Winter Olympics: Austria picked up their eighth gold medal of the Olympics yesterday, marking their most successful Winter Games, but were still unable to escape the gloom enshrouding them over an ongoing doping saga.

Felix Gottwald, already a gold and silver medallist here, won another gold in the Nordic combined event, lifting Austria to second in the overall standings.

Neighbouring Germany lead the way with nine gold, seven silver and five bronze medals, having won their eighth and ninth golds on yesterday. Austria have five silver and three bronze as well as their eight gold medals.

Germany re-established themselves as the dominant power in men's biathlon with victory in the 4x7.5km relay.

Sandra Kiriasis then steered her Germany I sled to victory in the women's bobsleigh.

In the biathlon, having taken the lead after the third of eight visits to the shooting range, the German team of Ricco Gross, Michael Rösch, Sven Fischer and Michael Greis stayed comfortably in front to finish 20.9 seconds ahead of silver medallists Russia.

"It was a fantastic team performance," coach Frank Ulrich said after watching Germany take the men's relay title for the fourth time in five Games. "It might have seemed easy, but they had to fight for it and they showed great mental strength."

As did Kiriasis. A silver medallist when women's bobsleigh made its Olympic debut four years ago in Salt Lake City, the 31-year-old mastered the tricky Cesana track for a comfortable win. Shauna Rohbock's United States I sled took silver, while the Italy I bob driven by Gerda Weissensteiner thrilled the home fans with the bronze.

The US had to settle for silver and bronze in the 1,500 metres speedskating when arch rivals Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis seemed to concentrate more on each other than their times. Gold went to Italy's newest hero, Enrico Fabris, who also won gold in the team event last week.

"We fought each other and not the clock," said Hedrick, who had hoped to win five gold medals in Turin. Now the best he can do is two.

Thoroughly depressed by the doping saga, Austria finished the biathlon last, more than six minutes behind the Germans.

"It was very difficult for us to concentrate on the race, but we did our best," said their first athlete, Daniel Mesotitsch. "What has happened over the past few days explains our result."

Unprecedented Austrian success on the slopes and the ice - their previous best haul was six golds in 1992 - could not lighten the general gloom. The team face a disciplinary investigation to probe possible doping violations, whether or not a positive dope test is found.

A Monday night police search of a former coach's lodgings unearthed medical equipment useful in the investigation into possible doping violations, a police source said yesterday.

"Medical equipment was found in the house Walter Mayer was staying in and this material is considered useful in the investigation," the source said. It will now be analysed further.

News then came that two Austrian biathletes who left the Olympics at the weekend may have used illegal methods.

Markus Gandler, the Austrian federation's biathlon and cross-country skiing sporting director, told a news conference Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann had told him the police confiscated something from them which "may have been illegal. They were scared of Italian law and they preferred to leave because something was confiscated, only from them and not from the others, and they were worried it may have been illegal."

The International Olympic Committee will probe possible doping violations by the biathlon and cross-country skiing teams.