Swiss Didier Cuche worked as fast as he could to erase his Olympic disappoint. Saturday, March 6, he claimed the race win and the World Cup downhill title, his third in the last four seasons.

After winning both training runs, Didier Cuche took an impressive .47 second win down the Kvitfjell, Norway, Olympianbakken speed track for his fifth win of the season leaving Norway's Olympic star, Aksel Lund Svindal, with second place and last season's winner on the track, Klaus Kroell, in third.

The result also propelled 35 year old veteran to the downhill crown.

Canadian Erik Guay, so strong in training with second and third place finishes barely made the top 10 in ninth place. Teammate Jan Hudec finished 13th.

The U.S. forces got one point total from Steven Nyman in 30th. Travis Ganong finished 40th.

Cuche said he was uncharacteristically nervous before his run, but settled down as he got into the final stages of his race day routine. "About 30 minutes before the start I calmed down," he told reporters. "I found a really tight line down the course."

Tight and fast, Cuche clocked in at 1:45.98, more than a second faster than either of his training runs.

Andrew Weibrecht, American bronze medalist at Vancouver, crashed into the nets after launching too big from the top jump.

"We'll know more, he's still being checked out by the doctors," said U.S. speed coach Chris Brigham. "He banged up that shoulder he injured earlier. Right now he's looking questionable for the super G tomorrow, but we'll see."

Brigham said other than a little wind at the top, the course was in superb conditions and ran very fast. "They were ideal conditions from top to bottom. It was a super tight race, as it normally is on the men's tour. Steven (Nyman) today had some fast splits, makes a little mistake and he's 1.7 seconds out in 30th place. That's the kind of day it was."

Bode Miller did not attend the races at Kvitfjell, and will rejoin the team for World Cup finals at Garmisch.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's Downhill, Kvitfjell, Norway, March 6, 2010
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Cuche, Head/Head/Head
2 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Kroell, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
4 Olsson, Head/Head/Head
5 Sporn, Elan//Elan
6 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Buechel, Head/Lange/Head
9 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Grugger, Head/Head/Head
10 Heel, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men's Downhill, Kvitfjell, Norway, March 6, 2010. … It is the 29th race of the men's 35 race 2010 World Cup schedule. … The seventh of eight scheduled downhills. … It is the 42nd Cup race at Kvitfjell. … the 20th DH. … Top seven racers are within the same second. … Top 35 within two seconds.

It is the 14th career World Cup win for Didier Cuche. … His seventh in DH. … It is his second career win at Kvitfjell having also won the DH in 2007. … It is his fifth win of the season and third in DH. … It is the 10th World Cup win of the season for the Swiss. … 12th including the Olypmics.

It is the 26th career World cup podium for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his seventh in DH. … It is his second in Dh at Kvitfjell having placed third last season. … It is his seventh podium result of the season including three Olympic medals.

It is the eighth career World Cup podium for Klaus Kroell. … his third at Kvitfjell. … He won the DH last season and was also third in 2008. … It is his first podium result of the season.

It is the 44th career World Cup top 10 for Eric Guay. … the 24th in DH. … It is his seventh top 10 at Kvitfjell. … His sixth top 10 of the season including two Olympic results. … It is the 19th career World Cup scoring result for Jan Hudec. … His second, and best, of the season. … He also placed top 30 in two Olympic races. … It is the 50th career Cup scoring result for Manuel Osborne-Paradis. … His sixth best of seven scoring results at Kvitfjell. … It is his 11th scoring result of the season. …. It is the 42nd scoring result of Steven Nyman's World Cup career. … His fifth at Kvitfjell. … It is his fifth score of the season.

Cuche leads the Cup DH standings 496-348 over Carlo Janka (6th in race) and cannot be overtaken for the World Cup DH title. … Osborne-Paradis is the top ranked North American on the DH list in fourth with 245pts, behind Werner Heel at 252 with one race remaining. … Bode Miller (did not race) is the top American in 15th place with 110pts. … Benjamin Raich (38th in race) leads the overall standings 1007-937 over Janka with five races remaining. … Cuche is third at 846. … Thirteen men could still mathematically win the overall title.

Place   Kvitfjell
(NOR)   Discipline   Downhill
Date   06.03.2010   Category   FIS World Cup
Race codex   1237   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   YES   TD Name   Heikkala Seppo (FIN) 
 
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  18  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   1:45.98  0.00
 2  17  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:46.45  5.85
 3  14  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:46.55  7.10
 4  9  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   1:46.69  8.84
 5  27  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   1:46.74  9.47
 6  19  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:46.84  10.71
 7  8  51005 SCHEIBER Mario  1983  AUT   1:46.89  11.33
 8  10  350032 BUECHEL Marco  1971  LIE   1:46.99  12.58
 9  13  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   1:47.00  12.70
 10  28  50833 GRUGGER Hans  1981  AUT   1:47.08  13.70
 10  22  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:47.08  13.70
 12  39  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   1:47.09  13.83
 13  35  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   1:47.12  14.20
 14  21  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:47.13  14.32
 15  20  50041 WALCHHOFER Michael  1975  AUT   1:47.19  15.07
 16  5  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   1:47.29  16.32
 17  2  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:47.31  16.57
 18  44  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI   1:47.35  17.06
 19  11  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   1:47.39  17.56
 20  3  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:47.42  17.94
 21  16  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   1:47.45  18.31
 22  32  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:47.48  18.68
 23  37  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   1:47.49  18.81
 24  7  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   1:47.52  19.18
 25  1  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   1:47.57  19.80
 26  30  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   1:47.58  19.93
 27  41  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   1:47.67  21.05
 28  33  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   1:47.68  21.17
 28  26  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   1:47.68  21.17
 30  23  533866 NYMAN Steven  1982  USA   1:47.69  21.30
 31  12  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   1:47.71  21.55
 32  6  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:47.86  23.42
 33  53  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   1:47.87  23.54
 34  45  201987 STRODL Andreas  1987  GER   1:47.88  23.66
 35  25  290998 STAUDACHER Patrick  1980  ITA   1:47.93  24.29
 36  15  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   1:48.01  25.28
 37  42  150421 ZAHROBSKY Petr  1980  CZE   1:48.29  28.77
 38  31  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   1:48.32  29.15
 39  43  511039 KREUZER Ralf  1983  SUI   1:48.44  30.64
 40  51  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   1:48.47  31.01
 41  55  421400 MYHRE Lars Elton  1984  NOR   1:48.61  32.76
 42  38  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   1:48.64  33.13
 43  56  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   1:48.68  33.63
 44  50  561085 KRIZAJ Andrej  1986  SLO   1:48.73  34.25
 45  48  990081 CASSE Mattia  1990  ITA   1:48.88  36.12
 46  49  40171 BRANCH Craig  1977  AUS   1:48.89  36.24
 47  47  561216 KLINE Bostjan  1991  SLO   1:48.93  36.74
 48  34  532490 MACARTNEY Scott  1978  USA   1:49.21  40.23
 49  40  510498 ZUEGER Cornel  1981  SUI   1:49.51  43.97
Did not start 1st run
   54  191778 PICHOT Sebastien  1981  FRA     
   52  103090 HELIE Louis-Pierre  1986  CAN     
Did not finish 1st run
   57  420148 KARLSEN Truls Ove  1975  NOR     
   46  51232 HERZOG Mario  1986  AUT     
   36  292291 THANEI Stefan  1981  ITA     
   29  500150 JAERBYN Patrik  1969  SWE     
   24  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT     
   4  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA 

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