BEAVER CREEK, Colorado: Italy’s Matteo Marsaglia notched his first alpine World Cup victory on Saturday, winning the Beaver Creek super-G ahead of Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal.
Germany’s Hannes Reichelt was third.
Marsaglia, 27, clocked 1min 14.68sec. Svindal, who was second in the downhill on Friday to remain atop the overall World Cup standings, was 27-hundredths of a second back.
“This can help me a lot,” Marsaglia said. “I knew I could have a good year, I knew I was in really good shape, but if you don’t do it...”
He said he was rewarded for his aggressive approach.
“I took a lot of risks,” he said. “You need to do this, and when you take a lot of risks you need to be a little bit lucky. This was my day.”
Reichelt, winner of the super-G at Beaver Creek in 2007, set the early pace from the eighth starting position but finished the day 70-hundredths off the lead.
The course with tight turns offered little margin for error. Austrian Max Franz hit a gate and fell hard. He took a knock to the head and was taken to hospital for observation.
Austrian head coach Mathis Berthold said Franz lost consciousness for a couple of seconds and had a mild concussion. He also complained of discomfort in his shoulder and knee, but those did not appear to be serious injuries.
Germany’s Stephan Keppler also failed to finish and ended his day with an impressive black eye.
Svindal said mistakes by more experienced skiers opened the door for Marsaglia.
“Me, Kjetil (Jansrud) and Christof Innerhofer we all made mistakes so Matteo Marsaglia took his opportunity to win the race.
“I am fine losing to a young guy who is ready to go all-out than to somebody of my generation,” Svindal said. “I was really skiing well until I made this mistake but I’m not complaining: two podium placings within two days, I’ll take it.”
Even though he left Lake Louise with back-to-back victories to his credit, Svindal said he was a bit surprised by his two runner-up finishes here, with a giant slalom remaining on Sunday.
“When I came here I felt really good and I was looking forward to skiing well, but these two podiums were a little bit more than I expected,” he said.
Marsaglia’s triumph continued a strong week for Italy. His compatriot Innerhofer won the downhill on Friday.
Reichelt was delighted to rebound from his disappointing showing in Lake Louise last weekend.
“After Lake Louise I was crushed, my confidence was so low, my skiing wasn’t good and I really didn’t know if I was going to find a solution,” he said.
“Coming back to a race that you have already won always helps. This feels so good to be on the podium.”
Marsaglia claims men’s World Cup super-G
Marsaglia claims men’s World Cup super-G
Haaland sends Man City top, Liverpool beat nine-man Spurs
- Haaland turned provider for City’s second just before half-time as Tijjani Reijnders scored his first goal at the Etihad
- Liverpool climb up to fifth, while Spurs are rooted down in 13th
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Erling Haaland fired Manchester City to the top of the Premier League by beating West Ham 3-0, while Liverpool continued their upturn with a 2-1 win at nine-man Tottenham on Saturday.
Arsenal can retake top spot for Christmas when they visit Everton later, but City ramped up the pressure on the Gunners with a seventh consecutive win in all competitions.
The Hammers feared a rout when Haaland smashed home after just five minutes.
Haaland turned provider for City’s second just before half-time as Tijjani Reijnders scored his first goal at the Etihad.
And he netted his 38th goal of the season already for club and country when the ball broke his way 21 minutes from time to move City one point ahead of Arsenal.
Yet, Pep Guardiola was still far from satisfied as he demanded improvements if City are to win a seventh Premier League title under his tenure.
“I want to be honest. I said to the players, ‘Merry Christmas everyone but it will not be enough if we don’t improve’.”
Isak injured
Liverpool extended their unbeaten run to six games after they survived a nervy finale to inflict a miserable Christmas on Spurs boss Thomas Frank.
Xavi Simons’ dangerous lunge on Dutch international team-mate Virgil van Dijk on 33 minutes left the home side with a mountain to climb.
Despite the absence of Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations, Alexander Isak again started on the bench.
Arne Slot introduced the most expensive Premier League player of all time at the break.
The Swede netted just his third goal since joining Liverpool for £125 million in September but suffered another injury setback in the process and had to be replaced.
Hugo Ekitike headed in his fifth goal in three league games to double Liverpool’s lead.
But Slot’s men still wobbled in the closing stages once Richarlison pulled a goal back.
A fifth defeat in nine home league games this season intensified the pressure on Frank and the Dane was not helped by his captain Cristian Romero, who got himself needlessly sent off in stoppage time.
Liverpool climb up to fifth, while Spurs are rooted down in 13th.
Chelsea remain above the Reds in fourth on goal difference as a second-half fightback rescued manager Enzo Maresca from more speculation over his future.
The Italian claimed after last weekend’s win over Everton that he and his players had not received enough support during a difficult run of results.
Maresca was then linked with being Guardiola’s successor at City in recent days.
Chelsea have won just once in their last five league games to see ambitions of a title challenge wilt.
But it could have been even worse for Maresca as Nick Woltemade’s double put Newcastle 2-0 up in a dominant first half from the Magpies.
A brilliant Reece James free-kick brought the Blues back into the game before Joao Pedro pounced on an error from Malick Thiaw to equalize.
Newcastle felt aggrieved as two late appeals for penalties and for James to be sent off were dismissed to leave Eddie Howe’s men languishing in 11th.
Wolves remain without a league win this season and on course to enter the record books as the worst side in Premier League history.
Keane Lewis-Potter scored both goals as Brentford won 2-0 at Molineux to move 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
Burnley ended their seven-game losing streak as Armando Broja’s 90th-minute goal snatched a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.
Sunderland edged up to sixth after a 0-0 draw at Brighton.
