Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Thursday, April 25, 2024 72° Today's Paper


Sports

U.S. nabs 2 medals in super-G

1/1
Swipe or click to see more
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Men’s super-G gold-medal winner Kjetil Jansrud of Norway celebrated on the podium during the flower ceremony.

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia » Kjetil Jansrud won the fourth straight Olympic super-G gold medal for Norway on Sunday, topping an early run by Bode Miller and then watching a late charge from Andrew Weibrecht fall just short.

Jansrud finished the choppy course in 1 minute, 18.14 seconds to help his country maintain its dominance in the Olympic men’s event. Starting 29th, Weibrecht flew down the hill and wound up second, 0.30 seconds behind.

"It’s insane," said Jansrud, whose nation now has five of the eight gold medals awarded in Olympic super-G.

Miller, Weibrecht’s American teammate, and Jan Hudec of Canada tied for third. Miller is the oldest Alpine skier to medal at 36.

This was Miller’s sixth Olympic medal, moving him two behind the all-time Alpine leader Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

Norway has long ruled this Olympic discipline, with Aamodt winning in 2002 and ’06, and Aksel Lund Svindal in 2010. Svindal struggled on Sunday and finished seventh. This has been quite an Olympics for Jansrud, who won a bronze medal in the downhill and finished fourth in the super-combined. On Sunday, he tamed a course that was running a tad bit slow. He was in line with Miller’s run all the way down the course, before finding extra speed at the bottom.

After crossing the finish line, the 28-year-old Jansrud celebrated in style. He let out a scream, pumped his fists and later held his ski above his head, even giving the ski a kiss.

Weibrecht, who’s nicknamed "War Horse," has been besieged by injuries since winning a surprise Olympic bronze medal in super-G four years ago in Vancouver. He has blown out each ankle and gone through surgeries on both shoulders. He also lost his sponsorship from the U.S. ski team for lackluster results.

"It’s unbelievable. I came down and knew I skied well. I knew I had a good run," Weibrecht said.

Pat Graham, Associated Press

Comments are closed.