Cuche wins silver in Chamonix

Cuche en route to a downhill silver medal in Chamonix Keystone

Swiss skier Didier Cuche has come second in the downhill in the French resort of Chamonix.

The 33-year-old, who was beaten by US skier Marco Sullivan, won Switzerland’s first medal on the Verte des Houches course since 1968.

Cuche had blown away all opposition in the training runs, but was unable to repeat the same untouchable form during the the 3,343-metre race.

He eventually finished four-tenths of a second behind 27-year-old Sullivan, who was celebrating his first World Cup victory. Cuche nevertheless managed to pip Slovenian Andrej Jerman by six-hundredths for silver.

The 80 points that Cuche cashes for second place take him a step nearer his goal of winning the downhill World Cup.

After seven of ten downhill races Cuche has 464 points, 65 more than second-placed US skier Bode Miller, who came seventh in Chamonix.

Cuche also closed the gap between him and Benjamin Raich in the overall World Cup. The Austrian is on 892, Cuche 874 and Miller 867 after 26 of 41 competitions.

This result comes six days after Cuche won the traditional Streif downhill in the Austrian resort of Kitzbühel. On January 13 Cuche was pipped by Bode Miller in the other alpine classic downhill – the Lauberhorn – in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland .

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Chamonix downhill result:

1. Marco Sullivan, United States, 2 minutes, 0.11 seconds.
2. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 2:00.51.
3. Andrej Jerman, Slovenia, 2:00.57.
4. Rainer Schönfelder, Austria, 2:00.61.
5. Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canada, 2:00.73.
6. Marco Büchel, Liechtenstein, 2:00.85.
7. Bode Miller, United States, 2:00.91.
8. Ambrosi Hoffmann, Switzerland, 2:00.99.
(tie) Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, same time.
10. Klaus Kröll, Austria, 2:01.11.