Winter Olympics: Aksel Lund Svindal wins downhill gold at 35 in Pyeongchang

Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal became the oldest Olympic alpine skiing champion as he held off Kjetil Jansrud to win downhill gold at the age of 35.

He finished 0.12 seconds ahead of compatriot Jansrud, with Swiss world champion Beat Feuz taking bronze in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Svindal won super-G gold at Vancouver 2010 but finished fourth when favourite for the downhill at Sochi 2014.

"It feels pretty good. I'm extremely happy," said Svindal.

"The record is a thing you think about after, but right now it's just the emotions when you cross the finish line and you see that you're ahead. That's bigger than any record."

• US star Shiffrin wins giant slalom gold

• Day-by-day guide to what's on

• Full schedule and results

Svindal tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a crash in January 2016 and only won his first World Cup downhill race since then in December 2017.

Defending champion Matthias Mayer finished seventh. The Austrian was a surprise winner in Sochi four years ago, clinching gold despite never finishing higher than fifth in a World Cup downhill before.

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American star Mikaela Shiffrin won giant slalom gold in the first of her four events in Pyeongchang.

The 22-year-old is set to race in the downhill, combined and slalom, but has pulled out of the super G because of a compressed schedule following postponements earlier in the week.

Also on Thursday

Alongside alpine skiing and giant slalom, there were seven other gold medal events on Thursday:

• Savchenko and Massot win figure skating pairs gold

• France's Vaultier defends men's snowboard cross title

• Norway's Haga wins women's cross-country skiing 10km freestyle gold

• Sweden's Oberg takes surprise 15km individual biathlon title

• Bo wins gold in 20km biathlon

• Bloemen breaks Olympic record to win 10,000 speed skating gold

• Germany claim a third Winter Olympics luge gold

'Iron Man' off to a flyer

Yun Sung-bin set a track record in the second heat

South Korea's Yun Sung-bin has become a hit with the home fans after setting a track record in the men's skeleton heats.

The 23-year-old, who wears a helmet resembling American film superhero Iron Man, is bidding to win his country's first skeleton medal.

"The way people ride skeleton is similar to the way Iron Man flies," said Yun. "He's also my favourite character, and that's why I wear him on my helmet."

Ghana's Akwasi Frimpong posted the slowest time in the heats

Akwasi Frimpong made history by becoming the first Ghanaian to compete in the skeleton at the Winter Olympics.

The 32-year-old was slowest in a field of 30, but made his mark on the ice with a helmet featuring a rabbit escaping the jaws of a lion.

• Ghana in 60 seconds - from illegal immigrant to Olympian

"When the cage goes up, the rabbit has to run away from the lions otherwise it will get eaten," Frimpong said before making his Games debut.

Anthony Watson, the first Jamaican to compete in the event, posted the second slowest combined time in the heats.

Other news on day six

North Korea's cheerleading squad had only previously attended the unified women's team's games

• North Korea's cheerleading squad made an unexpected appearance at the South Korean men's hockey game against the Czech Republic.

• Four-time women's ice hockey champions Canada beat the United States 2-1 to stretch their Winter Olympic winning streak to 23 games.