Austria’s Andrea Fischbacher wins Olympic super-G in upset; Lindsey Vonn settles for bronze

Austria’s Fischbacher wins super-G; Vonn takes 3rd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Lindsey Vonn got another medal — just not a gold.

Austria’s Andrea Fischbacher won the super-G at the Vancouver Olympics on Saturday, with Tina Maze of Slovenia the surprising silver medalist. Vonn earned bronze, 0.74 seconds back.

The Austrians, who won 14 Alpine medals including four golds in Turin, had gotten off to a slow start. Elisabeth Goergl’s bronze in the downhill had been their only medal so far. Fischbacher was reduced to tears after placing fourth in the downhill, finishing only 0.03 seconds behind Goergl.

Her coach, Juergen Kriechbaum, set the super-G course according to International Ski Federation rules that rotate the job to correspond with the higher-ranked super-G skiers. Fischbacher navigated her way down Franz’s Run in 1 minute, 20.14 seconds.

Vonn had already wrapped up the season-long World Cup super-G title by winning three of the five races so far; Fischbacher was third in the event standings.

Vonn won the downhill to open her Olympics, then wiped out in the slalom leg of the super-combined. On Saturday, she was denied a sweep of the speed events. Depending on how her bruised right shin holds up, the American still has two events remaining in Vancouver — giant slalom and slalom.

LUGER’S DEATH

Thousands of mourners flocked to the yard of Nodar Kumaritashvili’s family for a traditional funeral in Bakuriani, Georgia. Inside the two-story brick home, the body of the 21-year-old luger lay in a coffin, surrounded by Orthodox Christian icons and burning candles. A choir sang chants and a portrait of the Olympian hung on the wall. His father, David Kumaritashvili, stared at the picture.

“I wanted to throw a wedding feast for you,” he said. “Instead, we have a funeral.”

The 21-year-old luger died in a crash hours before the opening ceremony. He is to be buried in the cemetery of a tiny church in the snowy Alpine village.

CURLING

Skip John Shuster returned to the U.S. curling lineup for the morning match with Sweden.

He was benched Friday for the Americans’ win against France — their first after an 0-4 start — because of unreliable shot-making.

Shuster won a bronze medal at the 2006 Turin Games, the first by the Americans in curling and first in a major men’s competition since 1978.