ALPINE:

Walchhofer takes DH win, Guay, Hudec in top 15

March 12, 2011

KVITFJELL, Norway — Austrian skier Michael Walchhofer won a World Cup downhill Saturday to leapfrog Didier Cuche in the discipline standings in his farewell season, and Ivica Kostelic clinched the overall title.

Walchhofer, who is retiring next week, completed the 3-kilometre Olympiabakken course in 1 minute, 45.92 seconds to hold of fellow Austrian Klaus Kroell and Friday's winner Beat Feuz of Switzerland on the second day of a three-race meet.

"Maybe after today I have to come back here next year," Walchhofer joked. "The piste conditions were just perfect."

Kroell finished 0.13 seconds behind in glorious sunshine at the Kvitfjell resort, where a fan club including his son, girfriend and friends joined the thousands of visitors cheering him on at the bottom of the slope.

"I made mistakes on the first two turns but after that I raced really well," Kroell said. "My goal was to get on the podium and I'm happy with that."

Feuz was 0.31 seconds back, showing that his unexpected win was no fluke. The 24-year-old former junior world champion had benefitted from an early start on Friday and was determined to prove he could match his peers in more equitable conditions.

"These are the two most beautiful days of my life," Feuz said. "Today there were perfect conditions for everybody. It's a confirmation of yesterday's win, so I'm very happy."

Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., runner-up Friday, was 12th. Jan Hudec was 15th.

Cuche finished seventh and Walchhofer overtook him in the race for the downhill crystal globe.

Walchhofer leads by 14 points to set up a dramatic finish, with two downhills left to race next week at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

A 21st-place finish in Saturday's race was enough for the 31-year-old Kostelic, a slalom specialist, to claim the World Cup globe for the first time.

Canada's Hudec fell short of qualifying for next week's World Cup Finals by the narrowest of margins, finishing tied for 15th in Saturday's downhill and missing out by a single place, a solitary point and one hundredth of a second.

Hudec, of Calgary, Alta., started the day 27th in the overall downhill rankings with 73 points, needing to jump into the top 25 to secure a spot in the grand finale at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

The 29-year-old laid down a solid time of 1:47.13 seconds Saturday and looked like he'd done enough to distance himself from Kostelic, who was immediately ahead of him in the downhill rankings and finished 21st on Saturday.

But in the end, Hudec finished one hundredth of a second behind 14th-place Romed Baumann of Austria on Saturday. And the result left him 26th overall in the downhill rankings with 89 points, one point behind Kostelic, who is 25th. There was a lot on the line for Kostelic, too, with the result allowing the Croatian to clinch the overall World Cup title.

"I had a really good run; put a really good effort in," said Hudec, who started 30th on Saturday. "It's so close. A minor mistake can cost you so much. I wanted to have a chance to go to finals and I've got no regrets. But it's tough, especially when you miss it by so little."

Hudec's misfortune came after Guay finished 12th in Saturday's downhill with a time of 1:47.07. Ben Thomsen of Invermere, B.C., was 40th (1:48.42), Dustin Cook of Lac Sainte Marie, Que., was 47th (1:49.02) and Bradford, Ont., skier Kelby Halbert was 50th (1:49.47).

"We're disappointed, for sure. We had a lot riding on today as far as qualification for the World Cup Finals goes," said Paul Kristofic, head coach of Canada's men's team. "Jan's result was pretty good. But he missed out by one place, by one point, by one hundredth."

Guay, who secured a historic 15th career podium with a second-place finish in Friday's downhill, was disappointed with his 12th-place finish Saturday.

"I overskied today," said Guay. "I was too aggressive on the soft snow. I pushed it a little bit too much."

Guay is 15th in the overall downhill rankings, which means he has qualified for next week's World Cup Finals in that discipline. The Calgary resident, who won the super-G crystal globe last year, is 17th in the overall super-G standings ahead of Sunday's race.

"As far as Erik goes, it was an average day," said Kristofic. "I don't think he had his best run."

Next up for Canada's men's team is Sunday's super-G.

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Kvitfjell men's World Cup downhill results