Finally came a gold for China.

The summer sports power claimed its first gold in the Turin Winter Olympics Wednesday night as Wang Meng led all the way to win the women's 500m short track speedskating.

The 20-year-old from northeast China's Heilongjiang province exploded to the gun after a false start by teammate Fu Tianyu, and held off a late challenge by world record holder Evgenia Radanova to cross in 44.345 seconds.

The Bulgarian made a desperate lunge for the finish, but still beaten by a skate. She fell after she crossed in 44.374 seconds and crashed to the padded boards.

It was Radanova's second silver in the 500m after she finished second to Chinese Yang Yang in 2002.

Canadian Anouk Leblanc-Boucher picked the bronze in 44.759 seconds and Fu was disqualified.

After winning, Wang and Fu grabbed a Chinese flag and headed off for a victory lap, but Wang slipped and tumbled to the ice, twice.

Then the Olympic debutant was so excited that she leapt on the podium before her named was announced.

Wang's victory ended China's agonizing wait for gold.

Russia had twice dashed China's hopes in the last two days as Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin beat three Chinese couples in the pairs figure skating and Svetlana Zhurova sent two Chinese sprinters into second and third in the women's 500m speedskating.

Austria also celebrated their first golds by star Alpine skier Michaela Dorfmeister and the Linger brothers.

Having chased an elusive Olympic title for eight years, Dorfmeister finally got it in her Olympic swan song winning the women's downhill on the treacherous San Sicario slope which witnessed scary crashes in Monday's training sessions.

She hurtled down the piste in one minute, 56.49 seconds, beating Swiss Martina Schild into silver with overall World Cup champion Anja Paerson of Sweden taking a bronze.

The 32-year-old will call it quits after the season, in which she almost lost her life when a worker crossed her path as she flew downhill in St Moritz at more than 100 kph.

Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger won the doubles luge, completing the two-run event in one minute, 34.497 seconds. Germany's Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich took the silver and host lugers Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder winning bronze.

Australian freestyle skier Dale Begg-Smith, who leads the World Cup standings by nearly 150 points, lived up to expectations by winning the men's moguls gold.

Mikko Ronkainen of Finland won the silver, with the bronze nabbed by American Toby Dawson.

The Nordic combined team event has been rescheduled for Thursday because of high winds and the results from Wednesday's first round of ski jumping would stand.

The United States tops the gold tally with five, followed by Russia and Germany each with four. Austria and Sweden have two golds apiece.

Source: Xinhua