Our friends at the mountain zone are cybercasting live from Japan.

YAMANOUCHI, Japan -- Building on an enormous first leg lead of nearly two seconds, France's Karine Ruby cruised to a gold medal in the women's giant slalom Olympic snowboarding event on Tuesday.

Ruby, a pre-race favourite after winning seven consecutive World Cup events earlier this season, finished the second leg with a combined time of two minutes 17.34 seconds to claim the first ever women's Olympic snowboarding gold medal.

Meanwhile, high hopes for the first U.S. medal of the Nagano Olympics virtually disappeared when all four American women fell during the first run.

France's Karine Ruby overcame tough conditions to take the gold medal.

Heidi Renoth, fifth after the first leg, finished a distant second to take silver, some 1.83 behind the leader.

Austria's Brigitte Koeck put together a spectacular second leg that was 1.6 faster than Ruby but could move no closer than third after a seventh place finish in the opening run.

"I was so nervous at the top before the second leg, it was unbelievable. Now I feel so at peace, the feeling is amazing," Ruby said as she celebrated her place in Olympic history.

Ruby's compatriot Isabelle Blanc, second following the first leg, could only watch as her teammate raced to victory. Blanc fell at the last gate, and her leading time to that point disappeared in a cloud of snow.

"I tried my best. The last gate was too sharp and I couldn't hold it. But I am happy for Karine, she raced so well," said Blanc.

Difficult weather and course conditions -- "death cookies," one boarder called them -- turned the event into a "race of survival."

While French favorite Ruby took a big lead, chances for an American medal evaporated as Rosey Fletcher, Betsy Shaw, Lisa Kosglow and Sondra Van Ert all tumbled on the Mount Yakebitai course.

"It's a race of survival," Fletcher said. "The snow is quite hard underneath. There's like really hard death cookies -- ice chunks. It's really inconsistent. There'll be powder, ice and death cookies. Its really difficult."

Fletcher and Kosglow failed to finish and Shaw was disqualified for missing a gate. Van Ert recovered after her fall and completed the race but was in 16th position, 8.56 seconds behind Ruby.

"It's disappointing, what can I say," said Kosglow after her Olympic dream ended halfway down the course.

"The technicians had our boards ready, it was up to us. I can't speak for the others, but for me, it was just my fault. I kept saying to myself as I was going down 'the conditions are soft' but I never got past it like I should have."

Any chance of a medal for Von Ert would take a combination of a stunning run by her and a string of wipeouts by the 15 racers she trails.

"It's not a stellar day for us," Kosglow said. "We all had high hopes. All four of us could have been on the podium. It's a terrible showcase for the sport. The women are not this bad."

After nearly 24 hours of continuous snowfall -- part of which forced organisers to delay the race from Monday to Tuesday -- the course went from a hard icy pitch in training to a soft, slower track that made adjustments difficult, racers said.

"I never really felt comfortable right from the start. I was always struggling to keep the board under me," said Fletcher, a 22-year-old from Alaska.

"It was the first time that we have had conditions like this here, and maybe it took us a little by surprise," Shaw said.

The Americans said they were not prepared for the fast, hard-packed snow conditions.

"They watered down the course a couple of days ago," Kosglow said. "That's the way to treat the course, but none of us have ever been on conditions like this before. Usually when the weather's like this, we race in powder.

"When I came out of the gate, I went, 'Oh, my God.' It felt like my feet weren't connected to the board."

The women's GS is the second snowboard event in Olympic history. In the first race Sunday, Canada's Ross Rebagliati won the gold medal in the men's giant slalom, while the U.S. team was shutout.

The competition moves Thursday to Kanbayashi Snowboard Park for the men's and women's halfpipe, freestyle events where riders perform jumps and tricks on a huge snow trough.