Are, Sweden - Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway defied an illness as he clinched the super-g World Cup title and took another step towards the overall crown on Thursday by finishing second behind Italian Werner Heel.

Austrian veteran Hermann Maier, by contrast, missed a 15th career trophy with an erratic ride at the World Cup finals.

Heel won the final super-g in 1 minute 13.41 on a sunny day on the Olympia piste, his second win of the season and third overall.

Wednesday's downhill race winner Svindal had 1:13.48 and Christof Innerhofer of Italy was third in 1:13.61.

Svindal stretched his overall lead to over 100 points ahead of the final two season races, a giant slalom and slalom in Are on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The 2007 champion has 1,009 points, Austrian Benjamin Raich has 907 from a fourth-place finish, and Swiss Didier Cuche is third with 861 points. Croatia's Ivica Kostelic also has a mathematical chance with 837 points even though he failed to earn points on Thursday.

"Things will look good if I can maintain this lead after the giant slalom," said Svindal, who said he plagued by a flu and fever.

Raich, who is normally better than Svindal in the giant slalom and slalom said: "Aksel is the top favourite ... I have a chance but it will be tough."

Svindal won the super-g crown with 292 points from five races. Heel was second with 256 points and Swiss Didier Defago third with 244 points. The pre-race points leader Maier remained on 231 as he dropped to fourth place with an inconsistent performance.

"I had big ambitions, but I made a mistake and lost a lot of speed," said Maier.

The women's super-g was scheduled for later Thursday. (dpa)