Afdaling mannen Garmisch

Andrej Jerman became the first Slovenian to win a World Cup downhill when he clocked one minute 56.82 seconds down the classic Kandahar course at Garmisch. On snow trucked in from Austria, Jerman took advantage of the best of the soft conditions to beat Austrian Hans Grugger by 0.22 seconds. Canada's Erik Guay was third, 0.44 behind.

The 28-year-old Jerman had never even been on a World Cup podium before, but none of the fancied starters could get anywhere near his time. World Cup downhill champion Michael Walchhofer of Austria was lucky to escape serious injury when he ploughed into safety netting at high speed after losing control. World Cup downhill leader Didier Cuche had to abandon his first attempt after Walchhofer's high-speed accident and returned to the top to start his run again.

However, like virtually all of the main favourites, he struggled for pace on snow made sticky by temperatures of 13 Celsius, finishing down in 20th spot. American former downhill world champion Bode Miller was 28th, just ahead of Austrian Hermann Maier.