Guay notches Kvitfjell super G win

Add Kvitfjell to the list of areas Erik Guay likes. Guay arced his way to his first World Cup win in three years Sunday March 8 laying claim to the Kvifjell, Norway super G with a narrow .02 margin over  Austrian Hannes Riechelt. Aksel Lund Svindal and Tobias Gruenenfelder both made the podium as well, tying for third place three tenths off the pace.

It was just the second win for the Canadian having won a downhill at Garmisch in February 2007. Garmisch is next on the current World Cup schedule. Guay has had 10 previous World Cup podium results and he has doubled up at most of the sites on that list, two at Garmisch, two at Beaver Creek, two at Val Gardena and now, two at Kvitfjell.

He said he found the right balance to gain the win. “In Kvitfjell you need the right balance between attack and smoothness,” he told reporters. “I worked hard to achieve this.”

As with Saturday’s downhill the race was very close. Besides the tie for third there was another for ninth and the top 13 men were all within the same second. Guay’s teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis finished 11th .83 out.

Guay said it was a studied decision to take more risk on course that carried the day. “At the Olympics I was three hundredths off the podium and here I won by two hundredths. … There are a lot of things that can make that much difference. I’m definitely not going to forget the Olympics anytime soon, it was kind of heart breaking. I took a lot of risks today. I can’t honestly say I thought I was winning when I got to the finish. Fast runs sometimes don’t feel that good when you’re taking risks.”

With the third place points Svindal keeps his hopes for the super G title alive, picking up 20points on discipline leader Michael Walchhofer, the sixth place finisher. Walchhofer leads the race 300pts to 254 with one more super G remaining on the schedule at Garmisch next weekend.

In addition to Guay and Osborne-Paradis the Canadians had Jan Hudec in 17th. The United States had Travis Ganong get his first World Cup points in 28th. Steven Nyman just missed the points in 31st place.

With a seventh place finish Carlo Janka made up ground on Benjamin Raich for the overall title. Raich was 19th. Didier Cuche all but took himself out of the race for the large trophy when he was disqualified after missing a gate. Raich’s lead has shrunk to 146pts.

The third place tie made for a crowded podium, from left Riechelt, Guay, Svindal and Gruenenfelder.

GEPA photo.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men’s super G, Kvitfjell, Norway, March 7, 2010
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Gruenenfelder, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
5 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Walchhofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Jaerbyn, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Gorza, Fischer//Fischer

Men’s super G, Kvitfjell, Norway, March 7, 2010. … It is the 30th of 34 races on the men’s 2010 World Cup schedule. … The fifth of six scheduled super G’s. … The top 13 racers are within the same second.

It is the second career World Cup win for Erik Guay. … His first in super G, the other coming in downhill at Garmisch Feb. 24, 2007. … It is his first podium of the season having placed fifth three times and fourth once with two of those 5th place finishes coming at the Olympics. … It is the tenth time Guay has finished a race at Kvitfjell among the top 10 and second time he’s reached a Kvitfjell podium. … He has not been on a Cup SG podium since 2007.

It is the 11th World Cup podium result for Hannes Reichelt. … his 8th in SG. … It is his only podium result of the season his next best a sixth in GS at Beaver Creek Dec. 6.

It is the 28th career World Cup podium for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his 9th in SG. … It is his fourth career Cup podium at Kvitfjell. … and second in two days. … He has eight podium results for the season including three Olympic medals.

It is the fourth career World Cup podium result for Tobias Gruenenfelder, all of them third place finishes. … It is her first podium results since 2005. … It is his 11th scoring result of the season, the next best a sixth in super G at Kitzbuehel.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis matches his 18th best World Cup result. … It is his fourth best result at Kvitfjell. … It is his fifth best result of the season. … It is the 14th time in 20 scoring races that Jan Hudec has placed among the top 17. … It is his second best result at Kvitfjell after the 13th scored in Saturday’s DH. … It is his third scoring race of the season. … It is the first World Cup scoring result for Travis Ganong in his fifth start.

Benjamin Raich (19th in race) leads the World Cup overall standings 1019-973 over Carlo Janka (7th in race). … Didier Cuche (DSQ in race) is third at 846. … Svindal is fourth at 801. … Marcel Hirscher in fourth with 675 has not been mathematically eliminated with four races remaining. … Michael Walchhofer (6th in race) leads super G standings 300-254 over Svindal with one race remaining. … Guay is third at 231.