Cuche finishes second in season’s last downhill

Didier Cuche of Switzerland on Wednesday finished second in the final downhill race of the World Cup ski circuit.

Cuche finished two-tenths of a second behind Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who completed the Olympia course in the Swedish resort of Åre in 1 minute, 22.26 seconds.

The result on a shortened course moved Cuche into third place in the overall standings with 843 points. Three races – a super-G, giant slalom and slalom – remain.

He trails Svindal, who leads with 929 points, and Benjamin Raich of Austria, who advanced to second with 857 points after placing 13th.

Wednesday’s race also confirmed that Cuche lost his World Cup downhill title to Michael Walchhofer of Austria, who has won the event three times since 2005. Cuche ended up seventh in the downhill standings, tying with US skier Bode Miller. The best Swiss downhiller this season was Didier Défago, who finished third.