Afdaling mannen Wengen

American Bode Miller claimed his first-ever European World Cup downhill, demolishing the field on the legendary Lauberhorn course at Wengen on Saturday.

Bode took his fourth victory of the season - his first ever downhill on European snow - in a blazing time of two minutes and 28.89 seconds on the longest course in the World Cup circuit.

Switzerland's home favourite and world number two Didier Cuche was second 0.65 seconds behind Miller, and Italy's Peter Fill rounded out the podium at 1.47 seconds off of the winning time.

Miller twice upset the hopes of home fans, first overtaking previous leader Ambrosi Hoffmann - who ultimately finished fourth - by a full 1.56 seconds, then watching as Cuche failed to near his scorching pace.

On a slippery day in the Swiss Alps defending World Cup downhill champion Michael Walchhofer skied out in bib number 30, effectively handing the win to Miller.

The 2005 World Cup champion Miller has now won 25 World Cup races, including a victory at Beaver Creek's downhill and super-G wins at Hinterstoder and Gardena earlier this season.

While Miller found the perfect line down 4480m long piste, there were plenty of others who struggled. His fellow American Marco Sullivan, Austrian Mario Scheiber and Switzerland's Didier Defago all misjudged the narrow 'Brueggli-S' chicane.

France's Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin, Austria's Fritz Strobl and Fill all tumbled like Miller at the finish.

Cuche's strong showing in front of his home fans maintained the recent upturn in performances by Switzerland's skiers.

Last weekend, the men's team celebrated their first World Cup victory in nearly three years when outsider Marc Berthod won a slalom in Adelboden.

The sport's former superpower was celebrating two second-place finishes on Saturday with Cuche's run following a surprise podium place for 21-year-old Dominique Gisin in a women's downhill in Altenmarkt, Austria.

Miller and Cuche both narrowed the gap on World Cup overall leader Aksel Lund Svindal although the Norwegian held top spot with an eighth-place finish.

Svindal now has a lead of just 20 points over Cuche, with Miller trailing by a further 11 points.

Wengen's super-combined, originally planned for Friday, was rescheduled for Sunday with organisers calling off Sunday's slalom after warm weather and soft-snow forced the cancellation of Friday's race.

Bron : eurosport.com