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Austrians win five World Cup super-G spots

Michael Walchhofer of Austria skis into the finish area during the FIS Ski World Cup Super-G in Beaver Creek, Colorado, on Monday. PHOTO: EPA

Hannes Reichelt led an Austrian sweep in a World Cup super-G on Monday, his second straight victory in the discipline on the Birds of Prey course.

Austrians captured five of the top six places.

The first skier out of the start hut, Reichelt charged down the sun-drenched course in 1 minute, 19.87 seconds, edging teammate Mario Scheiber by 0.02 seconds. Christoph Gruber was third, 0.21 off the winning pace.

"When you are starting No. 1, you know you aren't going to get any radio reports from your teammates who went before you warning you about tricky parts," Reichelt said. "So you don't over-think things when you are starting first."

"I did a good inspection of the course before the race, and just told myself to do my best and ski what I saw in inspection," he said.

It was Reichelt's second World Cup victory, his other coming in the same event on the same course in 2005.

Reichelt started early, in seventh, when he won the last time here, too.

Switzerland's Daniel Albrecht, winner of this week's super-combi and giant slalom, broke the Austrian run by finishing fourth in 1:20.18. The 26th skier out of the start hut, Albrecht squeezed in front of Michael Walchhofer and last year's overall champion Benjamin Raich, who shared fifth in 1:20.21.

The last time a nation swept a men's World Cup event was last year, with Austrians Hermann Maier, Klaus Kroell and Andreas Buder dominating a downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The last time it happened in a super-G was when Walchhofer, Maier and Raich went 1-2-3 at Val Gardena, Italy, in 2005.

Beaver Creek marked the end of an early slump for the Austrians, who arrived winless at the resort before Walchhofer took Friday's downhill.

This marked the first time since 2003 that American skier Bode Miller, who placed 30th, failed to finish among the top three at home. Miller, the reigning World Cup super-G champion, said he hit a rock early on, leaving him no chance.

"That was my first run on these skis. I hit a rock. That's bad luck," Miller said. "Once I got to the third gate I realized that the whole edge was gone, completely folded."

Last year he won the downhill in Beaver Creek, and the season before that he won the GS and was runner-up in the downhill. In 2004, he clinched the downhill and came second in the super-G.
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