Swiss Dominate Super-G With Hangl, Zurbriggen

It took until the seventh event of the World Alpine Ski Championships for the Swiss to win their second gold medal, and they made doubly sure, finishing 1-2 Wednesday in the men’s super-G race.

In the last world championships two years ago, Switzerland won eight of the 10 golds awarded.

Martin Hangl, 26, starting No. 1, finished No. 1 on the Vail Mountain course in 1 minute 38.81 seconds, beating his better-known countryman, Pirmin Zurbriggen, by 0.28 of a second.

Tomaz Cizman of Yugoslavia was a surprise third, another 0.09 back. Peter Mueller of Switzerland appeared to be on a medal run when he leaned too far to the right and took a horrendous spill, from which he emerged unhurt.

Earlier in the day, Ulrike Maier, 21, made Austria the sixth country to win a gold medal--in the first six events--when she took the women’s super-G in 1:19.46, edging teammate Sigrid Wolf by 0.03, with Michaela Gerg of West Germany 0.01 further behind.

Maier, like Hangl, started No. 1 and watched as racer after racer fired and missed.

“It was good to win,” Maier said, “because there was some pressure on us, not only from our trainers, but also from journalists who kept asking us why the Austrian team wasn’t winning.”

U.S. skiers have been consistently weak in the super-G, which is shorter than a downhill but longer than a giant slalom. Diann Roffe was 14th in the women’s race, Tommy Moe 21st among the men for the best American placings.

Alberto Tomba of Italy made his first appearance of the championships, coming in sixth, 0.92 behind Hangl.

After seven of the 10 events, Switzerland has two golds, and Austria, Luxembourg, the United States, West Germany and Yugoslavia have one apiece.

The men’s giant slalom today figures to be a battle among Zurbriggen, Tomba, Luxembourg’s Marc Girardelli and Austria’s Rudolf Nierlich.