KITZBUEHEL, Austria - Klaus Kroell of Austria won a super-G race on Friday for his first World Cup victory, while Bode Miller of the United States finished 21st.

Miller, the defending overall champion, skied a flawless first half of his run but got off balance in a sharp turn where many racers missed the correct line.

Wearing a protective guard on his broken hand, Kroell charged down the Streifalm course in 1 minute, 12.78 seconds to beat Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway by 0.22 seconds. Ambrosi Hoffmann of Switzerland was third.

"Winning in Kitzbuehel is so special. It's almost as big as winning the world championships," said the Kroell, who broke three bones in his right hand when he crashed during training eight days ago. "Doctors advised me not to race to prevent possible further damage, but I was able to go to the limit."

Overall World Cup leader Benjamin Raich skied off course and did not finish but stayed atop the standings with 638 points. Svindal is second (598), followed by Jean-Baptiste Grange of France (576).

Miller, who was 1.08 seconds behind Kroell, is 10th in the standings (395).

Andrew Weibrecht was the fastest American, putting in a near-perfect run to finish 11th. Teammate Marco Sullivan was 16th and Ted Ligety was 29th.

"This is really great. I am super psyched," Weibrecht said. "I just tried to ski as fast I could and I had some good turns too. It was clean and fast, so it's a confidence boost for (Saturday's) downhill."

Sullivan said he made a mistake on a turn.

"Had a good run but went too straight on the Hausberg (turn)," Sullivan said. "That's where the race was decided. I am happy with 90 percent of my run."

Ligety started fast but lost speed in the difficult middle section.

"I feel like I could have skied a lot faster," said Ligety, who was 29th. "I skied well on top and had it going but on the bottom I was a little bit too conservative."

Svindal posted the fastest intermediate times but lost speed as he leaned backward on one ski at the steep final part of the course.

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"I took a lot of risks there," Svindal said. "I lost balance on my left ski but fortunately the wind pushed me in the right direction so I could correct that."

After missing most of last season following a crash in Beaver Creek, Colo., Svindal was surprised by his results this season.

"I am definitely very happy with how things are going," Svindal said. "My goal before the comeback was to be just competitive again but I am right in there now."

Hoffmann had his fifth career podium finish and first since 2006.

Hermann Maier of Austria, who led the super-G standings and won this race five times, was 12th and missed out on a podium finish in the Kitzbuehel super-G for the first time.

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