Marsaglia wins men's World Cup super-G

Marsaglia wins men's World Cup super-G

Italy's Matteo Marsaglia notched his first alpine World Cup victory on Saturday, winning the Beaver Creek super-G ahead of Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal.

Matteo Marsaglia of Italy sticks his tongue out at the cameraman after winning the FIS Alpine World Cup men's Super G in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Marsaglia notched his first alpine World Cup victory on Saturday.

Germany's Hannes Reichelt was third.

Marsaglia, 27, clocked 1min 14.68sec. Svindal, who was second in the downhill on Friday to remain atop the overall World Cup standings, was 27-hundredths of a second back.

"This can help me a lot," Marsaglia said. "I knew I could have a good year, I knew I was in really good shape, but if you don't do it..."

He said he was rewarded for his aggressive approach.

"I took a lot of risks," he said. "You need to do this, and when you take a lot of risks you need to be a little bit lucky. This was my day."

Reichelt, winner of the super-G at Beaver Creek in 2007, set the early pace from the eighth starting position but finished the day 70-hundredths off the lead.

The course with tight turns offered little margin for error. Austrian Max Franz hit a gate and fell hard. He took a knock to the head and was taken to hospital for observation.

Austrian head coach Mathis Berthold said Franz lost consciousness for a couple of seconds and had a mild concussion. He also complained of discomfort in his shoulder and knee, but those did not appear to be serious injuries.

Germany's Stephan Keppler also failed to finish and ended his day with an impressive black eye.

Svindal said mistakes by more experienced skiers opened the door for Marsaglia.

"Me, Kjetil (Jansrud) and Christof Innerhofer we all made mistakes so Matteo Marsaglia took his opportunity to win the race.

"I am fine losing to a young guy who is ready to go all-out than to somebody of my generation," Svindal said. "I was really skiing well until I made this mistake but I'm not complaining: two podium placings within two days, I'll take it."

Even though he left Lake Louise with back-to-back victories to his credit, Svindal said he was a bit surprised by his two runner-up finishes here, with a giant slalom remaining on Sunday.

"When I came here I felt really good and I was looking forward to skiing well, but these two podiums were a little bit more than I expected," he said.

Marsaglia's triumph continued a strong week for Italy. His compatriot Innerhofer won the downhill on Friday.

Reichelt was delighted to rebound from his disappointing showing in Lake Louise last weekend.

"After Lake Louise I was crushed, my confidence was so low, my skiing wasn't good and I really didn't know if I was going to find a solution," he said.

"Coming back to a race that you have already won always helps. This feels so good to be on the podium."

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