KITZBUEHEL (Austria), Jan 24: Didier Defago of Switzerland won the men’s World Cup downhill here on Saturday ahead of Austrian duo Michael Walchhofer and Klaus Kroell.

Defago, who previously won here in 2006, finished 0.17sec ahead of Walchhofer, with Kroell a further 0.12sec adrift.

The race was marked by another heavy fall, this time US skier Thomas Lanning crashing out and being evacuated off the mountain by helicopter.

Lanning fell close to the end of the gruelling piste, considered the most difficult on the World Cup circuit, misjudging his landing off a jump and sliding into the safety netting.

He was attended to by doctors at the scene before being helicoptered to hospital.

The 24-year-old, whose best World Cup result is a ninth place at Lake Lousie this season, suffered no major injury, course organisers announced, but a later statement by race doctor Helmuth Obermoser said the first diagnosis was a rupture of a cruciate ligament.

Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht, the reigning world super-combined champion, was victim of a horror crash at the same notoriously tricky section during training on Thursday.

“The patient has passed another calm night in a stable state at the intensive care unit of the Innsbruck University Clinc,” race organisers said in a statement on Saturday.

“Daniel Albrecht will be kept in an artificial coma. All the bodily functions are under continuous surveillance. The team of doctors treating Albrecht are cautiously optimistic concerning the future.”

Results:

1. Didier Defago (SUI) 1:56.09; 2. Michael Walchhofer (AUT) 1:56.26; 3. Klaus Kroell (AUT) 1:56.38; 4. Bode Miller (USA) 1:56.59; 4. Didier Cuche (SUI) 1:56.59; 6. Christof Innerhofer (ITA) 1:56.61; 7. Andrej Jerman (SLO) 1:56.81; 8. Stefan Thanei (ITA) 1:56.85; 9. David Poisson (FRA) 1:56.99; 10. Hermann Maier (AUT) 1:57.12; 11. Erik Fisher (USA) 1:57.16; 12. Marco Buechel (LIE) 1:57.21; 12. Benjamin Raich (AUT) 1:57.21; 14. Ambrosi Hoffmann (SUI) 1:57.26; 15. Erik Guay (CAN) 1:57.33.—AFP