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Italy's Werner Heel won the men's super-G race at the World Cup finals in Are with Aksel Lund Svindal taking the title in the discipline and moving closer to the overall crown.

Heel, who won a super-G at home in Val Gardena earlier this season, mastered the Are course in one minute 13.41 seconds for his third career victory.

His win was eclipsed by Norwegian Svindal, who finished in second place and 0.07" adrift to add a second super-G crystal globe to the one conquered in 2006.

Svindal, who missed most of last season through injury and lost his 2007 overall crown to American Bode Miller, now leads Austria's Benjamin Raich by 102 points with only two races remaining.

A solid run in Friday's giant slalom would be enough to secure a second overall World Cup for the 26-year-old.

Raich, who is not a specialist, stayed in contention by finishing fourth and 0.21 behind Heel.

"It's absolutely unexpected," said Svindal, hampered by a bad cold since arriving in Are. "I caught the cold in Norway and it really makes me weak but today I decided to ignore it and go for it regardless."

World champion Didier Cuche probably wasted his last chance for overall victory by finishing 15th, 1.20 off the pace. The Swiss is now third and 150 points behind Svindal.

Heel's compatriot Christof Innerhofer also crowned a good season by finishing third in the day's race, 0.20 behind his team-mate.

"This victory is a great satisfaction for me after the disappointment of Val d'Isere when the whole Italian team expected a lot and got little," said Heel, runner up in the super-G standings with 256 points to Svindal's 292.

Reuters