Austria’s Matthias Mayer went “all in” to successfully defend his Olympic super-G title on Tuesday in Beijing and make history as the first men’s alpine skier to win gold medals in three consecutive Games.
Mayer, who won his first super-G title in Pyeongchang in 2018 and also took downhill gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, clocked a winning time of 1min 19.94sec.
American Ryan Cochran-Siegle took a surprise silver with a time 0.04sec behind Mayer, with Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde claiming bronze at 0.42sec.
Mayer, 31, again went one better than his father Helmut, won silver when the Super-G made its Olympic debut in 1988.
“I tried to push hard, really hard,” said Mayer, who also won a bronze medal in Monday’s downhill, won by Switzerland’s Beat Feuz.
“I saw Kilde’s run on TV at the start and it was really good so I knew that I had to go all in. I tried to push hard to the last gate, and it was good.”
Kilde was the big favorite coming into the race as the World Cup leader in the speed event, having won three of the last four super-G races on the circuit this season.
The Norwegian took temporary control of the leaderboard, but could only look on as Mayer delivered a gliding masterclass in the bottom section of the 2.3km-long “Rock” course that helped him take the definitive lead.
Hitting speeds of 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour), Mayer was behind on the first intermediaries in the testing upper section that snaked through the barren mountainscape of Yanqing, north of Beijing.
But the Austrian somehow found more speed in a consummate descent of the vertical drop of 645 meters on hard-packed artificial snow in brilliant sunshine.
“I did really well in the last section,” said Mayer. “It was a great race and a very close race.”
Cochran-Siegle, who also comes from a family of skiers with his mother Barbara having won slalom gold for the United States at the 1972 Olympics, added of Mayer: “He’s an incredible skier, takes advantage of the big moments. To be so close to him, it’s something special.”
‘Mr Olympics’
It was indeed a remarkable result for the Austrian, who had won just one World Cup super-G since his triumph in Pyeongchang, although he has made the podium three times this season.
His gold meant he joined an exclusive club of skiers to have won gold medals in three different Games after Italy’s Deborah Compagnoni, in 1992, 1994 and 1998; and Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt in 1992, 2002, 2006.
“That’s such a big success, I can’t imagine right now,” admitted Mayer. “I was very focused on these races and now at this moment I don’t think about history.”
A handful of pretenders for gold, or at least a podium place, skied out, notably Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt and Feuz.
Feuz missed a gate in the top third, while Odermatt clipped a gate and never recovered his balance to cap a disappointing couple of days’ racing for the Swiss.
“I tried everything, I took the risk. I definitely needed to have the chance for a medal, but the very last turn was too much,” said Odermatt.
“It’s the Olympic Games, just a medal counts. Maybe you’re taking a little more risks than usual than in the World Cup, where a fourth or fifth comes with important points. Here it counts for nothing.”
Reigning world champion Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria finished fifth behind Norway’s Adrian Smieth Sejersted, with Canada’s James Crawford backing up his impressive fourth-placed finish in the downhill with a sixth in the super-G.
“It’s no surprise to see Mayer on top,” Crawford said, describing the course as a “high-tempo” one that suited all-rounders.
“Mayer is super technically sound, but also has all the speed skills.”
Kriechmayr simply said of the winner: “He is Mr Olympics.”
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