Norway's Kilde dominates Bormio super-G

Kilde, the 2020 overall World Cup champion, pulled out all the stops to finish 0.72sec ahead of Raphael Haaser with another Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr third at 0.85.

Kilde, who finished sixth in Tuesday's downhill, attacked on the icy Stelvio piste with a risky descent which defied his rivals.

"What an incredible race! I skied according to my plan, I tried to manage the bumpy parts well. I knew how to be good in the key places," said Kilde after the race in northern Italy.

Kilde followed on from his super-G wins in Beaver Creek and Val Gardena, Italy having also won the downhill in the Colorado resort.

A fourth victory of the season comes despite the 29-year-old returning from a right knee ligament injury and bodes well for the season and the Winter Olympics in Beijing in just over a month's time.

In 2019/2020, the winter of his overall World Cup coronation, Kilde had won only one race at this stage.

But he remains far off Marco Odermatt in the overall standings, the Swiss managing just eighth best on Wednesday at 1.43sec the day after a brilliant second place in the downhill.

Imperial at the start of the season in three disciplines, giant, super-G and downhill, Odermatt has 276 points more than the Norwegian, his new runner-up, before a second super-G on Thursday on the same piste.

"It's not that bad but not enough to play with the best. I skied really well yesterday downhill but it's still a good result today," said Odermatt.

Behind Kilde, Haaser surprised by taking second place, the first podium of his career in the World Cup at the age of 24.

Haaser's compatriot, world champion Kriechmayr took third place, his third podium of the winter but still searching for his first victory.

© 2021 AFP