Rosa Khutor (Russia), Feb 19 (IANS): American Ted Ligety won the men's giant slalom gold at the Sochi Winter Games here Wednesday.

The 29-year-old world champion clocked 2 minutes 45.29 seconds in two runs, beating Frenchmen into second and third place. Steve Missillier was 0.48s behind for the silver and Alexis Pinturault took bronze with a further 0.16s behind.

For Ligety, the giant slalom gold is a long dream come true.

"This is the event I wanted the most," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "This is the event I have been putting so much pressure on myself to win, so to pull through is an awesome feeling.

Commenting on France's two medals, Missillier said: "This is a beautiful day for the French team.

"To be on the podium together with Alexis makes me very proud. This is perfect. It's a big dream. I never thought I could do this."

Himanshu Thakur finished 72nd out of the 72 athletes who set a time, ending India's challenge in the Games

Thakur managed a time of 3 minutes and 37.55 seconds in the two runs, 52.26 seconds behind the winner Ligety.

Earlier in the Games, Shiva Keshavan had come 37th in the men's luge while Nadeem Iqbal was 85th out of 87 participants in the 15km classic run.

India also saw its 14-month Olympic suspension being revoked during the Games.