Adala blog

Cuche wins maiden Chamonix downhill

CHAMONIX, France (AFP) – Swiss veteran Didier Cuche boosted his world championship title hopes after claiming a second consecutive downhill victory on the World Cup here at Chamonix on Saturday.

Italian Dominik Paris finished second with Austrian Klaus Kroll in third.

At 36 years old, Cuche became the oldest winner of a World Cup downhill last week when he tamed the treacherous Streif downhill at the Austrian resort of Kitzbuhel to beat American Bode Miller by almost a second.

A week on, and with uncertainty about retirement hovering, Cuche showed he still has plenty to offer with another near flawless performance to claim his first win on the prestigious 'Verte des Houches' run.

The last time a Swiss won a men's downhill race in this area was in 1975 when Walter Vesti led a Swiss podium sweep at nearby Megeve.

However Cuche ended that victory drought to join the likes of Hermann Maier, Stephan Eberharter and Kjetil Andre Amodt in winning Chamonix's famous 'Kandahar' downhill.

He said the secret to his success was staying consistent all the way down the 3.37km long gliders' course.

"I've been very consistent from (the) top to (the) bottom, but that's what is getting more and more difficult," said Cuche, who now counts nine downhill wins and 16 overall in the series in his 16-year career.

"Although you can't compare the two runs, I was equally consistent in Kitzbuhel last week. Today (Saturday), I really felt I had a great race.

"It's so hard to be consistent, but I raced the way I wanted to... it was close to perfection."

Cuche, who said he was still uncertain about continuing his career next season, was quick to applaud one of his potential heirs.

Paris, 22, was first to start and took a leaf out of the Swiss veteran's book with a flowing run which left him with a surprise time of 1min 59.58sec.

It was three seconds faster than the best training time set on Friday by Kroll, and had Cuche and the rest of the field wondering how best to plan their race strategy.

"He shocked a lot of people," Cuche admitted later.

Several more fancied racers failed to dislodge the Italian, with only Kroll, who started with bib 21, getting close when he finished provisional second at 0.21 behind Paris.

In the end the Italian had to step down for Cuche, but was as happy as though he had won the race.

"I didn't really expect to be sitting here today," said Paris, who is in his second year on the World Cup.

"When you start on the World Cup it's all about trying to perfect your technique on the different courses and trying to get to know how to approach them rather than getting the best times.

"You look at the more experienced guys and how they race, and that's how we progress. It's a long process which can take years, so I'm extremely happy and proud of my achievement."

A delay of around 20 minutes preceded Kroll and then Cuche's run, after Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis had to be airlifted to hospital following a heavy crash three-quarters of the way into his run.

However Cuche looked on course for victory from the word go.

He shaved nearly half a second off Paris's time by the second time check and gave the thousands of fans plenty of reason to cheer with a gliding master class which, in turn, saw him extend his lead in the World Cup downhill standings.

Kroll is one of the Austrians expected to stop Cuche taking a maiden world downhill title in Germany in a fortnight's time, and admitted it won't be easy.

"It was important for me to do well today, but Didier has shown he's in great form," said the Austrian, who beat Cuche into second at Wengen two weeks ago.

"But we have a strong team and we won't be giving anything away in the final races of the season."