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Perfect weekend for Mayer in Saalbach

ByReuters

Published 22/02/2015 at 12:04 GMT

Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer finally made the World Cup mark his talent deserved by winning both races on home snow in Saalbach.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

The gifted 24-year-old speed specialist was an unexpected gold medallist in Sochi last year and he had only repeated his Olympic triumph once in the World Cup, at the Lenzerheide finals last winter.
On a Saalbach course seldom used in the past 20 years, however, Mayer set the record straight by adding his first Super-G victory on Sunday to his downhill triumph the previous day.
"A double after my Olympic title and my victory last year -- I'm finding my pace at last. Obviously my injury in November did not help my season start," the Austrian, who tore knee ligaments in training for the early season, told reporters.
"Now I feel I'm where I should be."
In one minute 31.53 seconds, the Austrian beat Super-G world bronze medallist Adrien Theaux of France by 0.21 seconds and Norway's Kjetil Jansrud was third, a further 0.04 adrift.
The result was a consolation for big globe contender Jansrud, who completely missed his downhill on Saturday and made it back to within 116 points of overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher in the standings.
Slalom specialist Hirscher made one of his few Super-G appearances in Saalbach, finishing 17th.
"Clearly I came here to score 200 points but you can't always get what you want," Jansrud said.
"It's going to be a close battle to the finish and a great fight with each race. But if Hirscher starts to hold up in the Super-G, I will have to practice my slalom."
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