After clinching Olympic silver at Nagano in 1998 and FIS bronze in giant slalom two years ago at Are, Sweden, Swiss Didier Cuche became the oldest Alpine World Champion today when he used his determination and routine to crush all his rivals and comfortably win the Super-G race on a treacherous, icy slope which turned out to be just too demanding for many top-specialists.

The 34-year-old eclipsed Austrian Stephan Eberharter, who was 33 in 2003 when he clinched the Super-G gold medal in St Moritz, Switzerland. Cuche, winner of the two last World Cup downhill titles, mastered the best line down the demanding 'La Face' de Bellevarde course and survived a near-crash situation a few seconds prior the finish line to capture the opening men's event. He became the third Swiss Super-G World Champion after Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1987 and Martin Hangl in 1989. Giant slalom specialist Michael Von Grünigen was the last Swiss athlete to win a FIS World title in 2001 at St Anton.

Peter Fill of Italy, the downhill winner at Lake Louise, gained silver with an impressive delay of 99/100 of a second while Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal was 3rd - 1,02 seconds behind the winner on a gorgeous day in this picturesque French Alps resort.

Didier was laughing in the morning.

"I really enjoyed my run down that tough slope today, I achieved an almost flawless run so I felt incredibly happy when I crossed the finish line," said the Swiss. "To be World Champion on that slope is amazing, it means a lot to me," he added. "When I saw this morning how icy the piste was, I was really laughing, I could not believe it. I was joking about it with my colleague Ambrosi Hoffmann."

"It was terrible but fortunately I excel on such kind of snow because I'm able to use such an efficient materiel. I spent much time studying the conditions with my excellent serviceman in past days and I waited as long as possible prior making my final choice on the skis to use for today. There were incredibly well prepared, I felt immediately that I had the good rhythm at the top."

"It was so exciting. I just had a lot of fun skiing down that hill but I struggled in the final part where I made a mistake in one of the last gates. I was lucky to make it through fine and reach the finish without skiing out."

"This gold medal is incredible but in fact there is such a thin line between triumph and defeat that I don't want to forget Daniel Albrecht in this great moment. Only fractions of a second or a few centimetres separate victory from disaster - everyone is fighting so hard, even those finishing behind the podium and who are not treated as heroes."

"This result will strongly boost my moral and my momentum - I'll feel pretty relaxed not looking forward for the other competitions. I have more chance but the most important remain to be able to achieve your potential and have fun doing it."

A tough time for other favorites.

Most of the other favourites struggled, among them American Bode Miller, the 2005 Super-G World Champion and Austria's Hermann Maier, the 1999 champion and arguably the greatest Super- G skier of all time who suffers a flue for several days. Both finished outside the top-10.

The 26-year-old Peter Fill, who celebrated his first World Cup win in a downhill in Lake Louise in November, also enjoyed the tough conditions. "This is different from what we're used to but it was exciting," the Italian said. "Getting silver behind Cuche, who was out of reach today, is great. I couldn't have dreamed of a better way to start these championships," he added.

Two-time World Champion Svindal, close to his best form after a terrible crash in December 2007, also praised the course. "I quite like it because it makes a change but it was very difficult, especially at the end where I skied horribly," said the 26-year-old Norwegian. "I'm very happy as I didn't feel that confident about my run at the end. I didn't think it was good enough for a place on the podium. At medal events, only a podium finish matters - and 3rd place is excellent for me today. I could have also finished 4th," added the 2007 Overall World Cup champion, 2nd two weeks ago at Kitzbühel.

The men are back for racing on the 'La Face' de Bellevarde slope on Saturday for a much expected downhill.

MMJL
Wednesday, 04 February 2009
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