KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia —Emerging Swiss standout Beat Feuz celebrated his 25th birthday in style Saturday by winning the inaugural World Cup downhill on the course for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
American Bode Miller was fastest midway down but made a big mistake and finished fourth, missing the podium by just 0.02 seconds.
“This will remain an unbelievable moment in my life,” Feuz said after his third win of the season. “Winning such an important downhill on my birthday is just incredible.”
Feuz raced down the long and highly technical course in 2 minutes, 14.10 seconds. Another 25-year-old, Ben Thomsen of Canada, finished second, 0.27 seconds behind, for the best result of his career, and Adrien Theaux of France was third.
Miller was highly critical of the course all week, saying there are too many turns to consider it a real downhill. Feuz disagreed.
“It’s a very nice course. It’s a complete downhill,” Feuz said. “Maybe it’s possible to change a bit on the upper part, but that’s just a small detail. It’s just too bad the Olympics are not next year. I’ve got to wait two years to come back.”
Thomsen’s previous best finish came last weekend, when he finished fifth in the downhill in Chamonix, France. But just a few weeks ago, he risked losing his spot on Canada’s World Cup team and being sent home.
“I don’t really know where this is coming from,” the stunned Thomsen said.
