KVITFJELL, Norway (AP) - Olympic champion Kjetil Jansrud of Norway overcame tricky racing conditions on his favorite home course to win a World Cup super-G race on Sunday ahead of Switzerland’s Patrick Kueng.
Jansrud, who won gold in super-G at the Sochi Olympics last month, finished 0.26 seconds ahead of Kueng and 0.33 clear of Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer of Austria.
It was a third career World Cup win for Jansrud, who also earned a bronze in downhill at Sochi, and all of those victories have been in this Norwegian resort of Kvitfjell.
American Travis Ganong was confident after placing third in Friday’s downhill and fourth in Saturday’s downhill. But he was hampered by a late starting number - 28 - and the snow was falling hard when he failed to finish his run. Countryman Andrew Weibrecht, silver medalist in super-G at Sochi, was seventh and Bode Miller 12th, despite being faster than Kueng on the first two time splits.
Jansrud’s win followed his victory in Friday’s downhill, while Mayer took his second podium of the weekend after a third place in Saturday’s downhill.
“Alpine skiing is not a sport where you can just turn up and win. There’s a lot of people fighting for the victory all the time,” Jansrud said. “Being able to grab two out of three is something extraordinary. It’s a fantastic weekend for me.”
Racers contended with overcast skies and visibility was made worse by persistent snowfall.
Several failed to finish, including Italy’s Christof Innerhofer - a silver medalist in downhill at Sochi - and Czech skier Ondrej Bank, who had a heavy fall.
Hopes for a home podium double were dashed when overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal finished .44 behind in fourth place.
However, it was enough for Svindal to clinch the super-G title - he leads Kueng by 107 points with one super-G race remaining - and extended his overall lead to 77 points over two-time defending champion Marcel Hirscher. Svindal has already clinched the overall downhill title.
The 28-year-old Jansrud, who grew up near the course, has 14 career podiums, five of them in Kvitfjell.
Two years ago, he was on the podium for three straight days: Winning a super-G, finishing second in downhill and third in another super-G. Jansrud missed out on another home hat trick because he finished fifth in Saturday’s downhill.
The 29-year-old Kueng secured a third podium finish of the season - he won a super-G at Beaver Creek and a downhill at Wengen - and fifth of his career.
All three days of racing were marred by poor weather conditions.
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