BORMIO, Italy: Matthias Mayer edged Vincent Kriechmayr for an Austrian 1-2 finish in the classic mens World Cup downhill on the Stelvio on Wednesday.
In a spectacular race on one of the circuits most challenging courses, Mayer beat Kriechmayrs time by four-hundredths of a second as Austria earned its first win of the World Cup season.
Switzerlands Urs Kreyenbuehl was 0.06 behind in third.
Dominik Paris, who won the previous four downhills on the hill in the Italian Alps, led Mayer by 0.08 at the second split time but at the end trailed by 0.13 in fourth.
Mayer, the 2014 Olympic downhill champion, mastered the bumpy course full of rolls and jumps, where racers reached speeds of up to 140 kph (87 mph).
Nils Allegre, Bryce Bennett and former overall champion Carlo Janka were among the racers who had nasty high-speed crashes, though they got up right away and were apparently unhurt as they skied down the slope.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who had his first career win in Tuesdays super-G and posted the fastest times in both downhill training runs, was more than seven-tenths of a second ahead during his run, but lost time as he twice avoided crashes with acrobatic recoveries.
The American finished 0.30 off the lead in seventh for his third career top-10 result in downhill.
Defending overall champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde finished sixth to reclaim top spot in the overall standings, three points ahead of Alexis Pinturault, who doesnt compete in downhills.
Results were provisional as lower-ranked skiers were yet to start.
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