ALPINE:

Kroell clips Cuche for Lauberhorn downhill crown

Jan. 15, 2011     ♦ Photo: Klaus Kroell nabbed World Cup career win No. 3 Saturday (fisalpine.com)

WENGEN, Switzerland — Klaus Kroell of Austria denied Didier Cuche victory on Saturday in the Swiss veteran's home classic Lauberhorn downhill.

Kroell timed 2 minutes, 31.28 seconds on the World Cup circuit's longest track, edging Cuche by 0.14 seconds.

Carlo Janka, the defending Lauberhorn champion from Switzerland, trailed Kroell by 0.39 in third.

The 36-year-old Cuche has now finished runner-up three times in the prestigious race that's the most historic on tour.

"I'm very satisfied. Wengen is never easy and you have to be happy with a good performance," Cuche said.

The three-time World Cup downhill champion was second behind American Bode Miller at Wengen in 2007 and '08.

Miller placed eighth on Saturday, 1.43 back.

Jan Hudec, 21st, led the Canadians, with Manny Osborne-Paradis 23rd.

Janka said Cuche would likely be back for another, perhaps final, attempt to win the Lauberhorn.

"He's searching for a win here," Janka said. "It's the third time in second place and he will try one more time next year."

Kroell got his third career World Cup win and second in downhill. His first was two years ago at Kvitfjell, Norway.

Cuche lost valuable time at halfway after passing through the railway bridge tunnel. His right ski appeared to catch an edge and he briefly lost his racing line.

"I think that I lost a lot of time there. After from that that I didn't make any errors," said Cuche.

Cuche wore bib No. 22 on a warm day when sunshine was expected to melt snow already softened by rain on Thursday, and slow the course for later racers.

"The course stayed good enough for me," he said, declining to make excuses.

It was a day when starting positions made a big difference. Kroell raced with bib No. 12. No one outside the top 25 finished in the top 20. Calgary's Hudec started 29th but battled his way into 21st place with a time of 2:34.02.

"I'm very happy with my skiing. Literally, there's only one or two sections I would take back," said Hudec. "As soon as I drew 29 I knew it was going to be a tough day. You need to start at the front but I took advantage of what I had. I took the intensity way up from training."




"It would be good to sit down and learn from this," said Osborne-Paradis, who was hoping for his third top-three finish at Wengen in four years but ended up 23rd after starting with the No. 18 bib.

"I didn't think I was going to be so far back, but who knows? It's one of those things," added Osborne-Paradis, who finished with a time of 2:34.04. "You've just got to take these things and build on them. You've got to figure out why this happened."

Paul Kristofic, Canada's head coach, said it's important for the team to focus on moving forward.

"There's lots of racing left. We will be working hard to improve on where we are right now," said Kristofic, who said Hudec and Osborne-Paradis skied OK but made mistakes that cost them time. "We have to move on, get some training in and get ready for Kitzbühel. We are trying to forge forward.”

Hudec said he wants to take some time to analyze Saturday's race and prepare for a crucial part of the season that includes races at Kitzbühel next weekend and Chamonix, France, as well as the World Championships at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, next month.

"It's one of those things that can get very technical," said Hudec. "We just need to go back to the drawing board." S-Magazine

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Wengen men's World Cup downhill results