Christof Innerhofer of Italy mastered a bumpy course in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to win the super-G at the world championships for his first major title.

Hannes Reichelt of Austria was second and overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was third.

Defending champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland missed the podium and finished fourth, while Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway failed to finish.

Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., who won the super-G race and the World Cup title in the event on the same slope last year, also failed to finish.

"I knew I made a couple of mistakes on the top and needed to charge hard," said Guay. "All that counts is top three.

"It was a tough course, for sure, probably the toughest super-G we've seen all year. But this is the world championships."

Top Canadian was Ben Thomsen of Invermere, B.C., in 19th in his first world championship race.

"My goal was top 15, so I'm happy with it," said Thomsen. "You always want to do better but I put a hell of a run together.

"Like everybody else, I didn't feel too hot out there. It was pretty rough.

"I like the bigger, rougher courses and I was really psyched for it. But the top part kind of got me."

Calgary's Jan Hudec also didn't finish.

"I made it through a couple of sections really well," he said. 'I just made a small mistake and it ended up costing me a finish.

"Before I knew it, it was too late to make the gate."

Innerhofer has only one World Cup victory to date — a downhill in Bormio in Italy in December 2008 — but he beat Reichelt by a massive 0.60 seconds, finishing in one minute 38.31 seconds. Reichelt, who won the super-G race on Saturday, clocked 1:38.91. Kostelic finished in 1:39.03.

"These races come only once every two years, so I knew I had to go all out today," Innerhofer said. "You can't make any sort of calculations.

"The course is incredible and exhausting. But I managed to keep things under control."

American Bode Miller, the Olympic silver medalist, clipped a gate with his arm and lost a pole. He maintained a fast pace and was nearly a full second ahead of the 10 previous racers. But he lost his balance coming out of a bend at the bottom, slowed down and stood up as he crossed the finish line to place 12th.

"I tried to push on the top," Miller said. "But I hooked my arm pretty hard.

"I made the recovery. But then I lost my balance.

'I skied like I wanted on the top. But it's a matter of finishing without making mistakes."

His run inspired Innerhofer.

"I saw Bode Miller and I told myself that's how I had to race, too," he said. "Simply give your best, then you can't reproach yourself at the finish."

Miller said skiing without the pole didn't seem to make much of a difference. He likely would have broken into the top 10 if he had not crossed the line in a leisurely fashion.

"It was difficult," Miller said. "It was challenging.

But that's how it should be. It's the world championships.

"It's a pretty tame hill.

"It's really basic. But today, it was bumpy enough and fast enough to make it challenging.

"You see a lot of guys having problems and, if you see Innerhofer skiing, he really deserves to win here. He was one of the few guys really pushing and really taking some risk."

Ted Ligety of the United States, who went off the course, said running early was more difficult.

"A couple of turns, you get some sun," Ligety said. "Just in general, it's in the shade all the way down and that makes it tough when it's that bumpy."

Although his World Cup career includes only three other third-place finishes, Innerhofer had come close to winning medals at the last two major events. At 26, Innerhofer has been seen as one of the leaders in a fairly young Italian speed team, although he has been slowed by injuries.

He missed the podium at the world championships two years ago by finishing 0.05 seconds behind bronze medalist Svindal. And he was sixth at the Vancouver Olympics last year, only 0.08 seconds away from the bronze.

Innerhofer is one of the most outgoing members of the team, hailing from the German-speaking Alto Adige region. He jumped onto the top of the podium during the victory celebration.

"What I'm most pleased about is that I was able to attack from top to bottom, which is something I haven't been able to do very often this season," he said. "When I crossed the line and looked at the scoreboard I didn't believe it at first."

'I had to look again to be sure," he added. "This is the dream for any athlete and, for me, to get my first super-G win at the worlds is unbelievable.

"I can't believe it. Already for a few days I've been telling myself, 'Christof, you've got to risk everything in this race, because you don't have anything to lose. You've got to risk, risk, risk, otherwise you're going to be angry with yourself."'

Reichelt said he was surprised with his second-place finish.

"Normally, these are not my conditions," Reichelt said. "I thought I'd skied a lousy race.

"The uneven, icy piste was extremely difficult at some points [and] it was really twilight. I got tired quickly and I could hardly stay upright at the end."