Norway's Svindal wins Lake Louise super-G for third straight year
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway captured a World Cup super-G Sunday, the third straight year he has won this event at Lake Louise.
Svindal finished in 1 minute, 28.53 seconds. He was followed by two Austrians — Matthias Mayer in 1:28.77 and Georg Streitberger in 1:28.91.
"Lake Louise has been good to me," Svindal said. "I won my first World Cup ever here in 2005 and it's the one destination where I have the most wins. The super-G just seems to suit me well.
"The snow in North America, especially here, and the snow in Scandinavia is more similar than from Scandinavia to Central Europe. I think that has something do to with it. Norwegians tend to do well in North America."
Austrians were second and third with Matthias Mayer 0.24 seconds back of Svindal and Georg Streitberger 0.38 seconds behind.
In addition to medals and prize money, medalists at Lake Louise were given white cowboy hats to wear for podium pictures.
"It's pretty hard to walk around in Europe and think you're a cowboy," Svindal said. "It's one of those things where you wear them here and think it's really cool and you get off the plane in Germany and it's not that sweet anymore unless you are a real cowboy."
The men head to Beaver Creek, Colo., the second stop on the World Cup circuit this 2013-14 season. They trade places with the women, who are traveling from Beaver Creek to Lake Louise this week for downhill races Friday and Saturday and a super-G on Sunday.
U.S. ski star Lindsey Vonn has won a record 14 times at Lake Louise and swept all three races the past two years. But the 29-year-old crashed in training last week and partially tore a reconstructed ligament in her right knee.
Vonn but didn't participate in the women's races at Beaver Creek on the weekend. She told The Associated Press she wants to race at Lake Louise.
The first of three women's training runs scheduled for Tuesday has been called off because the women were delayed travelling from Colorado to Alberta.
