VAL GARDENA, Italy - Some critics have attributed Kjetil Jansrud's domination of speed skiing to the injuries to Aksel Lund Svindal, Bode Miller and Erik Guay.

Jansrud has his own explanation.

"I feel like the minor mistakes never develop into bigger mistakes," the Norwegian said. "I grab myself back into it. Somehow I'm able to find the time where others do not. It's hard to analyze."

Jansrud, the Olympic champion, extended his overall World Cup lead by winning a super-G by a comfortable margin Saturday with only one very minor bobble after narrowly missing victory a day earlier.

The Norwegian clocked 1 minute, 33.87 seconds down the Saslong course for his fourth win in six speed races this season. In the two races Jansrud didn't win, he finished second, like in Friday's downhill won by American racer Steven Nyman.

"I think of every day as a new day. I'm not thinking about how my last race is," said Jansrud, who celebrated his seventh career victory with a bow to the crowd. "But when I take a step back and see how consistent I am, it's pretty good — pretty weird."

Local favourite Dominik Paris of Italy finished second, 0.46 seconds behind, for his second top-three result in two days. Hannes Reichelt of Austria was third, 0.54 back, to reach the podium here for the first time in 12 years.

"(Jansrud) doesn't make mistakes. That's the difference," Paris said. "He's beatable but you have to give more than 100 per cent and not make any errors. Otherwise it's difficult."

Svindal, the two-time overall champion and Jansrud's teammate, is out indefinitely after tearing his Achilles' tendon playing soccer the week before the season started. Miller is planning to return next month from back surgery and Guay, the 2011 world downhill champion from Canada, is also hoping to return soon from a pair of off-season knee operations.

"Aksel went out and I kind of felt the pressure to step up," Jansrud said. "We have a small team and suddenly I went into being the oldest guy, a captain's role."

The 29-year-old Jansrud moved 152 points ahead of technical specialist Marcel Hirscher in the overall standings.

"If I want to compete in the overall I need to ski incredibly fast in the speed events, because there are more technical events," Jansrud said. "I'm leading by 150 points now but I'm sure he'll be 50 points ahead after Madonna. ... It's exciting, at least there's a fight."

The circuit traverses the Gardena pass to nearby Alta Badia for a giant slalom on Sunday then heads to Madonna Di Campiglio for a slalom on Monday night to conclude a series of four races in four days.

This race was originally scheduled for Friday but was flip-flopped with the downhill in an attempt to preserve the course amid warm weather.

Vincent Kriechmayr, a 23-year-old Austrian, finished fourth for his best career result, and Christof Innerhofer of Italy finished fifth for his best result this season after struggling from chronic back pain.

Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer was on pace for the podium before he went wide around a turn toward the end of his run and skied through a gate as he attempted to correct his course.

Nyman skied off course shortly into his run, while American teammate Ted Ligety missed a gate on the bottom section. The top American finisher was Olympic silver medallist Andrew Weibrecht of Lake Placid, New York, in 19th.

Ligety will be aiming for his third career win on the Gran Risa course in Sunday's GS, the event he won at the Sochi Olympics. He's struggled at times to keep up with Hirscher this season but put in some extra training the past week.

"I feel like I figured out a couple of things on the steep pitches," Ligety said. "I haven't had the confidence to push my limits."

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Andrew Dampf can be followed at www.twitter.com/asdampf