Svindal wins as Norway dominate Super G

Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal won Friday's men's alpine skiing World Cup super-G at Val Gardena ahead of compatriots Kjetil Jansrud and Aleksander Kilde.

Svindal, already a winner on the artificial snow on the Saslong slope in 2010, 2013 and 2014, was posting his fourth success of the season.

He has already bagged downhills in Lake Louise and Beaver Creek where he also claimed the Super G.

Svindal, who missed most of last season with an Achilles tendon injury suffered in October of last year, cemented his position at the top of the super-G standings.

Already a five-time overall winner in the discipline, Svindal closed the gap in the overall World Cup standings on leader Marcel Hirscher to 23 points.

The 32-year-old Svindal was under pressure to overhaul Kilde, the longtime leader on Friday, but did so by 44 hundredths of a second.

"I was happy Alex (Kilde) skied really well and I knew it would be hard to beat him, but the sweep is really cool. It's a perfect day for Norway," said Svindal.

Jansrud, who went quick early on before losing ground in the middle section, split the pair.

"You can never be unhappy with second, hats off to Aksel for his strong skiing, he's pretty hard to beat right now," admitted Jansrud.

This was the fourth time Norway had dominated a World Cup podium and first in a super-G.

In-form Svindal will once again be the man to beat in Saturday's downhill at the same venue with his main rival the Val Gardena specialist Steve Nyman of the United States.
Source: AFP