Bad Kleinkirchheim, home of the legendary Franz Klammer has been fighting the weather conditions all week and with the Super G rescheduled for the Saturday to try and beat the weather, racing was dependent on taking chances. An early stop for salting the course was one interruption but it did not halt the march of Federica Brignone in winning her second race of the season, the other being the Giant Slalom in Lienz. Lara Gut took second with Connie Huetter taking third. Tiffany Gauthier and Nadia Fanchini rounded out the top five.
Lindsey Vonn edged out Sofia Goggia top take an early lead and it looked as if this would be a tight run race. Tina Weirather took just under two tenths off Vonn’s time before Lara Gut came down and posted a time 1.10 seconds faster than the Liechtenstein racer. The gloves were off and the speed racers were back.
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BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, AUSTRIA - JANUARY 13: Lindsey Vonn of USA competes during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Super G on January 13, 2018 in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom)[/caption]
If Gut thought that she had the race tied up, Federica Brignone had other ideas. Two racers after Gut the Italian came down and went 0.18 faster. Weirather was then dumped off the podium when Connie Huetter, whose boyfriend lives twenty minutes from Bad Kleinkirchheim, got within half a second of the leading time for her second podium of the season.
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BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, AUSTRIA - JANUARY 13: Lara Gut of Switzerland competes during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Super G on January 13, 2018 in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom)[/caption]
Huetter in turn was given a scare as Tiffany Gauthier ran her close but in the end finished three tenths behind her.
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BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, AUSTRIA - JANUARY 13: Cornelia Huetter of Austria competes during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Super G on January 13, 2018 in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom)[/caption]
With careful attention given to one of the aggressive turns near the bottom, there was a lengthy delay before Anna Veith came down to salt the line in an attempt to harden it up. Veith would eventually finish in fifteenth place despite the delay lasting 50 minutes.
With problems over the light playing on their minds, Veith commented "There was a hole you did not see, and if you had an injury like mine, you're happy for any healthy finish."
After the race Brignone mentioned "Today you had to give 110 percent, I'm super happy.” Despite finishing ninth, Vonn was not unhappy. Thoughts are already turning to the Olympics and caution is playing its part. The American had meticulously examined the track before the race,"It was more fun than I thought, with more information, I would have skied faster, I was too careful," she explained. ”If the snow is good, that's a really good track."
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BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, AUSTRIA - JANUARY 13: Federica Brignone of Italy takes 1st place, Lara Gut of Switzerland takes 2nd place, Cornelia Huetter of Austria takes 3rd place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women's Super G on January 13, 2018 in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom)[/caption]
This was Brignone’s seventh World Cup won and with Mikaela Shiffrin taking a weekend off from racing it pulls Brignone up into third in the Super G standings behind Weirather and Gut and up to ninth in the Overall. After five races in the Super G season, each race has been won by a different person (Weirather, Flury, Vonn, Veith and now Brignone).
Full results