Aksel Lund Svindal, a two-time World Cup overall champion, is considered a conservative racer. Friday (Dec. 18) he charged the Saslong track at Val Gardena to add the 13th victory to his resume, clocking down the Italian super G course a narrow .12 of a second ahead of Carlo Janka, preventing the Swiss from picking up his fourth win of the season. It was his first win of the season for Svindal, who said he was having too much fun not to push for the win.

The hosting Italians got third, but not the way they had anticipated. Squadra Azzura was looking for last year’s winner here, Werner Heel, to do the heavy lifting, but Heel and Christoph Innerhofer joined the did not finish list and instead it was Patrick Staudacher with the podium placing, the first of his career. He was just .17 back of Svindal.

Bode Miller led the U.S. charge in fifth place, narrowly behind
Austrian Mario Scheiber. Andrew Weibrecht, with his first start among
the first seed, closed to finish 15th. Marco Sullivan posted 21st and
Erik Fisher 27th.

Of notable DNF’s in addition to the Italian duo was Swiss Didier Cuche who was racing with a broken rib at his scapula. He did not crash but skied out after missing a gate. Canadian Francois Bourque also failed to finish and did not fare as well. He landed awkwardly off one of Val Gardena’s many jumps, and though the jumps are smaller than in previous seasons, Canadian team officials indicated they believe Bourque has torn an ACL in his left knee.

It was otherwise a good day for the Canadians with Erik Guay and Robbie Dixon finishing seventh and eighth respectively.  Manny Osborne-Paradis added 17th.

The overbearing factor for the day was the lack of temperature, hovering right about zero F. The Norwegian Svindal was unphased.

Svindal told veteran journalist Patrick Lang he was “delighted” with the win, not so much for the victory, but “because I had so much fun.”

U.S.. head coach Sasha Rearick said he was pleased with the runs of both Miller and Weibrecht and said he saw improvement, generally, from the rest of his charges.

“Bode attacked from top to bottom,” he said adding that his start number of four gave him a disadvantage over the skiers who finished ahead of him. “To see him come out in the dark light and chuck ’em down the there was great,” he said indicating the notoriously dark hill did see some sunshine as the day progressed.

“It was a start position race,” said Miller. “Unfortunately I started pretty early, which was tough. I skied well, but I had a couple of mistakes.”

Miller said his fitness was rounding into shape, referring to the late start he got this season with any sort of training. He said he wasn’t tired after the run, but said “it was an easy 1:40.” His time on course was 1:39.04.

Weibrecht, the coach said “did a good job on a hill that is not his bread and butter kind of course.”

He also praised the effort of Erik Fisher, saying a mistake high on the course cost him any chance at posting a top result, but saying “he scored from the back of the pack,” by not giving up and skiing the rest of the track well. Marco Sullivan, he said, “made a step in the right direction,” and was beginning to regain form.

Ted Ligety, the second place finisher in the last World Cup SG, stuck to his seasonal game plan in skipping Val Gardena and getting ready for a pair of technical races at Alta Badia, Italy, Sunday and Monday.

Canadian Chief Athletics Officer Max Gartner confirmed Bourque had damaged his left knee and that team doctors suspected he had torn the same ACL that kept him from racing in 2009. He skied off the course and got down on his own, but if the injury is confirmed it is expected he will miss the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada.-Hank McKee

Svindal photo by GEPA.
Podium photo (from left Janka, Svindal and Staudacher) by GEPA

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men’s super G, Val Gardena, Italy, Dec. 18, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Staudacher, Head/Head/Head
4 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Miller, Head/Head/Head
6 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
7 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Dixon, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Buechel, Head/Lange/Head

Men’s super G, Val Gardena (Groeden) Italy, Dec. 18, 2009. … It is the 11th race of the men’s 35 race World Cup season. … The third of six scheduled super G’s. … There is one scheduled at Kitzbuehel  in late January and the remaining two are in March. … It is the 68th World Cup held at Val Gardena (at least in part) … The ninth super G. … It is the first of two races at Val Gardena this season, the other a downhill set Dec. 19. … The first super G was held at the site in 1983 and annually since 2002. … Swiss skiers have won three of the eight SG’s, and Austrians twice. … Italian Werner Heel was the defending SG champ for the site.

It is the 13th career World Cup win for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his fifth in super G and his first of the season. … It is his first win – and first podium – at Val Gardena.

It is the tenth career World Cup podium for Carlo Janka, but just his second career second place finish. … Of his 10 podiums, five are victories. … It is, however, his career best placing in super G, his previous best in the discipline a sixth at Are last March. … It is his sixth podium of the season in seven completed races. … He has scored in four disciplines missing only slalom.

It is the first career World cup podium for Patrick Staudacher, though he has been fourth in two Cup super G’s, at Whistler in 2008 and at Val d’Isere six days ago. … It marks the seventh Italian Cup podium of the season without a win.

It is the 96th career World Cup top five for Bode Miller. … his 14th in super G. … It is his third top five of the season among five scoring finishes. … It is his third career top five in SG at Val Gardena. … He was skiing on a swollen ankle. … It is the 31st career World Cup top seven for Erik Guay. … His second of the season both in SG. … He was fourth at Lake Louise. … Eighth place matches Robbie Dixon’s sixth best World Cup career result and is his fourth best result in SG. … He has been better once this season, also in SG at Lake Louise where he placed fifth. … It is the seventh best career result for Andrew Weibrecht and third best in super G. … It is his fifth score this season all of them in the top 20. … It is the first time in his Cup career that Manuel Osborne-Paradis has finished 17th. … The 23rd best of his 45 scoring finishes. … It is his third best SG result and second best at Val Gardena having placed 13th a season ago. … He won the SG earlier this season at Lake Louise. … The 21st place finish matches Marco Sullivan’s 32nd best career finish. … His ninth best in SG. … It is his third score this season. … It is the seventh career score for Erik Fisher, second in SG and his third score of the season, second in SG.

Janka leads the overall World Cup standings 540-515 over Benjamin Raich (9th in race)… Svindal moves into third at 388. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is the top North American in sixth with 281. … Michael Walchhofer (13th in race) leads the SG standings 180-154 over Raich and Svindal who are tied second… Osborne-Paradis is fourth at 124. … Ligety (did not race) is sixth in the list at 112.