Beijing 2022: Gower finishes 12th in men's downhill combined

Ireland's Jack Gower put in a superb display on the slopes to finish 12th overall in the men's alpine combined at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Thursday.

A time of 1:45.16 on the downhill placed Gower in 14th place overall, while an assured display in the slalom event saw the maiden Olympian finish 12th.

His overall time of 2:37.74 was enough to finish 12th overall.

Austria's Johannes Strolz completed his incredible comeback from the brink of giving up professional skiing by winning gold, pipping Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to top spot with Canada's James Crawford third.

"Downhill can feel very calm when it’s all going very well, but feels very fast and scary when things are not clicking," Gower said after the downhill run.

"I think it was the same for that run and where I was skiing well it felt very in control and good."

Gower is Ireland’s only competitor in action today.

Earlier this week Gower suffered a DNF in the men’s Super-G and finished 31st overall in the men’s downhill.

Gold winner Strolz almost quit skiing a year ago after losing his place in his country's top team, worked as a policeman in a small town in Austria for months last summer, driving a patrol car and controlling traffic to earn money and staying on the ski circuit without official support.

He was eventually invited to train with the German alpine team and punched his ticket to the Olympics with a stunning slalom victory at a World Cup race in Adelboden in Switzerland last month - his first in his nine years of racing.