Austria's Strolz emulates father to win Olympic combined gold

Austria's Johannes Strolz bounced back from being dropped from his team, even working as a traffic policeman for a time, to emulate his father in winning Olympic alpine combined gold on Thursday in Beijing.

Sitting fourth after the opening downhill, Strolz produced the fastest slalom run to clock a combined time of 2min 31.43sec and top the podium, just as his father Hubert did at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde added silver to his super-G bronze, finishing 0.59sec slower than the winner, with Canada's James Crawford taking bronze at 0.68sec, a just reward after he finished fourth in the downhill and sixth in the super-G.

The result crowned a remarkable comeback for Strolz, whose poor form on the World Cup circuit saw him dropped from the demanding Austrian team.

It resulted in the 29-year-old funding his own way on the circuit and working for a time as a traffic cop, but his rise in form was clear for all to see.

Strolz still prepares his own slalom skis, but this season had a breakthrough victory in the Swiss resort of Adelboden despite starting with the lowly bib number of 38 normally worn by rank outsiders.

"It means the world to me because I was not on the team any more last summer, but I made it back into the team and got the full support again," said Strolz.

"Especially with the history of my father, it means so much to me. When I think about it, all the pictures and my father's gold medal, it's hard for me not to cry. It's just a dream coming true."

Austria men's head coach Andreas Puelacher said Strolz's gold was "amazing", adding that he had "never imagined it".

"He wasn’t in the team for a while but he’s come back successfully," Puelacher said. "A gold medal, that's another story!"