Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal won the race in 1:43.85, and Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel was second in 1:43.91.Canada's Erik Guay skied to a third-place finish in Friday's World Cup men's downhill at Beaver Creek, Colo. Guay, from Mont-Tremblant, Que., covered the Bird of Prey course in one minute, 44.20 seconds.

Aksel Lund Svindal, of Norway, skis in the downhill during the men's World Cup ski race at Beaver Creek, Colo., on Friday, Dec, 5, 2008. Svindal placed first in the race. (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)

Svindal, the 2006-07 World Cup overall champion, showed no signs of apprehension navigating the same course on which he suffered a gruesome season-ending crash last year.

"You always know the bad feelings that can happen from the sport. You can't think of it," Svindal said after the race. "I'm 100 per cent. There is no link to the past."

Defending overall champ Bode Miller of the United States wiped out after clipping his left ski on a gate.

Bode Miller, of the United States, skis in the downhill race during the men's World Cup ski event at Beaver Creek, Colo., on Friday, Dec, 5, 2008. Miller crashed later in the race and did not finish. (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)

Guay's showing marked the second time this season that a Canadian alpine skier has reached a World Cup podium. Calgary's John Kucera took second place in last week's super-G at Lake Louise.

It was Guay's seventh career top-three finish in the downhill, and his first since placing third in Kvitfjell, Norway, in March 2007.

Other Canadians fared well on Friday.

Manuel-Osborne Paradis of Invermere, B.C., finished 23rd in 1:45.92, while Robbie Dixon of Whistler, B.C., was 24th in 1:45.93. Kucera was 32nd in 1:46.35.

Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, center, winner of an men's World Cup downhill ski race celebrates on the podium with second place finisher Marco Buechel, left, of Liechtenstein, left, and third place finisher Erik Guay, of Canada, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 in Beaver Creek, Colo. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

Beaver Creek will also host a men's super-G on Saturday and a giant slalom on Sunday.

The women's circuit is in Lake Louise, where reigning World Cup overall and downhill champion Lindsey Vonn won Friday's season-opening downhill.

Lake Louise will host a second downhill on Saturday (CBCSports.ca, Bold, 2:25 p.m. ET; CBC 5 p.m. ET), as well as a super-G on Sunday. (CBCSports.ca, Bold, 2:25 p.m. ET; CBC, 3 p.m. ET).

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