Albrecht wins World Cup super-combi

Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht on the podium after his World Cup super-combi win Keystone

Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht has won the World Cup super-combi in Beaver Creek, Colorado, boosting Switzerland's hopes of an upturn in its skiing fortunes.

Albrecht won with a combined time of 2 minutes 0.26 seconds, thanks to an outstanding slalom, which enabled him to catch up on the fifth position he held after the downhill leg.

“I was feeling good all summer,” Albrecht said. “I always do well at Beaver Creek so it’s a good place to start winning.”

Albrecht, who won the world championship in Are in Sweden in Februrary, is the first Swiss to win a World Cup event in the discipline since Paul Accola nearly 16 years ago.

Everyone had been expecting Thursday’s World Cup super-combi – which adds the times of the downhill and slalom – to favour the tour’s veteran downhillers. Instead, three emerging young skiers made their breakthroughs in competition.

Albrecht posted his first career World Cup victory, while Jean-Baptiste Grange of France and Czech longshot Ondrej Bank climbed the World Cup podium for the first time in their careers.

Albrecht was 0.67 seconds ahead of Grange, and a full second ahead of last year’s winner and one of the event favourites, Bode Miller.

“I told myself: ‘Go ahead and take some risks.’ And that’s what I did,” Albrecht said after the slalom.

Two other Swiss finished in the top ten: Silvan Zurbriggen was sixth and Didier Défago eighth.

However, Didier Cuche, who was leading after the downhill leg, finished out of the top 20.

Albrecht’s success is Switzerland’s second World Cup win this season, after Marc Gini won the slalom in Reiteralm in Austria earlier this month. Last year Switzerland managed only two first places all season.

In the World Cup rankings Cuche currently stands in seventh position. The overall leader is Aksel Lund Svindal, but the Norwegian remains in hospital after crashing during Tuesday’s training. Svindal is expected to be sidelined for months.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Men’s World Cup Super-Combi Results

1. Daniel Albrecht, Switzerland, 2 minutes, 0.26 seconds (1:14.06-46.20).
2. Jean-Baptiste Grange, France, 2:00.93 (1:15.80-45.13).
3. Ondrej Bank, Rép. Czech Republic, 2:01.23 (1:15.03-46.20).
4. Bode Miller, US, 2:01.28 (1:14.08-47.20).
5. Lars Myhre, Norway, 2:01.45 (1:14.36-47.09).
6. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 2:01.57 (1:15.38-46.19).
7. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 2:01.65 (1:14.65-47.00).
8. Ted Ligety, US, 2:01.67 (1:15.88-45.79).
9. Didier Défago, Switzerland, 2:01.83 (1:14.31-47.52).
10. Thomas Lanning, US, 2:01.89 (1:14.91-46.98).