Austria's Stephan Eberharter has established himself as the man to beat this year on the World Cup circuit, winning his fourth World Cup out of five events at Beaver Creek, Colorado last Saturday (Dec. 7).
The 33-year-old won the downhill event on the notorious Birds of Prey course with a time of 1:40.18. Teammate Michael Walhchofer finished a tenth of a second slower to take the silver medal, while the bronze went to Daron Rahlves of the U.S.
Vincent Lavoie, who is back with the Canadian team after missing much of the past three years with injuries, finished 35 th after starting with bib number 64.
Lavoie said he enjoyed the air time.
"On some of the jumps, you fly 50 metres. When you get a good flight, it's fun," said the 25-year-old.
"I moved up almost 30 spots today and there were a couple of things I could have done better for a few more hundredths. I was 47 th at Lake Louise and 35 th here. I want to keep it going to improve my skiing."
Lavoie was also the highlight on the following day, leading the Canadian team with a 31 st place finish in the super-G. Erik Guay was 35 th .
First place went to Didier Cuche of Switzerland, followed by Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein, and Hannes Trinkl of Austria.