United States skier Ted Ligety has said that it is an "awesome feeling" to win gold in the men's giant slalom at the Sochi Olympics.
The 29-year-old posted a total time of 2:45.29 with his two runs to finish in first place ahead of France's Steve Missilier.
Ligety has admitted that his first run time of 1:21.08 took some of the pressure off his second attempt.
"This is the event I have been putting so much pressure on myself to win, so to pull through is an awesome feeling," Ligety told BBC Sport.
"I feel really lucky I had such a good first run because I didn't have to take all the risks in the second."
Ligety has become the first non-European to win the giant slalom title at the Winter Games.
