Austrian ends Norway’s run

JEONG S EON, S OUTH KO R EA» Matthias Mayer of Austria won the Olympic men’s super-G on Friday, breaking Norway’s 16-year grip on the title.

Mayer won the speed race by 0.13 seconds ahead of Beat Feuz of Switzerland, who added the silver medal to his bronze from the downhill Thursday.

Defending champion Kjetil Jansrud of Norway was third, 0.18 seconds behind Mayer. It’s Jansrud’s fifth career Olympic medal after getting downhill silver.

Norway had won the past four Olympic men’s super-G races — a streak begun at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2010 Olympic champion in super-G, placed fifth the day after taking Mayer’s downhill title.

Low-ranked skiers in the 62racer lineup were yet to start, but they are not a threat to the medal times on another near-perfect clear and cold day for racing.

It’s been an interesting week for Mayer. He crashed into a courseside television cameraman Tuesday in the slalom leg of the combined event, won by his team- mate, Marcel Hirscher.

Mayer seemed to be feeling the effects of that fall two days later, with a disappointing ninth finish in defense of his 2014 Olympic downhill title.

“I didn’t know if I would start the downhill,” the 27-year-old Austrian said. “I had real pain in my hip.”

Still, Mayer has a history of recovering from severe injury since his first Olympic gold. He broke two vertebrae in his back in a crash at a World Cup downhill at Val Gardena, Italy in 2015. He underwent surgery and spent 11 days in a hospital before slowly making his way back to training.

The last non-Norwegian to win the men’s super-G gold medal was Hermann Maier at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. The Austrian great won that race three days after walking away unhurt from a spectacular cartwheeling crash in the downhill.

Andrew Weibrecht could not make it three straight Olympics with a medal in super-G, having taken bronze in 2010 and silver four years ago. The often-injured American missed a gate after flying too far off a jump. Ted Ligety of the United States, the 2013 world champion in super-G, also failed to finish.