Julia Mancuso put a smile back on the face of the United States ski team by braving difficult conditions to secure unexpected gold in the women's giant slalom at Sestriere.
Mancuso was fastest on the first run and also stayed solid on her second to beat Finland's Tanja Poutiainen into second place by 0.67 seconds with Swede Anna Ottosson, fastest in the second run, third.
Mancuso's victory sparked celebrations among the American team whose alpine stars had failed to deliver at the Games save for Ted Ligety's combined gold medal last week. It was the women's team's first medal of the Games.
Mancuso said: "I don't think the team was necessarily struggling but it was just bad luck in the ski races and in the slalom we have not been up to speed.
"I can't believe it because I was freaking out at the start - the course was so tough. I just felt I could not make any mistakes on the second run because there were so many big turns."
Judges had decided to lower the starting gate for the course when fog and heavy snow made conditions in the upper section of the course too difficult.
Favourite Anja Paerson failed to add to her gold medal in the slalom as she produced an inconsistent second run to fall to sixth place overall.
Briton Chemmy Alcott was 32nd after the first run, but an improved effort on the second course saw her climb up to 22nd.
Ireland's Kirsten McGarry placed 32nd.
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