Didier Defago became the first Swiss to win a men's Olympic Alpine title since 1988 as he claimed gold in the men's downhill.
Svindal takes silver as Miller completes the podium
Didier Defago became the first Swiss to win a men's Olympic Alpine title since 1988 as he claimed gold in the men's downhill in Vancouver on Monday.
Defago stepped out of the shadows of some of his more fancied team-mates to emerge victorious in the blue riband event with Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal taking the silver medal and American Bode Miller picking up bronze.
Defago's triumph was Switzerland's first in a men's Olympic Alpine event since that of Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1988 which came at another Canadian venue, Calgary.
The 32-year-old, 18th out of the start gate, went down shortly after Svindal had edged ahead of Miller who led from the early stages.
The Swiss skier produced a smooth and precise run on the testing Dave Murray piste to record a time of 1 minute 54.31 seconds - seven hundredths quicker than Svindal and nine hundredths faster than Miller.
Afterwards a delighted Defago stated: "It hasn't sunk in yet. You had to really fight on that piste, it was pretty bouncy. It was really a beautiful run.
"This morning I knew that the course would suit me well. I have been looking for a podium for a long time.
"I really wanted to go back home with a medal. After three Olympics and a lot of championships, I think my experience made the difference."
Defago's heavily-fancied team-mate Didier Cuche looked to be in with a real shout of forcing his way on to the podium before losing time over the final section to finish down in sixth overall, while another Swiss, Carlo Janka, finished some way off the pace.
Austrian Michael Walchhofer, the reigning Olympic downhill silver medallist, posted the fastest times after the first two splits but lost his advantage going wide on one turn to finish in tenth, 0.57 seconds behind Defago's time.
After the podium finishers came Austrian Mario Scheiber in fourth and Canadian Erik Guay in fifth.
Guay's result provided something for the home fans to cheer with Manuel Osborne-Paradis unable to live up to his pre-race hype as he finished a long way off the pace and team-mate Robbie Dixon crashing out after a shaky start.
Britain's Ed Drake finished 38th in the his first Olympic appearance, the Tooting-born 24-year-old was the 44th starter and clocked 1:57.91 on the Whistler mountain.
More Swiss gold
There was another gold for Switzerland in the men's cross-country skiing with Dario Cologna winning the 15km freestyle event.
Cologna, 23, followed in the footsteps of Defago earlier in the day as produced a superb display to blow away his rivals.
The youngster stormed over the course in a time of 33min 36.3 seconds to finish some 24.6 seconds ahead of Italy's Pietro Piller Cottrer in second with Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic taking bronze.
Pre-race favourite Petter Northug Jr of Norway, the current World Cup leader, endured a hugley disappointing day as he finished a long way off the pace in 41st, over two minutes behind Cologna.
Joy for Kalla
Meanwhile, Charlotte Kalla clinched gold in the women's 10km freestyle cross-country event on Monday to give Sweden their first medal of the Olympics.
The 22-year-old covered the course in 24 minutes 58.4 seconds to push Estonian veteran Kristina Smigun-Vaehi into second, with Norway's Marit Bjoergen adding a bronze to the silver medals she won at Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin in 2006.
"It feels crazy right now, I can't
