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Viletta wins 1st World Cup |
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Sunday, December 04, 2011 13:16 |
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Sandro Viletta, of Switzerland, crosses past the finish line for a time of 1 minute 18.71 seconds which earned him his first World Cup win during the Birds of Prey super-G Saturday in Beaver Creek. Justin McCarty, Special to the Daily
By Chris Freud, The Vail Daily
BEAVER CREEK —Yogi Berra and ski racing seem to be a poor match. But at Saturday's Birds of Prey men's World Cup super-G, it wasn't over until it was over.
Switzerland's Sandro Viletta leapt out of the 30th spot to nab his first career win, not to mention make his debut on a World Cup podium.
“It's amazing,” Viletta said. “I just pushed so much. It was great. I was in the start and listened to my coach and said, ‘Now I'm risking (it).'”
By coming from the bottom of the order of the top contenders, the 25-year-old knocked Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal into second and bumped Switzerland's Beat Feuz into third.
Viletta continued the tradition of the unpredictability of the Birds of Prey super-G. Viletta is the fourth first-time winner of the race, joining Bjarne Solbakken (2003), Stefan Goergl (2004) and Hannes Reichelt (2005). And even though the last two winners — Svindal (2008) and Austria's Georg Streitberger (2010) — weren't first timers, Viletta's win joins their ranks when it comes to the improbability of his victory.
Read more about the race.
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