LAKE LOUISE, Alta. - Aksel Lund Svindal completed a Lake Louise World Cup sweep with a victory in Sunday's super-G.
The Norwegian won Saturday's season-opening downhill at the Alberta ski resort. After sitting out the World Cup in 2014-15 with a torn Achilles' tendon, Svindal served notice he's back and skiing fast again.
"I knew my skiing was strong coming here, but now I really know that it's strong," Svindal said Sunday. "I'll definitely be one of the guys that you'll have to take down if you want to win a race.
"You can add seven other guys to that, but right now, at least this weekend, I'm the strongest one."
Super-G is a downhill course with more turns.
Svindal's double victory at Lake Louise was the second of his career after the first in 2012. The 32-year-old went on to win the overall World Cup crown in super-G that season.
The Olympic super-G champion in 2010 collected his sixth career victory at Lake Louise on Sunday.
Svindal's winning time was one minute 29.30 seconds despite losing his balance and getting knocked onto one ski in a turn partway down the course. Matthias Mayer of Austria was third in 1:29.65.
Italy's Peter Fill, who finished just a hundredth of a second back of Svindal in the downhill, was third in 1:29.75. Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was 13th after placing 10th in the downhill.
The men head to Beaver Creek, Colo., for a downhill, super-G and giant slalom Friday to Sunday respectively.
The women arrive in Lake Louise for a pair of downhills Friday and Saturday followed by a Sunday super-G. American downhill star Lindsey Vonn will be looking to add to her 15 career victories at the resort.
Lake Louise marked Guay's return to World Cup racing after 20 months. Canada's most decorated downhiller with 22 World Cup medals sat out last season recovering from a pair of knee surgeries in 2014.
"It was that one little bump down on the bottom that really cost me the race today," Guay said. "Otherwise I think I would have been right in the mix.
"In general I'm really optimistic about this year."
Calgary's Jan Hudec didn't participate in any training runs and withdrew from downhill in with knee issues. The Olympic super-G bronze medallist in 2014 pushed out of the start hut Sunday, but his run didn't last long as he bounced sideways and pulled up.
"The knee held up well. I just felt like I hadn't skied in a month," Hudec said. "The snow was rock hard and I got off the line just a little bit and didn't come with enough direction with the bump on the course.
"It just popped me outside the line and I felt I couldn't make it back on that line and really have a decent time, so I just pulled out. It was a bummer to go out that high on the course. I wanted to make it down and show people I could still ski fast."
Hudec sported nine stitches above his right eyebrow. Late for morning course inspection and rushing to get out of the hotel, Hudec jammed his skis into a door frame and his head collided with the skis.
"Those people who run straight into a light post when they're texting, that was full speed dead on," Hudec said. "It was just one of those days today, which the guys on the team joke that I need to perform well. I was actually fairly confident pushing out of the start."
Hudec will travel with the Canadian team to Colorado on Monday. He might not race downhill and instead save his knee for the super-G.
Manny Osborne-Paradis of Invermere, B.C., placed 28th on Sunday. Calgary's Tyler Werry finished 34th, Morgan Pridy of Whistler, B.C., was 45th, Jeffrey Frisch of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was 51st and Broderick Thompson of Whistler was 56th.
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