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Alpine skiing: Jansrud wins first Super-G of season at Lake Louise – Metro US

Alpine skiing: Jansrud wins first Super-G of season at Lake Louise

By Rory Carroll

(Reuters) – Kjetil Jansrud won the first Super-G of the season at Lake Louise on Sunday, besting a duo of Austrians and his Norwegian team mates for his 10th World Cup title in the event.

The favorite going into Sunday’s competition, the twice Super-G season winner was flawless during his one minute 30.76 second trip down the course in Western Canada.

“Winning the race proves that you are on the right track, so I’m very happy with my win today in Lake Louise,” he said of the first of six Super-Gs of the Olympic season.

Sunday’s race comes with just 74 days remaining before the opening ceremony of Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Two Austrians, Max Franz (1:31.04) and 37-year-old Hannes Reichelt (1:31.08), the oldest racing in Sunday’s field, finished second and third.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (1:31.17) and Aksel Lund Svindal (1:31.28), two Norwegians who along with Jansrud are known as the “Attacking Vikings,” finished fourth and fifth.

The 32-year-old Jansrud was among the first to race on Sunday and benefited from clear conditions that were not enjoyed by many of his competitors.

Heavy snow fell as the day progressed, slowing the course down and impacting visibility.

Jansrud had finished fifth in the downhill event on Saturday and the winner of that race, Swiss Beat Feuz, finished 12th in the Super-G on Sunday.

A scary moment occurred when Briton Jack Gower crashed at full speed into the course’s net fencing, losing a ski and tumbling awkwardly.

He waved his hand to the crowd to indicate he was okay and was able to ski to the end of the course under his own strength after the race was temporarily suspended.

The sport is still mourning the death of French skier David Poisson in a training accident in Alberta on Nov. 13.

The next stop for the men is Beaver Creek, where there will be Super-G, downhill and giant slalom events on Dec. 1-3.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll, editing by Nick Mulvenney)