Ted Ligety delighted with giant slalom success

United States skier Ted Ligety has said that it is an "awesome feeling" to win gold in the men's giant slalom at the Sochi Olympics.

The 29-year-old posted a total time of 2:45.29 with his two runs to finish in first place ahead of France's Steve Missilier.

Ligety has admitted that his first run time of 1:21.08 took some of the pressure off his second attempt.

"This is the event I have been putting so much pressure on myself to win, so to pull through is an awesome feeling," Ligety told BBC Sport.

"I feel really lucky I had such a good first run because I didn't have to take all the risks in the second."

Ligety has become the first non-European to win the giant slalom title at the Winter Games.