Italy's Innerhofer notches 1st World Cup victory

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Christof Innerhofer of Italy notched his first World Cup victory Sunday in the year-ending downhill, and defending champion Bode Miller of the United States finished fourth despite a ploy to get a more favorable starting spot.

Innerhofer finished in 2 minutes, 3.55 seconds on the 2-mile Stelvio course, which was icier and harder than usual this year.

Klaus Kroell was second, 0.32 seconds behind, and fellow Austrian Michael Walchhofer placed third, 0.95 back. Miller was 1.15 seconds off the pace.

The American missed Saturday's compulsory bib draw and was fined $933 and given the No. 46 starting spot, when better light was expected.

The top skiers are normally drawn among the first 25 starters. Miller explained his absence by saying he was getting medical attention, adding that he didn't mind being penalized.

"It was more my wrist is busted up and I needed to get it fixed," he said. "I wasn't worried about the repercussions."

Miller, who started long after the other contenders, missed his chance of a podium place after slamming into a gate on the upper section of the course.

"It just knocked the wind out of me a little bit, and distracted me," Miller said. "It got me pretty good. I got a little too tight in on it and just went straight through the middle of it."

Miller was faster than Innerhofer through the first two time checks before the error, and was on pace to finish third at the final checkpoint before making an error in the lower section.

"The top was what affected me more for the bottom, because you use up so much energy trying to make a recovery from what happened on the top that it cost me that little bit of energy you need to be smooth on the bottom," said Miller, who remains without a win this season.

Marco Sullivan of Tahoe City, Calif., finished 11th and Scott Macartney of Kirkland, Wash., finished 21st for the United States. Miller skis independently of the U.S. team.

Two skiers crashed — Marco Marsaglia of Italy and Bryon Friedman of Park City, Utah. Both appeared to avoid any serious injuries, though the subsequent delays pushed back Miller's start even later.

"It hurt a little bit when those two guys crashed," Miller said, referring to the light. "It would have been perfect had that not happened."

The 24-year-old Innerhofer was the first skier out of the gate.

"I was very nervous waiting for Bode Miller," Innerhofer said. "He had an incredible run."

Miller won the downhill last year and took gold in both the downhill and super-G at the 2005 world championships held in Bormio.

"If anyone could do it, he could, but today was my day," Innerhofer said.

The sun came out for the later starters and Miller had clearer conditions when he skied. However, clouds made the light even over the entire course for earlier starters.

"In the end, there wasn't much difference," said Innerhofer, whose best previous result was fourth in the super-G in Beaver Creek, Colo., earlier this month.

Walchhofer retained a 225-215 lead over Kroell in the downhill standings, and Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway kept a 444-393 advantage over Benjamin Raich in the overall ranks. Svindal finished 17th.

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