Mikaela Shiffrin: USA star skier takes Olympic Giant Slalom gold with penultimate run

The 22 year-old trailed in second place to Italy's Manuela Moelgg after the first leg, but Shiffrin showed her star quality with a superb second leg to seal her second Olympic title in a time of two minutes and 20.02 seconds.

The American is favourite to win Friday's Slalom gold and is tipped to challenge for the Combined and Downhill titles as she looks to build on her Slalom gold from Sochi four years ago.

Shiffrin, who has equalled the most World Cup wins by a woman with 41, had a bad start to the year in January with two seventh place finishes and three races where she did not finish so winning Olympic gold when it mattered most brought her much delight at the finish line.

It was a nervous wait for the three-time world champion though, as she missed out on the lead in the first leg by two tenths of a second to Italy's Moelgg, who set the pace from the very first run with a bench mark of one minute and 10.62 seconds.

The advantage then changed five times in the second leg with France's four-time world champion Tessa Worley in front for the majority before being overtaken by silver medallist Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway and Italian Federica Brignone, who did just enough to get a bronze medal.

But then it was Shiffrin's turn to step up the mark and the form that has seen her break many records at such a young age shone through as she smashed Mowinckel's time by four tenths of a second in an emphatic final part of the race.

Only Moelgg could spoil Shiffrin's day with the final run of the competition but the pressure told on the Italian and her time allowed Shiffrin to begin her quest for five gold medals in PyeongChang.