ALPINE:

Dixon 2nd in Friday downhill training at Beaver Creek

Dec. 4, 2009

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — In a Friday morning training session ahead of the day’s super-combined event, Canadian Robbie Dixon turned in the second-fastest time, trailing only Austrian Michael Walchhofer.

The defending World Cup downhill champ, Walchhofer sped down the Birds of Prey course  at Beaver Creek, Colo., with a time of 1 minute, 45.04 seconds. Dixon finished second, just 0.14 seconds behind Walchhofer, with a time of 1:45.18. French skier Yannick Bertrand was third in 1:45.20.

Canadian Erik Guay finished 13th in 1:47.17. Manuel Osborne-Paradis was the only other Canadian to participate in the training, finishing 19th, in 1:47.71.

Canadian Jan Hudec will not compete at the Beaver Creek World Cup. Teammate John Kucera is recovering from surgery after breaking his leg at the Lake Louise World Cup super-G race last weekend.

Many contenders, including American Bode Miller and Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, did not participate in the training session.  SRC

Beaver Creek men's World Cup downhill training No. 3 results