Caroline Lalive led five U.S. women into the top 20 Wednesday in a World Cup super G won by nearly a half-second by Olympic downhill champion Carole Montillet of France.

In winning her second straight SG, Montillet was timed in 1:12.91. Renate Goetschl of Austria was second with a time of 1:13.37 and Hilde Gerg of Germany completed the podium. Temperatures were around 30.

Lalive's time was 1:13.87 with Kirsten Clark 14th in 1:14.24, Jonna Mendes (Heavenly, CA) 15th, Julia Mancuso 17th and Libby Ludlow 20th. Alison Powers, working her way back to World Cup racing after two years on the sideline with leg injuries from a racing crash, was 50th.

"So near and yet so far," said Head DH/SG Coach Jim Tracy. "There were some bright sides, some really good sections by the girls, but we lost it again at the bottom. We're going to take a close look at the videos to see how and where they're losing it.

"The only other nation with five skiers in the top 20 – or three in the top 15 – was Austria, but we should have had three in the top five. We're here to win and the girls can do it, and they know it. We're definitely looking for podiums Friday [in downhill]…but we're doing that every race," Tracy said.

The super G was moved from last weekend near Innsbruck, Austria, to Cortina because of poor snow. The women, who ran their first downhill training run Tuesday, will have another training run Thursday, then run the regularly scheduled downhill/super G/giant slaloms Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

— Courtesy US Ski Team, with additional information from MountainZone.com staff