The 22-year-old Shiffrin kicked off her bid for multiple titles at the Pyeongchang Winter Games with a storming second run in the giant slalom, ending a nervous wait after it was postponed because of high winds on Monday.
The Sochi 2014 slalom champion from America sank to her knees and dissolved in tears after her powerful descent brought her gold from Norways Ragnhild Mowinckel by 0.39 seconds.
"To come to the Olympics after some tough races on the World Cup circuit and to charge like that -- I risked it on the second run -- its super-cool."
Earlier, Aksel Lund Svindal, 35, became the Olympics oldest alpine ski champion in the mens downhill, with Kjetil Jansrud completing a Norwegian one-two.
Svindal, coming to the end of a stellar career, clocked 1min 40.25sec down the 3km Jeongseon course to hand Norway its first Olympic downhill gold.
"It feels pretty good, Im extremely happy," said Svindal. "World Cup wins, Ive been there a few times and know how that feels, but this is different."
After an error in the short programme, hopes had faded for Savchenko and Massot but they scored 159.09 points in the free dance, breaking their own world record, to pull off a fairytale victory.
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To roars from the crowd, French-born Massot then lifted Ukrainian-born Savchenko onto the top step of the podium. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada took bronze.
North Korean duo Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, supported strongly by their countrys all-female cheering squad and the home South Korean crowd, scored a personal best total of 193.63.
"I was very nervous about the competition, but once we went in, the sight of our cheer squad and the southern countrymen cheering together offered great support and stimulation," said Kim.
Frenchman Pierre Vaultier retained his snowboard cross title and Norways Ragnhild Haga won the womens 10km cross-country race.
Canadas Ted-Jan Bloemen broke a Dutch stranglehold on the speed skating titles with victory in the 10,000m, clocking a Games-record 12mins 39.77sec.
And Germany won a thrilling team relay to finish the luge competition with three out of four golds and extend their lead at the top of the overall medals table with nine, ahead of Norway on six.
The winds dropped markedly on Thursday after skiing and biathlon were both postponed a day earlier and organisers were forced to close off the Gangneung Olympic Park for safety reasons.
Friday sees seven more gold medals up for grabs with Shiffrin returning to action in the womens slalom.
There will also be intense interest in men's figure skating, where Japanese star Yuzuru Hanyu will make his first competitive appearance since injuring ankle ligaments in November.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
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