Are: Buechel sets pace in downhill training

ARE, Sweden — Veteran Marco Buechel paced the field in a men’s downhill training run on Friday at the World Championships, clocking a time of 1 minute, 45.73 seconds over the 35-gate Olympia course. Defending downhill world champion Bode Miller sat out the training run. Marco Sullivan led U.S. racers in a tie for 21st place. 
ARE, Sweden — Veteran Marco Buechel paced the field in a men’s downhill training run on Friday at the World Championships, clocking a time of 1 minute, 45.73 seconds over the 35-gate Olympia course.
     Austria’s Fritz Strobl, silver medalist in the super G, finished second in 1:46.47, while teammate Hermann Maier was third in 1:46.50. Swiss Didier Cuche finished fourth and Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway completed the top five.
    Marco Sullivan, still on the mend from an abdominal injury, led the U.S. Ski Team in a tie for 21st place, 2.08 seconds back of Buechel. Scott Macartney was 27th, 2.39 back. Steven Nyman also ran the training run but was disqualified. T.J. Lanning didn’t start the training run, and neither did defending downhill world champ Bode Miller.
    Miller opted to rest up for Saturday’s downhill after an exciting afternoon in the super combi on Thursday. Miller led halfway through the race after winning the downhill portion but he couldn’t maintain the lead in the slalom, eventually finishing sixth.
    Buechel, a 10-year veteran of the World Cup, has one downhill victory this season at Lake Louise in November and hasn’t finished out of the top 10 in seven downhill starts. Buechel’s top downhill finish at a World Championships was 18th in 2003 at St. Moritz.
    Saturday's men's downhill begins at 12:30 p.m. in Are (6:30 p.m. ET).

Click here for a video journey down the men's downhill course, courtesy of the Are World Championships Web site, www.are2007.com.