GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany - Italy's Christof Innerhofer said fear of finishing outside the medals again helped push him to claim his maiden world ski gold when he won the men's Super G on Wednesday.

Having finished fourth in the Super G at the Val d'Isere world ski championships in 2009, the 26-year-old Innerhofer pulled out all stops in a bid to win gold on the Kandahar course which claimed several big names.

Innerhofer coped best with the icy conditions on day two of the competition and his winning time of 1 min 38.31 sec was more than half a second ahead of his nearest rival.