Switzerland's Didier Cuche celebrates his victory in the men's World Cup downhill skiing event in Lake Louise, Alta., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshJeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Alpine powerhouse Switzerland showcased its veteran and future ski talent Saturday grabbing first- and second-place in men's World Cup downhill in Lake Louise, Alta.
At 37, Didier Cuche handily demonstrated that he is still the man to beat as he powered down the 3-kilometre course under light snow in 1 minute 47.28 seconds. He outran teammate, 24-year-old Beat Feuz, by a scant 0.06 seconds.
The significance of the result wasn't lost on Feuz, who has just one World Cup victory among his three podiums, compared with Cuche's 18 wins in 61 top-three finishes. Feuz said standing on the podium next to a legend of the sport shows the overall strength of the Swiss team.
"He's an old guy and I'm the young guy," Feuz said, "To be second behind him gives even a sweeter taste to my podium finish."
Wearing late start bib No. 45, Austrian Hannes Reichelt, normally a giant slalom skier and super giant slalom specialist, managed to hustle down the track to finished third. He was just 0.08 seconds behind Cuche. The 31-year-old reflected on the Swiss and Austrian ski rivalry.
"It's one race where the Swiss guys were faster," said Reichelt, adding that during the next set of races, it will be the Austrians who will "kick the Swiss off the podium."
For Cuche, who is the reigning downhill and super G champion, but confesses to struggling at Lake Louise despite five podiums here, Saturday's win came as a surprise.
"I had to laugh when I saw it was the green light for me," he said after clocking a top speed of 129.9 kilometres per hour.
He too considered the contrast between old and young in the sport.
"Hopefully, they're not mad about me because I'm still here and fighting for the victory," said Cuche, who considered retirement at the end of last season.
As the kick-off to the World Cup speed circuit - and the only Canadian stop on the tour - Lake Louise is not regarded a particularly tough course, but with a vertical drop of just 800 metres with stretches of flats, it is a challenge for racers to maintain their speed.
The top Canadian on Saturday was Calgary's Jan Hudec, 30, who finished 12th of 69 racers. He was 1.05 seconds off the pace. Hudec, troubled by back problems took Friday off from training, and over his career has endured seven major knee operations.
"All things considered, I had one of the best runs of my life," Hudec said, "I started skiing two weeks before Lake Louise and I'm just happy to be here and able to perform at this level."
He also entered this season struggling to find sponsors to pay his $15,000 team fee.
"Unfortunately, after the Olympics we lost a lot of big sponsors," he said, "It's disheartening and it's tough and it's uncomfortable to be in that position asking for help, but without the people that came out to support me, I wouldn't have been at this race this weekend."
Robbie Dixon, 26, of Whistler, who competed in his first race since he suffered a severe concussion almost a year ago, finished 25th in a time of 1:48.90.
Erik Guay, 30, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., who was the top performer in training, finished well back of the pack in 44th. He too is battling a lingering back injury.
"I wasn't expecting big things coming into this weekend," he said, "I kind of knew that my skiing wasn't consistent."
Noticeably absent from the race was former downhill World Championship winner John Kucera, who was hoping to make his comeback here this weekend. The 27-year-old from Calgary badly broke his leg during a 2009 race at Lake Louise, but when he re-fractured it earlier this year, it further delayed his return.
Kucera, who took part in training runs and was a forerunner for Saturday's downhill, has decided to hold off on rejoining the circuit for another few weeks.
Other Canadian results include Ben Thomsen, of Invermere, B.C., who was 34th, Louis-Pierre Hélie, of Berthierville, Que. who was 46th and Kelby Halbert of Bradford Ont. who was 52nd. Whistler's Conrad Pridy and Ryan Semple of Mont-Tremblant, Que. tied at 59th and Dustin Cook of Lac Sainte Marie, Que. was 63rd.
The men race in the super G at Lake Louise on Sunday.