Batzra blog

Home favourite Reichelt triumphs in super-G

HINTERSTODER, Austria (AFP) – Austria's Hannes Reichelt ended a near three-year wait for success on the World Cup circuit when he stormed to victory in the men's super-G at Hinterstoder on Saturday.

Compatriot Benjamin Raich was second with Bode Miller of the United States in third place.

The 30-year-old Reichelt laid the foundations for victory in the middle section of the winding course to finish 0.34sec ahead of Raich and 0.93sec in front of Miller.

It was his fifth World Cup victory -- four of which have come in the super-G -- and arrived just three days before the start of the world championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, which run from February 8-20.

"The past three years haven't been so easy, even if I have had a couple of podium places in between," said Reichelt, whose last win came at Bormio in March 2008.

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia took fifth place, behind Switzerland's Carlo Janka, to reinforce his overall World Cup lead.

With 12 races remaining Kostelic has 1223 points and a massive lead on Swiss all-rounder Silvan Zurbriggen, who is second on 703.

Raich's first podium place since the Val d'Isere slalom in December coincided with his Austrian team receiving positive news about Hans Grugger, who has come out of a coma following a heavy crash at Kitzbuhel two weeks ago.

"The good news about Hans has given the whole team a lift," said Raich, who pulled out of the Chamonix leg of the World Cup last week to get over a cold.

"Recently I've been in good form, but the results just haven't been there."

Miller, who also took a break from racing in Chamonix last week, confirmed his solid form two weeks after finishing second behind Swiss Didier Cuche in the feared Kitzbuhel downhill.

"I am always happy to be on the podium, especially this year," said Miller.

"You know me, the result is always secondary to the feeling I have while skiing. I skiied pretty poorly in my opinion. It was a challenging hill, challenging snow, a tough course-set.

"Nobody skiied on this hill before."

Cuche, the downhill World Cup leader, flattered to decieve, finishing in 19th place but reinforcing his second place in the super-G standings.

He is now 36 points behind Austria's Georg Streitberger, who has been out injured since last month.

One of the surprises of the day came from French teenager Alexis Pinturault.

The recent winner of two junior world titles, 19-year-old Pinturault had never before finished a World Cup race and despite starting with bib number 62 he finished in a commendable sixth place.

With the bi-annual world championships on the horizon, many top racers -- including Miller -- seem to have virtually opted out of the overall World Cup race.

"Obviously the championships are the focus point of the year," added the American, a former two-time winner of the prestigious World Cup title.

Raich, meanwhile, is keeping mum about which disciplines he will compete in next week.

He simply wants to prove to his detractors that his mediocre form this season is no reason to keep him out the 'Wunderteam'.

"I don't know how many events I will race in," added the Austrian, the World Cup winner in 2006, who has finished runner-up for the past four seasons.

"All I want to do is ski well enough to prove I deserve my place in the team."