Austrian Mayer wins Kitzbuehel super-G

Austrian Matthias Mayer laid down a near-perfect run to win the men's World Cup super-G in Kitzbuehel on Friday.

The Olympic downhill champion clocked 1min 11.25sec for just his fourth win on the World Cup circuit.

It was his first podium finish since November 2015 when he was second in the Lake Louise super-G and his first win since victory in the Saalbach super-G in February 2015.

Mayer, 26, hit speeds of up to 135kph as he shot down the icy 2.1km-long Streifalm piste in clear, cold conditions, with a massive crowd gathered at the finish line.

"It was a really cool super-G, a great course," Mayer said.

"It is fast, and makes you work. I just tried to express myself fully. That's what you need to do here."

Mayer added: "The super-G doesn't always go according to plan, but if you are fast, that does not matter!"

Italy's Christof Innerhofer claimed second, at 0.09sec, with Switzerland's Beat Feuz completing the podium (+0.44).

In the absence of Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, out for the season after undergoing knee surgery, the pressure was on Kjetil Jansrud and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde to perform.

Kilde ended up fourth, at 0.46, and reigning Olympic super-G champion Jansrud ninth (+0.92) after a mistake high up the course cost him dearly.

"Coming out of the start, I made that mistake but I survived. At least I made up some time in the middle part," said Jansrud, winner of three super-G races this season.

"It shows I'm in good shape. It's not the way you want the race to go, but I'll just try to reset and get ready to go for tomorrow's downhill."

Jansrud added: "There were a lot of bumps, I wanted to ski an aggressive line and I hit the bumps.

"If you're on the wrong millimetre or the wrong bump, it costs.

"This is a grown-up hill for grown-up people. Speed races are supposed to be like this. You need technical abilities at the top and also speed skills at the bottom.

"As long as everything's in the rules and it's safe, that's probably the most important thing."

Defending world champion Patrick Kueng of Switzerland was well off the pace, finishing 30th at 2.08sec.

But overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher, seeking a sixth consecutive crystal globe this season, warmed up for his speciality slalom on Sunday by finishing a credible 24th.

Source :AFP