Feb.9.2011.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) - Christof Innerhofer swept away years of frustration and came through with a risky run down a treacherous, bumpy course Wednesday to beat the favorites and win the men's super-G at the world championships for his first major title.

The Italian has only one World Cup victory to date - a downhill in Bormio in December 2008 - but he beat Hannes Reichelt of Austria by a massive .60 seconds, finishing in 1 minute, 38.31 seconds.

"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."

Reichelt, who won the final super-G race before the worlds on Saturday, clocked 1:38.91 for second. Overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia finished third in 1:39.03.

Defending champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland missed the podium and finished fourth, while Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway failed to finish. Bode Miller of the United States, the Olympic silver medalist, lost a pole early in a spectacular run and had to settle for 12th after slowing down at the bottom of the Kandahar course. But his run inspired Innerhofer.

"I saw Bode Miller and I told myself that's how I had to race, too," Innerhofer said. "Simply give your best, then you can't reproach yourself at the 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. At 26, Innerhofer has been seen as one of the leaders in a fairly young Italian speed team for several seasons, although he has been slowed by injuries.

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.

While he comes from the German-speaking Alto Adige region, Innerhofer has a very Italian character, and is one of the most outgoing members of the team. He jumped onto the top of the podium during the victory celebration.

"What I'm most pleased about is that I was able to attack from top to bottom, which is something I haven't been able to do very often this season. When I crossed the line and looked at the scoreboard I didn't believe it at first. I had to look again to be sure," he said.

"This is the dream for any athlete, and for me to get my first super-G win at the worlds is unbelievable. I can't believe it. Already for a few days I've been telling myself, 'Christof, you've got to risk everything in this race, because you don't have anything to lose. You've got to risk, risk, risk, otherwise you're going to be angry with yourself.'"

Reichelt said he was surprised with his second-place finish.

"Normally, these are not my conditions," Reichelt said. "I thought I'd skied a lousy race. The uneven, icy piste was extremely difficult, at some points it was really twilight. I got tired quickly and I could hardly stay upright at the end."

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."

Erik Guay of Canada, who won the super-G race and the World Cup title in the event on the same slope last year, also failed to finish.

Kostelic finished second to Guay in that race and surprised himself with another podium finish.

"Super-G is not really my event. But this slope seems good for me," said Kostelic, who has had to overcome a series of injuries in his career. "I raced all out, but it's a brutal course. It's not very healthy for my knees and back."

Ted Ligety of the United States, who went off the course, said running early was more difficult.

"A couple of turns you get some sun," Ligety said. "Just in general it's in the shade all the way down and that makes it tough when it's that bumpy."

Feb.5. Hinterstoder

HINTERSTODER, Austria (AP) - Hannes Reichelt of Austria won a men's World Cup super-G race for his fifth career victory Saturday, four days before the same event at the world championships.

Reichelt mastered the demanding Hannes Trinkl course in 1 minute, 43.91 seconds to beat teammate Benjamin Raich by 0.34.

Bode Miller of the United States, who won the last super-G staged here in 2006, was the fastest starter before finishing 0.93 back in third.

"It's my first win in front of a home crowd in Austria, that's fantastic," said Reichelt, who earned his first title since winning in Bormio, Italy, three years ago.

Reichelt wasn't clean at the upper section of the 2.1

-kilometer course, which was set with an unusual amount of short, sharp turns, almost making it look like a giant slalom course.

Reichelt, who was the 2008 World Cup super-G champion, soon lost time as he went well wide in a left curve. However, he raced the final part flawlessly.

"I was very surprised that I was so fast," he said. "I found no rhythm from the start, I know you can go a lot faster there."

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia took fifth to extend his lead in the overall standings over main rival Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland, who skipped the race. Kostelic leads Zurbriggen by 520 points.

The course was set by Norway speed coach Ulf Emilsson, though it did not help Aksel Lund Svindal very much. The former overall champion was 1.61 seconds behind and placed 14th.

Georg Streitberger remained top of the super-G standings. However, the Austrian has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his fractured left shinbone following a crash at last week's downhill race in Chamonix, France.

Streitberger has 227 points, followed by Switzerland's Didier Cuche on 193 and Kostelic on 191.

Cuche, who was the 2009 world super-G champion, finished 2.32 off the winning time after a rather sloppy run in which he skied almost offcourse in the upper part and misjudged several turns afterward.

"I must admit that I did almost everything wrong today," said Cuche, who criticized the start number system at super-G races.

"The best racers always get disadvantaged as they start between 16 and 22," said Cuche, who had bib No. 20. "Obviously, the best conditions are for starters 8 to 15. It's not easy always having to fight from behind."

Super G results:

...

Update on Hans Grugger's health condition

Innsbruck, 31 January 2011, 09.45 local time

The course of the recovery phase of Hans Grugger allows the medical and nursing team in the intensive care unit of the Innsbruck University Clinic of Neurosurgery to be cautiously optimistic today. With his condition remaining stable, Grugger is doing well considering the circumstances. He is becoming more alert and can already respond in part. "He repeatedly opens his eyes spontaneously and deliberately depresses his hands when prompted, "said Dr. Alexandra Kofler, neurosurgeon and medical director of the provincial hospital in Innsbruck. The phases, in which Hans Grugger responds, are still very short though. As per current estimates, the recovery phase will continue on.

Jan.29. Chamonix Downhill

Switzerland's Didier Cuche crushed his rivals to win the Chamonix World Cup downhill here on Saturday.

Cuche claimed his first downhill win of the season last week in the Austrian resort of Kitzbuhel and produced another near flawless performance to claim his first win on the legendary 'Verte des Houches' run.

Italian Dominik Paris finished second with Austrian Klaus Kroll in third.

The last time a Swiss won a men's downhill race here was in 1975 when Walter Vesti led a Swiss podium sweep in the shadow of Mont Blanc.

onehd.com

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