Manuel Osborne-Paradis rushed the 838 metres of vertical drop on Kvitfjell's Olympiabakken course to claim the honours in the downhill with a time of 1:47.09.

The Canadian's success in Norway was his first ever World Cup downhill victory by a margin of 31/100 at the venue where he finished fourth last season. Paradis finally stepped onto the highest step after four previous podiums in the discipline over the past three years.

Michael Walchhofer completed the course in 1:47.40 for a second place finish, 31/100 off the pace. The Austrian, who leads the downhill standings, had the green light on the top of the course but made a few fatal errors on the lower section of the course to see his lead whittle away, but did enough to maintain the lead in the discipline standings with 390 points.

Aksel Lund Svindal ended the day in third with a time of 1:47.46, just 37/100 behind. The home hero was a favourite for the day but slipped up towards the finish. Svindal's previous best finish for a World Cup at Kvitfjell in the downhill was 11^th in 2007. With the day's conclusion, Svindal moved to third in the overall standings now ahead of Jean-Baptiste Grange, who did not partake in the race.

Andrej Jerman stormed the course early on and put down a time of 1:47.57 to finish just shy of the podium in fourth. The Slovenian ended 48/100 behind and concluded his best finish in the downhill for the season as well as for Kvitfjell, where his previous best was 18^th last season.

Didier Cuche, who led in the training, finished in 1:48.03 behind by 1.01 in 15^th place. The Swiss speedster was looking to climb the rakings in the overall standings but fell victim to the lower section of the course which consumed his lead. Cuche is normally comfortable at the location having had three podium finishes, including victory in 2007.

Didier Defago finished in 1:48.10 in 16^th place. The Swiss skier who is ranked second in the downhill standings was a pre-race favourite but struggled on the course.

Benjamin Raich and Ivica Kostelic took part in the day's race and the technical specialists were looking to finish in the points. Raich succeeded in finishing with 2 points for the day in 29th place.

Although it may not appear much, the race for the overall World Cup title is so close as both the Austrian and Kostelic are tied with 837 points apiece going into the final push of the season.

The Canadian team had a very successful day with the victory as well as three other skiers in the top 10 out of the six that participated in the race.

The next race for the men will be another downhill on Saturday March 7^th at 11:30 (CET) at Kvitfjell, Norway.

Friday, 06 March 2009 12:11
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