ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – Finding the perfect formula didn’t come easily for many racers at the 2010 Beaver Creek super G on Saturday but Georg Streitberger made it happen.

With bright sun replacing the high winds that canceled Friday’s downhill race, the 29-year-old Austrian who has had 78 World Cup starts but only two podiums (both in super G – a victory in Kvitfjell in 2008 and a big bronze in Kitzbuehel last season) – won the super G in 1 minute, 17.18 seconds.

Streitberger described his run as “wild,” but was one of few to stay on the fast line over a big off-camber bump around the sixth gate on the course, making a tight right turn in the midway section where many racers missed a gate and carrying speed onto the traverse, over the Golden Eagle and final Red Tail jump. He said the last jump was the biggest surprise for him because there was a turn immediately after the landing before crossing the finish line.

“It’s a difficult course and you have to ski well and sometimes you have to ski with the brakes and put on the brakes, that’s the reason it’s so difficult,” he said. “It was a wild run for me in the steep area but in the flat area I skied well.” (Watch a video of Streitberger talking about the race).

Coming in just 0.11 seconds off the winning time for second place – his very first podium on the World Cup – was France’s Adrien Theaux. Consistently fast in training all week, the 26-year-old had just five previous top 10s on the World Cup – two in SG and three in downhill. He arrived into Beaver Creek with his pedal on the gas.

When asked how he brought it all together on the tricky super G course Saturday, Theaux, who kept looking over his shoulder at the clock after the race to make sure his spot on the podium wasn’t taken by somebody else, said he wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know how I did it,” he said. “It’s crazy today for me. It’s my first podium and a great day for me. I had a good feeling at inspection this morning and the days before. I love this slope. I love Beaver Creek. The jumps, the speed, very steep … it’s very good to do my first [podium] here.”

Wearing bib No. 19 and leading on the top part of the course but dropping speed in the second split, the last spot on the podium was filled by Swiss champion Didier Cuche, who was 0.13 seconds off the winning time and took a moment to wind up the American audience in the finish area by performing his famous ski kick off.

“It went really good,” Cuche said of his run. “Some spots were really tricky but we got the information from the coaches. It wasn’t easy to start form the back – it’s always a little slower than the guys starting in the beginning. The biggest problem [for] me was the double by the Pumphouse. I went really low and I lost some speed at the middle split and I think I lost the victory there. But I’m happy I managed the other difficulties – Screech Owl and the compression after Golden Eagle.” (Watch a video of Theaux and Cuche talking about the race).

There was a hard right turn coming into the Screech Owl section of the course and this is where most racers went out, going outside of the track and missing the gate at the next left turn.

The Americans suffered the most at this part of the course as Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Marco Sullivan and Andrew Weibrecht all ended their races after missing that gate.

“The coaches were giving us hints but we didn’t have the full information on how to set it up there,” Ligety said. “So it’s a bummer … but that’s super G. You have to be on the fine line of going out and making it clean and we were on the other side of that line.”

Italian Christoff Innerhofer was very close to the podium, in fourth just 0.20 seconds behind Streitberger’s winning time. Austrian Mario Scheiber was 0.23 seconds back in fifth and Italian Peter Fill 0.29 seconds back in sixth. Michael Walchhofer was 0.40 back in seventh, Robbie Dixon 0.53 out in eighth, Aksel Lund Svindal 0.57 seconds out in ninth and Stephan Goergl, wearing bib No. 36, blazed into 10th place, 0.61 seconds off the winning time.

Carlo Janka, who swept all three races at Beaver Creek last year, finished 23rd on Saturday.

The 2010 World Cup week at Beaver Creek wraps up Sunday with the giant slalom. The first run is slated for 9:45 a.m. local time.

by Shauna Farnell
FISalpine.com
Saturday 4 December 2010