ALPINE:

Super-G: Svindal golden, Miller joins teammate Weibrecht on podium

Feb. 19, 2010 — SRC Staff Report        

►Photos: Robbie Dixon (Agence Zoom); Erik Guay (Paul Morrison); Andrew Weibrecht (AZ); Aksel Lund Svindal (AZ); bottom, the podium (AZ)

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WHISTLER, B.C. — Bode Miller’s quest for his first Olympic gold was denied by Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal in the Olympic super-G, while Canadian Erik Guay was again oh-so-close to a podium.

Svindal won in 1 minute, 30.34 seconds on a tough, icy track that gave many racers problems staying within the painted blue lines guiding the course.

Miller was second, trailing by 0.28 seconds, and Andrew Weibrecht of the United States was 0.31 behind Svindal in third.

Italy’s Werner Heel was just .02 behind Weibrecht for fourth and Guay was .01 behind Heel for fifth in a very tight race.

Canadian Manny Osborne-Paradis did not finish his run, skiing out at the bottom of the Weasel section. Robbie Dixon did not finish for the second-straight race, and Jan Hudec finished outside the top 20. Hudec skied late, when the snow had softened due to increasing sunshine.

Didier Defago of Switzerland, Monday’s downhill gold medallist, was well off the pace Friday. Svindal won silver in the downhill and Miller bronze, while Guay was just .33 back of Defago for fifth place in that race.

“I’m tired with it,” Guay said of his brushes with the podium. “There’s something there that needs to change, needs to be unblocked, to let it go and get those victories and podiums. I’m over it. I don’t want fourths and fifths anymore.

“Today’s harder than most — to be three-hundredths from third place and six-hundredths from second is tough to swallow. And to make that mistake up top cost me three-tenths, so it was there today and within my grasp.”

Team USA is dominating the Vancouver medal standings, and with six medals — three by men, three by women — the U.S. alpine team is now the most successful U.S. alpine team in Olympic history.

Miller now has four Olympic medals, most ever by a U.S. alpiner. In addition to his two medals here, he nabbed silver medals from the 2002 Salt Lake Games in giant slalom and combined. The super-G silver was the ninth medal for Miller at the elite alpine events — the Olympics and World Championships.

Svindal continued Norwegian dominance of a race that was added to the Olympic program at the 1988 Calgary Games. Norway's great Kjetil Andre Aamodt won it in 1992, 2002 and 2006 — giving the Scandinavian nation a 4-for-7 record in the event's Olympic history.

Svindal threw both arms in the air as he crossed the finish line and held the pose for the crowd. He then stretched his arms out wide and, pushing his palms upward, urged the crowd to cheer louder.

Miller looked on, clapping with a big smile on his face from the leader's standing spot, in front of television cameras beside the finish area.

"I felt like it was the last thing I was thinking at the start gate — 'You already have a silver and it can only get better, so enjoy this and give it all you have. Don't hold anything back.' "

Aamodt was at Whistler working for Norwegian television and predicted to The Associated Press before the race that Svindal would win.

"He's my top favourite,” Aamodt said, expecting the course to favor downhill racers over the giant slalom specialists. "You need to have a perfect run to win."

Svindal, starting eight places after Miller, had trailed the American by 0.30 second at the first time split but made up the difference and had a 0.02 lead at the halfway point. He extended his lead along the bottom half of the course.

The big Norwegian was clocked at 114.8 kph (71.3 mph) at a speed check where Miller went through at 100.9 kph (62.7 mph).

Miller delivered an expert run that challenged racers' ability to be fast while showing technical skills to keep control through the turns.

Miller said he was less nervous than before the downhill.

"I felt like I did coming in (to the Olympics), like I had all the right stuff," he said. "It was great, everything felt really good. I skied really aggressive."

The 32-year-old Miller and 24-year-old Weibrecht became the first American men to get medals in the same alpine event since twins Phil and Steve Mahre went 1-2 in slalom at the 1984 Sarajevo Games. Americans Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso were 1-2 in the women's downhill Wednesday.

It was the first elite-level podium finish for Weibrecht, who has never finished better than 10th in a World Cup race. That was in the downhill at Beaver Creek, Colo., in November 2007.

Weibrecht, racing No. 3, went wide early in his run and launched into the air at one jump, with his left ski high in the air before landing well.

"I haven't ever come down leading a race," said the Lake Placid, N.Y., native. He started third and "figured I would stay in there until 10 guys came down."

Guay said injuries and expectations can play a role in results.

“We came in here without our full team like we were expecting. With John Kucera, Francois Bourque and JP Roy, we would have had a 50 percent better chance of finishing on the podium,” Guay said. “We would have had a lot more shots at the can. The Americans didn’t have those injuries and were able to come in here with a strong team. Weibrecht is a guy who charges hard every race and I don’t think he had the same pressures as those other racers and he charged it hard today.”

“It’s a learning experience,” said a dejected Dixon. “It obviously didn’t go the way I wanted it to go but it’s racing and there’s only three spots that count here, and I tried to get there today. It’s a fine line that we walk between success and failure.”

Osborne-Paradis entered the Games with immense pressure given his outstanding season on the FIS World Cup tour.

“I like the pressure, I like the fact that the eyes were on me and wanting me to do well,” Osborne-Paradis said. “I had my first podium and first win at Lake Louise. I like when people pay attention to what we do because we work really hard.”  SRC

— SRC's Gordie Bowles and The Canadian Press contributed to this report

Whistler men’s Olympic super-G results