WINTER OLYMPICS: Georg Hackl's dream of becoming the first Winter Olympian to win four successive individual golds in the same event was dashed yesterday as Italy's Armin Zoeggeler snatched the men's single luge title.

Zoeggeler timed two minutes 57.941 overall with the German, regarded as the top luger of all time, 0.329 seconds behind after four runs and two days of competition. The bronze went to Austrian Markus Prock.

The 35-year-old Hackl had won silver followed by three golds in his previous four Olympics since his debut in Calgary, Canada, 14 years ago.

The Bavarian, nicknamed "The Speeding Sausage" because of his stocky frame squeezed into a skin-tight racing suit, knows what narrow margins are all about.

He beat Prock to the 1992 Albertville title by just over three tenths of a second and repeated the result over the Austrian in Lillehammer two years later by 0.013 of a second.

Germany and Italy now top the gold medal standings with two each. Norway, the United States, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain have one each.

The women's Olympic Alpine skiing downhill scheduled for yesterday was postponed due to high winds on the upper section of the Wildflower course.

The race, scheduled for 10 a.m. was twice delayed by one hour before being called off.

A training run for the downhill part of the men's combined event due to take place yesterday was also postponed.

The skies were relatively clear over the Snowbasin ski area with only a few thin clouds, but gusty winds at the top of the piste posed a safety threat.

The Scots introduced curling to North America in the middle of the 19th Century, but now it is the Canadians who are now handing out the lessons.

Britain's four-man team, skippered by Stranraer hotelier Hammy McMillan, were beaten 6-4 by the gold medal favourites in their opening match at the Ogden Ice Sheet yesterday.

In a match of 10 ends, McMillan, Peter Louden, Ewan McDonald and Warwick Smith went two points down in the second and could not wrest back the initiative.

Canada, led by Kevin Martin whose vital last two stones in the seventh end increased their lead to 6-2 when the score could easily have been tied, threw 87 per cent of their stones into the house - the curling term for the target - with Britain achieving 78 per cent and McMillan personally only 66 per cent.

McMillan admitted his Olympic debut had turned into something of a disappointment, but the journey is far from over for the Britons, who will play eight more round-robin matches, with the top four in the 10-team competition ultimately progressing to the semi-finals.

McMillan said: "Today's defeat was all a matter of fractions, just a couple of inches here and there. If we'd played badly I would have been more disappointed.

"Canada are one of the top teams in the world but I spotted a few frailties so if we can go on and play them again we will have a chance next time."

Referring to Martin's crucial seventh end strike McMillan added: "Their skipper played one of the hardest shots you can play and when you go two down at this level there's not a whole lot you can do about it."

The British men's task does not get any easier. They now go straight into a match against reigning world champions Sweden.

In the women's biathlon, 24-year-old German Andrea Henkel, who had never won a major international race, beat Norwegian favourite Liv Grete Poiree into second place while Magdalena Forsberg, Sweden's five-time World Cup winner, won the bronze.

Henkel missed only one target out of 20, a near-perfect score which she says was her route to gold.

"I was surprised with my result because I didn't think I skied very fast. I was very nervous before my first shooting, and I was delighted to hit all five targets," said Henkel, who gave Germany its first gold in the women's event since Antje Misersky won the 15km biathlon at Albertville in 1992.

Forsberg's flawed marksmanship ended her Olympic dream after she had skied well over the course.

However, she said she was delighted with the bronze, her first Olympic individual medal after a lengthy career of dominating at World Cup level.