Staudacher shocks super-G

The 26-year-old Staudacher, competing in his first-ever world championship race, won the first gold medal of these worlds in a time of one minute and 14.30 seconds.

Strobl, a former downhill Olympic champion and last-minute selection for the Austrian power-team, finished just 0.32 seconds behind the Italian with Kernen a further 0.30 seconds back.

"This is a dream come true. It's madness," an emotional Staudacher told reporters at the bottom of the sun-soaked piste.

"The conditions today suited me perfectly. I was able to attack, to take risks, to ski aggressively and just let the skis go."

Staudacher - who started 12th on Tuesday - has never even finished on a World Cup podium.

His best career finish came earlier this season at Bormio with a sixth-place in the downhill and his best super-G showing was an eighth-place at Hinterstoder in December.

A policeman by trade and a part-time bassist with a Red Hot Chilli Peppers cover-band called Rockomon, Staudacher was one of the last men expected to become the first Italian to win a world championship medal in a speed discipline since Kristian Ghedina's downhill bronze in 1997.

Only Strobl seriously threatened to deny Staudacher the victory, with world number two Didier Cuche sharing the fourth spot with Austrian Christoph Gruber.

Strobl criticised the starting order, which he said placed the top racers at a disadvantage, although he was happy to get on the podium.

"It's a great relief. I had to work hard to convince everybody that I deserved to be at the start. The starting numbers were certainly a disadvantage for the top racers. The FIS (International Ski Federation) rules are not really fair."

With fast conditions on the piste after three days of blizzards, gale-force winds and fog plagued the outset of these world championships in Sweden, conditions seemed perfect for a risk-taker.

Only Strobl seriously threatened to deny Staudacher the victory, with world number two Didier Cuche sharing the fourth spot with Austrian Christoph Gruber.

Strobl criticised the starting order, which he said placed the top racers at a disadvantage, although he was happy to get on the podium.

"It's a great relief. I had to work hard to convince everybody that I deserved to be at the start. The starting numbers were certainly a disadvantage for the top racers. The FIS (International Ski Federation) rules are not really fair."

As always defending world champion Bode Miller was highly aggressive on the challenging Olympia course, but made several errors to drop outside of the top-20.

Austrian Olympic legend Hermann Maier - a silver medallist in the discipline last year at Turin's Olympic Games - also disappointed with a seventh-place finish.

"My disappointment is limited when I look at the surprising result," Maier said. "It would have been possible to win today even with a high starting bib but I did not take enough risks in some sections."

Italian favourite Peter Fill finished a full 1.01 seconds behind his compatriot to drop outside the top-ten in another surprise, while World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal was also outside the top-10 at 0.94 seconds behind Staudacher.