Lake Louise (AB), Canada – Olympic champion Bode Miller, of Franconia, N.H., led the U.S. with eighth in the Audi FIS World Cup downhill ski season opener in Lake Louise on Saturday. Austria’s Michael Walchhofer crossed the finish in 1:47.78 for the first downhill victory of the 2010-11 season.nWalchhofer was the fastest man down Saturday’s course in a time of 1:47.78, earning a decisive win by nearly half a second to prove that the 37-year-old still has winning ways despite announcing his intention to retire after this season. This marks Walchhofer’s second win in the downhill event in Lake Louise as he won back in 2003, and Saturday’s victory puts him in a two-way tie in the current Overall World Cup standings with Jean-Baptiste Grange of France.

Second place was a tie between Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal and another Austrian, Mario Scheiber with a time of 1:48.33. Bode Miller, fastest amongst the U.S. men in this week’s training, was again fastest on Saturday, finishing 8th. Miller is now tied for 14th in the Overall World Cup standings with Canada’s Julien Cousineau.

“It was a beautiful day in Lake Louise, next to no wind and pretty consistent light which led for a fantastic race,” said U.S. Ski Team Men’s Alpine Head Coach, Sasha Rearick. “The team has not trained downhill since New Zealand, so it’s been a long time since we’ve been on our downhill skis. We have been getting a lot of work done in Lake Louise just trying to get back up to speed.”

Olympic super G bronze medalist Andrew Weibrecht, of Lake Placid, N.Y., didn’t hold back in his first race back after a successful shoulder surgery in the spring, finishing 37th on Saturday.

“Bode skied very solid in the middle on the more technical parts of the course,” added Rearick. “I was really stoked with Weibrecht’s effort, he threw down an impressive run in the middle section of the hill, but unfortunately had a pretty big bobble going onto the flats that cost him a lot of time.”

Steven Nyman, of Heber, utah, was next in line for the U.S., followed by teammates Travis Ganong of Squaw Valley, Calif., and Weibrecht. Returning from a sideling knee injury last season, World Cup rookie Tommy Biesemeyer, of Keene, N.H., took the final starting position of bib 72 and jumped 29 spots to finish 43rd.

“We’ve trained more super G in the past month in Vail,” admitted Rearick. “We feel more comfortable on those skis and we are going to go out there and execute our plan, aggressive solid skiing.”

An emotional Jan Hudec of Canada described Saturday’s 11th place finish in the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart downhill on home snow as an inspired effort that was “just short of a miracle” as he continues to return to his World Cup winning form of 2007. Hudec, the silver medalist in the 2007 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Downhill and first Canadian in the history of World Cup ski racing in Lake Louise to win the downhill in 2007, finished 11th Sunday despite starting with bib #42. He has been slowed by knee injuries throughout his career, but nonetheless on Saturday registered his best result since his most recent return to snow last November.

“It’s almost impossible to describe. I was going up the chair this morning and I knew I could have a good run. I was thinking about what it would mean to get close to the podium. Words can’t describe it, it was an inspired run. It was just short of a miracle, I didn’t even know if I could ski this morning. My body has been that sore,” said Hudec.

“It’s been a challenge. I am blessed that I could ski today. It was one of the best runs I have ever had,” he said. “I owe so many people thanks for being able to ski. The list is too big.”

Hudec’s Canadian teammate, Manuel Osborne-Paradis of North Vancouver, British Columbia, finished the race 13th.

“Being near the top 10 is really not that bad. If I can stay around the top 10 all the time, I am bound to jump on the podium here and there. It’s all about skiing hard and those races that you don’t make mistakes you end up on the podium,” Osborne-Paradis said.

Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, clocked in at 24th place, followed by Robbie Dixon, of Whistler, British, Columbia, in 31st and Invermere, British Columbia’s Benjamin Thomsen in 44th. Louis-Pierre Hélie, of Berthierville, Quebec, was 47th and Orleans, Ontario’s Dustin Cook finished 60th.

The World Cup men’s speed teams will end their weekend by participating in the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart super G race on Sunday starting at 11:00 a.m. local time. They’ll then head to Colorado for the Audi FIS Birds of Prey World Cup in Beaver Creek, site of the 2015 Alpine FIS Ski World Championships, on Dec. 3-5.

Official Results
Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup
Lake Louise (AB), Canada – Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010
Men’s Downhill

1. Michael Walchhofer, Austria – 1:47.78
2T. Mario Scheiber, Austria – 1:48.33
2T. Askel Lund Svindal, Norway – 1:48.33
4. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland – 1:48.42
5. Johan Clarey, France – 1:48.51