Walchhofer wins Val Gardena downhill again

(CNN) -- Austrian Michael Walchhofer has won the men's World Cup downhill at Val Gardena, Italy for the second year in succession from a back-to-form Bode Miller -- on a course shortened due to strong winds.

Walchhofer clocked a time of 1:50.57 on the Saslong piste to finish 00.38 seconds clear overall World Cup champion Miller, with Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis taking third place.

It was the 14th time that Walchhofer had won a World Cup downhill and his third success on his favorite Saslong course -- putting him one win away from tying the course record of four victories held by Austrian great Franz Klammer and Italy's Kristian Ghedina.

"I am a little surprsied by my win especially after my 40th place finish in the super-G on Friday, when things looked pretty bleak," said Walchhofer.

"The race conditions were far from perfect but this is a great boost for me and for the whole Austrian team. It's been a year since we last won a downhill, and that was my win here."

Five Americans finished in the top 10. Apart from Miller, Marco Sullivan finished fourth, Erik Fisher was seventh for his best career result, 2006 winner Steven Nymancame in ninth and TJ Lanning was 10th.

It is the first time Miller has finished on the podium in the downhill here. He won a super-G on the Saslong in 2006 and finished second in that discipline last year, but had never been able to pull it all together over the longer distance.

Aksel Lund Svidal retained the overall World Cup lead even though he finished outside of the top 30. The Norwegian has 398 points while Miller has moved up from 13th to ninth in the standings with 240 points.

The circuit now moves to nearby Alta Badia for a giant slalom and slalom on Sunday and Monday. Miller won the giant slalom on the Gran Risa in 2002 and finished second there two years ago.