TORONTO – Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland made history Wednesday with a rare gold medal tie in women’s downhill, while Canada’s Larisa Yurkiw completed her long Olympic journey.
Both skiers will share the top of the podium after posting a time of 1 minute, 41.57 seconds at Rosa Khutor Alpine Center downhill event.
READ MORE: Full medal count at the 2014 Sochi Olympics
“I’m sure glad I’m going to share this gold with Tina,” said Gisin, who will get a medal all to herself. “She’s such a great woman and one of the greatest athletes of our sport.”
Wednesday’s event was the eighth time that Olympic gold has been awarded to two competitors in the Winter Games, and the first time in Alpine skiing.
“Maybe just one finger or one hand can change the colour of a medal,” said Maze, adding there was no need to slice up their finishing times into thousandths of seconds rather than hundredths.
“It’s even more interesting because it’s not a usual thing,” Maze said. “It’s something special.”
Lara Gut of Switzerland finished third after crossing the finish line with a time of 1 minute, 41.67 seconds.
Ontario’s Larisa Yurkiw, the lone Canadian in the race, finished 20th with a final time of 1 minute, 43.46.
It’s been a long road to Sochi for Yurkiw.
In 2009, the 25-year-old skier shattered her left knee during a training run which left her out of competition for two years, missing the Vancouver Olympics.
In 2013, Yurkiw founded Team Larisa Racing after not being named to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, forcing the Owen Sound native to fund her own way to the Games with the help of several sponsorships.
In December, Yurkiw finished seventh in the downhill at Lake Louise, a career-best World Cup finish.
–with files from the Associated Press
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