ALPINE:

Guay edged by Feuz in Kvitfjell downhill, Hudec 10th

March 11, 2011     ♦ Erik Guay in action (www.erikguay.com) 

KVITFJELL, Norway — Swiss skier Beat Feuz earned his first World Cup win Friday, beating pre-race favourites Didier Cuche and Erik Guay in a men's downhill.

The 24-year-old Feuz barreled down the Olympiabakken course to win in 1 minute, 47.39 seconds.

"After two years out with a serious injury, this is a dream come true for me," Feuz said. "But as a former junior world champion, I always though I'd get here eventually."

Canadian world champion Guay finished second, 0.05 seconds behind, and Michael Walchhofer of Austria was third, 0.11 back. Cuche, the defending World Cup downhill champion and the current leader in the discipline, was 0.24 seconds behind in fifth.

Canada had three racers in the top 18, with Jan Hudec 10th and Ben Thomsen 18th.

Wearing bib No. 5, Feuz beamed after skiing into the finishing area with the early lead. But not even he could have believed he would stay in front with 52 competitors left to race at the top of the slope.

"This is the best day of my life," Feuz said.

At the 2007 junior worlds in Austria, Feuz won the downhill, super-G and combined. A year later, however, his ambitions were knocked off course when he seriously injured his knee while training for a World Cup race in Lake Louise, Alberta.

After returning from two years out of action, the Swiss skier had two top-10 finishes in Chamonix, France, in January.

Guay, who won gold in the downhill at the worlds in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, was also pleased with his performance.

"It's great to get another podium finish after Garmisch," said Guay, who was the eighth starter. "Just to put an exclamation mark on it."

Walchhofer said he reveled in the "perfect" snow conditions, while a third-place finish also gave him confidence for the rest of the weekend and the World Cup finals in Switzerland next week.

"It was a very important win for me," Walchhofer said. "I still have a small chance for the downhill World Cup."

The Austrian now trails Cuche by 50 points in the downhill standings.

Two-time World Cup champion Bode Miller skipped the last World Cup events of the season for the third consecutive year to spend time with his daughter in San Diego.

The result is the 15th World Cup podium of Guay's career and moves him ahead of retired Canadian ski racing legend and Crazy Canuck Ken Read, who had 14. Guay is now second all-time among Canadian men behind Steve Podborski, who recorded 20 career World Cup podiums.

"It was great in Garmisch. I'm really happy to be able to follow it up with another podium, so it didn't seem like a one-shot deal," said Guay, of winning the marquee downhill race at the world championships in February.

"To be ahead of some of the Crazy Canucks, it's very special, for sure. I will keep working on it!

"I think there's a couple of areas I could have cleaned up but it was a pretty solid run. I took advantage of my start position and the conditions were in my favour."

Guay, 29, has had a lot of success at Kvitfjell, winning the super-G in 2010 and coming second in the downhill in 2007.

"With Erik the challenge is to manage expectations and pressure," said Paul Kristofic, head coach of the men's team. "It was good to see him have a really solid performance in the very next race (after the World Championships).

"There's always a little bit of luck with start numbers but you have to use it and take advantage of it. By no means was it a perfect run but his approach was good."

Hudec, who has been hampered by injury problems this season, has been skiing well in training and sped down the course in 1:48.15 to record a 10th-place finish, his best result of the season on the World Cup circuit.

"It's a pretty good feeling to be back in the points," said Hudec. "It went pretty much according to plan. There were a couple of little mistakes here and there but I'm happy to finally feel, physically, like I can charge 100 percent and take risks without risking my knee or my back, or whatever.

"It's such a good feeling to know I can go out there and do it. With Erik being on the podium it was a great boost for our team. And Ben skied unbelievable today."

Kristofic said it's great to see Hudec put his injury concerns to one side and ski well.

"He's in the best place he's been in all year with regards to his back and his knees," said Kristofic. "Coming in here he felt really confident and he put a great run together and a season's best result. There were some really exceptional sections for him. It's refreshing and really good to see."

Thomsen, whose performances have been a bright spot for the men's team this season, recorded the second top-20 World Cup result of his career when he tied for 18th with a time of 1:48.74. The result was all the more impressive considering he started with bib No. 53.

"That's huge," said Kristofic. "The most impressive thing is knowing that he had a crash six days ago (in training). We thought it was going to be really tough for him here.

"It was pretty courageous. He's not feeling 100 percent but I think that result speaks to his character."

Ottawa resident Dustin Cook, of Lac Sainte Marie, Que., was 46th with a time of 1:50.49 and Kelby Halbert, of Bradford, Ont., was 51st in 1:50.95.

Friday's men's downhill replaced a race that was canceled at Beaver Creek in the U.S. late last year. A second World Cup downhill will be held at Kvitfjell on Saturday, followed by a super-G race on Sunday.

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Kvitfjell men's World Cup downhil results