Cuche had a blistering run in flat light and light snow on the upper part of the course, finishing in a time of 1:50.31. He was followed by Italy's Werner Heel, who finished second, and Carlo Janka of Switzerland in third.
The U.S. Ski Team's Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.) charged from the 62nd start position to finish 12th. U.S. Ski Team Men's Alpine Head Coach Sasha Rearick was impressed for Weibrecht to have skied from the back of the pack to 12th.
"Andrew skied fantastically. He was very aggressive from top to bottom. He had a bobble on the bottom flats, but besides that it was great skiing from the back," Rearick said. "With a start number like that it wasn't easy and he did and amazing job."
The day of racing, however, was marred for much of the Team as TJ Lanning (Park City, UT) was injured when he crashed.
According to U.S. Ski Team Medical Director Richard Quincy, Lanning suffered an injury to his left knee. He was evacuated by helicopter from the course to a clinic at the base of the mountain for preliminary observation and was transported to a hospital in nearby Banff, Alberta, Canada for further evaluation.
"What happened to TJ is a bummer. He's one of my really good buddies, so it definitely put a shadow over everything," Weibrecht said.
"The rest of the guys all ran right after TJ so it was really tough to put that out of their mind. It was a very long course hold and that was hard," Rearick added.
Following Weibrecht for the U.S. was Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.) in 29th and Jeremy Transue (Hunter, N.Y.) in 50th.
Times lagged noticeably for racers leaving the starting gate after Lanning's crash. According to Rearick, to start after Lanning and finish so well was also exceptional.
"I am especially impressed that he was able to put TJ's injury out of his head when it came time to race," Rearick said. "I am very impressed with that performance."
Canadian racers fared better than their American counterparts on Saturday with John Kucera (Calgary, Alberta) finishing in 6th place to record the fastest time amongst the Canadians participating in the race. Kucera, who won the super-G in Lake Louise in 2006 and finished second at last year’s super-G, finished today’s downhill in a time of 1:51.12.
“My run was solid for sure. I think there are some sections that I was not as clean as I should have been and maybe could have skied better but that’s racing, you never know,” said Kucera. “There are a couple of things I have to resolve but being in the top 10 is really great. That is a good way to start the season.
“We are skiing well in the group. If you are in the top 20, that’s a good result. Tomorrow it’s a big day for us; it was nice today to get back on the right foot. I have been skiing and I’m excited about tomorrow for sure,” added Kucera.
Robbie Dixon (Whistler, British Columbia) finished in 8th place with a time of 1:51.30 for his second solid result of the young season, as he finished 16th in the giant slalom in Sölden, Austria a month ago.
“I’m happy with my results. Yesterday, I made a few mistakes. I am feeling really comfortable and confident with the training we had. I’m happy even if it was hard skiing. The light was a little flat but I just tried to make the best of it and looked for speed. I just tried to ski the best that I could,” said Dixon.
“When I started to hear the crowd at the bottom of the hill, I was very happy. I saw all the hands in the air and people screaming my name, it was an unbelievable feeling. Lake Louise is one of my favorite downhill races for sure,” Dixon added.
The third Canadian in the top 16 today was World Cup downhill winner Manuel Osborne-Paradis (Invermere, British Columbia) with a time of 1:51.57, tying Didier Defago of Switzerland. Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec) finished at the 21st spot with a time of 1:51.87 followed closely by teammate 2008-09 overall Coupe Nor-Am Cup champion Louis-Pierre Helie (Berthierville, Quebec), who finished 22nd with a time of 1:51.99, marking his career best result.
Jan Hudec (Calgary, Alberta) who competed in his first downhill race since his knee injury last year, finished 35th with a time of 1:52.62. Tyler Nella (Toronto, Ontario), skiing for the first time at the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart, recorded a time of 1:54.77 which placed him in 41st, a career best result.
The World Cup men move on to super G racing on Sunday in Lake Louise.
"I'm psyched for tomorrow. I think super G was going really well for me this summer and I'm going to stick to my plan," Weibrecht said.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 AUDI FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP
Lake Louise, AB – Nov. 28, 2009
Men's Downhill
1. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 1:50.31
2. Werner Heel, Italy, 1:50.75
3. Carlo Janka, Switzerland, 1:50.93
4. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 1:50.98
5. Ambrosi Hoffmann, Switzerland, 1:51.07
