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Aamodt also won the Olympic super-G title in 1992 and 2002

Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt defended his Olympic super-G crown with a spectacular run in Sestriere.

Aamodt, 34, clocked one minute 30.65 to beat Austrian great Hermann Maier by 0.13 seconds with Switzerland's Ambrosi Hoffman in third in 1:30.98.

American Daron Rahlves was disappointing in ninth, while team-mate Bode Miller crashed out.

Britain's Finlay Mickel was tied 22nd in 1:32.10, while team-mate Roger Cruickshank finished 37th.

Aamodt became the first Alpine skier to win four career gold medals and clinched his eighth Olympic medal in all.

He was later joined on four golds by Croatia's Janica Kostelic, who won the women's combined title.

"It's amazing," said Aamodt, who also claimed a record third Olympic super-G title after wins in Val d'Isere in 1992 and Salt Lake City four years ago.

Maier missed the 2002 Games after a serious motorbike crash

"Probably I'm the youngest and the oldest Olympic champion on the men's side in Alpine skiing now so it's an amazing feeling."

The veteran racer finished fourth in last Sunday's downhill but injured his knee in the process and missed defending his combined title.

"I'm just in it for the love of the sport," said Aamodt, only the second male skier to successfully defend his Olympic title, after Italy's Alberto Tomba in the giant slalom in 1992.

"I've always been a sportsman, fighting and trying hard and I've been fortunate in the big events to be on the podium that many times.

"Today was a great thing to defend my title, with the Herminator (Maier) in the second spot, you know the greatest super-G skier of all time, it's a good picture. I can't believe it's true."

Maier completed a remarkable comeback from a serious motorbike crash in 2001, which nearly cost him his right leg and forced him to miss the 2002 Games.

"It was a weird race," he said. "In the middle part I could have read the newspaper.

	I don't want to talk. I was robbed. That's it Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin, who led before the race was stopped

"I could have gone for gold. But when I look at this medal as an old man it will be a good memory."

The 33-year-old, who had been struggling with flu and had returned home to Flachau after the downhill to recuperate, won Olympic super-G and giant slalom golds in 1998.

Hoffmann, a 28-year-old from Davos, picked up his first major medal in what is his first Olympic Games.

Austrian Benjamin Raich, selected for his country's four-man team ahead of downhill silver medallist Michael Walchhofer, finished down in 20th.

Olympic downhill champion Antoine Deneriaz of France came 11th.

An earlier attempt to stage the race on Saturday had to be shelved after the start because of heavy snow and poor visibility.

Seventeen racers had descended before conditions were deemed unsafe, with France's Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin holding an unlikely gold medal position.

On his second run under sunny skies, Dalcin went wide and missed a gate before making an obscene gesture with his finger back up the course.

"I don't want to talk," Dalcin told reporters at the finish line. "I was robbed; that's it."

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