VAL GARDENA, Italy
(Reuters) - Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde continued his winning streak at Val Gardena when he claimed an emphatic victory in a men’s World Cup super-G on Friday.
The 29-year-old, who secured a super-G/downhill double in the Dolomites resort last year, found the perfect balance of power and technique to prevail on the Saslong course in one minute 25.91 seconds.
Kilde, who has yet reach the podium at the Olympics or the world championships, beat Olympic champion Matthias Mayer of Austria by 0.22 seconds.
Another Austrian, world champion Vincent Kriechmayr, completed the podium in third place, 0.27 seconds off the pace, less than two months before the event at the Beijing Olympics.
American Ryan Cochran-Siegle put down an early marker but as the icy slope warmed up with the sun shining, the big guns got in on the action and no skier was a match for Kilde’s speed.
The Val Gardena downhill will be held on Saturday with Kilde looking to win it for the third consecutive year.