LAKE LOUISE, Alberta (AP) – Bode Miller of the United States won the opening World Cup downhill race of the season on Saturday, finishing in 1 minute, 42.75 seconds to claim the first World Cup downhill victory of his career.

Miller, who in the past has been a slalom and giant slalom specialist, is focusing on improvement in the downhill this season as part of his bid to become the first American man since Phil Mahre in 1983 to win the World Cup overall title.

Antoine Deneriaz of France was second in 1:43.72, while Michael Walchhofer of Austria was third in 1:43.92.

“It means all the pieces came together today,” said Miller, who has competed in every race on the World Cup calendar the last two years. “There’s a lot of pieces that have to come together to win a downhill. Even more pieces have to come together to be a second ahead.”

The race was held on the Olympic downhill course, a string of man-made snow on an otherwise brown mountain. The race was contested under sun and a bright blue sky.

Miller also won the opening giant slalom race of the season in Soelden, Austria, but his best downhill result before Saturday was a fifth in Bormio, Italy, in 2003.

“The prestige and the sexiness of downhill are undeniable,” Miller said. “It’s the fastest, has the biggest jumps, the most risks.”

Kostelic wins first race in nearly two years

ASPEN, Colo – Croatia’s Janica Kostelic won her first World Cup race in nearly two years, charging through steady snow and choppy conditions to beat Anja Paerson by more than a second Saturday in this season’s first World Cup slalom.

Kostelic was second headed into the second run, just .05 seconds behind Tanja Poutiainen, and used a near-flawless second run to beat Paerson by 1.27 seconds. Kostelic finished the two runs in 1 minute, 43.7 seconds, winning in just her third race since missing 19 months because of knee injuries and a thyroid problem.

Poutiainen was third, 1.32 seconds behind.

Kostelic was the world’s best female skier before being beset by injuries the past two years. A two-time World Cup overall champion and the only Alpine skier to win four medals in one Olympic Games – three golds, one silver at Salt Lake City in 2002 – Kostelic had four knee surgeries in five months in 2003 and had to have her thyroid gland removed, causing her to miss all of last season.

She returned to finish eighth in the World Cup opener in Austria on Oct. 23 and was third in the giant slalom Friday in Aspen. Kostelic downplayed her comeback after Friday’s race, but was clearly excited about her run on Saturday, raising her arms after crossing the finish line before slamming one of her poles into the snow.

Poutiainen, who won the giant slalom on Friday, was the only one with a chance to pass Kostelic, but she cut one gate too close and seemed to run out of gas through the final stretch.

Paerson, the reigning World Cup slalom and giant slalom champion, used a wild run to take the lead before Kostelic’s final trip down Aspen Mountain.

Trailing Poutiainen by .67 seconds after the first run, Paerson had to come out of her crouch to squeeze through a couple of gates near the top, had to make a quick adjustment on the final gate, then patted her heart and waved her hand as if to say “Whew!” after she crossed the finish line with the lead.

American Kristina Koznick finished sixth, 2.27 seconds behind Kostelic.