Vancouver Games: Day 6
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Vancouver Games: Day 6
Lindsey Vonn won the women's downhill in 1 minute, 44.19 seconds -- more than a half-second quicker than anyone else -- to collect her first career Olympic medal. It was the first downhill gold for an American woman.
"This is the best day of my life, by far,'' Vonn said after winning the downhill. "I'm overwhelmed. ...A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders now. I got the gold medal that I came here to get."
American Julia Mancuso earned silver in the downhill, giving the U.S. its first 1-2 finish in an Olympic Alpine event since 1984.
The downhill was interrupted for about a half-hour while Edith Miklos, a 21-year-old Romanian, was airlifted off the course by helicopter.
Shani Davis repeated as Olympic champion in the 1,000 meters, becoming the first male skater to win the event a second time at the Winter Games.
"When you're a world champion or an Olympic champion, you get this little thing on your back called a target," said Davis. "To go out there and win the 1,000 meters twice is truly amazing."
South Korea's Mo Tae-bum finished 18-hundreths behind Davis, adding a silver to his medal haul. Mo won gold in the 500 meters earlier in these Games.
Chad Hedrick, who won a medal of each color at the 2006 Olympics, took a surprising bronze in the 1,000-meter speedskating.
Shaun White capped his gold-medal night on the halfpipe with his signature trick -- the dangerous, spiraling Double McTwist 1260 -- during a victory lap that will go down as nothing short of epic.
Shaun White scored a 48.4 on his final run, even though he was already assured of defending his Olympic title with a score of 46.8 on his first trip.
Short-track speedskater Apolo Ohno easily advanced through preliminaries of the men's 1,000 and helped the United States move on to the 5,000 relay final. Both finals are Saturday, when Ohno can become the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian in history.
Andreas and Wolfgang Linger of Austria won the gold medal in doubles luge again, joining Germany's Hans Rinn and Norbert Hahn ('76, '80) as the only duos to do so in consecutive Olympics.