Austria's Matthias Mayer: 'I won because I was under no pressure'

Austrian skier Matthias Mayer believes that he won the men's downhill skiing event at the Winter Olympics in Sochi because he did not feel under pressure.

The 23-year-old finished ahead of Christof Innerhofer of Italy and Norway's Kjetil Jansrud to win gold on Sunday.

"As an Austrian, you always know when you start that if you win a race, that it will be highly valued in Austria," the Bangkok Post quotes him as saying.

"So it's often difficult for young racers, you often feel the pressure, or sometimes not. Today I didn't and that's why I was successful."

The last Austrian to win a downhill event at an Olympics or world championships was Michael Walchhofer in February 2003.