Mayer conquers tricky slopes

Son of 1988 super-G silver medallist Helmut, Mayer edged out Italy's Christof Innerhofer by 0.06 seconds down the steep.

The home fans roared Russia to its first gold of the Olympics on Sunday when figure skating favourite Yevgeny Plushenko sealed the Olympic team title, while Austria’s Matthias Mayer conquered the perilous Rosa Khutor run to claim the men’s downhill. With Russian President Vladimir Putin among the near 12,000 capacity crowd at the Iceberg Skating Palace, one of several new arenas built in Sochi for the Winter Games, the hosts built an unassailable lead some 90 minutes before the contest ended.

On the second day of full competition, Mayer claimed one of the big titles, as pre-race favourites American Bode Miller and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal failed to make the podium. Son of 1988 super-G silver medallist Helmut, Mayer edged out Italy’s Christof Innerhofer by 0.06 seconds down the steep, icy piste set among the towering Caucasus mountains.

RUSSIA’S FIRST MEDAL

On the ice, Irene Wust of the Netherlands won the women’s 3,000 metres speed skating crown, but the biggest roar went to Olga Graf, who finished a surprise third to give the host nation its first medal.

Graf punched the air in delight upon seeing her time but her expression turned to embarrassment soon after as she unzipped her suit to the waist before suddenly realising she had no t-shirt underneath. “I heard the crowd cheering for me and I didn’t expect such support from the audience,” said the skater, before addressing her wardrobe malfunction. “I totally forgot that I had nothing under my suit,” she said, her steely focus disintegrating into a broad smile.

Another Russian, Olga Vilukhina, took silver in the women’s biathlon 7.5km sprint, behind Anastasiya Kuzmina of Slovakia. Swiss cross-country skier Dario Cologna surged to surprise victory in the men’s skiathlon and Jamie Anderson clinched the inaugural women’s snowboarding slopestyle gold after compatriot Sage Kotsenburg matched the feat in the men’s event on Saturday. Jenny Jones claimed the bronze —Britain’s first Olympic medal in a snow event.

Keshavan 37th

India’s Shiva Keshavan finished a disappointing 37th in the men’s singles luge competition in the Sochi Winter Olympic Games . The 32-year-old, who is on his fifth Winter Olympics, clocked a combined time of 3:37.149 over four rounds to end the event at 37th spot out of 39 lugers in the competition at the Sanki Sliding Center. Keshavan finished 37th and 34th in the third and fourth rounds held today. He was also 37th after two rounds on Saturday. This was Keshavan’s worst performance in the Winter Olympics. He had finished 28th in Nagano in 1998, 33rd in Salt Lake City in 2002, 25th in Torino in 2006 and 29th in Vancouver (Canada) in 2010.