CHAMONIX, France (AP) – Johann Grugger won a World Cup downhill for the second time this season, proving his earlier victory in Italy was no fluke.

He led a strong performance Saturday by Austria, which captured three of the top four spots while Daron Rahlves was the top American in fifth place and overall World Cup leader Bode Miller shared eighth. Miller had been leading on the upper part of the course but lost considerable time at the bottom.

Italy’s Kristian Ghedina prevented an Austrian sweep by finishing second. Downhill world champion Michael Walchhofer was third, followed by teammate Mario Scheiber.

Ghedina, 35, became the oldest man to finish in the top three in a World Cup race. He bettered the mark of Austria’s Stephan Eberharter, who was 34 years, 11 months when he was second in a super giant slalom at the World Cup finals last season.

Grugger earned a spot on the powerful Austrian team for the world championships with a victory in Bormio, Italy, just before the New Year. That was his first title but many questioned it because of the gusts during the race.

This time, he erased any doubts as he negotiated the massive jumps and icy drops in winning in 1 minute, 56.93 seconds.

“This was an important victory for me,” Grugger said. “There can be no more discussion. I deserved this victory. I hope this silences all my critics and all those who doubted that I deserved that win in Bormio.”

Ghedina was the runner-up in 1:57:04 while Walchhofer was timed in 1:57:07 and Scheiber in 1:57:24. This was Ghedina’s first top-three finish in 2 years.

Walchhofer, who took the lead in the downhill standings from Miller, has five top-three results this season in the downhill but is still winless.

Many late starters appeared to slow substantially on the lower section of the course, hampered by wind and poor visibility after the race was held up twice.

One interruption was to replace safety netting Austria’s Fritz Strobl crashed through. Also, France’s Sebastien Fournier-Bidoz was knocked unconscious during a crash and was airlifted to hospital with a concussion and sprained left ankle.

Miller was forced to start in 30th position instead of 28th after being penalized for failing to show at the bib draw the previous evening.

“The conditions had changed at that point,” he said. “There was a bit of wind and the visibility wasn’t as good.”

Slovenia’s Maze wins women’s giant slalom

SANTA CATERINA VALFURVA, Italy – Slovenia’s Tina Maze won a World Cup giant slalom Saturday for her second victory this season.

She was followed by Canadians Genevieve Simard and Allison Forsyth while Julia Mancuso of the United States was fourth for the best result of her career.

Maze covered the two runs on the new Deborah Compagnoni course in a combined time of 2 minutes, 36.78 seconds. She held her first-run lead while most of the other top finishers from the morning faltered in their second trip down the slope.

Simard, the runner-up, was 1.16 seconds back, and Forsyth was 1.22 seconds behind the winner.

Saturday’s race was the first giant slalom held on the course that will host the world championships from Jan. 28 to Feb. 13.

Men’s races for the worlds will be held in nearby Bormio.

“It will be nice to come back here and have a good feeling,” Maze said.

Maze won a giant slalom in St. Moritz last month and shared a giant slalom victory at Soelden in 2002. She was third in a super giant slalom at Altenmarkt on Dec. 11.

A slalom is scheduled for Santa Caterina on Sunday.