Alpine skiing: Austrian Mayer leads way in final downhill training

[December 01, 2017]  (Reuters) - Austrian Matthias Mayer set the tone for the World Cup downhill race in Beaver Creek by posting the fastest time in the final training run on the Birds of Prey course on Thursday.

The Olympic champion needed one minute 39.74 seconds to get down the course, 0.66 seconds ahead of world champion Beat Feuz of Switzerland, who last week won the season-opening men's downhill at Lake Louise.

France's Adrien Theaux, who posted the quickest time in the first round of men's downhill on Wednesday, was fifth fastest in his second attempt with a time of 1:41.01.

Last weekend's Super-G winner Jansrud Kjetil (1:41.25) was ninth, while former world downhill champion Aksel Lund Svindal (1:41.34) of Norway was 12th.

The Super-G race is schedule for Friday followed by downhill and giant slalom races over the following two days.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)

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Matthias Mayer of Austria during training for the men's downhill in the 2017 FIS alpine skiing World Cup at Beaver Creek. Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports