Kriechmayr leads Austrian 1-2 in Val Gardena super-G, Canada's Crawford 6th

Former world champion Vincent Kriechmayr led a strong Austrian showing to win a high-speed super-G in Val Gardena on Friday.

For his 17th career World Cup win — split almost evenly between downhill (9) and super-G (8) — Kriechmayr finished a narrow 0.02 seconds ahead of teammate Daniel Hemetsberger.

Marco Odermatt, who dominated the super-G discipline last season, placed third, 0.03 back. The two-time defending overall World Cup winner was visibly upset, screaming at himself in the finish.

The course, set by a French coach, was relatively straight. That meant that racers could accelerate to more than 110 kph (68 mph) — not far off the speeds of the downhill on the Saslong course. Conditions were virtually perfect.

"It was probably one of the easiest super-G's I've ever skied on the World Cup circuit," Odermatt said.

Marco Schwarz finished fifth as Austrians took three of the top five spots.

"Today it looks much better than yesterday," Hemetsberger said, referring to how only one Austrian — Stefan Babinsky in sixth — placed in the top 15 of the downhill won by American skier Bryce Bennett on Thursday.

Toronto's James Crawford, who finished fifth in downhill on Thursday, was sixth in Friday's super-G. Crawford won gold in super-G at last season's world championship.

Fellow Canadians Cameron Alexander, of North Vancouver, B.C., placed seventh, and Calgary's Jeffrey Read finished tied for 10th.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde struggled all of the way down and then jumped too far on the lower section of the course, which meant he had to brake hard to clear the next gate. The Norwegian, who was the only skier other than Odermatt to win a World Cup super-G last season, finished outside the top 30, a distant 1.09 behind.

"I was a little