The favor of the great hour

Austria’s ski ladies also left their mark on the second Super-G in Kvitfjell. After Cornelia Hütter triumphed on Friday, this time the podium shone entirely in red-white-red. Nina Ortlieb celebrated her second World Cup victory, Stephanie Venier was second behind the downhill runner-up, and Franziska Gritsch was third.

With starting numbers 31, 29 and 26, the trio took advantage of the moment with significantly better visibility than before in the group of favourites.

But that should not detract from the performance or the first “triple” in this discipline since Lake Louise 2005 – at that time Alexandra Meißnitzer won ahead of Andrea Fischbacher and Michaela Dorfmeister.

“It’s unbelievable. I certainly had better conditions than at the beginning. I’m aware that it wasn’t quite fair for everyone,” said Ortlieb. “Luck balances itself out in a season. I knew that there was still something to do. Attack and drive with joy – that was my motto. When the one lit up at the bottom, I thought to myself, I can’t see properly.”

Venier was also happy after her first Super-G podium in six years: “It’s amazing, a result like that is very good. We were pretty much favored by the weather.” That’s how Gritsch saw it: “Mega cool, luck was on our side this time.”

The decision about the Super G World Cup is coming to a head. Before the final in Soldeu, only 44 points separate the top five. Right in the middle is Hütter (on Sunday 14th), who in third place separates 25 points from the small crystal ball. The big one is already taken. Mikaela Shiffrin secured the overall ranking for the fifth time, the American now holds a total of 14 balls.

Bullets to Kilde and Odermatt

In the men’s speed disciplines, the decisions were made in Aspen. In the downhill, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who celebrated his 21st victory on Saturday (“I’m having a really nice season”) and finally defeated fourth-placed Vincent Kriechmayr, can no longer be pushed off the throne.

The Super-G is a case for Marco Odermatt, who also had the upper hand on Sunday. “It was a very fast race, I drove over the limit,” said the Swiss, who could even crack the magical 2000-point mark on the way to success in the overall World Cup.

Odermatt prevailed just ahead of the German Andreas Sander (+0.05) and Kilde (+0.34). Fourth, Stefan Babinsky missed the podium by 13 hundredths, Kriechmayr was seventh, Daniel Hemetsberger, Raphael Haaser and Marco Schwarz were eliminated.