Fenninger of Austria Wins Women's Super
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - Anna Fenninger of Austria, a star who had not shown her best at these Games, won the gold medal in the women's super-G on Saturday, handling a twisty, difficult course that bedeviled many of her opponents.
Maria Höfl-Riesch of Germany, the super combined winner, won the silver, and Nicole Hosp of Austria won the bronze.
Fenninger, 24, was the 2011 super combined world champion. She broke through on the World Cup circuit in 2012, finishing fifth overall, and followed that with a third place in 2013. But she failed to finish the downhill at these Games and was only eighth in the super combined.
'It didn't feel like I was pushing myself to the limit,' Fenninger said. 'It's such a difficult track, but I have to give praise to the coach who set the course, because you have to be so tactical.'
Many in the first group of 15 skiers were flummoxed by the course. Seven of the first eight down the mountain missed a gate, either in the twisty top section of the course or the tight finishing section.
The first major contender to ski was Dominique Gisin of Switzerland, who had tied for the gold medal in the downhill earlier in the Games. Chasing the early leader, her countrywoman Fabienne Suter, she too skidded off the course in the lower section.
As the better racers began to ski, they adjusted their line on a left-foot turn at the second gate after the final jump, and the completion rate began to rise.
For all the spills and mistakes of the early skiers, the race was really decided when the big names began to ski. The first three skiers in the second group of 15 down the hill immediately moved into the medal spots. Hosp, the super combined silver medalist, was the first to seem really to master the course, seizing the lead by 0.71 seconds. Fenninger, skiing next, smashed that time by 0.66 seconds more.
Then Tina Maze, who shared the downhill gold with Gisin, grabbed third. Another star, Lara Gut of Switzerland, followed, and took the bronze away.
The last skier with a real chance to make the podium was Höfl-Riesch. She seemed to have a gold medal in her grasp, but flew too far on the last jump and settled for second, more than half a second behind Fenninger.
Gut finished fourth and Maze fifth, for an all-star leader board.
Julia Mancuso of the United States, the bronze medalist in the super combined, was a rare early skier who made it to the bottom, recovering from a slow start to take second place briefly. But her time was easily surpassed by the later skiers, and she finished eighth.
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