Wengen, Switzerland – Swiss ski racer Beat Feuz landed on the World Cup podium on Saturday for the second time in as many days at home, winning the 2.7-mile classic Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen in front of 38,000 ski racing fans and knocking American Bode Miller from the Audi FIS World Cup downhill lead. Austria’s Hannes Reichelt was second and Italy’s Christof Innerhofer third.

Miller, of Franconia, N.H., skied a powerful run down the longest downhill course of the World Cup season, dropping in and out of the lead all the way down, but didn’t have quite enough to upend a red hot Feuz. Miller, who was gunning for his third win in the Lauberhorn, finished fifth for his fourth straight top-10 downhill result.

“Right from the top Bode was going for it – holding his tuck hard and doing what he had to do be able to chase the win down from starting at 22,” said Sasha Rearick, the U.S. Ski Team men’s Head Coach. “Then right at the bottom of the Haneggschuss he got rocked by some bumps and from there down, just lost his speed. It’s a bummer, because he was right on the line and in a position to win until he hit those bumps.”

Squaw Valley, Calif.’s Marco Sullivan’s 27th-place finish was his fourth finish in the points this season. Erik Fisher, of Middleton, Idaho, was 34th, Travis Ganong (also of Squaw Valley) was 39th, Wiley Maple (Aspen, Colo.) was 47th, and Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.) was 48th.

“I was really impressed with Marco [Sullivan] today. He was going after it and skiing like Marco from four years ago,” said Rearick. “He was in his full tuck three inches from the net off the Hundshopf. It was impressive. He skied the super G turns awesome and then going into the Haneggschuss something happened and he got twisted up. He was going sideways into the powder on the side of the track and dropped a lot of speed.”

Following Saturday’s downhill, Miller remained in sixth place in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup overall standings and is now second in the downhill points. Park City, Utah’s Ted Ligety, who did not race in order to save strength for Sunday’s slalom, fell from third to fourth place.

Canada’s Erik Guay battled his way into a tie for eighth place, his best result ever in the grueling Lauberhorn downhill.

“For me to walk away with a top 10, I’m extremely satisfied,” said Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, the reigning world downhill champion. “It wasn’t a bad run. I had some very good sections and also some sections I think I could clean up and make some speed out of. Generally I feel like my skiing is progressing.

“It’s a great venue. It’s a lot of fun to come here every year.”

Jan Hudec, of Calgary, Alberta, was the next best Canadian, finishing 22^nd.  Ben Thomsen, of Invermere, British Columbia, and Robbie Dixon, of Whistler, British Columbia, were disappointed to finish 37^th and 43^rd, respectively.

“This is kind of like what my whole year’s been like,” said Thomsen, who started 50th and finished in a time of 2:39.12. “I’m doing some good skiing but it’s not fast skiing. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m pretty frustrated.^”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Wengen, Switzerland – Jan. 14, 2012
Lauberhorn Downhill