Skaardal Repeats As Super-G Champ

With the top Americans missing from the World Alpine Championships because of injuries, Atle Skaardal of Norway won his second straight Super-G on Monday.

On the opening day, Skaardal became only the fifth man in the championships’ 60 years to win consecutive titles in the same discipline.

“I was relaxed before the race,” said Skaardal, who won last year in Spain. “I was thinking I had the gold from last year so it didn’t matter how I did.”

Norweigan teammate Lasse Kjus, ill most of this season with a bacterial virus, was second, confirming that one of skiing’s best overall talents is back. He’ll ski all the remaining events but slalom.

Skaardal clocked 1 minute, 29.68 seconds, with Kjus finishing in 1:29.89 and Guenther Mader of Austria third at 1:30.01 on the 7,628-foot slope, which had a vertical drop of 2,166 feet.

The top American was AJ Kitt, who finished 25th in 1:31.93.

Tommy Moe, who won the men’s downhill at the Lillehammer Games, is out of the championships after cutting a hand in a bar at Kitzbuehel, Austria. Kyle Rasmussen, second to Moe in the Olympics, is out after tearing knee ligaments during a downhill at Wengen, Switzerland.

Today is a practice day. Racing resumes Wednesday with the women’s slalom.