Winter Olympics: Mayer leads record-breaking displays in Beijing

The Austrian became only the third Alpine skier to win gold at three separate Olympics, and the first to do that in successive Games after defending the title he won four years ago in Pyeongchang after previous downhill success at Sochi in 2014.

Mayer did not finish the super-G in Russia eight years ago, with Kjetil Jansrud taking the gold on that occasion.

Norwegian Jansrud, a five-time Olympic medallist, could only finish 23rd on Tuesday and paid tribute to Mayer for his incredible achievement.

"Hats off. It's unbelievable to make it happen on days where it counts the most," said Jansrud. "I am a little lost for words because he has been dominating for so many years, but he's also one of the few who really steps up to the big occasions and does it. And he does it again, 'chapeau'."

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There were plenty of other people breaking records in Beijing, and Stats Perform has delved into some of the numbers behind them.

18 years, 158 days – Eileen Gu became the youngest gold medallist from China at a Winter Olympics with her freeski big air success, surpassing short track speed skater Zhou Yang (18 years, 256 days) when she won the women's 1,500m in 2010.

12 – Benjamin Karl achieved his "life project" by topping the podium in the men's parallel giant slalom. The gap of 12 years between his first and latest medals equalled the longest in snowboarding history, matching Shaun White (2006-2018) and Kelly Clark (2002-2014).

4 – Cross-country skier Johannes Hosflot Klaebo became the first man to win multiple Olympic gold medals in the men's sprint by defending his title. He has now won four straight individual sprint golds at Olympic and World Championship level – no other man has more than two such wins.

0 – Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner won gold in the curling mixed doubles without suffering a single defeat along the way, following an 8-5 success over Norway. It is only the fourth time curling gold has been won with an undefeated record, after Great Britain in 1924, Canada's men in 2010 and Canada's women in 2014.

3 – Natalie Geisenberger made it a hat-trick by taking first place in the women's singles for the third straight Games, making her the first luge athlete to achieve the feat. With a haul of five gold medals in her career, she became luge's most successful individual.