VAL GARDENA, Italy: Aksel Lund Svindal finally won the classic Val Gardena downhill for the first time in his career Saturday in a World Cup race that may be better remembered for a safety air bag inflating in the crash of Olympic champion Matthias Mayer.

Svindal clocked 1 minute, 54.80 seconds down the Saslong course for a 0.43 advantage over Guillermo Fayed of France.

Svindal’s Norwegian teammate Kjetil Jansrud finished third, 0.46 behind.

Mayer lost control and spun around, flying down the hill backward, and landed hard on his right side.

Manufacturer Dainese said it was the first time an air bag was inflated during a race and International Ski Federation technical expert Gunter Hujara said that the device may have saved Mayer from a spinal injury.

Gut wins again as Vonn goes off piste

In Val-d’Isère, France, Lara Gut stormed to victory in the women’s World Cup downhill race on Saturday, clinching her second win of the weekend and closing the gap on overall leader Lindsey Vonn.

The 24-year-old Swiss pipped the American speed queen in Friday’s super-combined, also at Val d’Isere, and with Saturday’s result Gut has 478 points to Vonn’s 480.

Vonn careened off piste, although she did at least manage to stay on her skis, and had to watch on as Gut produced a barnstorming run in 1min 44.51sec to win ahead of her compatriot Fabienne Suter in second and Canada’s Larisa Yurkiw in third.

“It’s way too early in the season to start calculating points for the World Cup,” Gut said however. “But I can tell you these two wins are no surprise. I’ve been working very hard and feel very good,” she added.

“Now I’m going to dig deep to find the energy for Sunday,” she said, as the World Cup shifts to a fresh showdown at Courchevel, also in France, for the season’s fourth Giant slalom.