The Norwegian finished second behind Werner Heel to be crowned champion – and this came after he had reportedly felt ill through the night but there was no stopping the competitive 26-year-old from getting out of bed for his big day.

Hermann Maier was leading the standings by 19 points but there was to be no fairytale for the veteran who had a disastrous start when the Austrian hit a gate in the upper part of the course.

Svindal knew he just needed to hold his form to grab the honours and increase his chances of the overall World Cup title, but stormed the course to come just 7/100 seconds off winner Heel who posted an very impressive 1:13.41.

The Italian was strong the whole way through the course and took the lead by 20/100 from his compatriot Cristof Innerhoffer who finished third while Benjamin Raich held the lead for some time but ended up in fourth.

Maier was 17th and another super-G contender Didier Cuche was an equally disappointing 15th.

After a few days of heavy fog, bright sunshine greeted the racers although a strong wind swept across the course.

Plenty of excitement was guaranteed as just 100 points separated the top seven.

Marco Buechel took the early lead with a competitive time of 1:14.58 after coming out of the gate first.

However, Hannes Reichelt lived up to his pre-race billing as a podium contender, by shaving 2/100 off the lead time.

That lead lasted all of one competitor as Reichelt’s compatriot Stephan Georgl blasted a further 15/100 in front.

Raich was next up and the early part of the morning got better for Austria as the veteran powered his way to 79/100 in the lead.

Canada’s Eric Guay was relaxed in his run and moved into second, some 71/100 behind Raich, only for Peter Fill of Italy to push 53/100 closer to the leader.

Another Italian Michael Walchoffer came close to taking second but failed to keep his line through the lower stages.

Innerhoffer then showed his countryman how to conquer the second half of the course with a forceful pursuit of the turns.

The aggression paid off with top spot captured by a mere 1/100.

John Kucera seemed to have first place in his grasp but hit the gate on the final turn to lose over two seconds.

In the end, it was mistakes from the likes of Kucera, Maier and Cuche that made it worthwhile for Svindal to get out of his sickbed and he is certainly in a healthy position going into the rest of the week.

Thursday, 12 March 2009 09:35
fisalpineworldcup.com

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