Canmore's Jeffrey Read earns World Cup silver in men's super-G

Alberta's Jeffrey Read placed second in the men’s super-G on Sunday for the first FIS Alpine World Cup podium finish of his career in a race held in Kvitfjell, Norway.

Alberta's Jeffrey Read placed second in the men’s super-G on Sunday for the first FIS Alpine World Cup podium finish of his career in a race held in Kvitfjell, Norway.

Read, from Canmore., finished in one minute 9.4 seconds to put him in the leader's seat until Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr beat his time.

“The stars aligned, it’s a track that I love and have some speed on, and the skiing was just right today," said Read. "I ended up with a good clean run, good enough for second, not quite enough speed to catch Kriechmayr in first, but it was a really tight race, and I’m really stoked to end up on the podium.”

Kriechmayr beat Read by 0.17 seconds and closed the gap in the discipline standings on leader Marco Odermatt to 81 points, with only the Austrian’s home race at the World Cup finals in Saalbach on March 22 outstanding.

Odermatt would have locked up the title Sunday with a first or second place, but the Swiss star shared third position with Italian racer Dominik Paris, trailing Kriechmayr by 0.19 seconds.

Read's strong showing continued a strong weekend for Canadian men’s ski racing, after Cameron Alexander of North Vancouver, B.C., finished third in the downhill on Saturday.

“This is a track that is definitely one of our best, if not for sure our best,” Read said post-race. “There is something about the snow, I think, being a bit similar to home, and terrain that we’re really comfortable on, and we have a lot of confidence, so it kind of clicks every time we’re here, and it’s nice to finally be able to capitalize on it for myself.”