Weibrecht Top American at Val Gardena Super G

VAL GARDENA, Italy (Dec. 18, 2015) – Coming off a career-best super G result at Beaver Creek, Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) was once again the top American, finishing fifth, at the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup super G Friday.

The winning ways of Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal continued as the Attacking Viking captured the Val Gardena super G for the fourth time in his career and fourth victory this season. Following Svindal in second and third, respectively, were two of his countrymen, Kjetil Jansrud and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, marking the third ever Norwegian World Cup podium sweep and first ever in super G. Austria’s Matthias Meyer was fourth.

Carrying serious speed from the top of the course, Weibrecht caught air over a blind roll, pushing him well wide of his intended line on the critical steep-to-flat section of the trail. However, by pushing it on the rest of the course he managed to claw back much of his lost time, leaving those watching to wonder what might have been.

“Pretty big mistake at the top, I was quite a bit out. I just charged pretty hard the rest of the way,” Weibrecht said. “I knew that I needed to make time up. I skied really well the rest of the trip down. It’s just when you make a mistake like that, it kind of takes you out of contention. I was disappointed, but it was still good skiing and it’s a good continuation of what I started in North America. For me to have a decent result here says a lot about where my skiing is at right now.”

Travis Ganong finished 19th in Friday's super G at Val Gardena (Getty Images-Oliver Morin)

Three other Americans scored World Cup points with Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) in 19th, Jared Goldberg (Holladay, UT) in 21st, and Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) in 28th. Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) was 46th and Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, NY) was 50th.

Up next for the U.S. men is Saturday’s downhill, where Nyman is looking for his fourth win on the Val Gardena Saslong, following two strong training runs - third in downhill training 1 and fourth in downhill training 2. Stream the downhill on NBC Live Extra at 6 a.m. ET on Sunday and watch the race on Universal HD at 2 p.m. ET.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Career-best super G finish for Andrew Weibrecht at Val Gardena. Previous best was 15th in 2009.
• Weibrecht matches his second best career placing and second best placing of the season after a podium at the Beaver Creek super G.
• Jared Goldberg scored a World Cup super G career best result in 21st. His previous best was 23rd last season at Kvitfjell, Norway.
• The Norwegian World Cup podium sweep was the first-ever for super G.
• Watch Universal HD's airing of the super G at 1:00 p.m. ET.

QUOTES
Andrew Weibrecht
Pretty big mistake at the top, I was quite a bit out. I just charged pretty hard the rest of the way.

I knew that I needed to make time up. I skied really well the rest of the trip down. It’s just when you make a mistake like that, it kind of takes you out of contention. I was disappointed, but it was still good skiing and it’s a good continuation of what I started in North America. For me to have a decent result here says a lot about where my skiing is at right now.

BROADCAST AND LIVE STREAMING (times EST)
Saturday, Dec. 19
6:00 a.m. - Men's DH, Val Gardena  - NBC Live Extra - LIVE STREAM
1:00 p.m. - Men's SG, Val Gardena, Universal HD

Sunday, Dec. 20
3:30 a.m. - Men's GS1, Alta Badia - NBC Live Extra - LIVE STREAM
6:30 a.m. - Men's GS2, Alta Badia - NBC Live Extra - LIVE STREAM
2:00 p.m. - Men's GS, Alta Badia, Universal HD

RESULTS
Men’s super G