BORMIO, Italy (AP) 鈥� Fredrik Moeller of Norway claimed his first World Cup victory by winning a super-G that got off to an inauspicious start on Sunday as Gino Caviezel became the third skier this weekend to be airlifted off the slope set to be used for the 2026 Olympics.
After in the downhill the previous day, Moeller also recorded his first victory on the circuit with an early benchmark run down the fearsome Stelvio slope to finish 0.20 seconds ahead of Austrian skier Vincent Kriechmayr.
鈥淚t feels really good,鈥� Moeller said. 鈥淢y skiing was obviously good. It felt like I had some mistakes, which I did, but they weren鈥檛 that costly. I managed to ski well where I know I can, and not do anything stupid."
Monney, who was 27th out of the gate, threatened to knock Moeller out of the leader鈥檚 chair after the Swiss skier recovered from a poor start but finished third, just four hundredths of a second behind Kriechmayr 鈥� to Moeller鈥檚 obvious relief.
鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy. I don鈥檛 know really what to say and I don鈥檛 realize what happened this weekend,鈥� Monney told The Associated Press. 鈥淭he Olympics is still far away, but for sure the slope I like it a lot.鈥�
Like Monney, Moeller had never even been on the podium prior to this weekend. His previous best finish was fourth.
But the young guns clearly enjoyed the Stelvio, where the men鈥檚 Alpine skiing events are set to take place in 14 months at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
鈥淚ncredible. I鈥檓 33 years old, and they keep pushing all the time,鈥� Kriechmayr said. 鈥淭hey are always on the limit. Now I think you have to be 100% from top to bottom, and if you鈥檙e not searching for the limit you鈥檙e not able to beat them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good to know what I have to do, but it鈥檚 incredible what they are doing now.鈥�
Both Monney and Moeller are 24.
鈥淵eah it鈥檚 crazy, it鈥檚 really nice that we can push a bit the older ones, get better maybe,鈥� Monney added with a laugh.
Monney's more lauded teammate Marco Odermatt leaves Bormio without a podium finish this weekend. As in the downhill, the three-time overall champion was fifth, sandwiched between two other Swiss teammates 鈥� Stefan Rogentin and Franjo von Allmen.
It was a miserable day for compatriot Caviezel, however.
The 32-year-old was first out of the gates but and was flown by Swiss Air Rescue straight back to Switzerland where he was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder as well as 鈥渁 complex knee injury,鈥� according to his ski federation.
French standout Cyprien Sarrazin and Italian Pietro Zazzi were also after crashing in separate incidents in downhill training on Friday.
to drain a bleed near the brain while Zazzi had an operation on his leg.
Odermatt still leads the super-G standings but has seen his advantage cut to just five points by Moeller. He leads the overall standings by 161 points.
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AP sports:
Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
