(MENAFN- Kora) The 34-year-old Austrian led after the first run and held off the challenge of compatriot Marcel Hirscher with a time of one minute and 41.84 seconds
Matt was not considered among the leading contenders to top the podium, having never finished higher than 34th in three previous Olympic races
And the veteran was delighted with the result
"I think most people can imagine it is the most impressive day of my career," Matt said. "I tried not to risk too much on the first part and I made it through to the finish
"You can tell yourself this is just a training run, but when it works out like this it is incredible.
Hirscher, who started as one of the favourites but was ninth after the first run, produced a blistering second run that saw him take the silver, while 19-year-old Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen was third and became the youngest man to win an Olympic skiing medal
In an action-packed day 15 in Sochi, Vic Wild and Marit Bjoergen also etched their name in history. The former is the first athlete to win two snowboarding gold medals at the same Games, while the latter became the most successful woman in Winter Games history, winning the sixth cross country Olympic gold of her career in the ladies' 30km mass start free race
American-born Wild - victor in Wednesday's giant slalom € ousted Zan Kosir by just 11 hundredths of a second as the parallel slalom was held for the first time at the Games
In the race to decide the bronze medal Austria's Benjamin Karl capitalised on a slip from Aaron March to beat the Italian
Austria's Julia Dujmovits was the gold medallist in the women's version of the event, defeating Germany's Anke Karstens despite a deficit of 0.72 seconds from the first run
Karstens' compatriot Amelie Kober saw off Italy's Corinna Boccacini to win bronze
In cross-country skiing, Norway secured a clean sweep in the ladies' 30km mass start free race, led by Bjoergen's third gold of the Games
She clocked a time of one hour 11mins and 5.2secs, with Therese Johaug and Kristin Stoermer Steira taking silver and bronze respectively
The Netherlands were victorious in both the men's and ladies' team pursuits in speed skating, with each team setting an Olympic record in the process
The men held off the challenge of South Korea, with Poland taking bronze. The Pole's also took a silver in the ladies' event, with Russia finishing third
Russia collected their 11th gold of the Games to top the medal table as they triumphed in the men's 4x7.5km relay in biathlon, ahead of Germany and Austria
Norway had been in medal contention but Emil Hegle Svendsen put in a disastrous final shoot to leave his team out of contention
In men's ice hockey, the United States were humiliated 5-0 by Finland in the bronze medal match, Teemu Selanne scoring twice for the Finns
After two heats of the four-man bobsleigh, Russia lead the way from Latvia and Germany
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