Jansrud takes the super-g in Kvitfjell and the discipline cup

The local hero Kjetil Jansrud managed to stand the pressure of a home race and won today’s super-g in Kvitfjell ahead of Beat Feuz and Brice Roger.

It is not easy to win when everyone expects you to do so. With not less than four wins in the super-g in Kvitfjell, the slope on which Kjetil Jansrud spent his childhood, and as the leader of the discipline standings, the attacking Viking was the favorite for today’s super-g. Thanks to a strong and stable run, he was able to celebrate yet another success in front of his home crowd. In the process, the Norwegian scored a 21st World Cup win, equaling the mark set by Kjetil André Aamodt as the second most successful Norwegian skier of all times. Kjetil Jansrud also secured the super-g crystal globe, being 138 points ahead of Hannes Reichelt with only one race to go at the World Cup Finals in Are. It’s the seventh year in a row that the Norwegians clinch the super-g standings.

In second place, Beat Feuz equals his performance from yesterday in the downhill. But it was not to expect, as the Swiss “Kugelblitz” didn’t win in that discipline since March 2016 and didn’t climb on the World Cup podium in this discipline this season. Except at the Olympics, where he claimed the silver medal. And that makes the whole difference. “Until the Olympics it wasn't working so well for me in super-g, but now I found a way to be more relaxed on my skis and can do well also in that discipline. The confidence from the Olympic medal and the fact that I really like this hill also helped," said the two times medalist of the Olympic Games in PyeongChang 2018.

The surprise of the day came in third place. For a long time, it looked like Switzerland’s Mauro Caviezel was to claim his second World Cup podium in career, but the Norwegian Adrian Smiseth Sejersted, who won the Europacup downhill on the same hill on Monday, came in and took over the third spot on the podium. But it would be only temporary, because the athlete that would stand on the podium at the end was still at the start.

With bib number 49 (!), Frenchman Brice Roger nailed it in todays super-g. After struggling the whole season in this discipline, scoring a 27th place in Beaver Creek as his season best performance, he had nothing to lose. Changed something in the setup, and charged as he was used to in the downhill, discipline in which he earned three Top 10 in the last three races. And it worked. Roger walks away with a second World Cup podium in career, after his third place in the super-g at the Finals in Meribel in 2015.

All three athletes (Caviezel, Sejersted and Roger) and the best 25 athletes of each discipline are now heading towards Are, Sweden, for the World Cup Finals. The first downhill training will take place tomorrow, and the rest of the schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, 14.03.2018, men’s DH, 10h30
Thursday, 15.03.2018, men’s SG, 12h00
Friday, 16.03.2018, Alpine Team Event, 16h00
Saturday, 17.03.2018, men’s GS, 09h45 / 12h30
Sunday, 18.03.2018, men’s SL, 10h45 / 13h30