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day performance, but he was not satisfied. He had been so
close both days to getting his first World Cup win he could
taste it.
“Prior to falling asleep I told myself that I had already done
great things in both races and that I had nothing to lose on
Sunday in charging as hard as possible,” he said. “I took
the straightest possible line and cut the turns as much as
possible. I was ready to ski out — I badly wanted to win the
race.”
From the second to the third interval timer Jansrud picked
up a half-second on the 11 men who had raced before him.
Like the day before, he continued to pick up time with the
sound of the Norwegian crowd climbing in decibels as each
clocking came up on the big board. They were roaring by
the time he finished a stunning 1.42 seconds in the lead.
For the third time in three days he got himself situated in
the leaders’ box, cameras trained to pick up his emotions,
and prepared to watch the rest of the best come after his
lead. He looked pretty content.
Four skiers would beat his time to the first interval — Svindal, Max Franz, Joachim Puchner and Georg Streitberger
— and none of them could match him at any other clocking
on course. He flew, clung tenaciously to his line and fought
to take a tuck anywhere he could. Again, it was Svindal who
came closest, but the margin was measured in tenths, not
hundredths. And this time Kroell could not beat him. Kroell
had won the second section on course, but he opened up
from his tuck in the third and lost contact. He wound up
fourth, three-quarters of a second behind.
Feuz, despite his knee, challenged hard, picking up speed
and time and recording the fastest time of the day (114.43
kilometers per hour or 71.11 miles per hour) on the speed
gun near the end to finish third, with no discernible errors.
Cuche, in bib 22, faded back early and would finish in sixth.
As Cuche’s time and place came up on the board, the two
Norwegians in the leaders’ box began to believe the victory
Max Franz scored a
career-best fifth.
drought might finally be over, smiled and shook hands.
Two later starters gave reason for pause. Streitberger
might have challenged but small errors occurred at just
the wrong places on course and cost him severely as he
dropped well back to 13th. Franz was having his best run
of the season when he got squashed in a compression and
could do no more than fifth. Finn Andreas Romar posted
seventh, the best placing for a Finn in super G since Janne
Leskinen got fourth at Garmisch in 1996.
There would be no last-minute drama this time. Norway
would have her win.
“I could not dream of a better place to celebrate my maiden World Cup victory,” said Jansrud, “on home soil in front
of some of my fans and with another Norwegian beside
me. This is really exciting.”
Andrew Weibrecht, the first skier out of the start on the
day, made his way to 23rd, the only U.S. score. Canada
was led by Guay in ninth. Jan Hudec saved a near-crash
and finished 19th and Jeffrey Frisch was 28th. Seen shouting expletives in the finish area Robbie Dixon was a vocal
DNF — with the emphasis on the “F.”
