Medals update: Swiss Beat Feuz wins first Olympic gold in men's Alpine skiing downhill

Beat Feuz took the 890m of vertical of the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre’s downhill course by storm on 7 February in the men’s Alpine skiing downhill finals. The event was rescheduled from the night before – when high winds forced a postponement for safety reasons.

The Swiss racer's time of 1:42.69 was enough to win the first Alpine skiing gold medal of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

"It was perfect weather, no wind, and I was just standing perfectly on the skis. A dream came true," said the ecstatic skier after picking up his first Olympic gold medal."

"The Olympics are a big thing, and today it worked for me," added Feuz, who will go again tomorrow in the Super-G event. "In [PyeongChang] four years ago I was second and third, but today everything came together. It means the world to me. I can't think of anything more beautiful than flying home with a gold medal around my neck."

• READ | Beat Feuz: Attacking is What I Do

History for Frenchman Clarey

Johan Clarey of France was next-fastest with a time of 1:42.79 and his silver medal sees him overtake USA’s Bode Miller as the oldest Alpine skiing Olympic medallist of all time – at 41 years, 28 days.

"I was pushing, pushing, taking a lot of risks," said history-maker Clarey. "I knew I only had one chance left in my career to get a medal in the Olympics.

"When I was going down I knew I made a good run but you never know in downhill, sometimes you are fast, sometimes you are not and you never know why," he added. "But today I was fast. Not enough for the gold but silver is just my happiness.

"When you are a medallist [whether] you are 20 or 41 it doesn't matter, it's just an Olympic medal," the Frenchman continued. "It's already a good memory."

Matthias Mayer of Austria rounded out the podium with a time of 1:42.85 to win his third Olympic medal after a pair of golds in Sochi 2014 (downhill) and PyeongChang 2018 (Super-G).

"What should I say? It's an Olympic bronze medal, I'm very happy," said Mayer, who was chasing history on the day. "It was a really great race, it was such a close race. Everyone did their best. I feel pretty happy."

"Beat [Feuz] is such a great skier, he's a well-deserved Olympic champion," added the Austrian

Mayer, whose father Helmut won silver in the Super-G at the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games, was hoping to become the first skier to win three straight gold medals in the speed events.

But it wasn't to be as Feuz was the top man on the day, earning his third Olympic medal (and first gold) on a day of fierce racing that saw Dominik Schwaiger crash hard on the upper part of the course.

The German needed to be removed from the course on a sled by medical personnel which caused a lengthy delay as the course was reset.

Men’s alpine skiing downhill results

• 1 Beat Feuz (SUI) 1:42.69
• 2 Johan Clarey (FRA) 1:42.79
• 3 Matthias Mayer (AUT) 1:42.85