Innerhofer upsets favorites
Source: Agencies |
February 10, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHRISTOF Innerhofer of Italy beat the favorites yesterday and mastered a bumpy course to win the men's super-G at the world championships in Germany.
Hannes Reichelt of Austria was second and overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was third with late starters still to come.
Innerhofer has only one World Cup victory to date, a downhill in Bormio in his native Italy in December 2008, but he beat Reichelt by a massive .60 seconds, finishing in 1 minute, 38.31 seconds. Kostelic finished in 1:39.03.
"These races come only once every two years so I knew I had to go all out today," Innerhofer said. "You can't make any sort of calculations. The course is incredible and exhausting but I managed to keep things under control."
Defending champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland missed the podium and finished fourth, while Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway failed to finish.
Although his World Cup career includes only three other third-place finishes, Innerhofer had indicated his potential by coming close to winning medals at the last two major events.
He missed the podium at the world championships two years ago by finishing .05 seconds behind bronze medalist Svindal. And he was sixth at the Winter Olympics last year, only .08 seconds away from the bronze.
Bode Miller of the United States lost a pole early in a spectacular run and had to settle for a place outside the top 10.
Miller clipped a gate with his arm and lost a pole, but continued at fast pace and was nearly a full second ahead of the previous 10 racers before him. He lost his balance coming out of a bend at the bottom, however, slowed down and came across the line at a leisurely pace. He was still ahead of many top-ranked skiers in 12th place.
"I tried to push on the top but I hooked my arm pretty hard," Miller said. "I made the recovery but then I lost my balance. I skied like I wanted on the top. But it's a matter of finishing without making mistakes."
Miller, who said skiing without the pole didn't seem to make too much of a difference, would likely have broken into the top 10 if he had not stood up at the bottom.
"It was difficult. It was challenging. But that's how it should be. It's the world championships. It's a pretty tame hill. It's really basic," Miller said.
"But today it was bumpy enough and fast enough to make it challenging. You see a lot of guys having problems and if you see Innerhofer skiing, he really deserves to win here. He was one of the few guys really pushing and really taking some risk."
Hannes Reichelt of Austria was second and overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was third with late starters still to come.
Innerhofer has only one World Cup victory to date, a downhill in Bormio in his native Italy in December 2008, but he beat Reichelt by a massive .60 seconds, finishing in 1 minute, 38.31 seconds. Kostelic finished in 1:39.03.
"These races come only once every two years so I knew I had to go all out today," Innerhofer said. "You can't make any sort of calculations. The course is incredible and exhausting but I managed to keep things under control."
Defending champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland missed the podium and finished fourth, while Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway failed to finish.
Although his World Cup career includes only three other third-place finishes, Innerhofer had indicated his potential by coming close to winning medals at the last two major events.
He missed the podium at the world championships two years ago by finishing .05 seconds behind bronze medalist Svindal. And he was sixth at the Winter Olympics last year, only .08 seconds away from the bronze.
Bode Miller of the United States lost a pole early in a spectacular run and had to settle for a place outside the top 10.
Miller clipped a gate with his arm and lost a pole, but continued at fast pace and was nearly a full second ahead of the previous 10 racers before him. He lost his balance coming out of a bend at the bottom, however, slowed down and came across the line at a leisurely pace. He was still ahead of many top-ranked skiers in 12th place.
"I tried to push on the top but I hooked my arm pretty hard," Miller said. "I made the recovery but then I lost my balance. I skied like I wanted on the top. But it's a matter of finishing without making mistakes."
Miller, who said skiing without the pole didn't seem to make too much of a difference, would likely have broken into the top 10 if he had not stood up at the bottom.
"It was difficult. It was challenging. But that's how it should be. It's the world championships. It's a pretty tame hill. It's really basic," Miller said.
"But today it was bumpy enough and fast enough to make it challenging. You see a lot of guys having problems and if you see Innerhofer skiing, he really deserves to win here. He was one of the few guys really pushing and really taking some risk."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
