Vincent Kriechmayr fronts Austrian 1-2 finish, widens super-G season lead
Clocks 1:12.68 for 8th World Cup win; James Crawford top Canadian in 19th
Vincent Kriechmayr extended his lead in the season's super-G standings on Saturday by winning the last World Cup race before the world championships.
Kriechmayr stopped the clock in one minute 12.68 seconds to edge Matthias Mayer by 0.17 seconds for an Austrian 1-2 finish in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
"I'm really proud about my skiing and about this result," said Kriechmayr, who holds a lead of 101 points over Mayer in the discipline standings with two races remainig. A race win is worth 100 points.
He led Mayer throughout his run, though the advantage was only two-hundredths at the final split. Mayer was slowed as he came wide in the final turn before the finish.
WATCH | Super-G season leader Kriechmayr beats reigning Olympic champ:
It was the eighth career win for Kriechmayr, and the sixth consecutive podium result in a speed race for Mayer, who is the Olympic super-G champion.
Swiss skier Marco Odermatt was 0.49 behind in third.
Kriechmayr will enter Tuesday's super-G at the worlds in Italy coming off back-to-back wins in the discipline, following his triumph in Kitzbuhel two weeks ago.
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Still, he didn't regard himself the favourite for gold in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
"The championships are always really unpredictable," said Kriechmayr, who shared second place with Johan Clarey in super-G at the worlds two years ago.
"It's a new day, it's a new course, it's a new slope," he said. "I am in really good shape and I hope I can ski as fast as today."
The winners of the first three super-G races this season are all out with injuries: Mauro Caviezel, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Ryan Cochran-Siegle.
Caviezel initially intended to make his comeback from a month-long injury break in this race, but last season's super-G champion from Switzerland opted not to start.
The Swiss ski federation said Caviezel's knee had healed but that he was still suffering from the concussion he sustained at a training crash.
The federation didn't rule out a start of Caviezel in Tuesday's super-G at the worlds.
