Italian Enrico Fabris thrilled the home crowd by claiming the men's 1500 metres speed-skating gold ahead of two American rivals at a sold-out Oval Lingotto.

Fabris clocked a superb time of one minute 45.97 seconds before nervously sitting through the last four races which would decide his fate.

Chad Hedrick failed to nudge ahead of Fabris' time and when Shani Davis also dropped back in the final race the Italians could celebrate.

Tearful Fabris embraced Davis before skating a lap of honour with the Italian flag. It was his second gold of the Games following Italy's success last week in the Team Pursuit.

Fabris said: "I wasn't sure my time would be the winning one so my heart was pumping very fast while I was waiting for the last four pairs.

"I was more afraid of Davis because he is a specialist for this distance but he started fast and couldn't maintain his speed in the last few hundred metres."

Sandra Kiriasis steered Germany One to the women's bobsleigh gold medal at Cesana Pariol ahead of United States One in second and Italy One who took the bronze.

Kiriasis said: "It's like a dream, like sitting in front of the TV when I was a child admiring these athletes who won. I think I have to sleep one more night before I realise what happened."

There was more gold for Germany in the men's biathlon 4x7.5km relay after the favourites overhauled the surprise early lead set by the United States' Jay Hakkinen.