Kriechmayr Golden Again as Jansrud Collects Super-G Globe

With Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud having already locked down the men’s World Cup super-G title last week in Kvitfjell, there was really only one thing on the line on Thursday for the final super-G of the season in Are, Sweden: bragging rights.

With high winds once again forcing organizers to lower the start for the second consecutive day, Austrian Vincent Kriechmayer took full advantage of the situation and powered his way to his second win in as many days and third of the season, edging out Italy’s Christof Innerhofer in second and Attacking Viking Aksel Lund Svindal and Germany’s Thomas Dressen who tied for third. The entire podium was separated by only 0.08 seconds with the abbreviated course running under 50 seconds total.

Kriechmayr has been on the edge of greatness all season long, showing incredible speed at times and narrowly missed out on what may very well have been a win in Kitzbuehel if it weren’t for a wayward final turn. Fortunately for the Austrian, finding your groove at the end of the season is better than not finding it at all.

“It was awesome,” Kriechmayr said of his day. “I knew it would be tight because of the length of the race and I’m really proud to be here again. I felt good after yesterday and I know that I also can be very fast in super-G and it happened so I’m really happy and proud. It was close but the hundredths were on my side.”

Despite his sixth-place result on the day, Jansrud finished only 0.19 seconds shy of Kriechmayr and was happy to have secured his third career super-G title a week ago with how tight racing was on Thursday.

“It’s been a very good season,” Jansrud shared. “I started off with a victory and managed to be on the podium in most of the other races. I had a zero point in Val Gardena but apart from that it’s been amazing and it’s a special race today and I gave it all I had. It didn’t go exactly as planned but amazing skiing from the guys on the podium and I’m very happy that the cup was decided in Kvitfjell when you look at the rest of today but crystal is nice as always.”

Jansrud now has three super-G globes to his name. Image Credit: GEPA Pictures/Andreas Pranter

Much has been made of the Norwegian stranglehold on the super-G discipline in recent years. The Norwegian men have now one each crystal globe in the discipline since the 2012 season for an incredible seven in a row and have won three of the last four Olympic gold medals in super-G as well.

“The success of the team is built through many years,” Jansrud explained. “We just try to take care of the heritage and build on it. The team has been strong and we’re pushing each other every day and seven times in a row is pretty insane, actually. We’ll try and make it continue, obviously, but it’s not easy and if there’s any secrets I wouldn’t tell you because we’d like to keep this going.”

No Americans were in the field on Thursday as no athletes finished inside the top 25 in the World Cup standings, which is required in order to qualify for World Cup Finals.

Racing continues in Are on Friday, March 16, with the team event.

Top 10

1. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2. Christof Innerhofer (ITA) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
3. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR) – Head/Head/Head
3. Thomas Dressen (GER) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
5. Hannes Reichelt (AUT) – Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) – Head/Head/Head
7. Mauro Caviezel (SUI) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8. Josef Ferstl (GER) – Head/Head/Head
9. Christian Walder (AUT) – Head/Head/Head
10. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Official Results