Hermann Maier got a much-needed boost ahead of next month's Olympics.
The double Olympic champion won a super-G on the famed Hahnenkamm course Friday, defending his title from last year and getting his second victory of the season.
"This course was custom-made for me," Maier said. "There was a lot of snow in the last two days and it was hard for the skiers with high numbers, but I found the right balance between smooth and aggressive skiing.
PHOTO: EPA
"That was the key to winning today's race."
Reigning World Cup champion Bode Miller flew off course early -- another in a series of poor results for the American.
Maier, the 29th skier out of the hut, started aggressively on a sun-drenched course that was quickly deteriorating. He crossed the finish line in 1 minute, 22.97 seconds.
Peter Fill of Italy finished 0.05 seconds behind the leader, securing second and his best career result. Austria's Hannes Reichelt was third, 0.28 seconds off the pace.
The victory was Maier's fifth super-G title at Kitzbuehel, bringing his total at the most prestigious stop on the men's World Cup circuit to six. H also won a downhill in 2001.
"I like this hill. This is a very special hill for me," Maier said. "Every part, I had good times and the turn in the end is much like a downhill. I think I reached 128kph."
The win offered a well-deserved injection of confidence for the 33-year-old Maier going into next month's Olympics in Turin, Italy. The last time he had won a giant slalom was almost a year ago in Kvitfjell, Norway, while his only previous victory this season came in the opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria.
"Yesterday, I thought two victories would be good," Maier said. "Now I have it, so I'm happy."
Miller, the reigning overall and super-G champion, went off course on a tricky turn in the top section and was forced to give up on a track that favored his risky style with no jumps until the end.
He also skied out at the last race, a super-combi in Wengen, Switzerland.
The disappointing result added to Miller's recent woes off the snow.
The outspoken American drew the ire of sponsors and fans with recent comments suggesting he had skied under the influence of alcohol. He made a public apology but was still trying to live down the aftereffects.
Fellow American Daron Rahlves finished sixth. He had a 0.12-second lead near the top but lost precious time in the later sections.
"It's OK, it's acceptable," Rahlves said.
US coach John McBride set the super-G course, but his skiers did not manage to turn it into an advantage.
"Coaches always hope that setting the course will help our guys, but we just did not perform well today," McBride said.
"Bode told me he had made a couple of mistakes early into the race, so he risked more. But he went off the line, where the snow was soft and bally," McBride added.
Super-G rankings leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was 14th.
Maier recovered from a spectacular downhill crash at the Olympics in Nagano in 1998 and came back to win the super-G gold medal a day later. On Friday, he had a 0.19 advantage at the top before increasing the lead to 0.21 in the midsection.
Maier pumped his fists in the air at the finish area in front of thousands of fans waving Austrian flags.
It was Fill's second straight podium finish and best career result. He finished third at the super-combi in Wengen last week.
"I didn't think it would go so well again," the Italian said, adding that the crumbling course conditions favored low start numbers. He was the seventh starter.
Reichelt, who posted his first career title in a super-G at Beaver Creek, Colorado, earlier in the season, made the podium for the fourth time.
The World Cup continues Saturday with the downhill, which will also count as part of the combined, in which the times of the downhill and Sunday's slalom are added to give a result.
Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister posted her second World Cup super-G victory of the season Friday, strengthening her hold on the discipline ahead of next month's Olympics.
Dorfmeister, the reigning super-G World Cup champion covered the 2,358m Corviglia course in 1 minute, 17.20 seconds, 0.40 ahead of runner-up Tina Maze of Slovenia.
Maze, the winner of the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, had never finished better than third in the super-G.
Austria's Nicole Hosp was third, 0.56 back, for her first podium in a speed event.
The day featured several flops as many of the sport's top names struggled with a difficult course that included several tight blind turns. Just over half the first 30 skiers completed the course.
Overall World Cup champion Anja Paerson of Sweden went out on the upper section.
Overall leader Janica Kostelic finished out of the top 10 after alarming course reports from coaches at the bottom of the hill made her too tentative.
Americans Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso both went out on the same turn.
Dorfmeister is the only woman to have won more than one super-G this season.
Bjoern Einar Romoeren won a World Cup ski jumping event yesterday to lead a one-two finish for Norway and claim his first victory of the season.
Romoeren, who was third after a first jump of 132.5m under the lights at the K120 Okurayama hill, nailed a second jump of 128 meters for a total of 269.9 points.
Roar Ljoekelsoey, also of Norway, finished second with jumps of 129.5m and 126.5m for 262.3 points. Japan's Takanobu Okabe was third with jumps of 133m and 121.5m for 256.6 points.
Many of the top jumpers, including overall World Cup leader Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic and defending world champion Janne Ahonen of Finland, decided to sit out this event with the Winter Olympics less than a month away.
Japan's Daiki Ito led after the first round with a jump of 134.5m but faltered on his second jump of 117.5m and finished fourth with 252.6 points.
Janda leads the overall standings with 872 points, followed by Ahonen (755) and Switzerland's Andreas Kuettel (577).
Ricco Gross of Germany beat Norway's Halvard Hanevold and Frode Andresen on Friday to win the men's 12.5km pursuit race at a World Cup biathlon meet.
Gross, who won for the first time this season, was faultless in shooting and won the race in 33 minutes, 44.07 seconds.
Hanevold ended up second with two penalties from the shooting range and a gap of 29.8 seconds.
Andresen, winner of the 10km sprint event on Thursday, had four penalties from shooting and finished third, 34.7 seconds back.
Raphael Poiree of France did not start in Friday's race but still held first place in the overall World Cup standings, eight points ahead of Germany's Michael Roesch.
The meet continues today with a women's 10km pursuit race.
Jan Michaelis of Germany and Paulina Ligocka of Poland won snowboard World Cup halfpipe events Friday.
Michaelis won his first event of the season ahead of Halvor Lunn of Norway and Xaver Hoffmann of Germany to move to the top of the men's overall standings.
Ligocka beat women's overall leader Manuela Laura Pesko of Switzerland. France's Sophie Rodriguez was third.
Michaelis leads the men's standings with 3,160 points, followed by Hoffmann with 2,920. Finland's Antti Autti dropped from first to third with 2,400 points.
In the women's standings, Pesko remained at the top with 4,560 points, followed by France's Doriane Vidal with 3,000 points. Ligocka moved up to third with her win and has 2,950 points.
Canada's Helen Upperton posted her first career World Cup bobsled victory on Friday, beating World Cup leader Sandra Kiriasis of Germany by 0.22 seconds.
The race also counted as part of the European Championships.
Upperton, who teamed with Heather Moise, finished with a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 17.40 seconds after clocking 1:08.95 and 1:08.45 in the two heats.
Kiriasis, who raced with Berit Wiacker, settled for second in 2:17.62 after running 1:09.10 in the opening leg before a stronger 1:08.52 in the second.
However, the result gave the Germans the European Championship title.
Italy's Gerda Weissensteiner and Jennifer Isacco placed third in 2:17.97, and took European silver.
Susi Erdmann and Annegret Dietrich of Germany crossed fourth in 2:18.15 for the continental bronze.
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