Avon, CO – On a snowy, blustery day at Beaver Creek Resort in Colorado on Saturday, Sandro Viletta of Switzerland came out of start 30 to take the win at the the Audi FIS Birds of Prey super G ahead of Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal. Switzerland’s Beat Feuz was third.

Olympic bronze medalist Andrew Weibrecht, of Lake Placid, N.Y., continued his comeback from injury last year to put down a 10th place run on Saturday, matching his career best in a World Cup, also earned at Beaver Creek in 2007. Friday’s downhill winner, Bode Miller of Franconia, N.H., was 21st after a big mistake at the top took him out of contention.

“I went in and I was attacking top to bottom. I didn’t leave anything out there. I started to get my feet back under me and I took a lot of confidence out of the downhill – it wasn’t the result I wanted, but I skied really well and I was happy with that,” said Weibrecht. “I knew that the skiing was there, I just needed to put a hard run down and really try to execute it. I made it pretty clean top to bottom and was carrying that speed off the top.”

“Andrew had a hell of a performance today after coming back from injury last year,” added Sasha Rearick, the U.S. Ski Team Men’s Alpine Head Coach. “He’s been training well and today we saw execution and good skiing top to bottom. We’re stoked. We’re really excited to see him find that race gear.

Ryan Cochran-Siegle, of Starksboro, Vt., finished in 29th place for his first career World Cup points. His mother, 1972 Olympic slalom champion Barbara Cochran, was on hand for the race to surprise her son.

“Lake Louise was my first super G [last weekend]. I was going in unexpected and I came down in 20th and got pushed back to 31st, so I went into this one just trying to ski as well as I can and not worry about anything else,” said Cochran-Siegle. “It’s a technical course. It’s a lot of fun. I was just listening to the course report as close as possible to find the line. ”

“Overall, the guys are coming along. I’m pleased with the progress they’re making, but we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us,” concluded Rearick.

Canada’s Robbie Dixon tasted both ecstasy and agony Saturday as a scintillating first run left him poised to secure his first career World Cup podium, only to watch the 30^th skier down the hill storm to victory and push him into fourth place to tie his career best World Cup result. His teammate, Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, finished seventh to make it two top-10 finishes in World Cup super G races on successive weekends for Canada’s men’s team.

“It’s a bittersweet day for me but I did everything I could,” said Dixon, of Whistler, British Columbia, who sat out the second half of last season with a serious concussion. “To get a podium would have been a pretty special moment, especially with some of the stuff I’ve had to go through over the last year. But Sandro (Viletta) had a wicked run. This is a big step for me in terms of building confidence.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Beaver Creek, Colo. – Birds of Prey Men’s Super G
Dec. 3, 2011