After winning the bronze in downhill and silver in super G, Austrian Stephan Eberharter rounded out his Olympic medal collection with the giant slalom gold today, winning with a time of 2 minutes, 23.28 seconds.

Eberharter finally lived up to expectations with his first Olympic gold medal, surprisingly only the third Austrian man in history to do so in giant slalom. In addition to his three medals at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, he won the giant slalom silver in 1998 behind teammate Hermann "The Herminator" Maier.

"It was my last race in the Olympics and the last chance for me to win the gold," Eberharter said afterward. "It's a very special day for me."

American Bode Miller, meanwhile, raised expectations for the U.S. Ski Team by winning the silver in 2:24.16 and becoming the first American man in history to reach the podium in what is considered ski racing's most challenging discipline. Miller will race for his third Olympic medal in slalom on Sunday, a feat unprecedented in American skiing.

"I was trying to win the gold myself. That's all you can ask for," Miller said. "But if it doesn't happen, it's because somebody else skied great, and Stephan skied great today. I have one more chance at it."

Eberharter distanced himself from the field early, taking a .74-second first-run advantage over the next-closest racer, Massimaliano Blardone of Italy. Miller was 7th after the first run, .91 seconds off the pace, but leapfrogged the field with the fastest second run of the day. It wasn't enough to catch Eberharter, however, as the Austrian racer's second-run time of 1:11.30 was only .03 seconds slower.

"Everybody was really close behind first place, behind Eberharter, so I knew that if I had a good run, I could move up to second place," Miller said. "I felt like I skied a good run. When I came down I was just hoping that it was going to hold up."

Eberharter has enjoyed the best season of his career this year, already clinching the 2002 World Cup downhill title and emerging as the runaway leader in the overall standings with nine of his 15 career victories coming this season. But none was as big as today's win.

"After the finish line there was no more pressure, the pressure was off me," he said. "Finally I had gotten gold. It was my last chance to get one, so that was really, really great. It was very special, but I think it will really come up in a few days when I get home, when I realize how many people are going to be happy and were there for me, feeling for me and that's going to be really great. But right now it's okay. It's done."

Norway's Lasse Kjus, the 2002 downhill silver medalist, earned the giant slalom bronze in 2:24.32. Kjus was third after the first run and held his position as Blardone fell to eighth with a combined time of 2:24.87. Austrians Benjamin Raich and Christoph Gruber rounded out the top five.

— Scott Willoughby, MountainZone.com Correspondent