Tina Maze of Slovenia and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland shared the gold medal in the women's downhill at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday, the first time this has happened in Alpine skiing at an Olympic Winter Games.

Gisin, who has not won a world cup downhill race since 2009 and whose best finish in the downhill this season is seventh, flew down the course to set the winning time at one minute, 41.57 seconds for the title. Maze did it again shortly afterward and Lara Gut of Switzerland finished third with only 0.10 behind.

There have been three ties for second in Olympic ski racing. The last time a women's Olympic skiing medal was shared was in Albertville in 1992, when American Diann Roffe and Austria's Anita Wachter took silver in the slalom. But there has never been a tie for first.

Maze made an early lead and was up on Gisin's time at all four intermediate splits but a small mistake on the final section derailed the 30-year-old enough to result in a first tie in Olympic alpine history.

"It's a great feeling because Dominique and I are pretty good friends. We have the same mentality. It's good to see her winning gold, too. I am very happy for her," said Maze, who won silver in both the super-G and giant slalom four years ago in Vancouvour

"I have no words. This doesn't feel real. I will have to see my team to get myself together and realise how much this means to us," said Maze, who is the first Slovenian to win an Olympic Winter Games gold and the first from her country to win three Olympic Games medals in either the summer or winter Games.

"I have been dreaming about this since I was little. The first ski race I ever won in my life was a downhill so before I went down the track today I said to myself, 'This has to be it. I can do it', and I just went for it."

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