Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein produced a superb display to snatch the International Ski Federation (FIS) women’s Super-G Alpine Skiing World Cup title from under the nose of Slovenian Ilka Štuhec in Aspen.
The 27-year-old, who claimed super-G silver at the recent World Championships in St Moritz, clocked 1min 11.66sec to lay down a tough marker for the Slovenian to beat.
Štuhec, the recently-crowned downhill world champion, came into the season-ending event as the leader in the super-G standings but fell short of Weirather’s time as she finished in 1:12.01.
The Slovenian skier had a slender 15-point advantage and victory in St Moritz would have seen her wrap up the crystal globe in the discipline.
Italy’s Federica Brignone was third, just 0.01sec slower than Štuhec.
The result saw Weirather end the super-G season on a total of 435 points, a slender five-points more than Štuhec, who was agonisingly forced to settle for second place.
Switzerland’s Lara Gut was the only athlete who could have usurped either Weirather or Štuhec but she was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering an injury at the World Championships.
American Lindsey Vonn endured another difficult outing as she crashed for the second time and recorded a did not finish.
The Olympic downhill gold medalist slid off course and into the safety netting but was able to complete the rest of her run unscathed.
The men’s super-G event was a formality as Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, the Olympic champion in the discipline, had already wrapped up the title.
His ninth place finish mattered little, with Austria’s Hannes Reichelt securing victory in 1:08.22.
The Austrian edged out Italy’s Dominik Paris, winner of the downhill race in Aspen, while Swiss racer Mauro Caviezel and Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde shared third place.
Jansrud finished comfortably clear of the rest of the field on the overall standings with a total of 394 points, 91 ahead of Reichelt in second.
By Liam Morgan
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.