ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. VAL GARDENA, Italy - Aksel Lund Svindal is currently setting the benchmark in both Super G and Downhill.  He claims the gold in the World Cup Super G here in Gardena/Gröden distancing himself from the rest of the competition with a winning margin of over a second ahead of Matteo Marsaglia from Italy. Bronze goes to Werner Heel, another Italian and confirms Heel’s return to meddling at the top.

Aksel Lund Svindal and Matteo Marsaglia have won the last two Super G races and are sharing the podium her in Gardena/Gröden as well. Svindal wins with a clear margin of over 1 second adding to his already impressive victories in all things speed this season: he claimed either gold or silver in all five races that have taken place to date.

Svindal skied a better line than anyone else in all sections despite a light snowfall. Most of the other competitors had difficulties either on the Camel Humps, Ciaslat or the Finish Schuss. Svindal’s excellent performance is also shown by how closely the following 16 racers are placed: Svindal clocked a margin of 1.07 seconds to Marsaglia while the Italian was less than a second faster than 20th ranked Benni Raich.

"The race went very well for me,” Svindal said. “You had to ski aggressively and that's exactly what I did. I am sure that the I will not continue to dominate the season, but I will certainly try to ski fast. There are so many other good skiers out there. It isn't that easy right now."

Werner Heel confirms his return to the top with a respectable bronze. Heel won the Super-G in Gardena in 2008 but has somewhat struggled over the last 18 months. That is until this season’s opening speed events where he placed 5th in the Super-Gs in Lake Louise and Beaver Creek. He further confirmed his strong return by skiing well in the last two training runs for tomorrow’s Downwhill as well as today’s impressive result. This podium place is his first in almost three years. He last won bronze in the Downhill in Kitzbühel in January 2010. The other Italian to place in the top 10 is Christof Innerhofer rounding out an impressive Italian team.

"This was a mega run today! I am speechless,” the Italian said.  “Super is all I can say. I am so happy not the least because the last two years were very hard on me. Our team is strong and we have trained a lot this year. Everything has been provided to us to be able to garner these results now. Svindal is still too far ahead, but hopefully we'll be able to catch him over the course of the season."

The Norwegian team also skied well. In addition to Svindal’s victory, Kjetil Jansrud placed 4th due to a big mistake on Ciaslat. Jansrud was fastest in yesterday’s training and won bronze in last year’s Super-G.

FISalpine.com
Friday 14 December 2012