Lake Louise (AB), Canada –Bode Miller, of Franconia, N.H., led three Americans into the points Saturday in the opening Audi FIS World Cup downhill ski race in Lake Louise as Swiss skier Didier Cuche began his defense of the downhill title with a strong win.

Beat Feuz, also of Switzerland, was second and Austria’s Hannes Reichelt finished in third.

Miller, an early racer with bib number nine, fell behind early leaders, and then almost inexplicably, started making up time and took the early lead. He eventually got bumped back to finish the same place he started, in ninth.

Squaw Valley, Calif.’s Marco Sullivan and Travis Ganong were 24th and 27th, respectively. Erik Fisher, of Middleton, Idaho, was just out of the points in 35th, just ahead of Aspen, Colo.’s Wiley Maple, who finished 38th. Andrew Weibrecht, of Lake Placid, N.Y. finished 51st while Ryan Cochran-Siegle, of Starksboro, Vt., crashed out in his first World Cup start.

Wind played a role in Saturday’s results. “At the start we going ‘come on sun’, instead we got wind,” said Sullivan. “It was different for everybody, some got a little head wind, some got a little tail wind. And then, for Reichelt, the sun was out.”

Jan Hudec, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was hoping for a spot on the podium in his home country, but he proudly draped a Maple Leaf flag over his shoulders after a 12^th-place finish.

“I’m proud to be the top Canadian,” said Hudec. “Obviously I wanted to be a little closer to the podium, but I’m happy with my performance.

“Considering the conditions were tough, starting second was awesome, because the course was pretty smooth,” added Hudec. “It’s always a little tough when you have lots of fresh snow – you can’t really pin the straight line that you want because the track isn’t there yet. But all things considered, I had one of the best runs of my life,” added Hudec.

Robbie Dixon, of Whistler, British Columbia, was the second-fastest Canadian, finishing 25^th. Reigning world downhill champion Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, was 44^th, and there were a couple of promising performances from Canadian young guns Ben Thomsen, of Invermere, British Columbia, and Louis-Pierre Hélie, of Berthierville, Quebec, who finished 34^th and 46^th, respectively. Calgarian Jon Kucera opted to spend more time rehabilitating his twice-broken leg before returning to World Cup competition.

Guay, who himself took extra time off this summer to rest a back problem, was fast in training but warned reporters all week that he didn’t anticipate getting a standout result.

“I wasn’t expecting big things coming into this weekend. I kind of knew my skiing wasn’t consistent,” said the 30-year-old. “The skiing isn’t there on demand at the moment and I’m just happy to get that first one under the belt and happy the back is doing well.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
AUDI FIS WORLD CUP ALPINE SKIING
LAKE LOUISE WINTERSTART – NOV. 26, 2011
MEN’S DOWNHILL