Ski Racing World Cup Results Downhill 2010-11

All the results and details from the 2010-11 season's FIS World Cup men's downhill races.

Here are the final standings for the FIS World Cup Men's 2010-11 Downhill:

Here is the calendar and results for the Men's 2010-11 Downhill Season:

Austrian veteran kicked off the 2010 season in style, having announced that this would be his final year racing on the World Cup circuit, he took the opener at Lake Louise in Canada more than half a second ahead of compatriot Mario Scheiber and Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, who both tied for 2nd place.

The 2nd race was scheduled for the Birds of Prey slope at Beaver Creek but had to be cancelled because of high winds. It was rescheduled for the 11th of March in Kvitfjell.

Silvan Zurbriggen, a best known as a technical skier in the slalom, had grabbed 4th place in the opening event at Lake Louise but showed it wasn't a on-off as he went to the top of the downhill rankings by claiming 1st place on the Stelvio at Val Gardena, ahead of Austrian Romed Baumann and Didier Cuche, the latter showing a return to form as he looked to defend his downhill title.

The downhill racers were back in Italy for the next race after Christmas, at Bormio, with Michael Walchhofer claiming his 2nd victory of the season, ahead of the surprise package Zurbriggen who was defying all the critics who thought his earlier downhill results were flukes. Italian Christof Innerhofer had the locals smiling taking the final podium place.

The majority of the massive crowds packing the slopes of the Lauberhorn above Wengen went home pretty unhappy as local legends Didier Cuche and Carlo Janka were pipped by one of their deadly rivals from Austria, which is never a happy event for the Swiss, particularly on home snow. Klaus Kroll claimed his first victory on the world cup's oldest world cup downhill event, and meant 36 year old Cuche still hasn't won there. Cuche, however, will be happy with his return to form as he looked to close the gap on Michael Walchhofer, whilst Carlo Janka was happy with 3rd having looked out of sorts for the first part of the season.

The traditional back-to-back ski classics saw the Lauberhorn immediately preceded by the Hahnenkamm race the following week as the racers headed to Kitzbuhel to tackle the ominous Streif course. Didier Cuche carried over his form from Wengen as he destroyed the rest of the field by storming to victory by nearly a second ahead of American Bode Miller. 26 year old Frenchman Adrien Theaux pulled off the shock of the day as he grabbed the final place on the podium, just edging out Austrian Mario Scheiber. It was a sad day for home favourite Michael Walchhofer, who having announced that this would be his final season was skiing the event for the final time. Nearly 45,000 packed the slopes and finish area, many hoping to see Walchofer extend his lead at the top of the downhill standings, and despite suffering knee and throat injuries in a training run the Austrian started well but then hit a bump in the mid section and came a cropper over the Seidalmsprung. There were no such problems for veteran Swiss-ace Cuche though, who had been fastest in training and carried his form into the race proper, hurtling down the Streif to take the race for the 2nd year running, and becoming only the third racer in history, alongside Austrian legends Franz Klammer and Karl Schranz, to win the race 4 times. Cuche also became the oldest winner of an FIS World Cup race, his 36 years and 5 months making him older than the previous record holder - Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel having won a Super G in Kitzbuhel back in 2008 when he was also 36.

The last downhill before the World Championships at Garmisch-Partenkirchen saw Didier Cuche win his 2nd downhill in a row at Chamonix. The Swiss skier destroyed the field yet again, finishing two-thirds of a second ahead of the day's big surprise, Italian youngster Dominik Paris, who had been first down the La Verte Des Houches slope and lead right up until Cuche hurtled down 21 racers later. Lauberhorn champion Klaus Kroll took third ahead of fellow Austrians Joachim Puchner and Michael Walchhofer. Special Mention must go to Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis who was flying and only 0.04 behind at the checkpoint before crashing out and falling badly and having to be flown to hospital, meaning he'll miss the rest of the season. Cuche's victory saw him extend his lead in the downhill standings to 65 points ahead of Walchhofer, with Zurbriggen, Kroell and Romed Baumann completing the top 5 standings. Bode Miller missed the event having announced that he would take a break before the World Championships.

The downhill racers returned to action at the Norwegian resort of Kvitfjell, following a lengthy break (6 weeks to be exact!) due mainly to the running of the World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Before this break Swiss veteran Didier Cuche had put himself into pole position for the downhill crown with two first places and a second in the previous three races. However, it was the other veteran, Michael Walchhofer who looked like he'd benefited most from 6 week gap as he stormed back to the top of the standings with a third place in Friday's race and victory in Saturday's. Friday's race was the re-arranged downhill from December's Beaver Creak cancellation, and it saw young Swiss racer Beat Feuz claim his first victory with a great early run down the Olympiabakken course. Newly crowned world Champion Erik Guay continued his fine form with a 2nd place, just 0.05 seconds behind, whilst Walchhofer took the final place on the podium. The conditions really favoured the first 10 skiers down, with early sunshine rapidly being replaced by cloud and the poor visibility causing lots of problems for the later skiers. Feuz and Guay took advantage of bib numbers 5 and 8, whilst Wlachhofer and Cuche, coming down at 21st and 22nd respectively, did remarkably well to finish so close to the top two. With Cuche just two further places behind Wlachhofer in 5th it wasn't a particularly disastrous day so far as his lead in the downhill standing was concerned.
However, Saturday's race was a different kettle of fish and saw Walchhofer leap-frog Cuche to the top of the table and effectively leave the title race in his own hands with just one race remaining at the season finale in Lenzerheide. Walchhofer raced to his 3rd downhill victory of the season, 0.15 seconds ahead of compatriot Klaus Kroell with Beat Feuz back in third, the young Swiss racer really starting to show his potential, and a possible star for the 2011-12 season. It was one of the closest races of the season with just 0.24 seconds separating the top five, and it was good to see a return to form for Carlo Janka following his recent heart operation, as the Swiss ace finished 6th. Cuche, starting 21st finished a disappointing 7th, with a mistake in the middle section of the course costing him some valuable time. Many onlookers thought his arguments with race officials regarding course safety had been playing on his mind and that he wasn't as relaxed as normal. Walchoffer followed him down, visibly determined to make the most of the opportunity and claw back some points in the title race. Yet surely even he would not have expected before Friday's race to have overturned the deficit and be sat on top of the standings, knowing that so long as he finishes ahead of Cuche (and not too far behind Kroell!) he would land his 4th downhill title.