1ST LEAD Svindal and Shiffrin earn alpine ski wins at Pyeongchang Games By Barry Whelan, dpa

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Aksel Lund Svindal became the first-ever Norwegian to win men‘s downhill Olympic gold at the Pyeongchang Winter Games on Thursday while US star Mikaela Shiffrin claimed the women‘s giant slalom.An action-packed day of nine medal events, with the alpine skiing at Jongseon the highlight, was created by weather conditions forcing postponements earlier in the week.American prodigy Shiffrin took her second career gold aged 22 having fought back from second on the first run."It‘s really nice to know that from today on - no matter what I do - I will walk away from these Olympics with something," she said.Shiffrin is the overwhelming favourite to retain her slalom crown when the race is finally run - it is now scheduled for Friday after being postponed twice already.That is the impact of the weather, which eased Thursday but left organizers counting a toll. Sixteen people were lightly injured when gusts swept through the Olympic Park at the coastal cluster on Wednesday, organizing committee spokesman Sung Baik You said.Sung added that 60 tents were damaged, 18 others taken away and three reinforced due to gale-force winds.The men‘s downhill had also been delayed from its original date on Sunday and Norway‘s Svindal, already an Olympic champion in super-g from 2010, wrote himself further into the history books - even if he played down that aspect of victory."It‘s emotional, and being in the Olympics and competing for gold and being able to get it, for me at least those feelings are much stronger than any history ever written," he said.Elsewhere it was another medal-rich day for Germany, capped by Natalie Geisenberger, Johannes Ludwig, Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt winning the luge relay.Germany‘s Laura Dahlmeier picked up a third medal from three races in women‘s biathlon but had to settle for bronze in the 15-kilometre individual event, behind surprise winner Hanna Oeberg of Sweden. Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway won the men‘s individual 20km.The German duo Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot won the pairs figure skating, and placing 13th were Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, the only North Koreans who had officially qualified for the Games by virtue of past results.Norwegian great Marit Bjoergen missed out on a record-setting seventh Olympic gold in the cross-country skiing 10km freestyle but managed joint bronze behind winning compatriot Ragnhild Haga.In snowboard cross, Pierre Vaultier lived up to his top billing to capture back-to-back golds.And Dutch speed-skating icon Sven Kramer missed out on 10,000m gold once more with a disappointing sixth-place finish as Canada‘s Ted-Jan Bloeman took victory.Meanwhile International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach again met Russian athletes, competing as neutrals under the name Olympic Athletes from Russia, during a visit to the Olympic village.IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Bach told the Russians it was not for him to decide whether the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee would be lifted for the closing ceremony on February 25.