Are: Who, what to watch for in the men's super G

The utter unpredictability of Europe’s winter weather was on full display Friday at the site of the World Championships. It rained on and off for much of the morning and early afternoon, the sun then broke through for a spell, and as day rolled into night (and it doesn’t take long this far north), the winds picked up and it began snowing — steadily, with large flakes.
     All of those elements, which can utterly fool a weather forecaster, could hamper or even postpone Saturday’s opening race of the 2007 worlds, the men’s super G. FIS officials were cautious of holding the event as of late Friday in Sweden, but all of the pieces are in place for a tremendous start when racing begins.
    Cllck here for the daily schedule of the 2007 alpine World Championships.
ARE, Sweden — The utter unpredictability of Europe’s winter weather was on full display Friday at the site of the World Championships. It rained on and off for much of the morning and early afternoon, the sun then broke through for a spell, and as day rolled into night (and it doesn’t take long this far north), the winds picked up and it began snowing — steadily, with large flakes.
     All of those elements, which can utterly fool a weather forecaster, could hamper or even postpone Saturday’s opening race of the 2007 worlds, the men’s super G. FIS officials were cautious of holding the event as of late Friday in Sweden, but all of the pieces are in place for a tremendous start when racing begins.
    Cllck here for the daily schedule of the 2007 alpine World Championships.
    American Bode Miller, the defending world champ in the super G, is confident but certainly not cocky of another victory. But he does currently lead the World Cup super G standings with two wins in three events this year. Canada’s John Kucera won the other — on home snow at Lake Louise early in the season. Miller won the event on this course at the World Cup Finals last season, ahead of former teammate Daron Rahlves and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal. Svindal certainly is a threat because he’s solid in all disciplines, and he’s the World Cup overall leader heading into these championships.
    The four Austrians getting the call for Saturday’s race all reside in the top 13 of the super G standings, led by Hermann Maier in fourth. Christian Gruber (tied for fifth), Mario Scheiber (seventh) and Fritz Strobl (13th) are the other entrants.
    A surprise contender could be Marco Buechel. He finished sixth in super G at Are last year at World Cup Finals. The wily veteran, skiing on a Head brand that has produced results this season for Miller, Swiss Didier Cuche and others, has the moxie and flair for the dramatic to lay one down Saturday. He’s currently tied for 15th in the super G standings.
    Saturday’s race begins at 12:30 local time, 6:30 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast. The course is 2,137 meters long and sports a vertical drop of 637 meters. The track was hard and buffed out before Friday night’s snow began and should hold up well.
    There are a few different ways for U.S. fans to follow all the World Championship races this year. FIS will stream live timing on its Web site, and nbcsports.com will stream the races live on its site with natural sound for $4.99 per race and $19.99 for the entire two-week event. On-demand access will also be available to those subscribers.