Gold medalist Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch (L) and silver medalist Austria’s Nicole Hosp celebrate after the women’s Alpine Skiing Super Combined Slalom at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Center during the Sochi Winter Olympics Monday. — AFP

SOCHI — Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch put on a skiing masterclass to defend her Olympic super-combined title Monday, but 40-year-old biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen saw his hopes of becoming the greatest ever winter Olympian stalled.



The 29-year-old Hoefl-Riesch, who also claimed the world title in 2013, posted a total time of 2min 34.62sec after one downhill and one slalom run on the tricky course high above the Games’ Sochi hub on the edge of the Black Sea.



She finished ahead of Austria’s Nicole Hosp at 0.40sec and US favorite Julia Mancuso, who made a key mistake halfway through the course to finish third at 0.53sec despite leading after the downhill.



Hoefl-Riesch had been fifth after the morning’s run, but put in a smooth performance in the slalom - her specialty — to take her third Olympic gold medal after combined and slalom wins in Vancouver in 2010.



“It was a big fight and it wasn’t easy because the snow was tough and bumpy. The hill was steep at the start, which I found especially difficult,” said Hoefl-Riesch.



For Mancuso, it was a fourth Olympic medal — the joint-second most for an American woman at the Winter Games.



Bjoerndalen, taking part in his sixth Games, had drawn level with compatriot Bjorn Daehlie when he clinched a 12th Olympic medal with gold in Saturday’s 10km sprint and he started the 12.5km pursuit Monday as favorite.



But his hopes of a record 13th medal were agonizingly thwarted when he finished fourth, 1.7sec behind France’s Jean Guillaume Beatrix in third, after missing targets in the shooting stages.



World Cup leader Martin Fourcade took his first Olympic gold to give France its first title in Sochi after dominating the race from the mid-stage. He finished in 33min 48.6sec, 14.1sec ahead of Ondrej Moravec of the Czech Republic who came in second for silver.



Despite his setback, Bjoerndalen is due to race in four more events in Sochi and remains on course to reach 13 medals.



Canada’s Charles Hamelin, wearing a high-tech spandex bodysuit, claimed his third Olympic gold when he won the men’s 1,500m short track speed skating title. Hamelin, 29, timed 2:14.985 to snatch the gold ahead of 17-year-old Han Tianyu of China, who took silver in 2:15.055.



Victor Ahn, 28, gave host Russia its first-ever Olympic short track medal with bronze in 2:15.062.



It was a fifth Olympic medal for Ahn, formerly known as Ahn Hyun-soo, who won gold in the 1,000m, 1,500m and 5,000m relay for South Korea in 2006, before switching nationalities after failing to qualify for Vancouver.



Michel Mulder saw off a fierce challenge from his Dutch teammates to win the 500m speed skating gold as the Netherlands swept the podium.



Mulder, 27, won with a combined time from his two races of 69.31sec, beating compatriot Jan Smeekens by just 0.01sec in a thrilling climax to the competition.



Ronald Mulder, the twin brother of Michel, took bronze in a time of 69.46sec.



IOC bans Burke stickers



Athletes at the Sochi Games will not be allowed to use helmet stickers as a mark of respect for Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who died in an accident two years ago, the International Olympic Committee said Monday.



The IOC has told at least one athlete, Australian snowboarder Tora Bright, to refrain from using a sticker. — Agencies