Svindal preys on Birds course for second win in row
BEAVER CREEK, Colo. - Different day. Same story. Memory fading.
Just one year ago, Norwegian downhiller Aksel Lund Svindal flew off this Birds of Prey course in a helicopter, so seriously injured after a training crash that his season was over.
But in yesterday's super-G, as in Friday's downhill, Svindal was flying again, winning his second race in two days and putting to rest the memory that haunted him for so many months since the crash.
Svindal's winning time down a winding, steep course of 36 high-speed gates was 1 minute 13.05 seconds, just ahead of Austrians Hermann Maier (1:13.50) and Michael Walchhofer (1:13.63).
Also for the second day, Bode Miller supplied the thrills - and spills. After crashing in the downhill Friday, Miller powered into a lefthand turn down the pitch yesterday, lost his edge, and slid down on his right hip.
He recovered, but he was late setting up for the next righthand turn and he slipped down on his left hip, finishing the race, by some Miller magic, in 14th place.
"I just got caught a little on soft snow on the top," Miller said. "When you make a little mistake on that kind of snow, it can take you out."
Ted Ligety (seventh) had the best US finish of the day, tied with Austria's Ben Raich.
Ligety, though an Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion, has always struggled with super-G. Thus, his starting bib was a lowly 32, and yet Ligety quickly found the rhythm of the course for a career best super-G finish.
"This was really a good hill for me," said Ligety, a technical specialist who worked on his speed events last summer. "The hill is steep and has terrain all the way down. I feel I had a really nice rhythm, and the snow is really good. It should be awesome snow for the [giant slalom today]."
The real show of the day was the comeback duel between Norway and Austria - two national teams that have always been natural rivals, though Norway's stars have now retired.
Svindal grew up racing in the shadow of Norwegian legends Kjetil Andre Aamodt, Ole Christian Furuseth, and Lasse Kjus.
But he also remembers the great Hermanator from Austria and how as a youngster, he first beat Maier in a giant slalom.
"It was amazing to just to be on the same podium with him. And it still is.
"He's one of the greatest ski racers in history."
Svindal said he dealt with fears about returning to the scene of his devastating crash by working his training schedule as hard as he could.
"That's the only thing I could really control," he said. "How much I trained. Because a skier gets better by how much he skis. That's really the only way. So I came in here prepared to race well, but I never expected to win one race, let alone both of them."
Maier revealed that he had considered retiring after last season. But then in the summer, he said, he began hard workouts.
"I was training very hard in the summertime," he said. "And I began biking and running hard, and some of my muscles that were asleep waked up."
But a disk problem nearly convinced Maier to skip the North American tour, one that resulted in a first-place finish at
"I was sure after last season I would stop my career, but now . . . I can just try to win races and not worry about overall [World Cup].
"I can enjoy each race. I found it much more possible after I had good training."
Maier said he is not sure whether he will train for next year's Olympics in Vancouver.
"Now that I can have good training, maybe I have all possibilities again."
Today's final action on Birds of Prey features two runs of the giant slalom. 