Vancouver’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis finishes fifth in super-G at World Cup

Dustin Cook of Lac-Ste-Marie, Que., was just outside the top 20, finishing in 24th place in a time of 1:34.36. Broderick Thompson of Whistler, B.C., just missed out on a top 30 World Cup super-G finish, finishing 34th.

Kjetil Jansrud stretched Norway’s winning streak in the men’s World Cup super-G to a record-equalling seven seasons.

Jansrud secured his third discipline title in four years by winning the penultimate race of the season. His Norwegian teammates Aksel Lund Svindal (2012-14) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (2016) also won the globe in recent years.

Norway matched the best mark set by Austria, which won the super-G title seven years in a row from 1998-2004.

“I am a bit proud,” Jansrud said. “The globe means a lot to me. It’s really great to get it for racing well during the whole season.”

Svindal was Jansrud’s closest challenger in this season’s standings but he failed to finish his run. He missed a gate after landing a long jump.

“The course was brutally fast, almost like a downhill,” Svindal said. “So the jump was bigger than expected. A stupid mistake but it can happen.”

Svindal’s mishap enabled Jansrud to build an insurmountable 138-point lead with only the season-ending race at the World Cup finals in Sweden on Thursday remaining.

“It went well but I am not unbeatable,” said Jansrud, who also took the super-G titles in 2014-15 and last season. He also won Olympic bronze in Pyeongchang last month, adding to his gold from the Sochi Games four years ago and silver from the 2017 world championships.

“It was my plan to ski fast and try to decide the fight for the globe today,” he said. “Now I can really enjoy the finals.”

Jansrud timed 1 minute, 33.21 seconds on the Olympiabakken course to lead Olympic silver medallist Beat Feuz of Switzerland by 0.22 seconds. Brice Roger of France, a late starter wearing bib 49, came 0.33 behind in third for his second career podium finish.

Olympic super-G champion Matthias Mayer trailed Jansrud by just 0.18 halfway down his run but the Austrian caught a bump and skied through a gate.

“It’s a shame Aksel and Matthias went out,” Jansrud said. “They were both strong so it could have been a different race.”

It was Jansrud’s 21st career win, matching the career tally of 1994 overall champion Kjetil Andre Aamodt. Svindal is the only Norwegian skier with more wins — 35.

Jansrud became the only skier to win multiple super-G races this season. He won the opener in Beaver Creek, Colorado, in December but the next three events were all won by different racers.

“The season was good,” he said. “Maybe a few wins less than last year but in the end I have good feeling. I can really enjoy it.”

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Vancouver’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis finishes fifth in super-G at World Cup

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