convert his slender halfway lead into his first Olympic gold medal.

Janka was last to go in the second run after Norway's Kjetil Jansrud had piled on the pressure with a blistering second run which staved off the challenge of super-G champion Aksel Lund Svindal.

But after a disappointing start to his Olympic career, which has seen Janka finish 11th, eighth and fourth in the downhill, super-G and super combined respectively, in the giant slalom, the man they call the Iceman announced his arrival.

"I am relaxed now. I think I will realise it a little later how great it is to win. But now it is too early to realise it," said Janka, who captured Switzerland's second alpine gold of the Games, after Didier Defago took the downhill title.

"The pressure was really big because I had not won an Olympic medal. This was my last chance to make a medal but I was able to put the pressure far away. It was a great feeling to cross the finish line.

"I was nervous at the start of the Olympics. I had problems with the conditions of the course but I like the conditions the way they are now.

"To win a downhill you are most respected. So I would prefer to win the downhill first and then the giant slalom second.

"I now will do everything in my power to get the overall World Cup medal. I need a break now and then we will see."

 While Switzerland has now secured two men's alpine medals in Vancouver, Austria their traditional and fierce rivals continue to disappoint and have just two, fourth-place finishes to show for it.

In claiming giant slalom gold he became the first non-Austrian to take the title for 12 years but with the slalom event still remaining, Janka is not writing them off just yet.

"Well,  for sure, these Games have not been so good for Austria. But they have good chances in the slalom," he added.

"I think it would be a good thing for a great skiing nation like Austria to get a medal in the Slalom."

 And Svindal, who captured his third medal of the Games with giant slalom bronze and completed his set, having claimed downhill silver and super-G bronze, echoed Janka's sentiments.

"Austria has the best slalom team in the whole world. We should wait and see before saying they have no success," he added.

"Today they were fourth, fifth and sixth - if this were a relay, they would have won.

"People think you can always just go to the Olympics and take the medals home with you but it is a little harder than that."

While Janka has finally fulfilled Switzerland's pre-Games expectations and to send cowbells chiming, veteran Didier Cuche, the hot favourite for downhlll, super-G and giant slalom success has disappointed in Vancouver - and his younger compatriot had a few words of consolation.

"This is hard on Didier. He was a favourite coming in so this is a bad thing for him not to get a medal. I wish him a medal. But there is no insurance in sport. You cannot change it," he said.

 

AS IT HAPPENS: Follow day 12 of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver