14.02 Surprise in the Sochi Super Combined as Viletta Claims Gold for Switzerland

KRASNAYA POLYANA, February 14 (R-Sport) – Alpine skiing produced another major surprise at the Sochi Olympics on Friday as Swiss outsider Sandro Viletta won the men’s super combined.

Following on from Matthias Mayer’s gold medal in the downhill Sunday, it was the second men’s event in a row to have a winner who had never claimed even a World Cup podium in the discipline.

Viletta, who had been 14th after the opening downhill stage of Friday’s super combined, laid down the second-fastest slalom run of the day to snatch gold, 0.34 seconds ahead of Croatian slalom specialist Ivica Kostelic.

The bronze medal went to Christof Innerhofer of Italy, 0.13 seconds further back, his second medal of the Sochi Games after silver in the downhill. Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud, the leader after the downhill, slipped to fourth in the final standings, 1.06 seconds off Viletta's total time.

One of the most impressive performances came from little-known Slovakian Adam Zampa, who narrowly missed out on a medal after posting the best slalom run of the day to rise from 27th to fifth in the standings.

There was major disappointment for two big names from the US, Bode Miller and Ted Ligety.