Lake Louise (Canada) (AFP) – Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud completed another strong performance in the opening Super-G race of the World Cup season, blazing to victory ahead of runner-up Vincent Kriechmayr on Sunday.
The 33-year-old Sochi Olympic champion won his second straight Super-G at Lake Louise clocking a winning time of 1min 33.52sec to get his World Cup title defence off to a roaring start.
Jansrud finished 0.14sec head of Austria’s Kreichmayr while Swiss Mauro Caviezel was third in 1:33.73.
Jansrud said the key to his win was making the most of his turns.
“This was by no means flawless, but at the same time without mistakes. It was good but also a bit scratchy,” he said.
“I think I was lucky with the starting number, and just got on the right side when conditions got worse. I was going to drive fast today and took a lot of speed out of the right turns.
“I have more to go on, but the others do too.”
Jansrud, who also won in Lake Louise in 2014 and 2017, now has 22 World Cup victories, including 12 in Super-G.
He finished a disappointing 14th the day before in the downhill which was won by Max Franz of Austria.
His Norwegian compatriot and six time winner of the Super-G at Lake Louise Aksel Lund Svindal placed fifth with a time of 1:34.09. Hannes Reichelt of Austria was fourth with 1:33.96.
Svindal was hampered by a hand injury he suffered in training last week.
The win gives Kriechmayr the lead in the overall World Cup standings with 130 points. Franz is second with 122 and Jansrud third at 120.
The top Canadian was Dustin Cook who finished 16th.
The next stop on the circuit is Friday at Beaver Creek, Colorado where a downhill, Super-G and giant slalom are on the programme.