Fischbacher upsets Vonn in super-G

Canadians finish well out of contention

Last Updated: Saturday, February 20, 2010 | 6:46 PM ET

By Jesse Campigotto, CBC Sports

Andrea Fischbacher celebrates after crossing the finish line with the best time in the super-G. (Sandra Behne/Getty Images)

Andrea Fischbacher of Austria won the Olympic women's super-giant slalom on Saturday, knocking favourite Lindsey Vonn from the top of the podium and denying the U.S. star a sweep of the speed events at the Vancouver Games.

Vonn looked poised to add to her downhill gold when she seized first place with the 17th run of the day in Whistler, B.C. But just two spots later, Fischbacher put down a time of one minute 20.14 seconds to beat Vonn by 0.74 of a second.

"It was really crazy," Fischbacher said of a tricky course set up by one of her coaches under the rotating system used by the International Ski Federation. "It was a really straight course and you had to push from start to finish."

Tina Maze of Slovenia later bumped Vonn down to the bronze-medal position, bettering the World Cup leader's time by a quarter of a second to take the silver.

American Julia Mancuso — the silver medallist in both the downhill and super-combined — finished ninth, while super-combined champion Maria Riesch of Germany was eighth.

Vonn, who was leading Thursday's super-combined when she crashed out of the slalom portion, has two more chances to add to her medal haul. The giant slalom and slalom, though, are her weakest disciplines.

"Once I got past those difficult sections, I kind of backed off the gas pedal," Vonn said of her super-G run. "I felt like I just didn't ski as aggressively as I could have, and I think that's where I lost the race."

Brydon crashes out

Fischbacher's victory was the first in alpine skiing at these Games for Austria, which collected 14 medals in 10 events at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, including four gold.

Elisabeth Goergl, who finished fifth Saturday, picked up a bronze in the Vancouver downhill. Fischbacher was fourth in that race, missing a medal by an imperceptible 3-100ths of a second.

"At first I was really sad," Fischbacher said. "Then I was just saying, 'OK, maybe I make it in the super-G."'

Canada failed to reach the podium Saturday for the fifth time in as many alpine events at the Vancouver Games.

Emily Brydon of Fernie, B.C., the best Canadian hope for a medal, saw her Olympic career come to a bitter end when she crashed early in her run. Brydon, who plans to retire at the conclusion of the World Cup season, was more than a second behind when she went down.

"There’s no broken bones or anything. I am just a giant walking bruise," said Brydon. "It’s definitely not what I had hoped for or envisioned or planned. There are so many opportunities for greatness out there and I wasn't able to capitalize."

Whistler's Britt Janyk nearly fell near the top of the course when she clipped a gate, but she managed to stay on her skis and finished 16th.

"I am really frustrated and disappointed not to walk away with a medal because I know I could have been there," said Janyk, who was sixth in the downhill. "I also know that it’s not easy. It's very difficult in alpine skiing to win a medal. The competition is so strong."

Georgia Simmerling of New Westminster, B.C., was 26th in her Olympic debut.

Shona Rubens of Canmore, Alta., skied well early in her run before missing a gate.

Several skiers struggled with the difficult course setup. Fifteen of the 53 starters did not finish — most of those early in the event when the sun's lower positioning in the sky made for trickier lighting.