Fischbacher, Suter share victory in windy super-G

10 February 2008

SESTRIERE, Italy – Andrea Fischbacher and Fabienne Suter shared a victory Sunday in a super-G that was shaped by varying wind and several crashes.

It was the first World Cup victory for both racers.

“Today was a perfect race for me from start to finish,” Fischbacher said. “This course is special for me because I had my first World Cup race at the finals here in 2004.”

The Austrian and Swiss skiers had the same time of 1 minute, 21.06 seconds on the Kandahar Banchetta course.

“It was a big surprise for me. I never thought I would do that today,” Suter said.

Germany’s Maria Riesch finished third, 0.24 behind, to maintain her lead in the super-G standings.

A light headwind picked up just as the favorites came down.

“Maybe it wasn’t a perfect run, but it wasn’t so easy today for the later numbers,” Riesch said. “Of the top seven racers, nobody got on the podium except for me. I didn’t feel any wind when I went, but the other girls said they did.”

Lindsey Vonn, Saturday’s downhill winner, finished 16th and dropped down into a tie for the overall World Cup lead with Nicole Hosp, who placed 14th.

“There was a big headwind when Nikky and I came down,” Vonn said.

The top American finisher was Julia Mancuso in eighth position. Mancuso’s pace was faster than the winners through the first interval but she lost time on the bottom as the course shifted over to the other face of the Banchetta mountain and into the wind.

Austrian skier Maria Holaus fell suddenly and hit the ground hard at full speed. She was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in nearby Turin with a head injury, race organizers said, adding that she did not lose consciousness.

Fraenzi Aufdenblatten and Emily Brydon also fell, although they did not appear to have major injuries.

Fischbacher was the world junior super-G champion in 2004 and had previously finished on the World Cup podium three times.

Suter’s previous best finish was seventh in the downhill in St. Moritz, Switzerland, last weekend.