Vancouver, British Columbia ? Lindsey Vonn crossed the finish line, saw her time, then yelled and fell backward onto the snow.

Joy? Relief? Pain?

All the emotions that come with being a gold-medal winner.

Despite a bruised right shin that made it painful even to wear a ski boot, Vonn dominated a crash-marred downhill to win the first of her five events at the Vancouver Olympics. (Or, as the hats seen in the crowd read: the Vonn-couver Olympics.)

“I gave up everything for this,” she said. “It means everything to me. … I dreamed about what this would feel like, but it is much better in real life.”

Teammate and childhood rival Julia Mancuso was a surprising second, giving Americans the top two medals in an Alpine race for the first time in 26 years and starting a big day for the U.S.

Later, Shani Davis added a gold in 1,000-meter speedskating, and Shaun White defended his title in the halfpipe. At the end of the day, the U.S. led all countries with five gold medals and 14 overall.

Short-track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno also had a good night, easily advancing through preliminaries of the men’s 1,000 and helping the United States move on to the 5,000 relay final. Both finals are Saturday, when Ohno can add to his cache of six Olympic medals and become the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian.

Women’s downhill

Since getting hurt in practice two weeks ago, Vonn spent more time with Austrian curd cheese smeared on her shin than being on the slopes. Several weather delays bought her time and kept her competition from getting too comfortable on this course.

She kicked out of the gate strong, building a quick lead and building on it. Just when it seemed she might lose control, she regained her form and kept charging toward the finish. A small bump just before the finish cost her a few ticks, but she still wound up winning by 0.56 seconds.

“I fought the whole way down,” she said. “It wasn’t a perfect run. I attacked, and I made it down.”

Maria Riesch of Germany, Vonn’s best friend and usual rival of late, finished eighth.

The course was tough, as evidenced by all the crashes. Swedish standout Anja Paerson went down hard, and another competitor had to be airlifted out. Yet another crashed across the finish line and disappeared under a logo of a skier; in trying to get up, she stuck out one ski, making for a bizarre image.

The only times Americans took gold and silver in an Alpine race both happened at the 1984 Sarajevo Games, with brothers Phil and Steve Mahre going 1-2 in the slalom and Debbie Armstrong and Christin Cooper doing so in giant slalom.

Vonn will be favored in two more races. It remains to be seen how much this event took out of her — or if it’s the start of a Phelps-like domination.

“I have what I want, and I’ll just keep fighting every day,” she said. “It’s definitely a huge relief that I finally did it.”

Speedskating

Davis didn’t come close to a medal in his first two events at these Olympics, but he came through in the 1,000, an event in which he holds the world record. With an impressive final kick, he edged South Korea’s Mo Tae-bum, who won the 500 and whose early pace Davis struggled to match.

Davis even shared the podium with Chad Hedrick again after the other American hopeful took the bronze. Davis and Hedrick had a nasty feud at the 2006 Turin Games, but both appeared in good spirits after Wednesday’s race. Davis and Hedrick finished second and third in the 1,500 in Turin.

“When you’re a world champion or an Olympic champion, you get this little thing on your back called a target,” said Davis, the first male skater to win this event a second time at the Winter Games. “To go out there and win the 1,000 meters twice is truly amazing.”

Snowboarding

Shaun White’s final run was a formality. At times, his entire event seemed like one.

White defended his Olympic title in the men’s halfpipe, defeating Finland’s Peetu Piiroinen.