SALT LAKE CITY - Carole Montillet and Andres Veerpalu made skiing history Tuesday at the Winter Games, while the Russian rivalry in men's figure skating fizzled out. Montillet became the first skier from France to win the Olympic women's downhill race and Veerpalu registered Estonia's first cross-country ski medal after winning the men's 15-kilometre classical race.

Montillet's victory was salve for a French squad that has been in mourning since last October with the death of team leader Regine Cavagnoud. "It was very difficult, and as a team we wanted to dedicate the Olympics to Regine," Montillet said.

Montillet carried France's flag in the opening ceremonies Friday, given the honour by French officials because she had been a close friend of Cavagnoud, a super-G star who died two days after slamming into a German coach during a practice run.

Montillet claimed the gold medal after posting a time of one minute 39.56 seconds. The race originally had been scheduled for Monday, but was postponed until Tuesday because of high winds.

Montillet and the other skiers then had to wait an additional two hours to race Tuesday before winds diminished enough for the event to go ahead.

Italy's Isolde Kostner finished second in 1:40.01 and Austrian Renate Goetschl was third in 1:40.39.

Montillet, 28, had never won a medal at a major competition and has only one World Cup victory in her career, a Super-G last year.

She had a nearly error-free run down the 2,694-metre Wildflower course to leave other contenders far behind.

"It was so wonderful, I have a lot of emotions," Montillet said. "I don't know if I made mistakes, but I wanted to go fast."

Veerpalu was another surprise winner, producing Estonia's first Olympic medal. Compatriot Jaak Mae was third.

Alexei Yagudin skated a flawless short program in men's figure skating to put the Russian into the lead. Japan's Takeshi Honda stood in second and Timothy Goebel of the United States was third.

But Evgeny Plushenko's crash to the ice and Elvis Stojko's stumble seemed to leave a clear path to the gold for Yagudin.

Plushenko was fortunate to finish fourth, while Stojko sat seventh. They'll need a complete collapse by Yagudin to have any chance of winning.

"The Olympic Games are over," Plushenko's coach Alexei Mishin said. "Probably pressure."

Yagudin was pleased with his skate.

"I was a little bit nervous because it is the actual Olympics," said Yagudin, who finished fifth in Nagano, skating with a high fever. "It's not the Russian nationals, it's not Europeans, it's not worlds, it's the Olympics. It's two-times tougher to skate here."

Emotions were running high after Canada's Olympic delegation called for an investigation into the controversial judging in Monday night's pairs figure skating that gave the Russians the gold medal over a Canadian team.

The International Skating Union, which oversees figure skating, said it would launch an inquiry after world champions Jamie Sale of Red Deer, Alta., and David Pelletier of Sayabec, Que., narrowly lost the pairs title to Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, despite putting on a stunning performance.

Bente Skari dominated the women's 10-kilometre cross-country classical race, giving the Norwegian women their first Olympic gold in individual races.

Janne Lahtela of Finland captured the men's freestyle moguls event.

American Casey FitzRandolph won the men's 500-metre speed skating gold with a two-run time of one minute 9.23 seconds. Defending champion Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan was second, followed by Kip Carpenter of the U.S.

Veerpalu, 31, beat a field that featured World Cup leader Per Elofsson and the circuit's best classical-style skier, Anders Aukland of Norway.

Veerpalu led virtually all the way, never giving the favourites a chance.

"I had good control pretty much throughout the race, but I feared the Norwegians," Veerpalu said. "At the halfway point I knew I would win.

"I felt very well. When you're in good shape you have confidence."

Norway's Frode Estil was second, a whopping 36 seconds behind Veerpalu. Mae's bronze medal only underlined Estonia's domination of the event.

Skari narrowly averted a Russian medal sweep in the women's 10-kilometre race, covering the hilly Soldier Hollow course in 28:05. Russian Olga Danilova was second, just 2.5 seconds behind. Compatriots Julija Tchepalova and Larissa Lazutina were third and fourth, respectively.

Lahtela won the men's freestyle ski moguls with 27.97 points. American Travis Mayer was second with 27.59 points and France's Richard Gay placed third.

FitzRandolph slipped on the final turn but still managed to win the men's 500-metre speed skating event with a two-run combined time of 1:09.23. Shimizu was second in 1:09.26. Carpenter surprisingly took the bronze in 1:09.47.

Pre-race favourite Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer, Alta., crashed in Monday's first race and was out of medal contention. But he skated Tuesday and his time of 34.63 seconds was the fastest of the day and third-best in the two days of racing.

In other action Tuesday:

- Karen Bye had two goals and two assists and Natalie Darwitz scored twice as the defending champion United States thrashed Germany 10-0 in the opening round of the Olympic women's ice hockey tournament. Finland beat China 4-0 in the late game.

- In men's hockey, Germany upset Latvia 4-1 to qualify for the second round. The Germans advanced into a second round group that includes Canada, Sweden and the defending Olympic champion Czech Republic.

Martin Reichel, Leonard Soccio, Stefan Ustorf and Klaus Kathan scored for Germany (3-0). Aigars Cipruss scored for Latvia (1-1-1).

Austria edged Slovakia 3-2, ending a disappointing tournament for the Slovaks, who finished last in the group at 0-2-1. Austria finished 1-2-0.

- In men's third draw curling, Sweden beat Britain 7-2, Switzerland downed Denmark 10-6, Norway beat France 9-2 and Kevin Martin's Edmonton rink beat Finland 9-4.

In women's second draw curling, Switzerland beat Russia 7-6 in an extra end, Sweden defeated Britain 7-4, the U.S. edged Japan 8-7 and Kelley Law's B.C., foursome beat Norway 6-5. In Draw 3, Germany beat Denmark 9-5, the U.S. edged Sweden 6-5, Britain hammered Japan 9-1 and Canada got past Russia 7-6.