ALPINE:

Cuche claims Kvitfjell super-G, Guay 11th

March 13, 2011

KVITFJELL, Norway — An emotional Didier Cuche of Switzerland criticized race officials as he won Sunday's World Cup super-G, a day after the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced it was fining him for threatening a referee.

The 36-year-old Cuche held off two Austrians to complete the Olympiabakken course in 1 minute 33.05 seconds.

Klaus Kroell was second, 0.30 seconds behind, with Joachim Puchner 0.33 seconds back.

Canada’s Erik Guay was 11th, with Jan Hudec 21st.

It was a remarkable recovery for Cuche after the FIS said Saturday it planned to fine him 5,000 Swiss francs ($5,400) and issue him with a written warning for unsportsmanlike behavior.

"This is the first win of my career that I can't enjoy," said Cuche. "I've hardly slept the last few nights and it was really hard to focus."

According to FIS, Cuche telephoned race director Guenter Hujara on Thursday evening to complain about a dangerous jump and said: "If you don't take the jump down and anything happens, I will not hesitate to attack you in public."

Cuche, however, said the referee had overreacted. As a member of the FIS Athletes Commission, the defending World Cup downhill champion said he had called Hujara to reiterate the concerns of several racers over a potentially dangerous jump at the top of course.

"He wasn't prepared to do anything," Cuche told The Associated Press. "I told him that if anything happened at that jump, he couldn't expect me not to say I had told him before the race what could happen.

"He completely flipped out and said I was attacking him and threatening him and I said: 'No, I'm not, I'm just telling you that if something happens I'm going to say that I told you'."

Cuche resigned from the commission on Saturday, arguing it was pointless for him to speak out on behalf of his fellow skiers if the governing body ignored their concerns.

"I was really sad yesterday, not because of my seventh place but because of the way the FIS and Guenter Hujara are acting with me."

Cuche said the events of recent days had made him reconsider his future in the sport. He said he would postpone his decision until after next week's World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

"I'm almost turning 37, I'm not a kid any more, and if Guenter just wants to scream at me every time I say something then I'm in the wrong place."

The win took Cuche past the injured Georg Streitberger of Austria in the overall super-G standings. He is also aiming for a crystal globe in the downhill discipline, where he lies a close second behind Saturday's winner, Michael Walchhofer of Austria.

Guay laid down another solid run Sunday, but his time of 1: 34.00 seconds was almost a second back of Cuche.

"I had a pretty good feeling on my skis. I think I was a little bit unlucky with the light," said Guay, who started 12th. "I lost some time in the middle of the course.

"There's two races to go. I would love to finish on a good note."

Guay is now 13th in the overall super-G rankings with 125 points.

The rest of the Canadian team endured a frustrating day in Kvitfjell. Calgary's Hudec, who has been skiing extremely well this week, made some mistakes and finished 21st with a time of 1:34.58.

"I just made a couple of technical errors on the course. They were stupid mistakes — I just literally went out of the track a couple of times," said Hudec. "I had too much respect for the course and paid for it with the time."

Ottawa resident Dustin Cook, of Lac Sainte Marie, Que., was 43rd with a time of 1:35.74 and Ben Thomsen, of Invermere, B.C., was 50th (1:36.52).

"I'm stoked on the first three-quarters of it," said Cook. "I skied really well and then just completely fell apart on the bottom part."

While Guay and technical skiers Michael Janyk, of Whistler, B.C., and Julien Cousineau, of Lachute, Que., head to the World Cup Finals, the rest of the men's team will compete at next week's Nor-Am Cup finals in Whistler, B.C., or begin their preparations for the GMC Canadian Championships at Nakiska, Alta., from March 24 to 31.

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Kvitfjell men's World Cup super-G results