KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia − Four injury-ravaged ski racers collected medals in a thrilling men’s super G Sunday, among them Americans Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht, both seared by hardship since sharing an Olympic super-G podium four years ago.  Gold went to Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, just a year beyond a major knee injury. Miller and Canada’s Jan Hudec tied for bronze, each of them 0.53 seconds off Jansrud’s 1 minute, 18.14-second pace. But the purest glory may have belonged to the runner-up, Weibrecht, the intrepid 28-year-old from Lake Placid who delivered the most electrifying Alpine descent of the day — if not the entire Sochi Games.  Assigned the late start number 29, Weibrecht waited at the top of the course for an hour while the snow began to soften under the balmy Russian sunshine. All of the top-ranked skiers were in the finish stadium, congratulating Jansrud for becoming Norway’s fourth consecutive gold medalist in the event.  Then, up at the start, Miller’s voice came over the U.S. team’s radio frequency, giving Weibrecht a course report. The snow wasn’t as bad as they had feared, and on the steep upper section Weibrecht could link carved turns, omitting the tactical skidding that would have gone against Weibrecht’s natural ability to go arc to arc, channeling his speed from one gate to the next.  PHOTOS: WINTER OLYMPICS FIGURE SKATING OUTFITS THROUGH THE YEARS  “Just f---ing pipe it,” Miller instructed his younger teammate, who is historically susceptible to the kind of adrenaline-fueled, victory-or-hospital recklessness that characterized Miller’s early career.  Thanks for all the support, today was one of the most emotional days of my life. I miss my brother.  Weibrecht — “Warhorse” to his teammates — takes the kamikaze line so often that his world champion teammate Ted Ligety has labeled him “the fastest skier in the world for 20 seconds.” As he attacked the Rosa Khutor course, Weibrecht proved Ligety right, cutting inside the groove that the previous racers had left on the snow, and soon exceeding 65 mph.  At the finish, Jansrud paused in his celebration, and later said he felt his legs turn to jelly as he saw Weibrecht leading at the first three intervals.  RELATED: GOLD RETURNS TO SOCHI READY TO TAKE AIM AT RUSSIAN DARLING  “I went out of the start and felt good,” said Weibrecht. “I was a little bit on the edge and maintained that the whole way, and continued charging from top to bottom and actually put my first relatively clean run together in quite some time. I came through the finish and I knew that it was a good run.’  Good enough to knock Miller and Hudec into third place. Neither of them begrudged the demotion. Hudec, a survivor of endless knee and back injuries, ended a 20-year medal drought for the proud Canadian team, and Miller’s bronze extended his American record to six career Olympic medals in Alpine skiing.  Cameras soon showed Miller crying, tears that he later attributed to thoughts of his younger brother, Chelone, who died last year. Miller missed last season to microfracture knee surgery, and spent the past year in a nasty child-custody dispute as well, but the death of his brother, who had hoped to compete in Sochi as a snowboarder, has shadowed his season on snow.  "Everything felt pretty raw and connected," said Miller, who at 36 became the oldest Olympic medalist in Alpine skiing history.  RELATED: AUSTRIA'S FENNINGER WINS SUPER-G; JULIA MANCUSO 8TH  ON YOUR PHONE? CLICK HERE FOR NATE VINTON'S VIDEO REPORT  Weibrecht, who grew up skiing on the 1980 Olympic downhill course at Whiteface Mountain, was a bronze medalist in the super G event at the Vancouver Games, but persistent illnesses, torn connective tissue in his shoulders and ankles, and a break with his longtime equipment supplier all contributed to his slump.  As his world ranking in the downhill discipline slipped to 165 last year (from 28th in 2010), Weibrecht nearly lost his place on the U.S. Ski Team, and was forced to contribute to his own funding on the World Cup tour. He thought more than once about quitting altogether — “you know, as recently as yesterday,” he joked.  Gonna give it my best shot from #29 tomorrow. Thanks everybody for your support. #BelieveInUS #SG #Olympics2014  “There’s only so many times that you can get kicked before you start to really feel it,” he said. "He's an unbelievable talent," said Miller. "I think here he really connects the emotion to it and I think that's why he gets such crazy performances out of himself."
Andrew Weibrecht of upstate New York stunned the world's best skiers Sunday with an electrifying silver-medal run in the Olympic men's super G race, knocking his teammate Bode Miller into third place.