BEAVER CREEK (Colorado), Dec 6: Aksel Lund Svindal showed no hint of apprehension while winning the World Cup downhill on Friday a year after a serious crash on the Birds of Prey course ended his season. Svindal careened down the course like his old self and finished in 1 minute, 43.85 seconds. Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein was second, .06 seconds behind, and Canada’s Erik Guay was third.

“I knew I was going to be nervous so I figured there’s no point in acting tough and pretending you’re not nervous,” Svindal said. “If you admit it, then you can work on it. That’s a better strategy than pretending like you’re Superman because none of us really are.”

The race was a psychological test for Svindal, who broke his nose and cheekbone in last year’s training run. He may have fractured a few ribs as well, but he’s not completely sure about that, and didn’t want to ask.

The 6-inch (15-centimeter) laceration on his left buttock, though, had doctors so concerned they went into his stomach to make sure everything internally was still intact.

“Everything was good so they put the stuff back in there and closed it up,” he said, smiling.

He spent two weeks healing in a Vail hospital, a ski slope visible from his window. That only served as motivation. Three months after the accident, Svindal was back on skis, lightly cruising down the slopes.

Now, he’s a World Cup winner again.

“Today he was able to throw down and attack like he did in the past, like he did last year before his injury,” Guay said.

Buechel skied just the way he envisioned.

“I watched a lot of video after the first training (run). I looked at Bode’s (Miller) video and I knew how to ski it in my head,” he said. “It’s burned in there how to ski it. ... I was all psyched because I pulled it off.”

The 37-year-old Buechel was contemplating staying around skiing awhile longer, maybe even for the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010.

“This morning I would have said I’ll be done next spring, but after this podium, what the heck?” Buechel said. “It’s like the wine _ the older (I) get, the faster I get. But suddenly you’ve got to watch out _ you don’t turn into vinegar.”Although the snow was in prime condition, the Americans were not.

Miller wiped out after clipping his left ski on a gate, Marco Sullivan wound up too wide on a turn, burning by a gate, and Andrew Weibrecht flew into the air before becoming ensnared in protective fencing. He suffered only a bloody nose.

Steven Nyman turned in the top U.S. finish, taking seventh, and ending a string of five straight podium finishes by 3the Americans in the downhill at this event.—AP