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Marco Schwarz has truly arrived back in Alpine skiing’s winners’ circle, less than six weeks before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Until last week, the Austrian all-rounder hadn’t won a World Cup race for two years following a knee injury.
On Saturday, he won his second race in seven days, taking a super-G in Livigno, Italy for his eighth career triumph and first in a speed event. He also won a giant slalom last Sunday in another Italian resort, Alta Badia.
Schwarz defeated the Swiss trio of Alexis Monney, Franjo von Allmen and Marco Odermatt, respectively, who all finished between two and three-tenths behind the Austrian.
The Austrian skier picked up his second World Cup win in a week, his eighth career victory, and his first in a speed event.
Schwarz wasn’t among the fastest starters but stayed clean on a slope that was new to the World Cup.
Livigno was a one-time replacement for classic venue Bormio, which will stage the men’s Alpine skiing events of the Olympics in February.
Livigno will host the Olympic snowboard and freestyle skiing events, but the resort near the Swiss border had not hosted a top-level Alpine ski race before.
Overall World Cup leader Odermatt still extended his lead in the super-G standings, as his closest challengers before the race — Austrians Vincent Kriechmayr and Raphael Haaser — both didn’t finish their runs.
Watch the men’s super-G competition at the FIS World Cup stop from Livigno, Italy.
Schwarz and Odermatt had an intriguing battle in the overall standings two years ago. The Austrian was leading when he damaged his knee in a downhill crash and had to end his season in late December 2023, as Odermatt went on to clinch the big crystal globe again.
Livigno’s Li Zeta course, with a start at 2,375-metre altitude and a maximum gradient of 47 per cent, contained two jumps that caused many racers troubles.
At the first one, halfway down the track, skiers landed on a bumpy surface but needed to regain balance immediately for a sharp right turn. It’s where Odermatt lost considerable time on Schwarz.
The second jump, shortly before the finish, cost Kriechmayr a potential victory. The Austrian had the fastest intermediate time but landed too far to the right and then lost his balance as he tried to get back on the race line and skied out of the course.
Also, Frenchman Matthieu Bailet had a podium finish in sight when he skied out after the final jump.
Cameron Alexander of North Vancouver, B.C., finished 16th as the top Canadian in a time of 1:11:10.
Cameron Alexander of North Vancouver, B.C., finished 16th with a time of 1:11.10. Alexander topped his countrymen at the men’s super-G race at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup stop in Livigno, Italy.
Czech racer Jan Zabystran, the surprise winner of the previous super-G, finished 0.93 off the lead and outside the top 20.
Saturday’s race was the last speed event until a super-G at Wengen, Switzerland, on January 16. The men’s World Cup remains in Italy for a Jan. 7 night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio.
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