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LAKE LOUISE, Alberta (AP) — Defending overall champion Bode Miller was fastest Wednesday during the opening day of training for the season’s first World Cup downhill.
Miller, who won a downhill in Lake Louise in 2005, finished in 1 minute, 47.22 seconds on the men’s Olympic downhill course. The New Hampshire skier was followed by two Austrians — Klaus Kroell in 1:47.30 and Michael Walchhofer, who won this downhill in 2004, in 1:47.40.
The downhill is Saturday and the opening super-giant slalom is Sunday.
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2007 overall champion, completed his first downhill training run since a season-ending fall last November in Beaver Creek, Colo.
Svindal, who won last year’s super-G in Lake Louise, finished 10th. He said he feels fine but is still working on the mental aspect of racing.
“As a racer you have to have a short memory,” he said. “When you are up there, and the clock is ticking, you’re not going to think I’m going to take it easy because I crashed. You want to be fast.”
Miller, who won a downhill in Lake Louise in 2005, finished in 1 minute, 47.22 seconds on the men’s Olympic downhill course. The New Hampshire skier was followed by two Austrians — Klaus Kroell in 1:47.30 and Michael Walchhofer, who won this downhill in 2004, in 1:47.40.
The downhill is Saturday and the opening super-giant slalom is Sunday.
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, the 2007 overall champion, completed his first downhill training run since a season-ending fall last November in Beaver Creek, Colo.
Svindal, who won last year’s super-G in Lake Louise, finished 10th. He said he feels fine but is still working on the mental aspect of racing.
“As a racer you have to have a short memory,” he said. “When you are up there, and the clock is ticking, you’re not going to think I’m going to take it easy because I crashed. You want to be fast.”
