The China Mail - Crawford risks all in familiar conditions for super-G gold

Comparing the snow to that of the Canadian Rockies resort of Lake Louise, the 25-year-old trumped a host of bigger names down L'Eclipse piste in Courchevel for a memorable triumph.

"It's definitely starting to sink in," said Crawford, who won alpine combined bronze in last year's Beijing Olympics but is yet to win a World Cup race.

"I was able to put down my best skiing on a line that was on the more risky side and it paid off for me.

"All season in super-G it's been a little bit of a struggle to get to the bottom, so I'm just really happy I made it all the way down today."

Crawford edged Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde into silver by just one-hundredth of a second.

Courchevel native Alexis Pinturault, fresh from winning combined gold on Tuesday, took bronze, with hot favourite Marco Odermatt of Switzerland finishing fourth in a gripping race in front of a large crowd.

"I knew Kilde and Odermatt and all those guys were going to be extremely fast and I just did enough to be able to beat them today," said Crawford, coached by John Kucera, who won the world downhill gold in Val d'Isere in 2009.

"I'm just happy I was on their level today because in any condition on any course they can be fast and I definitely felt like I took advantage of what I was good on."

- Monkey off the back -

Silver medallist Kilde said his second place had initially been bittersweet, but a weight off his shoulders.

"It's 27 centimetres, that is not much," he said of the margin of difference between him and Crawford.

"I wanted that gold so much that my instant reaction was a little disappointing."

Kilde added: "I'm super satsfied to take my first world champs medal. It's been a weight on my shoulders for many, many years.

"That's what special about championships in general. It's only three spots that matter.

"In the Olympics last year, I won two medals and now with the silver medal in the world champs I can lower my shoulders and keep on fighting, and happy to race (the downhill) on Sunday already."

Describing the course as "a win-and-lose race the whole way down", Kilde said it was "one of most fun hills" he'd raced, full of praise for Crawford.

"When you look at Jack, he's a guy who can ski fast anywhere: he skis fast everywhere, because he goes clean, he dares to risk and he puts together runs that are super fast," he said.

The irony of girlfriend Mikaela Shiffrin winning silver in the women's super-G on Wednesday was also not lost on Kilde.

"It's been a good start for both of us," he said. "Yesterday was fun to watch her ski.

"She gives me a lot of inspiration. The way we communicate, we give each other support and we can sit there and be confident in what we do right now.

"Same bib, same silver medal, it's a cool story, let's make it a gold... everything is possible!"

While Pinturault was left in dreamland with his second medal of his home champs, Odermatt -- winner of four of this season's six World Cup super-G races -- was left ruing his favourite's tag.

"I spoke with Jack just before the start and he told me he liked the course, that it was made for him," the Swiss racer said.

"When you're not the favourite, you go all-in and that's what he did, always on the limit."

Odermatt added of his own performance: "When you want to win gold and finish fourth, you're not happy."

S.Davis--ThChM