Peter Fill of Italy clears a gate in the men's World Cup downhill in Bormio, north Italy December 28, 2006. Michael Walchhofer of Austria won the race ahead of Didier Cuche of Switzerland and Mario Scheiber of Austria. [Reuters]

The downhill World Cup champion, starting 30th, powered down the daunting Stelvio piste in one minute 51.90 seconds to beat Switzerland's Didier Cuche by 0.01.

Austrian Mario Scheiber was third in 1:52.04.

Thursday's race was rescheduled from the French resort of Val d'Isere because of warm weather there earlier in the month.

A second downhill follows on Friday.

American Bode Miller, the 2005 overall World Cup champion and 2005 downhill world champion who was seeking his first European downhill win after a victory in Beaver Creek this month, failed to finish.

Miller started aggressively but went wide 40 seconds into the run, fell and slid on his side down the hill before regaining his balance and skiing to a halt.