ALPINE:

Innerhofer wins super-G gold, Guay skis out

Feb. 9, 2011     ♦ Photo: Christof Innerhofer (fisalpine.com)

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Christof Innerhofer of Italy beat the favourites Wednesday and mastered a bumpy course to win the men's super-G at the World Championships.

Hannes Reichelt of Austria was second and overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was third.

Defending champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland missed the podium and finished fourth, while Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway failed to finish.

Canada's Ben Thomsen marked his World Championships debut with a top-20 finish, but hard-charging veterans Erik Guay and Jan Hudec didn't finish the bumpy and demanding course.

Bode Miller of the United States lost a pole early in a spectacular run and had to settle for 12th after slowing down at the bottom of the Kandahar course. But his run inspired Innerhofer.

"I saw Bode Miller and I told myself that's how I had to race, too," the Italian said. "Simply give your best, then you can't reproach yourself at the finish."

Innerhofer has only one World Cup victory to date — a downhill in Bormio in his native Italy in December 2008 — but he beat Reichelt by a massive .60 seconds, finishing in 1 minute, 38.31 seconds. Reichelt, who won the final super-G race before the worlds on Saturday, clocked 1:38.91. Kostelic finished in 1:39.03.

"These races come only once every two years so I knew I had to go all out today," Innerhofer said. "You can't make any sort of calculations. The course is incredible and exhausting but I managed to keep things under control."

Although his World Cup career includes only three other third-place finishes, Innerhofer had indicated his potential by coming close to winning medals at the last two major events.

He missed the podium at the World Championships two years ago by finishing .05 seconds behind bronze medalist Svindal. And he was sixth at the Winter Olympics last year, only .08 seconds away from the bronze.

Reichelt said he was surprised with his second-place finish.

"Normally, these are not my conditions," Reichelt said. "I thought I'd skied a lousy race. The uneven, icy piste was extremely difficult, at some points it was really twilight. I got tired quickly and I could hardly stay upright at the end."

Miller clipped a gate with his arm and lost a pole, but continued at fast pace and was nearly a full second ahead of the previous 10 racers before him. He lost his balance coming out of a bend at the bottom, however, slowed down and came across the line at a leisurely pace. He was still ahead of many top-ranked skiers in 12th place.

"I tried to push on the top but I hooked my arm pretty hard," Miller said. "I made the recovery but then I lost my balance. I skied like I wanted on the top. But it's a matter of finishing without making mistakes."

Miller, who said skiing without the pole didn't seem to make too much of a difference, would likely have broken into the top 10 if he had not stood up at the bottom.

"It was difficult. It was challenging. But that's how it should be. It's the World Championships. It's a pretty tame hill. It's really basic," Miller said. "But today it was bumpy enough and fast enough to make it challenging. You see a lot of guys having problems and if you see Innerhofer skiing, he really deserves to win here. He was one of the few guys really pushing and really taking some risk."

Guay, the reigning super-G crystal globe winner from Mont-Tremblant, Que., attacked the icy and steep Kandahar track in the hope of landing a spot on the podium but ended up being one of 25 racers who didn't complete his run.

Calgary's Hudec suffered a similar fate, but young Thomsen, of Invermere, B.C., provided a bright spot for the Canadian team with a 19th-place finish in his first World Championships race.

"I knew I made a couple of mistakes on the top and needed to charge hard," said Guay, who won the super-G at Garmisch last year. "All that counts is top three.

"It was a tough course, for sure, probably the toughest super-G we've seen all year. But this is the World Championships.

"The skiing is there and I feel like I was pushing hard. I have to keep going with the same intentions. All in all, I'm going in the right direction."

Thomsen, 23, gave the Canadian team a boost with a solid run in his first worlds race.

"My goal was top 15, so I'm happy with it," said Thomsen, who crossed the line with a time of 1:41.92. "You always want to do better, but I put a hell of a run together.

"Like everybody else, I didn't feel too hot out there. It was pretty rough. I like the bigger, rougher courses and I was really psyched for it. But the top part kind of got me."

Hudec skied aggressively and looked like he was putting together one of his best runs of the year before a small mistake resulted in him overshooting a gate.

"I had a really good inspection, a good game plan. I knew I had to ski it as hard as I could," said Hudec. "I made it through a couple of sections really well. I just made a small mistake and it ended up costing me a finish. Before I knew it, it was too late to make the gate."

Head coach Paul Kristofic said Guay looked like he was on track for a good result.

"I think Erik had a really good split and he was charging, for sure. The approach was right," said Kristofic. "It's a tough day here.

"I think Jan was skiing really well, too. He made one little mistake and got thrown out of the course. Ben, I would say, had a pretty respectable run."

Guay's back, which has bothered him in recent weeks, held up and all three Canadian skiers are expected to race in Saturday's downhill.K

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

2011 Alpine World Championshps men's super-G results