Alpine skiing: Olympic champion Mayer wins super-G in Alberta

[December 02, 2019]    (Reuters) - Olympic champion Matthias Mayer continued a family love affair with the Canadian Rockies when he won the men's World Cup super-G in Alberta on Sunday.

Matthias Mayer of Austria takes the podium during the men's Super G race in the Lake Louise FIS Men's Alpine Skiing World Cup at Lake Louise Ski Resort. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Competing a couple of hundred kilometers from where his father Helmut claimed Olympic silver in Calgary in 1988, Mayer charged down the Lake Louise mountain to triumph by nearly half a second.

The 29-year-old Austrian skied flawlessly, hitting speeds of 120 kph to end his run of four second-place finishes on the mountain.

For his sixth World Cup career victory -- three in super-G and three in downhill -- Mayer beat Italian Dominik Paris by 0.40 seconds, while Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr and Swiss Mauro Caviezel tied for third, 0.49 seconds off the pace.

Paris, the lead singer in a heavy metal band, had to settle for runner-up for the second successive day after being pipped in the downhill on Saturday.

Mayer is a double Olympic gold medalist, winning super-G in Pyeongchang in 2018 and downhill in Sochi in 2014.

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; editing by Clare Fallon)

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